how does this happen

Slogging through your taxes right now? Maybe you could hire someone from General Electric to help.

The company has beaten Uncle Sam. It paid no U.S. taxes for 2010, The New York Times. In fact, it received a tax benefit of $3.2 billion.

It's not that GE can claim poverty. The company rang up $14.2 billion in profits last year, including $5.1 billion from U.S. operations.

How did GE do it? Through what the Times describes as "innovative accounting" and fierce lobbying, GE has been cutting its tax bill for years. In a stroke of genius, it hired a former Treasury official to lead its tax department and filled its team with former IRS employees and Congressional tax specialists.

The top corporate tax rate is supposed to be 35% -- one of the highest in the world. But few companies actually pay that rate, since there are myriad loopholes and other ways to get breaks. Now, the Times reports, only 6.6% of Uncle Sam's tax revenue comes from corporations (down from 30% in the 1950s).(msn.money)

In Wisconsin we are told that unions cost the economy too much and must be diluted so more money goes to the black ink and less is draining the state coffers red ink. In Michigan we are told that municipal services handled by union workers cost way too much and in this land of democracy the Governor has the right to destroy municipal charters doing away with any and all unions and privatizing services. In Ohio teachers unions, firefighter unions, nurses unions are depleting the budget costing way too much and the only saving grace is to diminish or destroy such unions. We are told by the Ohio Governor, the Michigan Governor, the Wisconsin Governor that these are hard cuts but necessary.

We are told by Republican/Baggers in Washington that less money spent on taxes by the ultra wealthy, corporations, big business means more jobs and a better forecast for our future. We are told that taxation for the rich makes Capitalism weak and then we are told that less salary, less benefits, less healthy working conditions for the middle class will make Capitalism once again powerful. We need to sacrifice,(we are told by the Red State Legislators and the Republican/Baggers and the Koch Brothers and their sidekicks, Rove, Limbaugh and Beck) on the backs of the working class to make America more red white and blue.

In 2010 we were sold a bill of goods that smart is bad, minimum wage is bad, too much government is costly, health care for all is way too expensive, three meals a day is gluttonous, seniors need to work till they die, mass transportation and infrastructure are only tentacles for unions and since they create union jobs they are evil, and that unless everyone earning under a million dollars a year stops being so greedy America will turn into a Fascist, Communist, Socialist country run by the Devil himself.

In 2010, the purveyors of lies, fabrication self service, sold their wares and in 2011 we have begun to see a fault line as great as any which lies beneath the Earth begin to rumble and roll. We have seen the wealthy buy Supreme Court Justices, own Politicians, decide national policy, and deny rights, freedoms and respect for those deemed as undesirables aka the working class. We have been told falsehoods that the less the corporations pay the more they will create jobs…the less restriction and regulation we place on businesses the more they can expand…the less obstacles we place in the way of profits for shareholders the easier it will become to stimulate our economy. And the more we stop selfish workers from seeking a fair share of the American pie, the better we become in this land called America.

I am a member of the middle class and I pay more of a percentage in taxes then many Fortune 500 Corporations, CEO’s and Millionaires. I don’t mind doing my fair share but just don’t understand why…why separate but equal exists in this nation when it comes to fair share for all?

The Republican/Baggers shouted loud and long. They hummed tunes from the Revolutionary War, crooned hymns from the New Testament, shouted annotated comments from the Constitution all paid for by billionaires and made a case for more for the rich and less for the poor. And in all that hubbub and patriotic hallelujah they elected individuals who paralleled their banter.

And in 2011 we have the wealthy paying less, the middle class paying more and the poor barely surviving. Whose America is this and whose America is it going to be? Why does this happen? How does this happen?