Remember the post about the Harley school - a private school being allowed to refinance $7 million dollars in debt TAX FREE? We have discussed the Wellesley Inn with the town of Brighton leading the charge to recover $60,000 dollars in undeserved handouts because even the Wellesley Inn owners could not not follow the not so stringent rules of using local labor.

David Cay Johnson

(Picture from where Bill Moyers website got it from )

Well - David Cay Johnston was on Bill Moyers last night. Shameless plug here but what a great show. Remember when Bill Moyers was (he probably still is) the target of the radical right’s attempt to replace the Public in Public Broadcasting with Propaganda?

Anyway - Exile wrote about an interview in the City newspaper. Now watch the video.

The premise is the same - the rich are getting richer by shifting their costs to “the poor” though the use of government subsidies and benefits.

The interview - discusses actions benefiting Steve Jobs, Warren Buffet, Steinbrenner and event former Texas Rangers owner George Bush. Watch or read the section on CSX and Amtrak - it is chilling.

Here are some snips from the transcript. The video clip is worth watching.

When asked if he has an objection to rich people

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Oh, no. I– good grief. I have no objection to that whatsoever. But get rich by working hard, working smarter, coming up with a better mousetrap. Don’t get rich by getting the government to pass a law that sticks the government’s hand into my pocket, takes money out of it, and gives it to you. That’s not right. That’s not a fair playing field. And Adam Smith, you know, warned again and again that it is the nature and tendency of business people to want to put their thumb on the scale, and even better, to get the government to put the thumb on the scale for their benefit. And that’s what we’ve seen going on now in our society for some time.

Sums it up rather nicely doesn’t it. Powerful words

Or this

BILL MOYERS: But did you notice what happened when the Democrats briefly toyed with the idea of removing that tax break from the hedge fund and private equity managers Congress thought very briefly about removing it. And then the industry held a big party for– Harry Reid, Senate Democratic majority leader down in Las Vegas, and he came back from that big party and said, “I don’t think we’ll be taking that up anytime soon.”

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: The problem of the political donor class’s outsized influence and its grip on Congress is bipartisan. There’s one party in Washington. It’s the party of money. It has different wings and factions. But Washington is the party of money. And the wealthiest people in America, the large corporations in America, are busy milking the government for everything they can get. And you are paying the price of their free lunch.

Yep - Money talks. Have a look at our presidential candidates - where is that money coming from?

Watch the video

Oh - don’t look at COMIDA the same way again either. It is yet one of many tools used to shift burdens from those who can afford it to those who can’t. What does COMIDA do again? It provides various exemptions from taxes. The very taxes that are the life blood of a government and provides its ability to function. Who makes up the difference? The ones not getting a COMIDA grant.