". . . A maverick CEO who slashed his own salary four years ago to raise his employees' pay is doing it again. . . Dan Price, the head of Seattle-based Gravity Payments, said . . . that all of the employees in the company's new Boise, Idaho, office will earn a minimum annual salary of $70,000 by 2024.
"This morning we cut the ribbon on the new @GravityPymts Boise office AND announced that all of our employees here will start earning our $70k min salary," Price announced on Twitter. "I'm so grateful to work with this amazing team and to be able to compensate them for the value they bring to our community." . . . In 2015, Price decided to hike his employees' pay after he read a study about happiness. It said additional income can make a significant difference in a person's emotional well-being up to the point when they earn $75,000 a year. . . He then made the decision to increase the salaries for all of his 120 employees in Seattle, raising the minimum salary to $70,000 -- and slashing his $1 million salary by 90% in order to make it happen. . . The move doubled the pay of about 30 of his workers and gave an additional 40 significant raises. . . Price says the higher wages have transformed the lives of his employees. They have been able to grow their families, more than 10% of employees have purchased a house for the first time and individual 401(k) contributions have more than doubled. . . Since then, Price has shared his story all over the country and has inspired other business leaders to do the same. . . "
So it was brought to my attention that I actually graduated from high school forty years ago! Well, I actually left 39 years ago, waiving my 12th year to start college early. My, time does fly when you're having fun.
What ELSE was going on at the time . . . hmmm . . .
**John N. Mitchell, H. R. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman were found guilty in the Watergate cover-up
**Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia
**President Ford escaped a second assassination attempt in 17 days
**The Median Household Income in the U.S. was the equivalent of $11,800 in current dollars
**Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC. George Carlin hosted the first show
**One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest swept the top Oscars, winning Best Picture, Director, Actor, and Actress
**"Vitamin OHO" and "Dream of the Ridiculous Band" revealed OHO as a highly competent progressive band with hints of Crimson, Genesis and Grobschnitt: a very un-American sound. Like contemporaries Happy The Man, they were inventive, with accents on complex structures, unusual time signatures, dynamics and the exceptional interplay among the two guitarists Joe O'Sullivan & J.P. Graboski
OHO's "Ocean City Ditty," the CD single is now available at http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/oho4
(and, if you're in town, at Trax On Wax on Frederick Rd. in Catonsville, MD) OHO is Jay Graboski, David Reeve & Ray Jozwiak. Please Visit http://www.ohomusic.com
My latest solo offering, Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak, featuring original, instrumental piano music will be released April 7, 2014 Just More Music by Ray Jozwiak
(To Access all Ray Jozwiak - Gonzo Piano music you can copy-and-paste this URL directly to
your browser: http://http://www.cdbaby.com/Artist/RayJozwiak)
. . . the election is finally over. One estimate said the presidential campaigns costs a combined total of $2.5 billion. I don't know why people brush off billions whenever I ask about saving such sums as the campaign expense. I know the national deficit is in trillions but, as Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen said, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're talking real money." The campaign expenses are particularly irksome to me because they are purely showbiz. Dispensing facts to the general public in print or online, for example, would be infinitely less expensive than the hateful and reality-challenged television ads the two major candidates ran. And though we are left with a president who exhibits some leaning toward integrity, albeit not fully realized when applicable to the U.S. (and world also, for that matter) citizenry, and not with one who not only ignores the needs of the preponderance of the planet's population but also lives in a fantasy, pre-scientific world landscaped with hundred-dollar bills (or are they thousands?) - I don't really think all our problems are solved. Which leads me back to Rocky (Anderson, that is): ". . . The government is shafting the people of this country. It doesn’t matter
which party is the majority, they’re all feeding at the same trough of
special interest money and we, the American people, are suffering from
it. We’re in the midst of a new Gilded Age, with a greater disparity
between income and wealth since the 1920s and the highest poverty rates
since 1965. It’s as if all the gains of the war on poverty have
disappeared. That along with our outrageous healthcare system, including
Obamacare, results in incredible suffering, including the loss of tens
if not hundreds of thousands of lives every year. . ."
So even though the election is over, there is still much work to be done.
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(from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/wp/2012/09/17/romney-my-job-is-not-to-worry-about-those-people/)
". . . Let’s set aside the question of whether this is what Mitt Romney really believes deep down in his heart. Maybe this is what he thinks. Or maybe he just thought it was a good line to buck up jittery donors. What we can say is that the last part is wrong. There is no fair accounting in which 47 percent of Americans take no “personal responsibility and care for their lives.” Take this simple breakdown from the Tax Policy Center of what households paid in taxes in 2011:
— 53.6 percent of households pay the federal income tax. Presumably Romney is okay with these folks.
— 28.3 percent of households pay no federal income tax, but they do pay the payroll taxes for Social Security and Medicare. That means they don’t need Mitt Romney to convince them to “take personal responsibility and care for their lives.” They already have jobs.
Most of the households in this group don’t pay any federal income tax because they qualify for enough deductions that their income tax liability has shrunk to zero. See this Tax Policy Center report for more, which gives an example of “a couple with two children earning less than $26,400. They get an $11,600 standard deduction and four exemptions of $3,700, and that takes their liability to zero.” Indeed, it’s worth noting that many of these deductions and credits were part of the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts, which Romney wants to extend.
— 10.3 percent of households pay no federal income tax because they’re retired and elderly. Many retirees aren’t taxed on their Social Security benefits, which they earned by paying into the system over many years. If Mitt Romney secretly thinks that these households are all irresponsible freeloaders, he has a weird way of showing it, as he keeps insisting that he doesn’t want to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits for those over the age of 65.
— That leaves 6.9 percent of households which are non-elderly and have incomes less than $20,000 per year and aren’t paying the payroll tax. These poorer households pay neither income taxes nor payroll taxes. Perhaps Romney thinks that they should all pay more in federal taxes. It’s hard to say. But this is also a much smaller fraction of Americans.
Meanwhile, just as a reminder, the vast majority of Americans still pay state and local taxes — in fact, these taxes tend to be more regressive. When you add up all the different types of taxes, most income groups in the United States tend to pay an amount that’s roughly commensurate with their share of the national income. . ."
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(from http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-13/ryan-farther-reaching-than-romney-on-taxes-without-detail)
". . . Yet Ryan, 42, goes further than Romney, who would cut
individual tax rates by 20 percent, drop the corporate tax rate
to 25 percent and eliminate the estate tax and alternative
minimum tax. In his 2010 “Roadmap for America’s Future,” Ryan
proposed eliminating taxes on corporate income, estates,
dividends, interest and capital gains. He would simplify the
individual income tax system into a two-rate structure topping
out at 25 percent and impose what is effectively an 8.5 percent
value-added tax.
“You could not do that without substantially shifting the
tax burden to the middle class and below” and reducing tax
burdens on affluent households, said Edward Kleinbard, a tax law
professor at the University of Southern California. “Those are
just inescapable facts.”. . . "
(excerpted, paraphrased & abbreviated from http://thinkprogress.org/lgbt/2012/08/13/681111/paul-ryan-has-acted-on-every-anti-gay-belief-mitt-romney-has/?mobile=nc)
'. . .In fact, Ryan has a voting record to reflect every anti-LGBT position that Romney has taken. Here’s a recap:
Banning state-level same-sex marriage Supporting a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage Defending discrimination against same-sex couples (Defense of Marriage Act) Ryan voted to limit funding to the Justice Department that might be used to oppose DOMA by the Obama administration Opposing federal non-discrimination protections-voted to kill the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 2007-then, ultimately voted for it. Opposing repeal of Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell Opposing hate crimes protection. . . '
[For those of the 'right' persuasion who profess to be "Christian", beat these quotes out of your bible. ]
John 13:34-35 ESV A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
1 Timothy 5:8 ESV But if anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for members of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
1 John 3:17-18 ESV But if anyone has the world's goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Philippians 2:4 ESV Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.
Ephesians 4:32 ESV Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Matthew 25:40 ESV And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Galatians 6:9-10 ESV And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Matthew 25:31-46 ESV “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...
James 1:27 ESV Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Matthew 25:40 ESV And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’
Galatians 6:9-10 ESV And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.
Matthew 25:31-46 ESV “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ...
James 1:27 ESV Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
John 3:16 ESV “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Luke 4:16-21 ESV And he came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up. And as was his custom, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and he stood up to read. And the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” And he rolled up the scroll and gave it back to the attendant and sat down. And the eyes of all in the synagogue were fixed on him. . .
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. . . here’s a short list of what is really wrong with our economy:
*An economy that concentrates wealth with the top 1%, perpetuated by false claims that the system fosters production and creates jobs
*An all-out attack on unions to destabilize them and drive down workers’ income and benefits
*A refusal to provide healthcare to all Americans through a single-payer healthcare system
*A disinterest in educating our children and a shift of the cost of an education onto students—over $1 trillion in college loan debt
*A refusal to acknowledge overwhelming environmental scientific data and to take the steps necessary to move to a green economy and oil independence
With such blatant disregard for the people’s interests, outraged Americans are questioning the corporate-controlled two-party system and have begun to look for an alternative.
(from The Justice Party - https://fundly.com/justiceparty)
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Shareholders of Air France-KLM and Safran voted against big pay-offs for chief executives at the part French state-owned groups as public resistance to lucrative executive pay grows on a continent traumatised by financial turmoil, reported Reuters.
Four-fifths of Air France-KLM shareholders opposed about US$500,000 paid to ex-CEO Pierre-Henri Gourgeon, who also received $1.39 million when he was ousted in October following the airline's poor performance. The stock lost 71 percent last year.
Just over half of shareholders in aerospace group Safran voted against awarding chairman and chief executive Jean-Paul Herteman two years of pay and an extra pension when he steps down. He was paid $1.77 million last year.
The moves, encouraged by the government, are the latest in a series of revolts over pay at annual general meetings as part of the so-called "shareholder spring", which has seen the chief executive of British insurance group Aviva lose his job.
Governments in France and the UK are among those who have promised to get tough on top executive pay as voters grow weary of bank bailouts and the impact of government austerity measures on spending power as the euro zone debt crisis drags on.
France's new Socialist government has said it will flesh out plans to cap the pay of top executives at state-controlled companies by mid-June. President Francois Hollande pledged in his election campaign to limit senior executives' salaries to a maximum of 20 times that of their lowest-paid employee.
In Britain, Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron has promised legislation this year to tackle high executive pay and leaned on bosses to give up bonuses at banks that were partly nationalised in bailouts after the 2008 financial crisis.
Pierre Moscovici, France's new finance minister under Hollande, earlier welcomed the Safran shareholder vote while calling for similar action at Air France-KLM. The state owns 30 percent of Safran and 15.9 percent of Air France-KLM.
"The government is thus again giving a strong signal of its will for change on the question of remuneration," Moscovici said in a statement.
Ex-Air France-KLM CEO Gourgeon was given the additional $500,000 in return for not working for a competitor for three years. He received an annual salary of close to a $1 billion plus a bonus of $324,731.
Current Air France-KLM CEO Jean-Cyril Spinetta told shareholders that Gourgeon had the legal right to keep the money, adding that it was justified because Gourgeon had been approached by several competitors, notably Gulf carriers.
In an interview with France Inter radio earlier on Thursday, however, Moscovici called on Gourgeon to reimburse the payment."Indeed, morally Pierre-Henri Gourgeon should himself pay it back," Moscovici told France Inter. "The bonus has already been paid, but we are saying very clearly that this is not the right thing to do."
Hollande said before his election that several measures were needed to restore fairness in France, a dig at predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy, whose policies Hollande alleged favoured the rich.
The measures included a top income tax rate of 75 percent on income above $1.23 million, in addition to the senior executive pay cap.
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Gingrich goes too far to say Obama has
put more on the rolls than other presidents. We asked the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition service for
month-by-month figures going back to January 2001. And they show that
under President George W. Bush the number of recipients rose by nearly
14.7 million. Nothing before comes close to that. And under Obama, the increase so far has
been 14.2 million. To be exact, the program has so far grown by 444,574 fewer
recipients during Obama’s time in office than during Bush’s.
(from Reuters)
Unlike Americans who rely on a paycheck,
Romney earns most of his income from investment profits, dividends and
interest. The returns for 2010 and estimates for 2011 showed that he
will pay a total of $6.2 million in taxes on income of $42.5 million. Romney and his wife Ann paid an effective
tax rate of 13.9 percent in 2010 and expect to pay a 15.4 percent
effective tax rate when they file their returns for 2011. Those rates are far below the top income tax
rate on wages, which is 35 percent, because the U.S. tax code in recent
years has favored investment income over wage income.
Let's stop folks from FREELOADING on government programs.
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. . . like Mitt Romney, whose family fortune is valued at about $250 million, pays only a 15% effective income tax, surely we whose families have nowhere near that amount of money, and who work hard every day for 30, 35 or 40 years to make but a mere fraction of $22 million annually have absolutely no right to complain about paying over 35% in taxes. Everyone plays on a level field in Mitt's free market and what's stopping you and me from making a $250 million fortune? Laziness, of course.
RIGHT???
Of course if you lean right, you have the "Other" top choice of Gingrich, who paid about 31% and whose proposed changes to the tax code would allow someone in a position comparable to Romney to pay $0 income taxes.
Tough Choice. Mmmmmmm!!
Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney owns investments worth
between $7 million and $32 million in offshore-based holdings. These accounts enable wealthy investors to
defer paying U.S. taxes on some assets, according to tax experts. Romney is purported to have
at least six funds set up in the Cayman Islands but he has not identified all or the size of his accounts there. There is no indication Romney uses the accounts to dodge any
U.S. tax obligations. Although the Caymans have often been associated with
individuals and corporations seeking to avoid paying U.S. taxes, there is no evidence that Romney holds such accounts for this purpose.
It is legal for U.S. residents to own investment accounts that
are set up there — if they file the proper forms with the Internal
Revenue Service and pay the appropriate taxes.
Legal? Yes. Ethical?
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