Are You Kidding Me?

I don’t mean to go too far astray from our usual, Oregon-focused blogging. But… Wisconsin? Are you SERIOUS?

As the heat turns up on the Occupy Wall Street movement—including the Occupy Portland kickoff today—there’ve been a few opportunities in the last couple of weeks to peek inside the minds of the Wall Street investors who tanked our economy and then profited from the crisis.

As it turns out, they see the economic crisis as another opportunity to make money, and they’re not going to be helping to create any jobs any time soon, no matter how many tax breaks we give them.

You may have seen a video circulating recently of a Wall Street trader named Alessio Rastani giving an eye-opening interview to the BBC. The BBC hosts were asking Rastani about efforts by European governments to fix the Euro economy. His bold, direct answers left the newsroom (and everyone else who’s seen the video) speechless. Here's the video, with partial transcript below:

"Guns don't kill people, the old saying goes. People do.

By the same token, corporations don't dodge taxes. People do. The people who run corporations. And these people — America's CEOs — are reaping awesomely lavish rewards for the tax dodging they have their corporations do."

Last year, 25 major US corporations spent more paying the salary of their CEOs than they did paying their entire federal income tax bill. The study, conducted by the Institute for Policy Studies, also discovered that these same companies also spent more on lobbying than taxes.

Bruce Hanna and Republican Leaders Kill Bill: Part 1

This week, Oregon House Republicans killed a number of bills by letting the clock run out on them. Many of these bills have enough votes on the floor of the House to pass, but Republican leaders, including Co-Chair Bruce Hanna, R-Coca Cola, have refused to let them out of committee. Over the next several days, we’ll be highlighting some of these important bills and what they could have meant for Oregonians.

Senate Bill 695, which would ban the chemical BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, has been blocked in the House by Republicans who refuse to hold a committee work session on it.

Why is this bill so important? Take it away, OLCV: “Bisphenol-A (BPA) is a dangerous, toxic chemical that is routinely found in plastic children’s food products like baby bottles, sippy cups, and infant formula cans.  Toxic BPA has been linked to several increasing children's developmental problems. “

Instead of voting to protect children by banning this harmful chemical in children’s products, Republican leaders have put the brakes on the bill. Why would that be? Kari Chisholm at Blue Oregon has an interesting take: