This is the Insurgent Radio Kiosk for Monday, November 25th
Action Calendar
Hightower Commentary
Come celebrate at WORT Community Radio’s 44th Birthday Bash on Sunday, December 1st, from 5 to 10 p.m. at the Crucible, 3116 Commercial Avenue. Professor Pinkerton of Dead Man’s Carnival will bring his Irrelevant Orchestra from Milwaukee to headline the festivities with vaudeville jazz. Combo Noir will open the show, while Silk Circus Aerialists perform. Enjoy appetizers from Benvenuto’s Italian Grill and other guilty carnival pleasures. There will be birthday cake! Tickets are $15.00 and can be purchased at WORT, 118 South Bedford Street, or online at wort44.brownpapertickets.com. For information, phone 256-2001.
The Road Home Dane County provides opportunities for homeless children and their families to achieve self-determined goals and affordable, stable housing. They have many volunteer opportunities. Call 294-7998 for more information.
The YWCA Madison is dedicated to the elimination of racism and the empowerment of women. To fulfill this mission, the YWCA Madison provides race and gender equity programming to create a more inclusive community; job training and transportation to help people find or maintain a job; and safe, affordable housing and emergency shelter. For more information on how you can help, please call YWCA Madison at 257-1436, or visit ywcamadison.org.
The Insurgent Radio Kiosk is a four minute pre-recorded segment featuring a commentary and a calendar of daily events. Events must be low cost or non-profit and of interest to people in and around the WORT listening area. Please submit announcements at least ten days before the event at wortfm.org/kiosk/announcements.
The Kiosk is available online at wortfm.org/kiosk.
This has been the Insurgent Radio Kiosk heard weekdays at 5:00, 6:30 and 9:00 AM and at 2:00 PM. I’m Chali Pittman. Submit announcements at least ten days in advance of the event at wortfm.org/kiosk/announcements.
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How Greedy Billionaries Become Richer Greedy Billionaires
Years ago, a Texas legislator who was known to be bribable explained his ethical framework as opportunistic: “I seen my chances, and I took ‘em,” he said.
Likewise, such hustlers as Dan Gilbert (the billionaire founder of Quicken Loans), Michael Milken (the disgraced Wall Street finagler), and Stephen Ross (the owner of the Miami Dolphins) have seen opportunistic chances in Donald Trump’s program of “Opportunity Zone” tax breaks – and grabbed them. The new law was trumpeted as a channel for funneling new investments into poor communities, but billionaires have jumped on it like chickens on a cricket, devouring the poor people’s tax subsidy to underwrite their own luxury projects.
Consider Kevin Plank’s scam in Baltimore. The billionaire owner of the sports apparel outfit named Under Armour, he wanted to use the subsidy for an upscale project called Port Covington. But, alas, Plank’s section of land was not in a low-income zone, so it didn’t qualify. But – Eureka! – the billionaire found a loophole: If a piece of property was within an old “empowerment zone,” it could get the subsidy. Alas again, though, Port Covington was not inside the qualifying zone, but next to it. However, an old mapping mistake showed that a tiny slice of Plank’s property line ran under a highway overpass, just inside the zone. Based on the map’s error, Maryland Governor Larry Hogan and Trump’s Treasury Department quickly certified every inch of the Port Covington tract as an Opportunity Zone eligible for the full poverty subsidy.
And that’s how corporate and political elites conspire to rig the system, blatantly ripping off poverty money to make the rich richer and increase inequality in America.
Sen. Ron Wyden has introduced an “Opportunity Zone Reform Act” to stop this immoral scam. For more information go to Finance.Senate.gov/.
“A Trump Tax Break To Help The Poor Went To a Rich GOP Donor’s Superyacht Marina,” https://www.propublica.org/article/superyacht-marina-west-palm-beach-opportunity-zone-trump-tax-break-to-help-the-poor-went-to-a-rich-gop-donor?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewslette, November 14, 2019.
“Billionaires Keep Benefiting From a Tax Break to Help the Poor. Now, Congress Wants to Investigate.” https://www.propublica.org/article/billionaires-keep-benefiting-from-a-tax-break-to-help-the-poor-now-congress-wants-to-investigate?utm_source=pardot&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=majorinvestigations
November 8, 2019.
“One Trump Tax Cut Was Meant to Help the Poor. A Billionaire Ended Up Winning Big.” https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-inc-podcast-one-trump-tax-cut-meant-to-help-the-poor-a-billionaire-ended-up-winning-big
Hightower’s commentaries are brought to you by The Hightower Lowdown, the monthly newsletter with Hightower’s take on what Wall Street and Washington are up to. For information, visit hightowerlowdown.org.
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