The Globalization Tax: What it is, and Why I support it

Walgreens, a pharmacy chain that has been headquartered in my home state of Illinois since its founding, has threatened to move its corporate headquarters from the United States to Switzerland in order to evade U.S. corporate taxes.

While Democratic Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois has proposed legislation to discourage these so-called "inversions", in which U.S. companies merge with foreign companies and then set up their new headquarters overseas, I'm going to go even further than Durbin's proposal, which, if enacted, would prohibit companies that undergo inversions from accepting federal contracts, and propose enacting a globalization tax, which would require companies that conduct any business in the United States to pay U.S. corporate taxes, regardless of which country their headquarters is located.

While the globalization tax wouldn't completely do away with economic globalization, it would certainly put the reins on the economic globalization that is hurting our country's economy and costing our country millions upon millions of dollars in tax revenue. While Senator Durbin's proposal is certainly a step in the right direction, we can certainly do more to discourage companies that do business in our country from moving overseas to avoid paying corporate taxes here.

Federal prosecutor threatens to investigate New York Governor Andrew Cuomo

Andrew Cuomo, the Governor of the State of New York, could have to face a federal criminal investigation for obstruction of justice and witness tampering.

Preet Bahara, the U.S. Attorney in Manhattan, has issued a warning to Cuomo and his crones that he is threatening to investigate Cuomo and his cronies over Cuomo's closing of the Moreland Commission, which was tasked with weeding out political corruption in New York state government:

The letter from prosecutors, which was read to The New York Times, says, “We have reason to believe a number of commissioners recently have been contacted about the commission’s work, and some commissioners have been asked to issue public statements characterizing events and facts regarding the commission’s operation.”

“To the extent anyone attempts to influence or tamper with a witness’s recollection of events relevant to our investigation, including the recollection of a commissioner or one of the commission’s employees, we request that you advise our office immediately, as we must consider whether such actions constitute obstruction of justice or tampering with witnesses that violate federal law.”

If you need another reason to support Zephyr Teachout, who is running against Cuomo in the Democratic primary, there it is. Cuomo shut down the Moreland Commission because they were going to expose Cuomo for the morbidly corrupt politician that he is, and now federal prosecutors are seriously considering investigating Cuomo and his cronies.

I live in Illinois, the state that twice elected Rod Blagojevich, who was one of the most corrupt individuals to have ever held elected office in this country's history, and New York's Andrew Cuomo strikes me as another Blagojevich.

Minnesota Republican congressional candidate Stuart Mills has ties to Wisconsin Republican corruption

Stuart Mills, the Republican candidate in the 8th Congressional District of Minnesota who is running against Democratic incumbent Rick Nolan, recently hired Keith Gilkes, who has been implicated in two criminal investigations into violations of campaign laws by Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, as a consultant:

GOP 8th District congressional candidate Stewart Mills has tapped into Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s political organization for his race against Democratic U.S. Rep. Rick Nolan. 

A story on Minnesota’s 8th District race from the Rothenberg Political Report (behind a paywall) reported Mills has hired Keith Gilkes to serve as a general consultant for his campaign. A campaign spokeswoman said Gilkes is working with another group to “provide media and general consulting services to the campaign.”

Gilkes has a long track record of being associated with Walker and his long track record of corruption and cronyism. When Walker was the county executive of Milwaukee County, Wisconsin, Gilkes was one of several people (which also included Walker) who were implicated in Walker's corruption and cronyism, and, although neither Gilkes nor Walker were charged with any crimes from that investigation, six people connected to Walker were either convicted of, or plead guilty to, various criminal charges as a result of the probe. An ongoing, but officially stalled, investigation into Walker's corruption while Governor of Wisconsin has found that Walker, Gilkes, and two other people connected to Walker illegally coordinated with Republican/conservative outside groups, although neither Walker nor Gilkes have been charged with any crimes at this time.

Furthermore, Gilkes, then Walker's chief of staff, was one of two people, the other person being Walker, that fell for a prank caller who pretended to be David Koch, one of the Koch Brothers who have bankrolled Republican and conservative causes (including Walker's gubernatorial campaigns in Wisconsin), but was actually Ian Murphy, the editor of the online alternative newspaper The Beast. Gilkes, not realizing that the person on the other end of the line was a prank caller, forwarded Murphy's prank call to Walker, and Walker, also not realizing that the person on the other end of the line was a prank caller, admitted to using and planning to use vindictive, Nixonian tactics against Democratic members of the Wisconsin State Senate and also admitted to planning to illegally coordinate with Republican front groups:

Mills's ties to Wisconsin Republican corruption don't stop there. Earlier this year, Mike Ellis, the Republican Wisconsin State Senate President, admitted to planning to start his own SuperPAC in order to run attack ads against Penny Bernard Schaber, the Democratic candidate for the Wisconsin State Senate seat currently held by Ellis, and Ellis named Mills as one of the big-money donors who would have funded Ellis's planned illegal SuperPAC:

Ellis ended his re-election campaign not long after his plot to violate campaign finance laws became public knowledge.

Stuart Mills, who is a Republican candidate for Congress in Northeastern Minnesota, has extensive ties to flagrant political corruption that is rampant in the Republican Party of Wisconsin. The fact that he's hiring campaign operatives who once worked for Scott Walker, one of the most corrupt, vindictive politicians to have ever held public office in this country's history, is more than enough for me to say that a Mills victory would be an absolute disaster for Northeastern Minnesota.

Former Obama campaign operatives are asking people to pay $5,000 to volunteer for a high-profile Democratic campaign

Mitch Bird and Jeremy Stewart must be crazy.

Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird, two former political operatives for President Barack Obama's campaign who now run the consulting firm 270 Strategies, are running what appears to me to be a scam in which they are asking people to pay $5,000 for a six-week program consisting of one week of political training and five weeks of volunteer work on an unnamed "important Democratic campaign":

Two top veterans of President Obama’s campaigns are asking political campaigners to pay $5,000 per person for the chance to learn their secrets and then work for five weeks in an unpaid campaign job somewhere in America. 

Democratic operatives and progressive activists are questioning this training program launched by Obama campaign architects Mitch Stewart and Jeremy Bird. The $5,000 program promises access to the wizardry of Obama’s presidential bids — and a five-week, unpaid gig on an “important Democratic campaign.” 

Run by Bird and Stewart’s consulting company, 270 Strategies, the new program’s emphasis on placing paying customers in essentially volunteer roles on Democratic campaigns is atypical in the campaign training industry, and some Democrats say it sets a dangerous precedent. The firm’s first-ever “270/360 Training Intensive” program is scheduled to begin in September.

In case you're wondering, the one-week training program is a staggering $3,500, and it will cost you an additional $1,500 for the five-week volunteer work program on an "important Democratic campaign". 270 Strategies has not named which campaign or campaigns are participating in the program, although I'm guessing the campaign(s) in question are one or more Democratic gubernatorial and/or U.S. Senate campaigns that are considered by most political pundits to be competitive to some degree.

There are several reasons why this is a terrible idea. First off, this reminds me of those expensive golf instruction videos that do virtually nothing to improve a recreational golf player's game. Even worse, there's already a ton of barriers to political participation in our country (no guaranteed paid leave to run for public office, Election Day is not a national holiday, wealthy candidates and big-money interests discourage people from running for public office, etc.), and having people pay thousands of dollars just to volunteer on a political campaign sets up yet another barrier to political participation in this country.

Progressives like me are not the only ones criticizing Mitch Bird and Jeremy Stewart's scheme. Even many Democratic operatives are criticizing Bird and Stewart for asking people to pay thousands of dollars to volunteer on a high-profile Democratic campaign.

If someone were to ask me whether or not I'd be interested in paying $5,000 to volunteer on a campaign, the answer is HELL NO! First off, I don't have that kind of money, and, more importantly, we have far too many barriers to political participation in this country the way it is, and Mitch Bird and Jeremy Stewart are only making that problem even worse.

Foreign corporations who do business with the U.S. should pay U.S. corporate taxes

Walgreens, one of the largest pharmacy chains in the country, has threatened to move its corporate headquarters from the United States to Switzerland in order to evade U.S. corporate income taxes.

This has set off a major political firestorm, and it should. I think it's downright unpatriotic for a U.S.-based company to move their corporate headquarters, which often consists of nothing more than a mailbox and a filing cabinet, to a foreign country, for the sole purpose of tax evasion. Furthermore, corporate tax evasion is depriving federal, state, and local governments of revenue that could be used to, among other things, fix crumbling roads and bridges, fund public education, and reduce or eliminate budget deficits.

I believe that corporations based in foreign countries, but do business with the United States, should be legally required to pay federal corporate income taxes, in addition to any corporate income taxes they are legally required to pay in the countries where they are headquartered. Not only would this put an end to corporate income tax invasion in the U.S., it would also put the reins on the rampant economic globalization that is hurting our economy and costing us thousands upon thousands of jobs.

Corporate tax evasion is one of the more serious problems our country faces.

Corporate Democrats at Netroots Nation

Netroots Nation is supposed to be an annual gathering of progressive bloggers and activists, although quite a few corporate Democrats showed up to crash the party.

Although Hillary Clinton, who voted for the unjustified Iraq War and voted for free-trade agreements that shipped American jobs overseas as a U.S. Senator from New York, didn't show up at Netroots Nation herself, the Ready for Hillary SuperPAC, an organization seeking to convince Hillary to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016, did bring their bus to Netroots Nation.

One corporate Democrat who did show up at Netroots Nation was Mary Burke, the likely Democratic nominee for Governor of Wisconsin and a supporter of charter schools and corporate welfare. In fact, Burke participated in a panel discussion about women running for public office at Netroots Nation. Another corporate Democrat who made his presence known at Netroots Nation was Chuck Schumer, the #3 Democrat in the U.S. Senate from New York and a shill for Wall Street interests who want to deregulate the financial industry in this country.

I find it disturbing that corporate Democrats have managed to infiltrate a supposedly progressive convention. Also, it's a shame that there there are few truly progressive conventions in this country, in fact, the only one I know of is Fighting Bob Fest, which is held annually in Wisconsin.

Sheila Kihne: Continuing Michele Bachmann's legacy of embarrassing Minnesota

Sheila Kihne, a far-right Republican running against incumbent Republican Minnesota State Representative Jenifer Loon, is one of the most vile candidates I've seen run for public office. Prior to running for public office, Kihne was a conservative political blogger, and she wrote some downright nasty blog posts, including one where she shamed women who get married while pregnant:

On a blog she discontinued in 2009, she wrote that President Barack Obama was leading the one-world-order communists and demanded that single mothers be denied formal wedding ceremonies. 

“Don’t you think that if you’re having a baby — and you’re not married — that you should forego the shower?” she asked. “I also think that if you get married — and are knocked up — you should get married quietly. At a courthouse, at a private home.” 

Kihne specifically said that there should be no dancing or dinner for prospective brides who are pregnant. She acknowledge that “I’m seen as very cold-hearted with this issue and it’s caused a couple of big arguments in my family,” but insisted on standing her ground against “the idiots in Hollywood who make it look ‘cool’ to tote a baby around sans daddy.”

For Sheila Kihne to suggest that women who are getting married while pregnant shouldn't be allowed to have the kind of wedding ceremony they want to have is downright offensive and shames women who have children out of wedlock. Also, shaming women who get pregnant out of wedlock is going to do absolutely nothing to decrease the percentage of women who get pregnant out of wedlock.

If you live in Minnesota State House District 48B (which is based in the Eden Prairie area in suburban Hennepin County), and you think that Jenifer Loon has been a terrible representative, Sheila Kihne would be an even worse representative, as Kihne would carry on Michele Bachmann's destructive legacy of embarrassing Minnesota. Thankfully, there is a DFL candidate (for those of you not familiar with Minnesota politics, the state Democratic Party in Minnesota is known as the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party) running in Minnesota House District 48B: Joan Howe-Pullis. You can learn more about Howe-Pullis's campaign here.