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jnmpdx's comments:

on Where's Your Money?

Below find two excellent articles on the benefits of, and growing movement for, publicly owned banks:

The Growing Movement for Publicly Owned Banks - Ellen Brown - YES! Magazine 3/18/10
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/03/18-7

How the Nation’s Only State-Owned Bank Became the Envy of Wall Street - Josh Harkinson - Mother Jones  3/27/09
http://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2009/03/how-nation%E2%80%99s-only-state-owned-bank-became-envy-wall-street

posted 3 years, 1 month ago
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on Measure 67

The Oregon Center for Public Policy (OCPP) posted excellent "Visual Guides to Measures 66 and 67" in "The Stump" in early November.
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2009/11/simple_easy_visual_guides_to_m.html

Under Measure 67:

-- the impact of the measure depends upon the type of business entity
-- owners of proprietorships have NO tax increase
-- owners of other small businesses -- "partnerships, limited liability partnerships, limited liability companies and S-corporations" -- pay $150
-- the taxes on C-corporations, "those ... that pay federal taxes under Subchapter C of the Internal Revenue Code," are more complex, and depend upon the level of their profits, and the tax credits they can subtract.  Part 2 of the Measure 67 flowchart presents a clear presentation of the tiered tax structure.  Note that tax rates on C-corporations decrease in 2011-12, and again in 2013.
http://www.ocpp.org/2009/20091102Measure67DecisionTree_fnl.pdf

Measure 67 in perspective:

Bill Graves in The Oregonian on Dec. 12 noted that "Oregon's 2008 state and local business taxes [are] ... the third-lowest tax burden in the nation ... If Measure 67 passes ... [Oregon will have] the nation's fifth-lowest business tax burden."
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2009/12/business_tax_hits_few_but_they.html

Carla Hanson in "The Stump" on Jan. 5 notes that "Corporations operating in Oregon pay 71 percent less in state corporate income taxes than they did in the 1970s. In the 1973-75 budget cycle, corporations accounted for 18.5 percent of Oregon income taxes. In the 2009-11 cycle, their share is projected to be just 6 percent under current standards."
http://www.oregonlive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2010/01/measures_66_and_67_context_and.html

Hanson also notes that according to a 5/25/03 Oregonian article "corporate taxes to the state shrank to 4 percent in 2001-2003, from 7 percent in 1999-2001. 'At no time since record-keeping began in the late 1970s has the corporate contribution to the state budget been so low,' according to the article."

For more on Measures 66 and 67 see:
http://www.ocpp.org/cgi-bin/display.cgi?page=Measure6667


posted 3 years, 4 months ago
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on Bottling It Up in Cascade Locks

Will residents of Cascade Locks be in this position several years down the road?
 
David v. Goliath: Help Michigan Citizens Protect Their Water from Nestle's Bottling Operations - Leslie Samuelrich - Corporate Accountability International 7/1/09
http://www.alternet.org/story/141052/
 
Excerpt:
 
"It's been nine years now since Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation first went to court to stop Nestlé from pumping millions of gallons from a rural Michigan wildlife preserve....
 
The case could have been over in 2003, when a judge determined that Nestlé's withdrawal of 400 gallons of water a minute was having a negative impact on several local streams and ponds, and called a halt to the pumping. But the pumping never stopped. Nestlé appealed and hired its own scientists to produce studies that validated its operations. To counter Nestlé's efforts, the community has had to continue to hire lawyers and experts and the fees are piling up. Nestlé has run the community dry in more ways than one."
 
For additional information, see the Alternet article archives on Nestle and bottled water at the links below:
 
http://www.alternet.org/tags/nestle/
http://www.alternet.org/tags/bottled%20water/

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Bottling It Up in Cascade Locks

more on Nestlé and what to expect:

Small Towns vs. Nestlé - Jenny Tomkins - In These Times 6/28/09
http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2009/06/28-0

posted 3 years, 10 months ago
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on Bottling It Up in Cascade Locks

Re today's program, below find links describing Nestle's behavior in other communities, and links posed by the issues raised on many levels by the bottling and commodification of water.
 
None of this is meant to imply that Cascade Locks and many other communities across the nation are not facing lean times. We need to create green sustainable jobs in all communities that meet the needs of those communities without jeopardizing other communities, ecosystems and the planet.
 
Nestlé fact sheet: "Undermining Local Control of Water" 2009
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/sites/default/files/Nestle%20Fact%20Sheet%202009%20FINAL.pdf
 
Bottled Water - Food & Water Watch
http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/water/bottled
 
Michigan Citizens for Water Conservation v. Nestle Waters North America, Inc.
http://www.justice4michigan.org/files/hfp_nestle_case.pdf
http://www.savemiwater.org/
 
Think Outside the Bottle - Corporate Accountability International
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/content/think-outside-bottle
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/content/communities-think-outside-bottle
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/water-news

posted 3 years, 11 months ago
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