[Boston-editorial] Re: [IMC Dispatch] Correction to Column on 3 More Billionaires, More Poverty 2

[Sofia JarrinT]

Hi Betsy,
Please keep us on the nonexclusive op-ed list, but
when you send your articles you might want to also cc
the following email: 
boston-editorial at lists.indymedia.org.

Then the editorial team  will know that you would like
us to post the article.  The Dispatch also serves as a
place for discussing media coverage ideas; we don't
want your op-ed pieces to get lost in the traffic.

Any questions, let us know.
Best,
sofia 

--- Betsy Leondar-Wright
<bleondar-wright at faireconomy.org> wrote:

> Thanks, Sofia.
> We do have the posting instructions, for Boston and
> other indy media sites,
> and sometimes use them when we have time. But when
> we're tight on time and
> putting out an op-ed quickly, we use an e-mail list
> where we push one button
> and send it to a bunch of places that don't require
> exclusive submissions.
> Pete Stidman suggested the e-mail we used for that
> kind of posting. But if
> you don't want submissions that way, I can take you
> off the non-exclusive
> op-ed list. 
> We always like reaching your visitors with our
> stuff. Thanks for your work
> in doing the site.
> Cheers,
> Betsy'
> 
> _________________________________
> Betsy Leondar-Wright
> Communications Director
> United for a Fair Economy
> (617) 423-2148 x113
> bleondar-wright at faireconomy.org
> 29 Winter Street
> Boston, MA 02108
> http://www.FairEconomy.Org
> 
> United for a Fair Economy is a national organization
> that raises awareness
> of the damaging consequences of concentrated wealth
> and power.
> Join us! 
> Click here to donate securely online:
>
https://secure.groundspring.org/dn/index.php?aid=1973
> -- 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> on 3/18/05 2:54 PM, Sofia JarrinT at
> sofiajt at yahoo.com wrote:
> 
> > Hi Betsy!
> > 
> > To contribute an article to BostonIndy, please
> post it
> > at:
> > 
> >
>
http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/index.php?function=publish
> > (select News, Local Interest, for Open Newswire)
> > 
> > Also, we would love to see some graphics (a pic)
> with
> > this as well...  
> > 
> > cheers,
> > Sofia
> > 
> > 
> > --- Betsy Leondar-Wright
> > <bleondar-wright at faireconomy.org> wrote:
> > 
> >> Hello, There was an error in the column I just
> sent
> >> you; the rankings of the
> >> Walton heirs in the Forbes billionaires list were
> >> inaccurate. If you're
> >> interested, please use this version instead.
> >> Apologies for any inconvenience.
> >> Betsy Leondar-Wright, United for a Fair Economy
> >> 
> >> 
> >> The Cavernous Divide: More Billionaires, More
> >> Poverty
> >> By Scott Klinger
> >>  
> >> Two magazine covers stood out in poignant
> contrast
> >> on newsstands last week.
> >> Forbes magazine released its 29th annual listing
> of
> >> the world1s
> >> billionaires. Time Magazine1s cover story
> wondered
> >> 3How to End Poverty.2
> >>  
> >> It was a good year for the global billionaires1
> >> club. Their ranks grew to
> >> 691, up 17 percent from the previous year.
> >> Collectively, the wealth of the
> >> world1s billionaires reached $2.2 trillion, up
> more
> >> than 57 percent over the
> >> last two years. 
> >>  
> >> Poverty is growing as well. Time reports that
> nearly
> >> half of the world1s 6
> >> billion residents are poor. Over one billion of
> them
> >> subsist on less than $1
> >> a day. In the United States, according to the US
> >> Census Bureau, the number
> >> of impoverished Americans rose 3.7 percent in
> 2003.
> >> The number of children
> >> living in poverty rose 6.6 percent.
> >> 
> >> Forbes seeks to explain the billionaires1 success
> by
> >> noting that a majority
> >> of those on the list are 3self-made.2  Forbes1
> >> website features an
> >> interactive quiz that asks, 3Do you have what it
> >> takes  to become a
> >> billionaire?2 and proceeds to explore things like
> >> marital status and
> >> hobbies.  The idea is that many billionaires 
> made
> >> it on their own.
> >>  
> >> But to suggest that membership in the growing
> >> billionaires1 club requires
> >> only a combination of hard work and character
> traits
> >> ignores some dramatic
> >> shifts in global economic rules that explain the
> >> cavernous divide that has
> >> developed between the very rich and the very
> poor.
> >>  
> >> Tax rates have fallen on upper income citizens
> and
> >> corporations worldwide.
> >> Fifty years ago in the United States, the highest
> >> marginal income tax rate
> >> was 91 percent; today it is 34 percent.  As
> recently
> >> as 1979, taxes on
> >> capital gains from the sale of stock, real estate
> >> and businesses were 35
> >> percent; today they are 15 percent.  Corporate
> taxes
> >> as a percentage of the
> >> US economy have shrunk from 4.1 percent of Gross
> >> Domestic Product in 1965 to
> >> just 1.5 percent in 2002.  While corporate taxes
> >> have declined throughout
> >> the world, they have plummeted in the United
> States,
> >> leaving only Iceland
> >> among industrialized countries with a lower
> >> corporate tax burden.
> >>  
> >> Several of the wealthiest billionaires
> capitalized
> >> on public assets and made
> >> their fortunes by buying formerly public assets.
> >> This was the case with
> >> Mexican Carlos Slim Helu, the world1s fourth
> richest
> >> man, who used inherited
> >> wealth to buy a substantial share of Mexico1s
> >> privatized national telephone
> >> company. US billionaires Bill Gates, Paul Allen
> and
> >> Steve Ballmer of
> >> Microsoft, and Larry Ellison of Oracle would not
> be
> >> in Forbes1 top 20
> >> billionaires had the US government not invested
> tens
> >> of billions of public
> >> dollars developing computers and the Internet.
> >>  
> >> Some billionaires1 fortunes rest upon paying
> their
> >> employees poverty wages.
> >> Such is the case for the Walton family (numbers
> 10
> >> through 14 on the Forbes
> >> list.)  Wal-Mart is the largest private employer
> in
> >> the world. Many of its
> >> US workers are so poorly paid that they must rely
> on
> >> food stamps and other
> >> forms of public assistance to get by. Such forms
> of
> >> government aid represent
> >> an indirect government subsidy to corporations
> whose
> >> business model does not
> >> include paying employees enough to live on.
> >> Worldwide, billions are gained
> >> by outsourcing service, production and
> manufacturing
> 
=== message truncated ===



		
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