**Why Are We Broke?**

Next time you wonder about why the country is facing record deficits, look no further:

Top Ten Biggest Corporate Freeloaders...

1.) Exxon Mobil- With profits totaling $19 billion, the multinational behemoth of Big Oil received a $156 million rebate from the IRS and didn't pay ANY FEDERAL TAXES.

2.) Bank of America- $4.4 billion in profits last year alone, along with receiving a hefty chunk of the $1 TRILLION TARP bailout from the Federal Reserve and Treasury Department. Yet despite all this, they STILL received a $1.9 billion IRS refund. Don't you wish you had their accountant?!

3.) General Electric- $26 billion in profits over the last 5 years earned them a $4.1 billion tax refund, even after cutting 1/5th of its American jobs since 2002. True patriotism, right there.

4.) Chevron- The oil company's 2010 refund topped $19 million even after posting profits of $10 billion in 2009.

5.) Boeing- After receiving a lucrative contract from the Pentagon worth some $30 billion, they were also rewarded with a $124 million IRS refund.

6.) Valero Energy- $68 billion in sales and $159 million in tax refunds from the IRS. Sounds about right.

7.) Goldman Sachs- With profits totaling $19 billion, the multinational behemoth of Big Oil received a $156 million rebate from the IRS and didn't pay ANY FEDERAL TAXES.

8.) Citigroup- Even after being one of the beneficiaries of a $2.5 TRILLION federal bailout, and yielding more than $4 billion in profits last year alone, the bank paid exactly $0 in federal income tax.

9.) ConocoPhillips- Because of their oil and gas manufacturing deductions, a company that has taken in over $16 billion between 2007 and 2009 was still awarded $451 million in tax breaks.

10.) Carnival Cruise Lines- With profits of more than $11 billion over the past half decade, it's astounding-yet-absolutely-true that they pay a federal income tax rate of just 1.1%!!!

Ah, screw it...let's just cut benefits to the elderly, that should take care of all our problems!

HAPPY NEW YEAR AMERICA!!!

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Anger into Action

Occupy Wall Street--the rapidly expanding movement that has grown out of lower Manhattan over the past few weeks--has received a fair share of derision at the hands of the MSM. The most common gripe seems to be that protestors lack leadership and any clear goals or agenda. Well, for one: they do. But perhaps more compelling is simply their snowballing presence and strengthening resonance throughout the cultural landscape. They are nothing less than a physical manifestation of the colossal unrest and free-floating anger that pervades contemporary society. This huge amorphous blob of dissatisfaction is entirely threatening to the establishment because it can easily be sculpted into something far more concrete and revolutionary, but ONLY if the Powers That Be aren't able to contain it in its fledgling phases.

In the name of promoting traction, here is one very easy vow that can and should become a mantra for these hoarded masses of unhappy citizens: Vote.

That's right. An easy to perform task that some would even refer to as civic duty. It's only going to take an hour or two--at most--out of your entire year, and judging by the fact that you've been camping out in downtown Manhattan for the past few weeks, I think you can fit it into your busy schedule. SO FUCKING DO IT!

But here's the catch--DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE VOTE FOR ANY CANDIDATE THAT HAS ANY SORT OF CORPORATE SPONSORSHIP WHATSOEVER.

The increasing mess that we find ourselves in today (namely a disturbing disparity between mega-rich and everyone else) is wholly a function of the revolving door between Big Business and Big Politics. Businesses spoon-feed political campaigns--hedging their bets by doubling down on both sides of the aisle. Politicians, GOPs and DEMs alike, respond by looking out for their donors. It's not Rocket Science, it's elementary logic--you scratch my back, I scratch yours.

In Journalism any publisher will tell you about the supreme importance of a firewall that exists between advertising and editorial. Without it, you can merely buy yourself press and in so doing sacrifice the integrity that is vital to any reputable news source. In society, business is advertising and politics is editorial, yet we have let the firewall between the two erode entirely. And how do you think that has affected the integrity of our beloved institutions?

Our only hope of ever breaking this vicious cycle is to support--exclusively--candidates that don't owe anything to corporate sponsorship. And thanks to modern technology (i.e. the Internet) we can do the research necessary to find these outliers, no matter how obscure or under-advertised they may seem. Obscurity is obsolete in this day and age, so let's start taking advantage of that fact. It is profoundly asinine that our society continually refuses to entertain the viability of a 3rd party option.

If I loved Coca-Cola but then one day the flavor unexpectedly changed and started sucking ass, I'd strongly consider giving Pepsi a try. So now I'm all setup with Pepsi, but then--wouldn't you know it-- Pepsi started sucking shit as well. So maybe once, just once, I'll have the opportunity to try switching back to Coca-Cola again without being viewed as a complete and total imbecile. But how many times can I switch back and forth between these, and ONLY these two sucky options before friends and loved ones would consider having me committed? It's a pretty simple point, America: give RC Cola a chance already, won't you? It's really not that bad. Just because you've never seen a commercial for them doesn't mean it's not fantastically refreshing. Fuck, even go with Polar

Cola if you want--true, their soda tastes like asshole, but they have a super cool website.

Why do we INSIST upon pigeon-holing ourselves within the most restrictive boxes imaginable? WHY!?

Some 20th century pseudo-intellectual named Albert Ein-something (a moron, relatively speaking) famously defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." Doesn't anyone notice this? I FEEL LIKE I'M TAKING CRAZY PILLS!!!

Let's all come together, Occupiers, Tea Partiers, Libertarians, Socialists--we all want the same thing: a fair shake at a happy life for ourselves and our families. So why not combine our efforts against the common enemy and make the fragmenting, disempowering terms REPUBLICAN and DEMOCRAT as obsolete as they are non-productive. Now THAT would be a movement you can bet your ass would make Wall Street and Washington tremble.