Bad Deeds for 1-31-2012

Republican Senator Threatens to Block All of President Obama’s Nominees – During an appearance on Chris Matthews, Republican Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah) aid that he would bring America down if Democrats didn’t vote to force the American people to live under conservative rule via a Constitutional amendment. Now, Mike Lee is continuing his quest to destroy America by obstructing President Obama’s judicial and government agency nominees in the Senate. On Friday, Lee threatened to block all of President Obama’s nominees if he doesn’t remove Richard Cordray from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Republicans think the President violated the Constitution by appointing Cordray during the recess.

Lee is one of the most destructive Senators on Capitol Hill. He opposes child labor laws, food stamps, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, programs that help the poor, FDA, EPA, and just about the entire federal government. He thinks everything is unconstitutional, despite what the Supreme Court has ruled.

Dallas ISD School Board Closes 11 Neighborhood Schools and Extends Teachers’ Workday Without Extra Pay – Last week the Dallas ISD school board rammed through controversial new policies that would close 11 neighborhood schools and extend teachers’ workday without extra pay next year. The policy content was bad enough. But the process was even uglier. And Dallas educators and community members are not going to stand for it.

Last week, a parent who raised her voice in opposition to the board’s action was ousted from the board’s meeting room on orders from the board chairman. Faced with an overflow crowd of irate parents, school employees, and citizens vocally opposed to their policies, board members left the board room, secluded themselves in another room, and allowed the further testimony and proceedings to be monitored only on video. “The board walked out on the community,” said board member Carla Ranger, who refused to join the walkout.

As one local media commentator wrote: “Did the school board make any effort at all to find out how much time teachers are already spending to accomplish their work? No. If you know a public school teacher, have you ever known that person not to bring home tons of grading and paperwork at night and on weekends—unpaid work that sucks time away from family and health?”

The Bad Deeds of Income Inequality – The typical worker must earn $18.46 an hour to rent a two bedroom apartment. Source: National Low Income Housing Coalition.

Except for eleven counties in Illinois and another eight in Puerto Rico, there is no county in the US where a one bedroom fair market rate apartment is available to a person working full-time at the minimum wage. Source: The National Low Income Housing Coalition.

The combined pay of the top 299 CEOs is enough to support 102,325 average jobs. Source: Corporate Paywatch.

In the last numbers reported, the top 1 percent had net worth 225 times greater than the median or typical household’s net worth, the highest ever recorded. Source: Economic Policy Institute.

In 2011, Exxon Mobile Made $1300 in Profit Per Second, But Pays a Lower Tax Rate Than the Average American – ExxonMobil had the largest profits of the Big Five oil companies in 2011, raking in $41.1 billion for the year. This 35 percent jump from last year is driven in large part by record-high oil prices. Today, the oil giant announced its fourth quarter profits of $9.4 billion, a 2 percent increase since 2010. (So, why can’t they afford to lower gas prices a few cents?)

Here are a few other facts about ExxonMobil:

– Exxon’s $41.1 billion in 2011 profit translates into nearly $5 million in profit every hour, or more than $1,300 every second. The annual profit comes near the record revenues of $46.23 billion in 2008.
– Stock buybacks for Q4 were $5.4 billion, and $21.60 billion for the year, equivalent to 53 percent of total 2011 profit. This enriches executives, the board of directors, and largest shareholders (but not you).
– Exxon pays a lower tax rate than the average American. Between 2008-2010, Exxon Mobil registered an average 17.6 percent federal effective corporate tax rate, while the average American paid a higher rate of 20.4 percent.
– The company paid no taxes to the U.S. federal government in 2009, despite 45.2 billion record profits. It paid $15 billion in taxes, but none in federal income tax.
– The oil giant uses offshore subsidiaries in the Caribbean to avoid paying taxes in the United States.
– Exxon is sitting on $11 billion cash on hand as of September 30.
– Exxon spent nearly $13 million on lobbying expenditures in 2011. The company gave nearly another $900,000 in federal campaign contributions. 92 percent of contributions went to Republicans.
– Exxon CEO Rex Tillerson made $29 million in 2010 (according to the latest records): He made $2.2 million in salary, a $3.4 million bonus, and stock awards valued at $15.5 million.
– Exxon is drawing out a legal battle for damages on a spill from 22 years ago. Exxon hasn’t paid $92 million in cleanup for the devastating Valdez Alaskan oil spill. In its Sept. 30 court filing, Exxon argued the damages it agreed to pay only covers “restoration” and not additional “clean-up.”
– Far from a job creator, ExxonMobil — together with Chevron, Shell, and BP — reduced their U.S. workforce by 11,200 employees between 2005 and 2010.

Regards,
Jim