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Republicans party has become the “Almond Joy Party”. Sometime they act like a nut and sometime they don’t.

Brian Dunn, Best Buy CEO, Resigns Amid Internal Probe

By By ANNE D'INNOCENZIO and MICHELLE CHAPMAN 04/10/12 09:06 PM ET

NEW YORK -- Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn abruptly resigned on Tuesday after the embattled consumer electronics chain launched an internal investigation into his "personal conduct."

Best Buy released a statement late Tuesday saying that it is conducting the probe after earlier only saying the departure was a "mutual decision." The chain would not give any specifics on the circumstances surrounding the investigation of Dunn, a 28-year Best Buy veteran who had been CEO since 2009.

"Certain issues were brought to the board's attention regarding Dunn's personal conduct, unrelated to the company's operations or financial controls, and an audit committee investigation was initiated," according to a company statement issued late Tuesday. "Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn chose to resign."

Dunn, who started his career at Best Buy as a sales clerk in the 1980s, could not be reached for comment about the investigation. But earlier on Tuesday, the 50-year-old said in a statement that he was leaving Best Buy poised "for a strong future."

Best Buy Co. hasn't disclosed the terms of Dunn's severance package. But Dunn's annual compensation for fiscal 2010, the latest figures available, was worth about $5 million – half of what it was in the prior fiscal year.

The resignation adds to Best Buy's mounting problems. Up until a few years ago, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer was the place Americans went to grab TVs and cameras. But the chain has suffered in the economic downturn and has been widely criticized for not being quick to respond to growing competition and the changing shopping habits of Americans.

While industry watchers had been calling for changes at Best Buy, news of the investigation didn't sit well with Wall Street. On the news of the probe, Best Buy's shares fell almost 6 percent, or $1.33, to close at $21.32, after initially climbing higher on news of Dunn's departure. Best Buy's shares have lost more than half of their value since April 2006, when they were trading at $56.66 per share.

"It's good news that he's gone," said Brian Sozzi, chief equities analyst at NBG Productions, an independent research firm. "But this adds another layer of uncertainty."

Best Buy said Tuesday that board member Mike Mikan, 39, will serve as interim CEO while the company searches for Dunn's permanent replacement. A new CEO will face a big challenge trying to usher Best Buy into a new era.

Sales of TVs, digital cameras and video game consoles – once the bread-and-butter of Best Buy – have weakened, while sales of lower margin items like tablet computers, smartphones and e-readers have increased. Adding to that, people increasingly use the stores of big-box retailers like Best Buy as showrooms to browse for products and then go online to Amazon.com and other sites to buy items at lower prices.

Best Buy, based in Minneapolis, was expected to benefit from the liquidation of the company's main competitor Circuit City, which was overcome by growing competition in 2009. But instead, the company has continued to struggle even in the absence of its rival.

Best Buy's revenue at stores opened at least a year – a key measure because it excludes results from stores that open and close within the year – has declined in three of the past four years. In the most recent fiscal year ended March 3, the figure fell 1.7 percent. That's on top of a 1.8 percent decline in the prior fiscal year.

The chain also lost $1.23 billion, or $3.36 per share, in the most recent fiscal year. That compares with a profit of $1.28 billion, or $3.08 per share, in the prior year

"Best Buy's operational strategy has been way off the mark and late to address the fundamental industry upheaval," Sozzi, the analyst at NBG Productions, said. "Big-box stores can't be fixed. They have to be re-invented."

Best Buy, which has 1,400 U.S. stores, has been trying to revamp its business. In the past few years, the company has cut its square footage by 15 percent in about 43 stores. It did that by either subletting the space to other merchants or giving it back to the landlords.

And a couple weeks ago, the chain unveiled a massive restructuring plan that calls for closing 50 of its U.S. big-box stores and opening 100 small-format stores focusing on its burgeoning mobile business that focuses on cell phones. It's also planning to cut $800 million in costs over the next five years.

But analysts say there's more work to be done. Gary Balter, an analyst at Credit Suisse, says the company should close even more stores and take better advantage of its fast-growing mobile business. After all, Best Buy's mobile business makes up nearly one-third of the retailer's profits, he says, but accounts for less than 10 percent of the overall square footage.

"Best Buy faces an uphill battle to find the right CEO," said Michael Pachter, an analyst at research firm Wedbush Securities. "Mr. Dunn's replacement must be prepared to manage the transition from big box to small box format. A CEO with this experience will be difficult to find."

Marcus BaramMarcus@huffingtonpost.com

IBM, AT&T Unfairly Getting Small-Business Contracts: Study

Some of the world's biggest companies are benefiting from a program meant to help America's small businesses, according to a new study.

Lockheed Martin, IBM and AT&T all have snatched up federal government contracts meant for small businesses, according to a study from the American Small Business League.

Indeed, almost three-fourths of the top 100 federal "small" business contractors in fiscal year 2011, were actually large companies, says the report highlighted by the Project on Government Oversight. Some of the biggest beneficiaries include Aegis, a 1,900-employee defense contractor, and Sierra Nevada, an 1,800-employee aircraft parts maker. Among the top recipients were Metro Machine Corp. in Norfolk, Va., which received almost $240 million in contracts even though it is a subsidiary of General Dynamics, a conglomerate with $2 billion in annual revenue.

The ASBL, which has repeatedly complained about instances in which large companies misrepresent their status to the government in order to qualify for such contracts, said such diversion of contracts deprives legitimate small businesses of more than $60 billion in contracts each year. "Misrepresenting your firm as a small business is a felony, but the SBA has NEVER prosecuted a single offender," it says on the league's website. The Small Business Administration did not return a call for comment.

The industry group found that the government failed to reach its statutory goal of providing 23 percent of all federal contracts to small businesses in fiscal year 2010 and that there was an increase in the number of large businesses winning such contracts, as reported by the Project on Government Oversight.

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The discrepancy could get worse. The SBA recently issued a rule that broadens the definition of companies that qualify as small businesses, as noted by POGO. Spokesmen for Lockheed Martin, IBM and AT&T did not return emails seeking comment.

Chamber, Business Groups Aim To Weaken Anti-Bribery Law

A law that bans American companies from paying bribes to often-corrupt foreign leaders seems pretty obvious.

But the Chamber of Commerce is spearheading an under-the-radar battle to weaken the decades-old Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which was passed in 1977 in the wake of scandals like Banana gate, in which Chiquita admitted to bribing the president of Honduras. In that year alone, more than 400 U.S. companies admitted to making questionable payments of more than $300 million to foreign government officials and politicians. Recent violators include Siemens AG, which was forced to pay a $450 million fine for distributing more than $800 million to governments around the world, and former representative William "Dollar Bill" Jefferson (D-La.), who was busted for bribing African governments to win contracts for business colleagues.

American companies have often chafed at the rule, complaining that it hurts their ability to compete for business against non-U.S. firms that are not subject to such anti-bribery laws. The Chamber, which corralled a number of other prominent trade associations to send a letter this week to the Justice Department seeking clarity on the law, has long lobbied against it.

The Chamber's Institute for Legal Reform hired former Bush administration attorney general Michael Mukasey last year and has spent millions to lobby on the FCPA and other bills. This week is a particularly vulnerable time for DOJ with the collapse of one of its biggest bribery cases against more than a dozen defendants in a case involving military equipment contracts. Still in officials' sights are Avon, over whether it paid bribes in China to win a license there, and Wynn Resorts, which gave a $135 million donation to the University of Macau while seeking gaming licenses there, as reported by Reuters.

Pentagon Lets Down Whistleblowers, Says GAO

Members of the military who fear retaliation for blowing the whistle on fraud and other concerns may not get help from the Pentagon, according to a new Government Accountability Office report. Military brass take too long to investigate whistleblower complaints and have sometimes put the careers of whistleblowers in jeopardy, according to the audit. But the process also can transform the career of a grunt -- in one example cited by the GAO, a service member eventually was given a Bronze Star that had been denied to him due to reprisal.

Quick Hits

* The Securities and Exchange Commission is making government geeks happy with a user friendly redesign of its database of official speeches, statements and videos.

* SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro expressed her support for the STOCK Act, which seeks to limit congressional insider trading in the wake of a "60 Minutes" investigation.

* Yet more SEC news: Two former top officials, including ex-commissioner Kathleen Casey and ex-general counsel Brian Cartwright just joined Patomak Global Partners, a consulting group in D.C. already run by a former SEC commissioner, Paul S. Atkins.

Obama Campaign To Wall Street: We'll Go Easy On You Guys

The Huffington Post   Jillian Berman First Posted: 02/15/2012 5:49 pm Updated: 02/15/2012 6:59 pm

President Obama's campaign manager has a message for Wall Street: This time around, we'll lay off.

Jim Messina, Obama's campaign manager, told the hosts of a $38,500 per-plate fundraiser geared towards investment bankers and hedge fund managers that the president wouldn't make Wall Street look bad during his re-election campaign, Bloomberg reports. The assurance follows Obama's call to raise taxes on the rich in his latest budget proposal.

The current attempt at appeasement also comes as Obama attempts to win back the donors that provided him with so much last election. Despite criticizing Wall Street during a 2007 speech at the Nasdaq stock exchange, financial industry donations to Obama outpaced Wall Street cash to his GOP rival John McCain two-to-one at certain points in that campaign, according to the New York Daily News.

This time, Wall Street donors are instead favoring Republican candidates, their dollars going to the GOP by a five to one margin. And Mitt Romney, the Republican front runner and a former Wall Street man himself, is netting most of that cash, according to campaign finance data. In addition, an October fundraiser geared towards Wall Street donors and headlined by billionaire investor Warren Buffett had a "disappointing" turn out, according to the New York Post.

Wall Street may be having a change of heart after Obama has repeatedly slammed the industry during his first few years in office. The president criticized the financial industry in a December 2009 CBS 60 Minutes interview for giving themselves big bonuses -- calling them "fat cat bankers" -- after U.S. taxpayers bailed them out. In April 2010, he chided a group of Wall Street leaders for their “reckless practices,” according to The New York Times.

Another Wall Street bugaboo may be Obama's push for more financial regulation -- some Wall Streeters said Obama's support for the Dodd-Frank financial reform act turned them off from the president. Obama's repeated calls to raise taxes on the wealthy may also be ruffling the financial industry's feathers. The president's budget proposal for 2013 included a provision -- dubbed the "Buffett rule" -- that would require households making more than $1 million to pay at least 30 percent of their income in taxes.

Calf In Backseat Of Honda Civic Leads To Arrests In New Mexico

04/ 2/12 11:02 AM ET

Cops arrested three men after reportedly finding a calf in their backseat. It probably looked a lot like this cute little guy.

CARLSBAD, N.M. -- New Mexico authorities have arrested three men found with a 220-pound calf in the backseat of their car.

The Carlsbad Current Argus reports that the men are accused of cattle rustling. They were jailed on charges of suspicion of larceny of livestock, conspiracy, lack of a bill of sale and exporting livestock.

Luna County sheriff's office says a deputy pulled over their Honda Civic on Friday and saw the animal sharing the backseat with one of the alleged thieves.

The three are being held at the Luna County Detention Center.

Jessica Rae Sacco Dismemberment: Five Suspects Arrested In Horrific Ohio Slaying

By BARBARA RODRIGUEZ 04/ 2/12 05:38 PM ET

Christopher Wright and Sharon Cook were arraigned on Monday -- two of five suspects in connection with the killing of Jessica Sacco

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Authorities investigating the death of a western Ohio woman who they say was stabbed, suffocated and dismembered in her bathtub before some of her remains were dumped in Kentucky believe she may have met two of her assailants through the Internet.

Urbana Police Chief Matt Lingrell said 21-year-old Jessica Rae Sacco was living with her boyfriend and a Michigan couple they met on the Internet. Sacco's dismembered body was found in her apartment Friday.

Twenty-five-year-old Matthew Puccio of Urbana is charged with killing Sacco. Twenty-six-year-old Andrew Forney and 25-year-old Kandis Forney, both of Fenton, Mich., face charges involving corpse abuse and evidence tampering. They are among five people arrested in connection with Sacco's death.

Police said they will not discuss a motive while the investigation is ongoing.

The Huffington Post  |  By Andy Campbell   |  Posted: 04/02/12 02:32 PM ET  |  Updated: 04/02/12 04:37 PM ET

Sarah Jones Case: Bengals Cheerleader Pleads Not Guilty To Sex With Student

The captain of the Cincinnati Bengals cheerleading squad -- the Ben-Gals -- pleaded not guilty today to charges of having sex with a student while she was a high school teacher.

Sarah Jones, 26, is accused of having a sexual relationship with a senior at Dixie Heights High School in Kentucky, where she taught until she resigned last November, according to MSNBC.

The details of the accusations are unclear, but Jones was indicted last week on charges of first-degree sexual abuse and unlawful use of electronic devices. Her mother, Cheryl Jones, was also indicted on accusations that she tampered with physical evidence in her daughter's case.

Sarah Jones abruptly quit her teaching job on Nov. 30, citing "personal reasons," WLWT reported. Dixie Heights Superintendent Terri Cox-Cruey said that the resignation came at the same time as the first police probe.

"The day the police openly investigated, that was the same day she submitted her resignation," Cox-Cruey told the station, adding that she was surprised to hear about the allegations.

"No parents or students ever approached me in all the years she worked for the district with any concern," she said.

Gannett reported that the police investigation was, for the most part, kept secret from the school district.

Sarah and Cheryl Jones held hands as they pleaded not guilty in court today. The victim's family was in court to support Jones and deny that the abuse happened, according to MSNBC.

"The student denies it. The parents of the student are upset that this has gone where it has gone. They don't have anything bad to say about Sarah. Sarah denies it," said attorney Eric Deters in December. "There's no victim. There's nobody saying, 'Hey, this happened.'"

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Shaquan Duley Begins 35-Year Sentence After Killing Her Two Sons, Staging Their Death

Shaquan Duley, 30, sits with her lawyer at her sentencing hearing before she was committed to a maximum security prison Friday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A 30-year-old South Carolina mother has begun a 35-year prison sentence for killing her two young sons.

Records show Shaquan Duley (shah-KWAHN' DOO'-lee) was admitted Friday to a maximum-security women's prison in Columbia.

Divers pulled the bodies of 2-year-old Devean and 18-month-old Ja'van from the North Edisto River in August 2010.

Last month, Duley pleaded guilty to murder in the boys' deaths, admitting that she smothered them with her hands, then put their bodies in the river, staging a watery crash scene.

Duley said she killed the boys after a fight with her mother over her parenting skills.

Snow Plow Driver And Wife Charged In Alleged Strangulation Murder: Allen And Patricia Prue In Custody

By LISA RATHKE 03/28/12 04:39 PM ET

ST. JOHNSBURY, Vt. — A Vermont snowplow driver who wanted to "get a girl" was accused Wednesday along with his wife of luring a popular prep school teacher from her home by pretending their vehicle had broken down, beating and strangling her, stripping her body naked and throwing it into the Connecticut River.

Allen Prue, 30, and Patricia Prue, 33, of Waterford, pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder in the death of Melissa Jenkins, whose SUV was found idling along a remote road near her St. Johnsbury home on Sunday with her unharmed 2-year-old inside.

Police said Allen Prue was riding around on Sunday with his wife when he got the idea "to get a girl," the affidavit said. "They didn't plan to get one forcefully," the police affidavit said.

Police gave no further details on a possible motive in the death of the 33-year-old teacher at the prestigious St. Johnsbury Academy. The Prues were ordered held without bail, and police said more charges were possible.

"They knew Miss Jenkins and had snow plowed her driveway a couple of years ago," Vermont State Police Maj. Ed Ledo said at a news conference announcing the arrests. A friend told police that Allen Prue had asked Jenkins out a couple of times and that she felt uncomfortable around him, according to the documents. She stopped having him plow, and in autumn 2011 he showed up drunk at her home asking if he could plow her driveway the following year.

After the court appearance, Allen Prue's mother, Donna Prue, said that her son has never been in trouble with the law before and that she has faith he didn't commit the crime. "I do not believe he would ever do this, because he didn't have it in him. I have nothing against her (Patricia); I don't have nothing bad to say about either one," said Donna Prue, who lives with the couple and her daughter. She said she did not know Jenkins.

Police were called Sunday night after Jenkins' son was found alone in her vehicle.

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Her former boyfriend told police she called him saying that she had gotten a weird call from a couple who used to plow her driveway and that she was going to help them. She wanted someone to know what she was doing, the documents say.

When he couldn't reach her two hours later, he went to check on her. He told police he found her vehicle, with her son sleeping in it, and one of her shoes nearby. Allen Prue later told police that Patricia Prue called Jenkins and told her they had broken down near her home.

The death of the well-loved science teacher at St. Johnsbury Academy, once attended by President Calvin Coolidge, reverberated through the town of 6,200 in northeastern Vermont about 40 miles south of the Canadian border.

Ledo said he hoped the arrests would bring closure for Jenkins' family and friends.

"We can now turn our full attention to healing from this tragic loss, celebrating Melissa's life and mourning her death," said Joe Healy, a spokesman for St. Johnsbury Academy.

The court documents describe the encounter this way:

When the 33-year-old Jenkins got out of her vehicle, Allen Prue grabbed her and strangled her. He said his wife was outside helping him but didn't know what she was doing. He then put the body in the backseat of their car, and they drove to their home. At some point, Patricia Prue choked Jenkins in the car "to ensure she wasn't breathing."

Back at their home, he put Jenkins' body on a tarp, removed her clothes and poured bleach on her body. The Prues also removed their clothes and put them on the tarp. They then drove to a boat access at the Connecticut River, which separates Vermont from New Hampshire, and put Jenkins' body in the water, weighing it down with cinder blocks and concealing it with brush.

They threw a prepaid cell phone that Patricia had used to call Jenkins into the water near Moore Dam and took the tarp and the clothes to New Hampshire where they burned it. Jenkins' body was found with her feet tied and severe bruising indicating a severe beating before her death, the affidavit said.

Number Of Working Poor In America Hit Its Highest Level In Last Two Decades: Report

The Huffington Post  |  By Khadeeja Safdar Posted: 04/11/2012 12:05 pm Updated: 04/11/2012 12:05 pm

In this post-recession economy you may be able to get a job, but that doesn't necessarily protect you from falling into poverty.

In 2010, the number of working poor Americans climbed to its highest level in the last two decades, the Department of Labor reported last week. About 10.5 million Americans, or 7.2 percent of the labor force in 2010, weren't earning enough to stay out of poverty, according to a Department of Labor report released last week. That's the highest rate since the Labor Department started reporting the statistic in 1987 (h/t Think Progress).

To provide broader picture of 2010, during that year, 46.2 million Americans or 15.1 percent of the population were earning below the official poverty line -- an annual income of $10,830 for a single person and $22,050 for a family of four, according to the Census Bureau.

But the new report isn't the only indication that the number of Americans making a decent income has declined in recent years. The number of U.S. households classified as living in "extreme poverty" -- earning a cash income of less than $2 per person per day -- more than doubled from 1996 to 2011, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities reported.

In addition, nearly one in every two Americans or 146.4 million is now classified as either low-income or earning below the poverty line, an increase of 4 million from 2009, according to a December Census report.

What's more, the number of Americans one emergency away from a financial crisis also climbed to nearly 50 percent, a study from earlier this year found.

And while there may be indications that the job market is improving, the most recent employment gains are reportedly taking place in low-paying industries like retail and temporary work. In addition, median income has decreased more during the recovery than the recession.

Big Companies Collecting State Taxes From Workers And Keeping The Money

Posted: 04/12/2012 12:01 am Updated: 04/12/2012 11:22 am

By David Cay Johnston

April 12 (Reuters) - Across the United States more than 2,700 companies are collecting state income taxes from hundreds of thousands of workers - and are keeping the money with the states' approval, says an eye-opening report published on Thursday.

The report from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit taxpayer watchdog organization funded by Ford, Surdna and other major foundations, identifies 16 states that let companies divert some or all of the state income taxes deducted from workers' paychecks. None of the states requires notifying the workers, whose withholdings are treated as taxes they paid.

General Electric, Goldman Sachs, Procter & Gamble, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors and AMC Theatres enjoy deals to keep state taxes deducted from their workers' paychecks, the report shows. Foreign companies also enjoy such arrangements, including Electrolux, Nissan, Toyota and a host of Canadian, Japanese and European banks, Good Jobs First says.

Why do state governments do this? Public records show that large companies often pay little or no state income tax in states where they have large operations, as this column has documented. Some companies get discounts on property, sales and other taxes. So how to provide even more subsidies without writing a check? Simple. Let corporations keep the state income taxes deducted from their workers' paychecks for up to 25 years.

It was not always this way. Letting companies keep their workers' state taxes apparently began in Kentucky two decades ago as a way to retain jobs. Last July when I wrote about six big companies that pocket Illinois state taxes () I knew there was more to this. But I had no idea how pervasive these diversions were until I read an advance copy of the 39-page report by Good Jobs First. CORPORATE SOCIALISM Deals cut with the states over the past two decades diverted $5.5 billion from public purposes to private gain, the report says. Close to $700 million more was diverted last year, Good Jobs First estimates.

New Jersey approved $73.2 million in new deals in 2011 on top of $178 million diverted that year alone under previous deals. I calculate that at nearly $80 per household in corporate welfare based on New Jersey's 3.1 million households.

These deals typify corporate socialism, in which business gains are privatized and costs socialized. They also mean government picks winners and losers, interfering with competitive markets. Leaders in both parties embrace these giveaways because they draw campaign donations from corporate interests and votes from people who do not understand that they are subsidizing huge companies. Michael Press, a Connecticut consultant on tax incentives, says such deals, however troubling, are an inevitable result of the U.S. Constitution setting up competition between the states. "In an ideal world we would not provide any corporate subsidies," Press told me. "It looks like corruption. But if you do it right, if you only target those companies whose behavior you change to create jobs or keep jobs in your state then these targeted temporary arrangements are cheaper - much cheaper - and can be more effective than an overall reduction in tax rates."

The mission of Good Jobs First (www.goodjobsfirst.org) is making economic development subsidies accountable and effective. In years of working with their data I have always found it sound. While Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First's founder, has rooted out all sorts of hidden subsidies over the years, he emphasizes that he is not inherently hostile to them, only to secrecy, waste and what he calls job piracy and job blackmail.

"Job piracy" occurs when one state diverts taxes to lure an employer across state lines. AMC Entertainment announced a deal last year to move its corporate headquarters from Kansas City, Mo., to a nearby Kansas suburb. In return, Good Jobs First said, Kansas will let the multiplex chain keep $47 million of state income taxes withheld from its workers' paychecks, a drain on public finances that did not create any jobs, but does enrich the Wall Street firms that own AMC including arms of J. P. Morgan, Apollo Management, Bain Capital and the Carlyle Group. AMC declined to answer my questions. "Job blackmail" occurs when a company threatens to close a plant unless it gets tax money.

In Illinois, the law requires companies to threaten to leave before they can keep taxes withheld from paychecks. Motorola Mobility, now being acquired by Google; the truck maker Navistar; the German manufacturer Continental Tire, and three auto makers - Chrysler, Ford and Mitsubishi - get to keep $346.8 million in t axes over 10 years because they threatened to leave Illinois. Navistar can pocket $62.1 million even if it fires a quarter of its Illinois workforce, its contract shows. A recent deal gives Sears $150 million, Good Jobs First reported.

PROMISES OF JOBS Promising to retain jobs can be lucrative. General Electric invested $126 million updating part of its Ohio operations. In return, GE gets a tax credit equal to $115.3 million of its worker taxes, recovering 92 percent of its investment. A sweet deal for GE, but not its competitors. Gary Sheffer, GE's top spokesman, said the company told its workers about the deal. In all, he said, GE is investing around $300 million in Ohio and "the resulting taxes the state will receive will far exceed the tax credits provided to GE."

That response, I think, misses the point - GE should pay its own bills without taking welfare.
Many figures in the Good Jobs First report are from disclosure reports some states make. Others come from news accounts and company announcements. Total revenue losses are higher than the report states. First, some states hide the costs. Phil Mattera, the research director at Good Jobs First, said he lists the cost as zero for states that hide the numbers.

Good Jobs First wants to end these diversions, but failing that recommends mandatory disclosure to the workers as the first reform. I concur. It's the first step in ending corporate welfare as we know it.

Allen West: I've 'Heard' 80 House Democrats Are Communist Party Members (UPDATE)

Posted: 04/11/2012 9:16 am Updated: 04/11/2012 5:34 pm

WASHINGTON -- As many as 80 House Democrats are communists, according to Rep. Allen West (R-Fla.).

West warned constituents at a Tuesday town hall event that he's "heard" that dozens of his Democratic colleagues in the House are members of the Communist Party, the Palm Beach Post reported. There are currently 190 House Democrats.

West spokeswoman Angela Melvin later defended West's comments -- and clarified to whom West was referring.

"The Congressman was referring to the 76 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. The Communist Party has publicly referred to the Progressive Caucus as its allies. The Progressive Caucus speaks for itself. These individuals certainly aren't proponents of free markets or individual economic freedom," Melvin said in a statement to The Huffington Post.

West's campaign also sent over the transcript of the actual exchange that took place during the town hall to show that West was asked directly about the role of communists in the House.

Moderator: What percentage of the American legislature do you think are card-carrying Marxists or International Socialist?

West: It's a good question. I believe there's about 78 to 81 members of the Democrat Party who are members of the Communist Party. It's called the Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Some members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus confirmed that they are not, in fact, members of the Communist Party.

"I can confirm that Congresswoman Baldwin is not a communist," said Jerilyn Goodman, spokeswoman for Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-Wisc.), a vice chair of the caucus.

"Chellie is a Democrat, a farmer and a Lutheran but no, she is not a Communist," said Willy Ritch, spokesman for Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine), also a vice chair of the caucus.

During the same event, which took place at Jensen Beach, the freshman Republican said President Barack Obama wouldn't have a public debate with him over their policy differences because he was "scared." The president was in Florida on Tuesday giving remarks about the economy and holding campaign events.

"I really wish that, standing here before you, was Allen West and President Obama," West said, according to the Palm Beach Post. "We could have a simple discussion. But that ain't ever gonna happen."

When an audience member asked why, West said in "a mocking voice" that it was because Obama "was too scared."

UPDATE: 5:30 p.m. -- Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.) and Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) later criticized West's "outrageous" claims.

"Calling fellow Members of Congress 'communists' is reminiscent of the days when Joe McCarthy divided Americans with name-calling and modern-day witch hunts that don't advance policies to benefit people's lives," Grijalva and Ellison said in a joint statement. "We hope the people of Florida's 22nd Congressional District will note that he repeatedly polarizes the American people instead of focusing on their interests."

CORRECTION: A previous version of this post stated that West made the remarks at Florida Atlantic University. He made the statement at Jensen Beach.

Robert McIntyre

Director, Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy

The Facts About U.S. Corporate Taxes

Posted: 04/11/2012 3:53 pm

You might have heard how the U.S. has just become "number one" in corporate taxation. The campaign to make this event news was led by the Business Roundtable, an association of CEOs that advocates for a lower corporate rate and a more "competitive" tax system. They cleverly used the day that Japan lowered its corporate tax rate by a few percentage points as an opportunity to complain, anew, about the U.S. corporate tax rate, which, as of Sunday, became the highest in the developed world.

But it's the highest on paper only. In practice, the true U.S. corporate tax rate is barely half of the 35 percent nominal rate. A major study by Citizens for Tax Justice last November found that the biggest and most profitable Fortune 500 corporations paid only 18.5 per percent in federal income taxes on their U.S. profits from 2008 through 2010. Many companies paid little or nothing.

Let's take some examples. The Business Roundtable's executive committee is chaired by Boeing CEO, James McNerney. Over the last 10 years, Boeing has only paid federal income taxes in two years (in 2002 and 2007) and has gotten tax refunds from the U.S. Treasury all the others. Boeing's average federal tax rate in the last decade? Negative 6.5 percent.

GE's Jeffery Immelt is also on that executive committee. His corporation famously paid no taxes last year and, in the last ten years, has averaged a federal income tax rate of 2.3 percent on its $83 billion in U.S. profits.

It wasn't always this way. Back in the prosperous 1960s, corporate taxes averaged almost 4 percent of our gross domestic product. But over the past three fiscal years, federal corporate income taxes plummeted to only 1.2 percent of GDP. That's the lowest sustained share in seven decades.

Confronted by this data, corporations often point to their worldwide tax bills, which combine U.S. profits and taxes with foreign profits and taxes. But that's mixing apples and oranges. In fact, if you look into the foreign taxes paid by U.S. companies, you'll make an interesting discovery. Despite the common corporate claims that U.S. taxes are higher than taxes in other developed countries, it turns out that most U.S. multi-national corporations are actually paying higher taxes to foreign governments on the profits they earn there than they pay to the U.S. on the profits they earn here.

The reason for the extraordinarily low U.S. corporate tax payments, of course, is that our corporate tax code is riddled with loopholes and tax breaks, most of them indefensible. These include rules that let companies shift their profits, on paper, to low-tax foreign tax havens, and thereby avoid their U.S. tax responsibilities. The price tag for these subsidies is slated to approach $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

Given their huge cost, you might think that eliminating corporate tax subsidies would be high on the list among the ways we could cut our nation's long-term budget deficits. And in fact, the American general public does think so. But such is the power of corporate money and corporate lobbying in our nation's capital that every Republican presidential candidate and virtually every GOP member of Congress thinks we need to reduce corporate tax payments even further. And some Democrats in Congress feel the same way. Another recent CTJ study found that 98 percent of sitting members of Congress have accepted campaign money from the thirty most notorious tax avoiding companies.

There's a price to pay for letting the corporate income tax dwindle. It inevitably means higher taxes or reduced public services (or both) for the rest of us. This simple arithmetic isn't just a theory. Japan may be shaving a few points off its corporate tax rate, but it not only coupled that with curbs on corporate loopholes, but also added a new surtax on personal income taxes.

Getting rid of useless or harmful corporate tax breaks ought to appeal to anyone who believes in free markets. As a bonus, it would make it much easier to fund the investments we need to improve education and repair our crumbling roads and bridges -- things that would actually help businesses and our economy grow.

Robert McIntyre is Director of Citizens for Tax Justice and the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy. His research on corporate and individual taxation has been shaping policy for 30 years.

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