M-I-N-I-M-U-M C-O-R-P-O-R-A-T-E I-N-C-O-M-E T-A-X

With all the grousing, manipulation, and out and out STEALING that's going on in our country and in our state, you rarely hear anything about corporations paying their fair share. It seems like politicians have their hands tied when they should be screaming about this. I thought that by making as large a statement about it on my blog as possible, it might draw some attention.

Why is it so important to some people to preserve the riches of others at any cost? Begging for crumbs while other people are dying? This "financial crisis" we're in was brought about by weaklings doing the bidding for the rich. We are now seeing the real cost of Capitalism in its' purest form.

In Oregon, the year before the rules were changed on taxing corporations, INTEL payed 20 million dollars in taxes. The following year they paid ten dollars. If you can't see the utter ridiculousness in that, you are not seeing anything clearly.

Now, apparently, the Oregon Legislature plans 2 bold moves to pump a few dollars back into the state budget. Close the School For The Blind in Salem, and close the office of the Long Term Care Ombudsman. These moves were set in motion without any real input from stakeholders. It's a continued shell game, where they will take the savings from these services and use it somewhere else in the budget.

The parents of the students who have visual impairments are wondering (as they should be) how their kids will fare in their public schools, who failed them the first time around. By all reports these kids have come a long way since they came to the School For The Blind. The families of people living in long term care are concerned (as they should be)about possible abuse/neglect/ and exploitation their loved ones may run into without the Ombudsman program keeping an eye on things.

It's all coming back at us now. We are as much to blame as those I'm bitching about. We allowed it all to go down. Is it too late to fix it, or are we simply going to crash and burn?