Thursday banner
Thom's blog
Only the Little People Pay Taxes in America
Thom plus logo  Why are our seniors paying higher taxes on their social security benefits than billionaires pay on stocks?

The IRS released a new report that reveals the staggering amount of money that the top one-thousandth of one percent in America is hoarding. While the top earners in the bottom 50% of Americans only make 36,000 dollars a year - the bottom earners in the top one-thousandth of one percent 'only make' over 62 million dollars a year.

Sixty-two million dollars per year is what it takes to be a top one-thousands of one percenter - and those are the poorest of the richest households - on average the top earners make over 160 million dollars a year.

That's 160 times richer than the average one percenter who only makes about 1.5 million dollars. That's an obscene concentration of wealth - but that's not the most outrageous part of the story, because those top earners are paying a lower tax rate than working class Americans and retirees.

The highest tax rate on income taxes in 2014 was 39.6% for households earning over 439,000 dollars - and the majority of American households paid an income tax rate of between 15% and 28%. Those are households of plumbers, bus drivers, doctors, and engineers - the average working Americans who create real wealth for the economy.

Meanwhile the banksters and vulture capitalists - the billionaires who make most of their income by moving money back and forth - pay a maximum rate of 20% of their earnings from the stock market.

How does this happen? Why did Mitt Romney a lower effective tax rate in 2011 than a waitress earning $2.13 an hour?.

It started with the memo that Lewis Powell wrote in 1971 - just a few months before Nixon nominated him to the Supreme Court.

In no unclear terms - Powell wrote: "Business must learn the lesson, long ago learned by labor and other self-interest groups. This is the lesson that political power is necessary; that such power must be cultivated; and that when necessary, it must be used aggressively and with determination - without embarrassment and without the reluctance which has been so characteristic of American business."

And for the last 40 years - business has followed Powell's advice to a 'T': by taking over our education system; purchasing the nation's newspapers, TV, and radio stations; filling the courts with activist judges; and filling Washington with lobbyists and corporate-owned lawmakers.

And what have they done with that power? They've rigged the system against the average American and in favor of themselves. They've punched holes in our tax system so that seniors and working Americans can pay a higher tax rate than vulture capitalists and bankers.

Read more here.

-Thom

 GoToMeeting
The Big Picture (small)
Tonight on The Big Picture on RT TV at 7pm and 10pm... MORE Damning TPP Secrets Revealed... (check your local listings for stations or stream at RT or Free Speech TV, and catch past shows on Youtube)
 
Green World Rising Be sure to check out our newest video: RESTORATION - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners / Visit GreenWorldRising.org to check out all the videos: CARBON, LAST HOURS & GREEN WORLD RISING - narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio & Thom Hartmann, directed by Leila Conners
 
Need to Know: Why it's Time For Expanded Voting Rights...
- Katherine Culliton Gonzalez, Advancement Project  Twitter
 
Screwed: Who Will Represent ALEC On The 2016 Ballot?
- Brendan Fischer, The Center for Media & Democracy/ALEC Exposed Twitter
 
PLUS, Reducing America's Antibiotic Use
- Patty Lovera, Food & Water Watch  Twitter
 
Best of the Rest: MORE Damning TPP Secrets Revealed...
- Congressman Alan Grayson (D-FL, 9th district)/Trade Treachery  Twitter
- Ari Rabin-Havt, The Agenda/SiriusXM Progress 127  Twitter  Twitter
 
PLUS, Talking Back to Hate Speak
- Ani Zonneveld, Muslims For Progressive Values Twitter Twitter
 
Daily Take: Only the Little People Pay Taxes
Free Speech TV         stamps.com
Thursday's Daily Stack Daily Stack
Hour One: No...Democrats Haven't Gone Too Far Left!!
Article: "Bernie Sanders's 'socialist' charade" by George F. Will.
Quote: "They tell me U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders can't win b/c America won't vote for a Socialist Jew. I tell them America already celebrates a Socialist Jew every Dec 25." - John Fugelsang.
Video: "New Covenant speech", October 23, 1991 by Bill Clinton.
Article: "Have Democrats Pulled Too Far Left?" by Peter Wehner.
Article: "The Trap (TV series)" by Adam Curtis.
Quote: "The condition upon which God hath given liberty to man is eternal vigilance" - John Philpot Curran.
Article: "OK, Bernie, I give up" by Admiral Loinpresser.
Speech: "The Economic Bill of Rights" by FDR (second bill of rights) (audio).

Hour Two: John McCain & the GOP Are Stealing Native American Sacred Sites for 'Big Coal'
Article: "Selling Off Apache Holy Land" by Lydia Millet.
Book: "The Prophet's Way" by Thom Hartmann.
 
Talk Radio News Segment:
- Luke Vargas Twitter
Article: "Iraq: ISIS fighters close Ramadi dam gates, cut off water to loyalist towns" by Hamdi Alkhshali and Laura Smith-Spark.
Article: "How the Red Cross Raised Half a Billion Dollars for Haiti �and Built Six Homes" by Justin Elliott, ProPublica, and Laura Sullivan, NPR.
Site: Governor Free Don Siegelman.
Article: "TRNS News Notes - 6/4" by Victoria Jones.
Article: "TRNS News Notes - 6/3" by Victoria Jones.

Hour Three: Conservatives Oppose TPP 'welfare'...?
- Bryan Riley, Heritage Foundation Twitter Twitter
Article: "Congress plots to pay for a trade deal by raiding Medicare" (Rep. David Reichert) by Michael Hiltzik.
Article: "Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement" (TPP) by EFF.
Article: "Fast track (trade)" (TPA) by Wikipedia.
Site: ObamaTrade.
 
Book: "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine.
Quote: "These are the times that try men's souls" - Thomas Paine, The American Crisis".
Article: "Beshear: Whatever it takes to keep Humana here" by Grace Schneider.
Article: "Dish Network in Merger Talks With T-Mobile" by Ryan Knutson, Thomas Gryta and Shalini Ramachandran.
Article: "The Great American Bubble Machine" by Matt Taibbi.
Article: "Ukraine signs $10 billion shale gas deal with Chevron" by Pavel Polityuk and Richard Balmforth.
Bible: "Matthew 25:31-46 (New International Version)". "All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats."
Angie's List ad   ITM Trading banner 200 x 200
Friday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET 
 
It's Friday and that means it's Brunch with Bernie...America's Senator Bernie Sanders will be here talking about all the important issues of the week and he'll be taking YOUR calls too!
 
Plus, it's Anything Goes Friday...your turn to choose the topics we talk about...what's on your mind?
 
And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...
 
The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week" for "we the people"
 
And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...
Best of Thom Hartmann audio
Order the new"Unequal Protection" now!
Show Info
Call Thom on the show at 1-866-987-THOM (8466) (0870 974 9686 from the UK).

Sign up for Thom's podcasts.

Come on over to the free chat room, where Thom hangs out during the show.

Join in the discussions on Thom's free message board.

Blog or upload videos or audios at Thom's community.
Listen Live

Social Networks...
Chateau Veronique 2011
The Thom Hartmann Program is a Charity Wine Partner with the Organic Wine Company. Purchase any wines and they will donate a portion of the proceeds to The Hunter School for children with autism, ADHD, and other learning challenges.
 
One of my favorite wines is CHATEAU VERONIQUE 2011 - The wine that started the Organic Wine Company. Subtle and sophisticated, this wine will complement any table.
 
Purchase your next bottle of organic wine here - www.ecowine.com
 
Thom
Thank you for being part of our ever growing community for News, Debate and Opinion on the Thom Hartmann Program.
 
Click here to subscribe to the Thom Hartmann Newsletter.
 
Sincerely,
The Thom Hartmann Program
Hunter School Please support the Hunter School, a unique therapeutic boarding school for young children diagnosed with ADHD, Anxiety, Sensory, Mood and related conditions...
Death in the Pines
Order Thom's latest book, Death in the Pines: An Oakley Tyler Novel, at Amazon or Barnes & Noble now!
Thom's Poll
Should every state have at least 20 days of early voting?

Vote here!
Watch & Listen to Thom

Can Bernie Sanders Start a Revolution?
Can Bernie Sanders Start a Revolution?

Rumble - Should drug companies work for public health or private profit?
Rumble - Should drug companies work for public health or private profit?

Rumble - Jeb Bush Is Screwed Up About Social Security
Rumble - Jeb Bush Is Screwed Up About Social Security

Crazy Alert! Paranormal Date dot com - for love out of this world
Crazy Alert! Paranormal Date dot com - for love out of this world

Cops Legally Rob MI Women - 'Why Take My Vibrator?"
Cops Legally Rob MI Women - 'Why Take My Vibrator?"

China...If They Pull the Plug, We're Screwed
China...If They Pull the Plug, We're Screwed

Or watch the Full "Big Picture" Show...

Full Show 6/3/15: Jeb Knows Nada About Social Security
Full Show 6/3/15: Jeb Knows Nada About Social Security

Tonight's Rumble discusses Jeb Bush's inaccurate comments on social security, Elizabeth Warren going after SEC Chairwoman Mary Jo White, and how big pharma is killing us with their profit driven agenda. Thom talks the increase in civil asset forfeitures by our nation's police with We Act Radio's Kymone Freeman and in tonight's Daily Take Thom discusses how the South China Sea could destroy our economy.

Caller: How do we Explain Democratic-Socialism?
Caller: How do we Explain Democratic-Socialism?

The Republicans are Scared of Bernie Sanders!
The Republicans are Scared of Bernie Sanders!

Green Festival DC!
Green Festival DC!

Caller: How do I explain how Bad Reagan Was?
Caller: How do I explain how Bad Reagan Was?

Bruce Fein: TPA 'Fast Track' is Unconstitutional!
Bruce Fein: TPA 'Fast Track' is Unconstitutional!

The Problem with CEO Pay...
The Problem with CEO Pay...

Bruce Fein: Edward Snowden NOT a Traitor!
Bruce Fein: Edward Snowden NOT a Traitor!

Beware: The Big Crash is on the Way!
Beware: The Big Crash is on the Way!

Caller: The Problem with Foreign Trade - The U.S. Doesn't Plan Ahead!
Caller: The Problem with Foreign Trade - The U.S. Doesn't Plan Ahead!

TPP Petition Drop at the Capitol!
TPP Petition Drop at the Capitol!

How the TPP will Help Big Corporations...
How the TPP will Help Big Corporations...

Patriot Act vs. USA Freedom Act - A lose-lose for our Constitution
Patriot Act vs. USA Freedom Act - A lose-lose for our Constitution

How China Can Destroy the United States...
How China Can Destroy the United States...
The American Revolution of 1800
Order The American Revolution of 1800 by Dan Sisson with Thom Hartmann at Amazon or Barnes & Noble now!
Carbonite ad
Thom Hartmann app
Subscribe to Thom Hartmann on YouTube
Podcast Banner ad 120
Thom TV