GE to return $3.2 billion tax benefit #NotIntendedToBeAFactualStatement

“This is a good first step,” said, US Uncut spokesman Carl Gibson. “But even if they return their full $3.2 billion 2010 tax benefit as they’re promising, they will still have paid $0 in US taxes since 2006, when they had profits of $26 billion. So while we welcome this gesture by GE, it is only a first step. GE should pay its share, and Congress needs to stop the budget cuts and close the tax loopholes that give the richest corporations a free ride.”

As Nicole Sandler points out in her post The Difference Between a Hoax and a Lie

As to the title of this post regarding the difference between a hoax and a lie… I’m dealing with my soon-to-be 12-year old daughter’s propensity for lying and trying to teach her the consequences. It’s a really hard-fought battle, and I’m not winning … yet.

What USUncut and The Yes Men did was a hoax. It was designed to fool people momentarily to make a point. And they did it. It was never intended to deceive on a permanent basis.

What Senator John Kyl did on the Senate floor in an official speech in his official capacity as a United States Senator was a bold-faced lie. He said:

“If you want an abortion, you go to Planned Parenthood, and that’s well over 90% of what Planned Parenthood does.”

It was not a joke. It was not a hoax. It was nothing but a complete and utter lie. And when his office was questioned about it, they responded with these exact words:

“His remark was not intended to be a factual statement.”

If we can’t trust officials elected to the highest posts in the land to speak “factual statements” when making speeches on the US Senate floor, what luck do you think I’ll have in teaching my daughter that it’s wrong to lie?

She is absolutely correct.

Until those problems are actually resolved we will accomplish nothing in the actual charade that is the United States political system. #IntendedToBeAFactualStatement

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