A report released on April 25 by the Center for American Progress (CAP) Task Force on Poverty examines the problem and consequences of poverty in America. According to the report:

Thirty-seven million -- one in eight Americans -- now lives below the official poverty line. Millions more struggle each month to pay for basic necessities, or run out of savings when they lose their jobs or face health emergencies. Poverty imposes enormous costs on society. The lost potential of children raised in poor households, the lower productivity and earnings of poor adults, the poor health, increased crime, and broken neighborhoods all hurt our nation. Persistent childhood poverty is estimated to cost our nation $500 billion each year, or about four percent of the nation's gross domestic product.

In its report, the Task Force on Poverty calls for a national goal of cutting poverty in half in the next 10 years and proposes a strategy to reach that goal.

The Center for American Progress's full report

The Center for American Progress Report's Executive Summary

This week, the White House issued a statement asserting its opposition to the right of shareholders to voice an opinion about the way the companies they own should be run. The president takes issue with Rep. Barney Frank's (D-MA) Shareholder Vote on Executive Compensation Act (H.R. 1257), which "would require that public companies ensure that shareholders have an annual nonbinding advisory vote on their company's executive compensation plans."

Debate on the bill, which the House passed (269-134) this afternoon, began Wednesday. Republicans quickly lined up to declare their objections to allowing Congress to regulate how corporations do business, and their fear of sliding down a slippery slope.

This is, of course, completely absurd (SEC, anyone?). That an entity known as a "corporation" exists and has legal rights and responsibilities is absolutely fundamental to a functioning economy. And it is only the government that can grant and guarantee such rights. What this legislation will do is allow shareholders to express displeasure (or approval) that their company pays its CEO some 400 times that of its average worker. By passing the "say on pay" bill, Congress is giving owners of corporations a right to simply express their opinion on executive compensation. Period. Boards of directors can ignore this nonbinding expression of opinion if they chooses to do so.

Why oh why, I wonder, is the president and Republican members of Congress so afraid to let the people be heard?

Tuesday was Tax Day, and if anything it' a reminder that, as Americans, we're all united by at least one thing: a four-digit number, "1040." That's right - even the president and vice president are just like everybody else on Tax Day.

The president's and the vice president's tax returns were made available last week. You can see the Bushes' return here and the Cheneys' return here.

President and Mrs. George W. Bush reported taxable income of $618,694 for the tax year 2005. This resulted in a total of $187,768 in federal income taxes paid by President and Mrs. Bush.

The President's 2005 income included salary earned as President and investment income from the trusts in which their assets are held.

Vice President and Mrs. Cheney filed their federal income tax return for 2004 today. The income tax return shows that the Cheneys owe federal taxes for 2004 of $393,518 on taxable income of $1,328,678. During the course of 2004 the Cheneys paid $290,855 in taxes through withholding and estimated tax payments. The Cheneys paid $102,663 upon filing their tax return.

Following up on yesterday look at progressivity's tipping point:

The Tax Policy Center released an article last week revealing that 65.9 percent of all "tax units" pay more payroll tax than income tax. The article notes that payroll tax is regressive with respect to current income -- the effective payroll tax rate falls as income rises. The income tax, in contrast, is progressive, even considering the deductions, loopholes, and other flattening provisions.

Query: how long has the majority of taxpayers paid more in payroll than income tax, and whither is the trend tending?

Harold Myerson comments in today's Washington Post about Circuit City's recent payroll reduction program:

Coincidentally, in the same week that Circuit City axed its clerks, an analysis of Internal Revenue Service data from 2005 that became available showed that the bottom 90 percent of Americans made less money that year than they had in 2004. According to a study by economists Emmanuel Saez of the University of California at Berkeley and Thomas Piketty of the Paris School of Economics, total reported income in the United States increased by 9 percent in 2005 over its level in 2004. All of that increase, however, came from the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans, and the wealthiest 1 percent experienced an increase of 14 percent. Among the remaining 90 percent, income actually decreased by 0.6 percent.

And 2005, let us remember, wasn't a year of economic downturn. The American economy was humming along. It was only the American people who weren't doing very well.

...health care for workers, not so much. Reporting on Ford Motor Co's latest SEC filing, the Wall Street Journal informs us ($):

[Ford's] top seven executives received compensation valued at more than $62 million in 2006, even as the 104-year-old auto maker posted a record $12.6 billion net loss for the year.

...

[CEO Alan ] Mulally received a $666,667 salary, an $18.5 million bonus, options awards valued at $8.68 million, and other compensation for items such as use of a corporate aircraft and relocation costs.

A little back-of-envelope math here indicates that Ford's executives are paid about 156 times more than the average UAW line worker. And yet -

Ford and its domestic competitors are expected to push for significant cost cuts from the UAW, including reductions to health-care coverage.