Saturday, April 13, 2013

The amount of wealth being pulled out of the ground

RIGHT outside the Apache Reservation is truly impressive. Gold, silver and copper. Massive mines. Huge fortunes being made.

Where is that money going? (What corporation? I did see BHP Billiton on one sign. What country? Are the profits "off-shored"? Do they pay the same tax rate as Boeing, GE, etc?)
Who is getting it? (What are the relative pay rates of the guys working the mine? The accountants? The middle managers? The top 5 highest paid executives?)
What taxes and tax rates are being paid on it?
Is the damage done to the air, water, quiet, and roads being paid for, today, with profits from the mines? Will the local taxpayers be left with the clean up costs when the corporations (executives, in far off places, with 5 homes to go to) decide it is no longer profitable to remove the valuable material currently found here anymore?

And will there be a Leadville 100 type bike race to try to rejuvenate the local economy after it fails when the mine owners pull out, leaving the scarred mountains, the mine waste and the miners behind?

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