Breakfast with the 1%

6:00 a.m. -- A Verizon cell phone, which doubles as your alarm clock, goes off. You silence the alarm and find a text reminder that your bill is due.

It's Verizon that needs a reminder to pay its fair share. From 2008 to 2010, according to a report from Citizens for Tax Justice, Verizon paid no federal income taxes and received state subsidies totaling $180.8 million. At the same time, Verizon cut 40,000 jobs and is demanding more than $1 billion in wage and benefit concessions from unionized workers.

6:05 a.m. -- You roll out of bed and flip on the lights to find one of your General Electric light bulbs has blown out. You make a mental note to buy a replacement at Wal-Mart later that afternoon. ....read more