The Bait-and-Switch on Fleecing Taxpayers

[marmar]

from Too Much: A Commentary on Excess and Inequality:




The Bait-and-Switch on Fleecing Taxpayers
March 6, 2011

Lavishly paid corporate executives, flush with tax-deductible taxpayer dollars, have plenty of reason to relish the right-wing assault on ‘overpaid’ public employees. But we can wipe that grin off their faces.

By Sam Pizzigati


Somebody is getting rich off our tax dollars. That somebody, governors in Wisconsin, New Jersey, and a host of other states would have us believe, just happens to be our neighbor the public employee.

Teachers, fire fighters, cops, and case workers, have become, in effect, the new “welfare queens.” Ambitious pols the nation over, taking a page from the Ronald Reagan playbook, are creating mythic tax dollar-gobbling stereotypes that demonize Americans just struggling to get by.

These stereotypes do more than demonize. They distract. They shove off the political radar screen the fortunates who really are getting rich off our tax dollars. Fortunates like William Swanson, the CEO of Raytheon, the high-tech giant.



CEO Swanson has taken home $97.8 million over the past five years. His company gets 27 percent of its revenue from federal contracts. .............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://toomuchonline.org/the-bait-and-switch-on-fleecing-taxpayers/