None…

While there are the fewest people receiving public assistance since 1969, there has been no similar revolution in the corporate welfare state. I guess “personal responsibility” doesn’t apply to the wealthiest billionaires in our country. Unlike poor people, not only can they fight back, but they can and do buy off all of America’s politicians (Republican, Democrat, whoever) in exchange for staying on the government’s tit.

How many Americans know that corporate subsidies and tax benefits eclipse the annual social welfare allocation for core programs such as
AFDC, student aid, housing, food and nutrition, and all direct public assistance (excluding Soc. Sec. & medical care).

You may have heard of some of these starving companies included in the report: http://ctj.org/pdf/corp0402.pdf.:

– WALMART: With the Walton family having 5 of the top ten richest billionaires in the world one could understand how bad they need the money. http://reclaimdemocracy.org/independent_business/walmart_eminent_domain.html

– ENRON paid no income taxes at all in 4 of 5 years, despite $1.8 billion in reported U.S. profits. Enron’s total taxes over the five years were a NEGATIVE $381 million. Its corporate tax welfare totaled $1.0 billion.

– MICROSOFT: More than $12 billion in total tax breaks over the past 5 years. In fact, , Despite $12.3 billion in reported U.S. profits, Microsoft actually paid no tax at all in 1999. Microsoft’s tax rate for the past two years was only 1.8 percent on $22 billion in pretax U.S. profits.

– GENERAL ELECTRIC: Almost $12 billion in corporate tax welfare for GE.

– IBM: In 1997, IBM reported $3.1 billion in U.S. profits, and instead of paying taxes, got an outright tax rebate. Over the past five years, IBM enjoyed a total of $4.7 billion in corporate tax welfare.

…this is the type of shit that MLK would be railing against today if his past record is any indication…