So millions being spent in just an hour in one gigantic slice of the pie, yet in Detroit, our own backyard, we have thousands of homes that have had their water shut off. Wait a minute... American citizens are being denied access to water? I thought that was only 3rd world countries. There are 750 million people around the world that lack access to safe water. America is supposed to be this amazing country that is envied, people want to move here... and we can’t even make sure that all of our citizens have water?
Charity Hicks, one out of thousands in Detroit who owe as little as $150 and had their water shut off without warning, says “This is a test being looked at by cities across the US - even the world, we will not let water be used as a weapon to remake the city in a corporate image. We will re-establish what it is to live in a democracy, with a water system that is part of the commons, that affirms human dignity and that ensures everyone's access." (http://www.theguardian.com/environment/true-north/2014/jun/25/detroits-water-war-a-tap-shut-off-that-could-impact-300000-people)
And the slices of pie keep getting smaller and smaller. Like what about the amount of schools that are struggling to keep their music and art programs from closing due to lack of funding or the sad truth that 34% of the total homeless population in this country is younger than 24? Don’t we think that these areas are also very important in the success of the American people?
What about the fact that 51% of homeless veterans have disabilities. Whoa, whoa, whoa... so we not only have homeless veterans, but over half of them have disabilities? America continues to spend an enormous amount of money creating more veterans, yet we cannot even take care of them when they return home? How can that ever be justified? “What does it say about our priorities as a nation that for every dollar the U.S. spends on its military this year, it will spend less than 24 cents caring for its veterans?”
(https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2014/11/11/how-much-do-we-spend-our-nations-veterans/)
And what about huge tax breaks for big corporations and the wealthy? “In theory the tax code is progressive, meaning those who make more money pay higher tax rates – yet in practice that’s not always the case. As Warren Buffett made famous, billionaires sometimes pay lower rates than middle-class workers. And some corporations, like Bank of America and Citigroup, have gotten away with paying zero federal income taxes, even when they make billions in profit. That’s because the tax code is chock-full of tax breaks.
Ten of the largest tax breaks that together totaled more than $750 billion in tax savings in 2013 overwhelmingly benefited the top 1 percent of households, with 17 percent of the benefits going to those top earners. That’s in part because tax deductions – one important type of tax break – are far more likely to benefit the wealthy than middle- and low-income folks, because deductions only offer savings to taxpayers who itemize deductions. Only 16 percent of households making between $25,000 and $30,000 itemize tax deductions, while nearly 100 percent of those making over $200,000 itemize.” (http://ourfuture.org/20140414/the-surprising-truth-behind-tax-day-where-your-taxes-go?gclid=CP6t8ZHxk8QCFQ8oaQodxYUAow)
A lesson for everyone: itemize your tax deductions! ;)