Gimme a Head Start

Did you know that in 2009, Bank of America paid ZERO dollars in income taxes?  Seriously.  Not bad for a corporation that made $4.4 BILLION in one year.  I don't know about you, but that is so crazy to me that I can't quite get my mind around it.

What I can get my mind around, however, is the fact that from Wisconsin to Connecticut to DC, and everywhere inbetween, politicians are asking for shared sacrifice.  I'm good with that; we tell our kids that sharing is good, so let's practice what we preach.  In a world where corporations are treated as persons under the law, why not get a little personal and ask them to pay taxes just like you and I do?

That's exactly what people across the country did today through an amazing organization called US Uncut.  That's exactly what people in Hartford did today through the organizing efforts of an amazing mother/professor/activist, Andrea Dyrness. 

Geno, Mateo and I weren't quite protesters, (more like protest groupies, thanks to an extended morning nap), but we made a showing to publicly say that if corporations paid taxes, we would have enough money to fully fund things like (click on this link, you owe it to yourself) public television, Head Start, programs for pregnant women and all those great family values!

Elmo, Monika, Fahd, Me, Mateo, Andrea, Andrea's sign, "Cut Wall Street, Not Sesame Street" & Enrique



The sign says it all!



Let me translate: This is sidewalk chalk for "Mateo says Uncut"