As go Skinnerian rats, so go the corporate CEO's and Wall Street honchos.
Everybody's in a panic over the impending sequestration/disappearing tax cuts.
I'm frankly tired of hearing about how big business (or, as the right wing calls them, small business) and the stock market are reacting to the potential loss of pennies on their billions of dollars.
We plain old people have been called whiny, lazy, greedy and unimportant for quite long enough. Since 2008, many of us have lost homes and jobs; since long before that, we have not been able to afford health care. Creepy Mitt Romney, who some still believe is a nice guy, figures that Obama won the presidency by offering us unwashed masses goodies like health care and affordable student loans. His prediction for liberals winning the White House in 2016 is free dental care.
Asshole.
Really. It's hard to frame a serious rebuttal to a man who builds elevators for his cars, while for years a growing number of Americans have had to choose between the mortgage and medication, car repairs versus clothing.
Mormon or Christian, there is no religion that I know of that scorns people for wanting to be safe and healthy. And while our friends and neighbors helplessly lost their health and security, we have had to listen to politicians and the media whine about fearful, insecure multi-millionaires.
How could we even conceive of denying bonuses to the Wall Street geniuses that plunged us into recession??? How can we expect corporations to hire people and pay taxes at the same time???
Bullshit.
When times are bad, we have been told to suck it up. Pull your kid out of college, skip those dental appointments, patch up that old car yet again.
I believe it is time for the wealthy to stop the hell whining. If you want your business to prosper, invest in research and pay a living wage. If you want the stock market to succeed, then sell stocks that are worth the investment, and not mere quick and dirty trades. Stop screwing around with the power you hold.
And our politicians need to stop feeding the power machine. Because it is broken.
As for me, I've given up so much financial security over the years as these criminals have continued to plunder our democracy, that raising my taxes doesn't scare me. I can't afford the dentist or the car repair as it is. You really can't take that much away from me.
So sequester the hell out of yourselves. And end those tax cuts. Lets see how long the cowardly bullies who hold all the cards last when the cards become worthless.
In this country, there have been times when things got so bad that Americans stood up and said, "I am willing to risk my life to make things better." It's time to do that again, folks. For ourselves and for our children.
Showing posts with label corporate wealth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label corporate wealth. Show all posts
Monday, November 26, 2012
Saturday, December 4, 2010
That's the Spirit
Joseph Shamie, CEO of Delta Children's Products, was quoted on Friday's NBC Nightly News: "In order for Delta to start hiring, we need to know where our taxes are going, where health care is going."
As he owns a relatively small family business, I would have liked to ask him in which direction he was hoping to see taxes and health care going. Sadly, this was left out. Until I did a little research at Reference USA I assumed this was some big businessman rooting for tax cuts and the death of the health care legislation. Now I am thinking that either he is misguided and assume he doesn't know that tax cuts would apply to him as a small business owner, and that health care legislation would benefit him, or he is in fact rooting for Democratic tax cut legislation to pass as well as preservation of the health care legislation.
Again, what is doing in the Democrats appears to be misinformation, inadequate information and poor reporting.
I have no doubt that big corporate interests are refusing to hire because, a) it increases profit, and b) it holds the U.S. Government hostage by so doing.
The more I hear Boehner and McConnell and the members of their chorus in Congress, the more rote and unconvincing sound the words. Tax cuts for the wealthy make no sense. While most in Congress would gain considerably from an extension of these cuts, I believe they are more controlled by threats from Big Business than by the dollars they themselves will enjoy from the extension.
Business controls us in ways we can't even imagine, although it would be to our best interest to try to understand the behind-the-scenes manuevers. For wealth, Ken Lay knowingly ran Enron into the ground, the Wall Street bankers gambled on the US economy, and big food conglomerates are willing to risk the safety of the American people. And every day our Congressmen and women are meeting and greeting the leaders of industry and their lobbyists, and being told in no uncertain terms that it will bode ill for them and our country if they do not tow the line on tax cuts, as well as relief for the middle class.
We need to recognize that the welfare of this country is being decided in board rooms and by lobbyists, and that for the past four years they have determined the "Just Say No" strategy of our Congressional republic leaders. Because we need to know not just who is mouthing the words, but who the puppet masters are.
As he owns a relatively small family business, I would have liked to ask him in which direction he was hoping to see taxes and health care going. Sadly, this was left out. Until I did a little research at Reference USA I assumed this was some big businessman rooting for tax cuts and the death of the health care legislation. Now I am thinking that either he is misguided and assume he doesn't know that tax cuts would apply to him as a small business owner, and that health care legislation would benefit him, or he is in fact rooting for Democratic tax cut legislation to pass as well as preservation of the health care legislation.
Again, what is doing in the Democrats appears to be misinformation, inadequate information and poor reporting.
I have no doubt that big corporate interests are refusing to hire because, a) it increases profit, and b) it holds the U.S. Government hostage by so doing.
The more I hear Boehner and McConnell and the members of their chorus in Congress, the more rote and unconvincing sound the words. Tax cuts for the wealthy make no sense. While most in Congress would gain considerably from an extension of these cuts, I believe they are more controlled by threats from Big Business than by the dollars they themselves will enjoy from the extension.
Business controls us in ways we can't even imagine, although it would be to our best interest to try to understand the behind-the-scenes manuevers. For wealth, Ken Lay knowingly ran Enron into the ground, the Wall Street bankers gambled on the US economy, and big food conglomerates are willing to risk the safety of the American people. And every day our Congressmen and women are meeting and greeting the leaders of industry and their lobbyists, and being told in no uncertain terms that it will bode ill for them and our country if they do not tow the line on tax cuts, as well as relief for the middle class.
We need to recognize that the welfare of this country is being decided in board rooms and by lobbyists, and that for the past four years they have determined the "Just Say No" strategy of our Congressional republic leaders. Because we need to know not just who is mouthing the words, but who the puppet masters are.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Put Up or Pay Up
In this neverending debate about extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, I never hear what I think is the big question, although there is quite a bit of tap dancing around it. I hear Democrats say that the tax cuts haven't worked in the ten years they have been in existence. The representatives of the corporations in the republic party claim that without the extension of the tax cuts, businesses would not have the money necessary to create jobs. I even hear some brave souls ask why, if this were the case, jobs were lost and not created during the tax cut years.
The big question is:
When is business going to step up and take responsibility for themselves?
Look around. What corporate giant doesn't get bailouts and handouts from the government on a steady basis?
The federal government sinks money into airports so that airlines can make huge profits. As a result of these huge profits, not possible without the American traveler or the federal government, the airlines neither pass on savings, nor do they increase jobs, job security, or job benefits.
In fact, as the government has stepped up to take on the full responsibility for airport and flight security, the airlines have stepped back by further automating check-in, and cutting staff positions on the front lines, where people should be interacting and observing passengers as a very natural and common sense function of improving anti-terrorism security.
The federal government pours money into health care, by subsidizing private hospitals and insurance companies, who make enormous profits. Again, pass on the savings? Not their responsibility. Likewise for the pharmaceutical industry, who benefits from government money for research and development, and then is allowed to own the findings (including individual genes), thereby maximizing profit and prohibiting further scientific development and growth.
The Supreme Court decision granting personhood to corporations allowed them to exert control over the election process, without taking any of the responsibilities of personhood. We have carried the philosophy of capitalism to the extreme in which they are expected to be immoral in the interest of greater profit. That's right, immoral, not amoral. Because there are people making corporate decisions, and when they make decisions that injure others, it IS immoral.
We need to reframe this argument. The wealthy should not give up their wealth to take care of the rest of us. They have the responsibility to use their wealth to further the society which allowed them to be wealthy. They have the responsibility to create jobs, jobs that pay a living wage. They have the responsiblity to invest in infrastructure, and research. They have the responsibility to pay taxes, to allow the government from which they benefit to continue to function.
Beginning in the Reagan era, the philosophy of wealth regressed to the mentality of the robber barons. Capitalism meant gathering wealth for its own sake. Capitalism meant using the federal goverment to further power and profit. Capitalism meant never having to say you're sorry.
The eighties were the years of "He who dies with the most toys wins." Why on earth haven't we realized that not only does that not work, it is neither true nor funny? As the middle class has stagnated, as our rating in health care, education, longevity have sunk in comparison to other developed countries, why on earth don't we understand what is happening? Why are we so afraid to see that capitalism is not only NOT democracy, capitalism seeks to curtail democracy. Capitalism is a tyranny that feeds on democracy. It lives off the people's government and starves the people while bloating with its own useless wealth.
Jobs were not created during the Bush years initially because tax cuts and government handouts allowed for more corporate profit without any annoying increase in the cost of labor. But as the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, and especially since the 2008 landslide presidential election, corporate America has been holding us all hostage. The past two years, the argument has been that corporations need more financial freedom and less regulation, otherwise the American people will suffer. The proof is the stagnating jobless rate.
But the reality is that the failure to create jobs has been the boon of the republic party, which represents the corporation. Had businesses acted responsibly, as they have long stopped doing, they would have used their fortunes to invest in research and development and to create jobs. But that would have most likely resulted in an electorate that would have voted from reason and confidence and not out of fear, giving the Democratic party continued control of Congress.
The Democrats drop the ball when they fail to challenge business to prove it deserves its power and capital, as President Obama challeneged the auto industry. The banking industry, the insurance industry, the airline industry, all need to be challenged. If they want to profit from doing business in America, they need to act responsibly. THEY need to stop expecting the federal government to keep paying for their greed and negligence. And as long as they are not stepping up, the federal government needs to take more control, only give funding under specific conditions, and collect taxes adequate to maintain the wellbeing of the hard-working Americans to which the corporation is really, truly beholding.
The big question is:
When is business going to step up and take responsibility for themselves?
Look around. What corporate giant doesn't get bailouts and handouts from the government on a steady basis?
The federal government sinks money into airports so that airlines can make huge profits. As a result of these huge profits, not possible without the American traveler or the federal government, the airlines neither pass on savings, nor do they increase jobs, job security, or job benefits.
In fact, as the government has stepped up to take on the full responsibility for airport and flight security, the airlines have stepped back by further automating check-in, and cutting staff positions on the front lines, where people should be interacting and observing passengers as a very natural and common sense function of improving anti-terrorism security.
The federal government pours money into health care, by subsidizing private hospitals and insurance companies, who make enormous profits. Again, pass on the savings? Not their responsibility. Likewise for the pharmaceutical industry, who benefits from government money for research and development, and then is allowed to own the findings (including individual genes), thereby maximizing profit and prohibiting further scientific development and growth.
The Supreme Court decision granting personhood to corporations allowed them to exert control over the election process, without taking any of the responsibilities of personhood. We have carried the philosophy of capitalism to the extreme in which they are expected to be immoral in the interest of greater profit. That's right, immoral, not amoral. Because there are people making corporate decisions, and when they make decisions that injure others, it IS immoral.
We need to reframe this argument. The wealthy should not give up their wealth to take care of the rest of us. They have the responsibility to use their wealth to further the society which allowed them to be wealthy. They have the responsibility to create jobs, jobs that pay a living wage. They have the responsiblity to invest in infrastructure, and research. They have the responsibility to pay taxes, to allow the government from which they benefit to continue to function.
Beginning in the Reagan era, the philosophy of wealth regressed to the mentality of the robber barons. Capitalism meant gathering wealth for its own sake. Capitalism meant using the federal goverment to further power and profit. Capitalism meant never having to say you're sorry.
The eighties were the years of "He who dies with the most toys wins." Why on earth haven't we realized that not only does that not work, it is neither true nor funny? As the middle class has stagnated, as our rating in health care, education, longevity have sunk in comparison to other developed countries, why on earth don't we understand what is happening? Why are we so afraid to see that capitalism is not only NOT democracy, capitalism seeks to curtail democracy. Capitalism is a tyranny that feeds on democracy. It lives off the people's government and starves the people while bloating with its own useless wealth.
Jobs were not created during the Bush years initially because tax cuts and government handouts allowed for more corporate profit without any annoying increase in the cost of labor. But as the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006, and especially since the 2008 landslide presidential election, corporate America has been holding us all hostage. The past two years, the argument has been that corporations need more financial freedom and less regulation, otherwise the American people will suffer. The proof is the stagnating jobless rate.
But the reality is that the failure to create jobs has been the boon of the republic party, which represents the corporation. Had businesses acted responsibly, as they have long stopped doing, they would have used their fortunes to invest in research and development and to create jobs. But that would have most likely resulted in an electorate that would have voted from reason and confidence and not out of fear, giving the Democratic party continued control of Congress.
The Democrats drop the ball when they fail to challenge business to prove it deserves its power and capital, as President Obama challeneged the auto industry. The banking industry, the insurance industry, the airline industry, all need to be challenged. If they want to profit from doing business in America, they need to act responsibly. THEY need to stop expecting the federal government to keep paying for their greed and negligence. And as long as they are not stepping up, the federal government needs to take more control, only give funding under specific conditions, and collect taxes adequate to maintain the wellbeing of the hard-working Americans to which the corporation is really, truly beholding.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)