From the series Raise Your Voice!
By PETER MOLENAAR
From the most recent post from Americans for Tax Fairness coalition*: “The numbers don’t lie, but corporations sure do… that’s why we just released a damning new report that pulls back the curtain on 12 of America’s largest corporations, exposing a web of tax dodging, executive excess, and worker exploitation.”
How then is it possible that many of us regular folks live in MAGA land?
Our East African immigrant neighbors are a wiser lot, many having been recruited to work for Amazon. Indeed, over a five-year span, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos-–earning $3.5 M per hour—watched his personal fortune increase by $115 billion, while wages inched up to the “scrape-by level”.
Yet, one worker I contacted while phone banking from the Labor Centre stated: “I remain on the fence!” I expect, sooner or later, our overheated planet will blow him off!
Sadly, over the same five years, Boeing aircraft company received $2.6 billion in tax refunds, while raking in $148 billion from U.S. Defense Department contracts. In other words, workers’ wages are taxed to facilitate “never ending” wars, along with the associated expenditure of metal which is desperately needed for geothermal heating and cooling systems.
Does anyone shop at Walmart? Did Walmart pass on its estimated $121.3 billion in tax savings to consumers? Truth is: Walmart jacked up prices by 100% on some items.
Question: What is the opposite of artificial intelligence?
Dear neighbors, we stand on the brink now. Will we elect a self-serving dictator, or will we elect a more liberal expression of capitalism for the time being? Whatever the outcome, public ownership of the means of production is our future… don’t you think?
*Americans for Tax Fairness (ATF) is a diverse campaign of more than 420 national, state and local endorsing organizations united in support of a fair tax system that works for all Americans. It has come together based on the belief that the country needs comprehensive, progressive tax reform that results in greater revenue to meet our growing needs. This requires big corporations and the wealthy to pay their fair share in taxes, not to live by their own set of rules. ATF is a project of the New Venture Fund – a section 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
Peter Molenaar advocates a broad united-front, even as he describes socialism as the future solution.
