At the center of the controversy is a loophole in the tax code that disregards a consumer’s physical presence and allows the company to treat them as if they were physically located in another country when they buy something. In other words, you might think you are standing on a high street in London buying a cup of coffee, but according to how the tax system is gamed, you are actually standing in a different country when you make that purchase. UK citizens, in other words, are outsourcing their spiritual self to other countries where these companies treat them as having a corporal presence enabling a tax arbitrage that deprives the citizens of Britain with the taxable income necessary to maintain the roads, networks, internet, political stability and access to media outlets they have built up over the decades used by the offending companies to grow sales. But it’s OK to treat a ghost-like representation of these same citizens who are theoretically present in these foreign territories to boost the stock prices in these same companies. Treating UK citizens like ghosts means they get hit twice. Not only do they lose the tax refunds owed to them by these companies (in the form of a higher overall tax take by the government) but with the decrease in taxes comes fresh government the austerity measures needed to maintain the infrastructure these companies need to continue their parasitical leeching of untaxed revenues from the citizens.If only British citizens ate and lived like ghosts, all would be fine. But since they are not, real money needs to be spent for real goods and services despite Google, Amazon’s and Starbuck’s tax treatment of them as immaterial.So you have a situation where Google, Amazon and Starbucks want to use the assets paid for and built by the UK citizens (over generations) but they don’t want to pay for access. They only want your ‘spiritual’ representation to book sales for them in favorable tax territories for virtually nothing in return, except maybe some low wage serf work dispensing lattes to bankers and accountants busy scamming you.The government must, if it is to be considered legitimate, introduce a tax credit to all UK households equal to the taxes lost when big US companies game the system and treat them like ghosts. A rough calculation suggests that each British family is due a £10,000 pound annual ‘ghost’ tax credit to compensate them adequately for the abuse of the assets and infrastructure that is being used by foreigners without adequate compensation.If a British family’s tax liability falls beneath the £10,000 threshold then an outright gift of the difference should be awarded. Any shortfall from the treasury’s ability to pay compensation to British citizens from foreign tax abuse should be financed by the BoE at the same rates they charge these same companies for capital: ½% (or less if you consider Forex arbitrages schemes used by these companies dropping their cost of capital to negative numbers). The coalition government talks about the need to rebalance the UK economy. This would be a good start. Rebalance the tax code in ways that treat UK citizens as living, breathing contributors to society, not accounting ghosts living in a dreary world of austerity cuts to pay for accounting tricks by foreigners. … Read More
Hezbollah to accept Syria arms ‘to break power balance’ with Israel – Nasrallah
Nasrallah made a TV appearance after Israeli warplanes reportedly launched strikes within Syrian territory on Friday and Sunday. In carrying out the attacks, Israeli fighters flew over Lebanon and allegedly fired air-to-ground weapons at their targets.The airstrike were targeting Iranian-supplied missiles that were en route to Hezbollah, anonymous Israeli officials later told media, a claim which Syrian deputy foreign minister Faisal Muqdad dismissed on Thursday.”They absolutely did not achieve their objective and they lied when they said they are targeting Hezbollah,” he said in an interview with AFP. He further promised that Syria would “respond immediately” to any future Israeli attacks against its territory.The Hezbollah chief in his Thursday remarks did not confirm directly the incident, but dwelled on topic of the Lebanon’s party stand-off with the Jewish state.”You Israelis say your objective is to stop the capability of the resistance [against Israel] from growing… but Syria will provide [Hezbollah] with game-changing weapons it has not had before,” Nasrallah said.He further added that his forces were prepared to receive such armaments even if “it breaks the power balance” with Israel and pledged that Hezbollah would use them to defend “our people and our country.”He further vowed that his Lebanese militia would provide both “material and spiritual support” in any effort to help Syria “liberate” the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.”If you [Israel] see Syria as a corridor of arms to [Hezbollah], Syria will provide the resistance with those arms. This is a highly strategic decision,” Nasrallah continued.He added that such a response would be “more strategic” than launching a rocket or “carrying out an air raid” on Israel.Following the Israeli airstrikes, Syrian state media quoted unnamed sources as saying that Damascus was prepared to carry out military operations against Israel from the Golan Heights after decades of relative calm on the border, Reuters reports.Nasrallah for his part described the mobilization of fighters from the Golan as the “second strategic answer” to the Israeli strikes.Hezbollah fought a six-week long war with Israel in 2006, and Nasrallah has recently acknowledged that members of the Lebanese were backing Syrian government forces in the 2-year long conflict which has claimed over 70,000 lives.Amidst the heightened tensions, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry reiterated their commitment to bringing all sides to the negotiating table in the Syrian conflict at a press conference in Moscow on Tuesday.”Russia and the United States will encourage the Syrian government and opposition groups to come to a political solution to the conflict,” Lavrov stated.Lavrov continued that an international conference set for the end of May would be organized on the basis of the Geneva Conference, which outlined steps for an end to the violence in Syria and the establishment of a transitional government free from foreign interference. … Read More
Ten civilization-shaping trends for 2013 that are driving us into social and spiritual crisis
Most people feel that a time of great change is upon us. But what kind of change is unfolding, exactly? … Read More
Phil Donahue: Bush used other people’s kids to prove he’s tough
Phil Donahue, who was fired from MSNBC for speaking out against the Iraq war, explained Monday night that making a documentary about a young paralyzed veteran was akin to a “spiritual experience.” His 2007 documentary “Body of War” told the story of veteran Tomas Young, who…
Exonerated football player Brian Banks signs with the Atlanta Falcons
Brian Banks, a high school football player who spent five years in prison and five years on probation for a rape he did not commit, has signed with the Atlanta Falcons nearly one year after his conviction was overturned.”It’s almost impossible to explain, the feeling of not having freedom, to be stripped away of your freedom, of your dignity, the respect you once had,” Banks told the Associated Press. “To lose it all and watch the world pass you by as you sit inside a prison cell, knowing you shouldn’t be there, knowing you’re there because of another person’s lies, to lose it all and then get it all back, it’s a very humbling, spiritual feeling that you just don’t want to take anything for granted.”Banks was 16-years-olds when a fellow classmate accused him of rape.As Ashley Powers of the Los Angeles Times reported in 2012:Continue Reading… … Read More
Billy Corgan’s strange infatuation with a conspiracy theorist
When Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan is in Austin, Texas, he drops by the studios of America’s favorite conspiracy theorist, Alex Jones. Corgan, who says he first encountered Jones’s work six or seven years ago, has done at least three lengthy interviews with the radio host in past 12 months alone, including an hour-long sit down on Friday.In that appearance, Corgan praised Jones’ visionary work, but pressed him to get to the “next level” by adding a spiritual element to his narratives. “Infowars would benefit from a spiritual perspective, history has shown, whether it’s Gandhi or Martin Luther King or Jesus,” Corgan explained. The musician added that Jones’ much-discussed interview with Piers Morgan in January was “the greatest ever” because it showed “you’ve broken the trance.” Jones said at the time that Corgan texted him immediately after the interview to write: “Alex you broke people’s hypnosis, you couldn’t have done a better job.”Continue Reading… … Read More
"There is a spiritual obligation, there is a task to be done. It is not, however, something as simple…"
““There is a spiritual obligation, there is a task to be done. It is not, however, something… … Read More
