Plutocratic Insurgency Note

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 13: The Liberal-Democracies Strike Back – Countering Extra Sovereign Corporate Tax Avoidance

ZFTWARNING — Thu, 01 Jul 2021 01:03:30 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 13: The Liberal-Democracies Strike Back – Countering Extra Sovereign Corporate Tax Avoidance ZFTWARNING Wed, 06/30/2021 - 9:03pm

For many years, multinational corporations have been playing revenue starved liberal-democratic states off against one-another in a ‘race to the bottom,’ driving tax rates down, leveraging tax havens, and engaging in complex transnational tax avoidance schemes. In response to these ongoing corporate profiteering excesses and attempts at achieving extra sovereign impunity, the finance ministers of the G7 states recently gathered together in London and reached an historic agreement on a global minimum corporate tax rate.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 12: COVID-19 Fall Out—Revitalized Public Infrastructure or the Further Concentration of Private Wealth?

ZFTWARNING — Wed, 14 Apr 2021 23:28:59 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 12: COVID-19 Fall Out—Revitalized Public Infrastructure or the Further Concentration of Private Wealth? ZFTWARNING Wed, 04/14/2021 - 7:28pm

The COVID-19 pandemic has both exacerbated and accelerated the ‘hollowing out’ of the American liberal democratic state’s ability to provide public goods to its citizens while at the same time greatly benefiting its richest families and the multinational corporations under their ownership and control. With the pendulum shifting in the recent presidential and congressional elections from one major political party to another, US federal governmental (and the governed’s) economic interests are now in a direct collision course with plutocratic privilege and prerogative. While the state now seeks to revitalize the public infrastructure—for the American people—family dynastic and plutocratic interests seek to increasingly maximize their economic profits and, in the process, further defund and commoditize such public goods.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 11: Low-Paid, Part-Time, “Gig Economy” as a New Involuntary Labor Model

SWJED — Sat, 16 Feb 2019 06:18:07 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 11: Low-Paid, Part-Time, “Gig Economy” as a New Involuntary Labor Model SWJED Sat, 02/16/2019 - 1:18am

On the surface, while such low levels of unemployment may appear to represent the triumph of unfettered capitalism and the belief in the benefits of a globalized—and supranational—liberal economic order, something far more ominous for the Western middle classes is taking place. Full-time jobs with benefits and secure retirement packages are increasingly being replaced with low-paid and part-time “gig economy” positions as a new involuntary labor model. This labor model not only benefits predatory (i.e. hyper efficient extractive) capitalism but may also be considered a component of the larger transition to human worker replacement by robotic automation and artificial intelligence (AI) systems and the continued hollowing out of the Western welfare state by the plutocratic class.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 10: Increasing Global Wealth Concentration, Record Private Jets at Davos, and the Demise of the American Dream

SWJED — Fri, 25 Jan 2019 14:49:21 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note 10: Increasing Global Wealth Concentration, Record Private Jets at Davos, and the Demise of the American Dream SWJED Fri, 01/25/2019 - 9:49am

This plutocratic trifecta focuses upon the increasing global wealth concentration of the world’s billionaires—as well as the falling tax income tax rates on the rich and their corporations—discussed in a new Oxfam report, the fact that a record number of private (multi-million dollar+ jets) are ferrying global elites to the Davos meeting this year, and that a majority of the U.S. poor (per a World Economic Forum commissioned poll) now recognize that they and their children have little hope of working hard and, as a result, ever becoming rich in American society.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 9: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—Class Warfare ‘Red Line’ Crossed

SWJED — Thu, 11 Jan 2018 06:16:08 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 9: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act—Class Warfare ‘Red Line’ Crossed SWJED Thu, 01/11/2018 - 1:16am

The vast majority of the US populace—the proverbial 99%—just witnessed the blatant crossing of a class warfare ‘red line’ to the benefit of the American plutocracy.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 7: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Pricing Software - Profit Optimization Beyond ‘The Invisible Hand’

SWJED — Sun, 07 Jan 2018 23:57:44 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 7: Artificial Intelligence (AI) Pricing Software - Profit Optimization Beyond ‘The Invisible Hand’ SWJED Sun, 01/07/2018 - 6:57pm

Artificial intelligence algorithms built into business applications software is increasingly changing how multinational corporations interface with their customer base.

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 8: Rotten at the Core - Apple Incorporated’s Stateless Tax Avoidance Strategies & Subsequent Cash Hoard

SWJED — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 09:48:07 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 8: Rotten at the Core - Apple Incorporated’s Stateless Tax Avoidance Strategies & Subsequent Cash Hoard SWJED Wed, 01/03/2018 - 4:48am

Like “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde", Apple Incorporated is a beloved ‘American’ company by day and a ‘stateless’ behemoth after hours when it is time to pay taxes.

Read more about Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 8: Rotten at the Core - Apple Incorporated’s Stateless Tax Avoidance Strategies & Subsequent Cash Hoard

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 6: Privatizing Urban Public Spaces

SWJED — Sat, 05 Aug 2017 08:40:31 +0000

Plutocratic Insurgency Note No. 6: Privatizing Urban Public Spaces SWJED Sat, 08/05/2017 - 4:40am

This situation removes public spaces from the commons and places this territory in the hands of corporate or plutocratic elite rather than under state control.