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This was bound to happen.... with loosening regulation of spending
on political purposes, deep pockets especially of Internet based
businesses will push private interests and hurt democracy, in the US
and globally... something for IG CS to be concerned about...<br>
<br>
regards<br>
Guru<br>
<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://truth-out.org/news/item/20372-the-googlization-of-the-far-right-why-is-google-funding-grover-norquist-heritage-action-and-alec">http://truth-out.org/news/item/20372-the-googlization-of-the-far-right-why-is-google-funding-grover-norquist-heritage-action-and-alec</a><br>
<br>
excerpts....<br>
<br>
"Political spending for corporations is purely transactional. It is
all about getting policies that maximize profitability," Bob
McChesney told CMD. “So even ostensibly hip companies like Google
invariably spend lavishly to support groups and politicians that
pursue decidedly anti-democratic policy outcomes. It is why sane
democracies strictly regulate or even prohibit such spending,
regarding it accurately as a cancer for democratic governance."
Professor McChesney co-founded the media reform group Free Press in
2002, and this year authored How Capitalism is Turning the Internet
Against Democracy.....<br>
<p><br>
....Americans for Tax Reform (ATR), the anti-government group run
by Republican operative Grover Norquist, was another new recipient
of funding from Google in 2013. ATR is <a
href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Americans_for_Tax_Reform">best
known</a> for its “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” and for its
fundamentalist attacks on any Republican who might dare to vote
for any increase in taxes. According to the Center for Responsive
Politics, ATR received <a
href="http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/atrs-tax-forms-raise-questions-about-use-of-crossroads-grant-social-welfare-purpose.html">85%
of its funding in 2012</a> ($26.4 million) from the
ultra-partisan Karl Rove-run Crossroads GPS, another dark money
group.</p>
<p>ATR President Grover Norquist infamously said that he wants to
shrink government <a
href="http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Grover_Norquist">"down
to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."</a> Google’s
position on the relative size of government versus bathtubs is not
known, but according to a <a
href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-22/google-joins-apple-avoiding-taxes-with-stateless-income.html">Bloomberg
analysis</a> of Google’s U.S. corporate filings, it avoids
approximately $2 billion dollars globally in tax payments each
year through the use of creative tax shelters.</p>
<p><a
href="http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-22/google-joins-apple-avoiding-taxes-with-stateless-income.html">Bloomberg
reported</a> in May 2013 that in France alone Google is in the
midst of a dispute over more than $1 billion in unpaid taxes that
have been alleged. An August 2013 report by U.S. PIRG – “<a
href="http://uspirg.org/sites/pirg/files/reports/Offshore_Shell_Games_USPIRG.pdf">Offshore
Shell Games</a>” -- found that Google is now holding more than
$33 billion dollars offshore, avoiding taxes on these earnings in
the United States.</p>
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