Diary Entry - Our Simple Life Season 2

Today is June 11th, 2004

Bush gave a contract to a Tax Traitor. Someone the corporate media simply refers to as one of his Campaign Donors.

President Bush has said he wants to "make sure that the system is fair for those of us who do pay taxes" and that "we want everybody paying their fair share." But today, the president went out of his way to lavish a massive government contract on a major campaign contributor, even though the party in question specifically moved operations offshore to avoid paying U.S. taxes.

According to news reports, the Bush administration yesterday gave a $10 billion contract for the Department of Homeland Security to Accenture (formerly Andersen Consulting,), despite the company having recently moved its official headquarters to Bermuda to avoid U.S. taxes. The contract was awarded less than two years after the White House and its allies in Congress gutted a House-passed provision that would have banned awarding homeland security contracts to corporations who exploit tax loopholes, move offshore, and avoid U.S. taxes. At the time, Accenture lobbied to eliminate the provision, hiring GOP political consultant" and Bush family confidant" Charlie Black, to lobby on its behalf. Accenture executives have given President Bush more than $68,000 in campaign contributions since 2000.

Of course, the president has made a practice of paying lip service to the problem of corporate tax evasion, while actively opposing solutions behind the scenes. ABC News reported that when Congress was considering bills to curb the practice in 2002, Bush "said the Bermuda loophole should be closed" but refused to support "any of the bills that would do so", and then allowed his allies to kill the legislation.

This comes as no surprise to me because if we look at the filthy rich we often ignore basic truths about how they manage to get rich, or maintain their wealth. Lets take a look at one of the more sensational cases.

I was flabbergasted to find out that Paris Hilton wanted 165,000 in compensation from the proceeds of the sex videotape that she stars in with Rick Solomon. Hilton's ex boyfriend, Rick Solomon does not want to pay her anything. I am no sexual prude but the part on the video where she is begging to "drink the baby" (his sperm) is something that most would want to distance themselves from. This girl either has no shame or was simply setting herself up for another get rich payday. It may be the latter cause shortly after trying to get money from Rick Solomon, Paris Hilton sued a Panama-based Internet company for $30 million, claiming that it illegally distributed a now-infamous tape of her having sex with an ex-boyfriend. She probably won't win but she will settle for a third of that. She is not embarrassed, she simply wants the quick pay day despite her existing fortune. In case you did not know 550 million is the estimated value of Barron Hilton's fortune. $28 million is the share of that Hilton fortune that each of the eight kids and 12 grandkids probably gets.

Even the Paris Hilton fan Blog claims "Each week is a new low and further evidence that the fabulously wealthy can get away with behavior that would land most of us plebes in court or under psychiatric care. For all the celebrity conquests, addictions and party-girl tabloid headlines the two have wracked up during their short lives, they've obviously been denied through their wealthy upbringings, the basic social skills necessary for self-preservation in the real world."

If Paris Hilton had any shame, she would abandon the silly Simple Life show. The truth is that many policies and bills introduced into law are lobbied for by the ruling elite in both the Democrat and Republican parties. They are so greedy, obscene and slanted against the average American that it is hard to fro them to fathom the reality of the average citizen. It's so "Un -American" and ridiculous that we keep watching, waiting and wanting to believe that the rich maintain their wealth by creating jobs for fellow Americans or doing good things.

No matter what type of stupidity Paris Hilton involves herself in on the Simple Life show, the Hilton name and reputation won't be scandalized or shamed by American media outlets. The Hilton family pays the bills of many in the media. To understand this better I will highlight the American family with the most wholesome image. I should mention that the Hilton fortune pales in comparison to the wealthiest of these American families. A family which has built its empire off of its image. An un-televised image of the simple life. That family is the Waltons.

The Walton family owns Wal-Mart. The owners of one of America's premiere retail corporations is comprised of five of the ten richest people in the world, all from the same family. Their personal wealth eclipses $100 BILLION dollars. Last year the company's CEO was paid a cool $11.5 million, more than the annual salaries of 765 of his employees combined! The company's profits are over $7 BILLION annually. In these difficult economic times; how do they do it?

This company runs ads featuring the United States flag and proclaims "We Buy American". In 2001 they moved their worldwide purchasing headquarters to China and are the largest importer of Chinese goods in the US, purchasing over $10 BILLION of Chinese-made products annually--- products made mostly by women and children working in the labor hell-holes China is famous for. Their average employee working in the US makes $15,000 a year, at $7.22 per hour! Chinese employees gross under $11,000 a year. The company brags that 70% of their employees are full time, but fails to disclose that they count anyone working 28 hours a week or more as full time.

There are no health care benefits for employees unless you have worked for the company for two years. With a turnover rate averaging above 50% per year, only 38% of their 1.3 million employees have health care coverage. In California alone it's estimated that the taxpayers pay over $20 million annually to subsidize health care benefits for these employees who get none from this behemoth corporation. According to a report by PBS's "Now" with Bill Moyer, their managers are trained in what government social programs are available for these "employees" to take advantage of, so that the company can pass on those costs to you and me. It allows them to not only keep their $7 BILLION in annual profits, but to do so by substituting benefits they refuse to provide with benefits paid for with taxpayer dollars.

This company holds the record for the most suits filed against it by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A lawyer from "Business Week" (not exactly the bastion for supporting Labor) said, "I have never seen this kind of blatant disregard for the law." They had to pay $750,000.00 in Arizona for blatant discrimination against the disabled! The judge was so incensed that he also ordered them to run commercials admitting their guilt. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued over 40 formal complaints against the corporation in 25 different states in just the past five years. The NLRB's top lawyer believed that their labor violations, such as illegal spying on employees, fraudulent record keeping, falsifying time cards to avoid paying overtime, threats, illegal firings for union organizing etc., were so widespread that he was looking into filing a very rare national complaint against the company.

The company contributed $2,159,330.00 to GW Bush and the GOP in 2000 and 2002 ( this alone is a good reason to boycott). The NLRB attorney was replaced when President Bush took office. Nearly 1 MILLION women are involved in the largest class-action suit ever filed against a corporation. Although women make up over 65% of this corporation's work force, only 10% of them are managers. The women who have become store managers, make $16,400 a year LESS than the men. The corporation took out nearly 350,000 life insurance policies on their employees. They did not tell the employees and then named the corporation as the beneficiary. They are now being sued by numerous employees, and although the corporation has stopped this practice of purchasing what is known as "Dead Peasant Policy's", a company spokesperson stated, "The company feels it acted properly and legally in doing this." They've forced employees to work after ordering them to punch out. In Texas alone, this practice of "wage theft" is estimated to have cost employees $30 million per year. Wage theft or "off-the-clock" lawsuits are pending in 25 states.

In New Mexico they paid $400,000.00 in one suit, and in Colorado they had to pay $50 MILLION to settle one class-action case brought against them. In Oregon, a jury found them guilty of locking employees in the building and of forcing unpaid overtime. With 4,400 stores, they practice "predatory pricing." They come into a community and sell their goods at below cost until they drive local businesses under. Once they have captured the market, the prices go up. Locally owned and operated businesses put virtually all of their money back into the community, which helps keep the local economies vibrant. This corporation sucks the money out of the local community, decreases wages and benefits, and ships the profits out of state. This company doesn't buy locally or bank locally. They replace three decent paying jobs in a community with two poorly paid "part-timers". In Kirksville, Missouri ---when this company came to town, four clothing stores, four grocery stores, a stationary store, a fabric store and a lawn-and-garden store all went under. Eleven businesses are now gone. (The above information can be found in "Thieves in High Places", James Hightower, The Penguin Group, New York, NY, 2003, p. 166 - 193.)

Now you know how they can claim, "Always low prices." Wal-Mart is the largest corporation in the world, larger than General Motors and Exxon Mobil. Wal-Mart reaped over 250 billion in sales in 2003, which is larger than the entire gross national product of Israel and Ireland combined. It has over 1.3 million employees. It sells more groceries, jewelry, photo processing, dog food, and vitamins than any other chain in the world. When you think wealth you don't think Walmart due to their simple no flash image and you surely don't think about the fact they are owned by The Walton family. As you know the Walton family has been marketed as American patriots living a simple life.

The history of their business dealings offer no evidence of patriotism or a respectable image for the Waltons. But I admit they do lead a simple life. If a simple life means, free from U.S. taxes, legal prosecution, long work hours, and immunity from any community responsibility. In the final analysis I guess the Simple life is the ability to be able to do whatever you want, whenever you want, wherever you want and and to whomever you want without having to worry about consequences for your actions.

Wealth affords a lot of privileges in society, just ask the Waltons or the Hiltons. It must be really fun for Paris Hilton to have people whose lives are totally opposite of hers, support her madness 100% by tuning in every week, to laugh at her, when the joke is actually on them.

Released: June 11th, 2004

The views and opinions expressed herein by the author do not necessarily represent the opinions or position of Playahata.com.