Conservatives and Liberals Unite!
Do you want to help get people off of welfare? Force corporations off of welfare!
For too long, corporate welfare has been painted as something that is okay because it creates jobs, whereas, social welfare, it is claimed, creates dependence. To put it frankly — that’s hogwash!
Quite honestly, I think this is a pretty simple issue — put investment back into the local market and remove the biased tax breaks that now go to the very corporations who need it least. So, if it is so simple, then why is it so difficult to implement? Currently, corporations are ruling the roost on a global level! Empty Main Streets and vacant factories tell the story from coast to coast. The corporate welfare handed to the competition of all those shop keepers and business people who make up our towns has resulted in the shuttering of stores not powerful enough for the corporate handouts and not large enough to demand rock-bottom wholesale prices!
How do these mega-corps rule? They know that their limited resource (retail/sales tax generation on large scale) is something that people are willing to fight over. Cities compete against cities for the likes of Lowe’s while states battle it out against other states for the corporate headquarters of the same. Countries battle countries in order to land the multinational factory that will pump the shelves full of cheap junk we in America seem to be so enamored with or to manufacture some over-processed food that is so void of nutrition that our American youth are now, on average, shorter than their European counterparts by as much as three inches.
Why not just make our whole area a corporate-welfare free zone? In an instant we then become disadvantaged to our neighboring towns, regions, and states. What if we march to Congress and begin lobbying our representation there for an end to these tax giveaways by the power of federal law? No city, region or state could take tax dollars and give them to corporations who have become dependent on this source of financing (after all, our taxes are a much better deal than bank loans to do such). Several things would happen: cities, counties and schools would begin receiving the taxes these property holders and businesses owe them. Small business would have a better chance to enter the market. In turn, ownership would be moved from Wall Street to Main Street and so would a great deal of income!
New businesses would invest in infrastructure and improve standing buildings. This would create jobs — lots of jobs! Think of one Walmart representing three local grocers, three pharmacies, two tire and muffler shops, a couple of sporting goods stores, a few clothes retailers, a candy store, a news stand, a book store, an electronic store, and a few other small shops like a pet store and an eye glasses shop. If we take Sam’s Club into account too, these two strip-box retailers could easily represent 40 stores that would be spread throughout our town. Forty shops with forty owners raising forty families and putting 140 children through school and college! To continue, forty families depositing forty paychecks into local banks. Forty stores hiring 240 workers who are making a living wage, are provided with health insurance, who maybe have a rapport with the customers and if service isn’t up to par, you only have to step up to the owner and tell him firsthand your complaint! You can also tell the owner that you are willing to pay a little more for better quality or maybe an American made item!
One day, a mega-store threatens to leave your town unless you give them another twenty year tax break! Your city gives in because they cannot afford to lose the sales tax. Imagine the same threat coming from one of those forty shops spread throughout town! One shop leaving could easily be absorbed and a new entrepreneur found who wants to enter into business.
So, what about the global competition? Wouldn’t we lose our industry to China and the cheaper markets in the East? Japan and Germany are the second and third largest world economies respectively. Japan and Germany out produce and out export the United States. In fact, Germany was the world’s largest exporter until reunification. They are both very expensive markets to work in and have very high living standards. Germany and Japan still value manufacturing and know that quality can compete against quantity (see the automobile industry for further details). Certainly, they have seen their share of factories go to China, but we have come out far worse in this migration of means of production!
We still have much going for us that would prevent multinational corporations from being able to pull out altogether — a market of 300 million with a good amount of disposable income; a stable democracy where business can be safely conducted; and many large American owned companies willing to do right by their own country — companies for whom the bottom line doesn’t mean absolutely everything!
I have heard that it is for the best that we no longer manufacture shoes in the States because we don’t want such factories. Instead, we want computer factories! Well, at zero unemployment, maybe we wouldn’t want a shoe factory, but take a drive to rural parts of most states and I guarantee a shoe factory paying a living wage with some benefits would be welcomed with open arms! Also, bad news about that computer — read the box of your next computer purchase and I will bet you it says, “Made in China.”
Maybe it’s a little like biology in the sense that bio-diversity increases the health of an ecosphere and likewise, economic diversity creates a more healthy community for many reasons (not the least of which is an eclectic market place for shoppers) as mentioned above.
I want to point out that “corporation” does not automatically equal “bad.” Anyone who worked for McDonnell Douglas knows that good companies existed and some still exist! Corporations are just taking advantage of what “we the people” have allowed to happen for these many years. The time has come for Liberals and Conservatives to stand up and fight a battle that we can all unite behind — stopping corporate welfare; helping move citizens off of social welfare and into ownership in their community; providing opportunities for Americans regardless of race, creed, or socio-economics by investing in a playing field that stands up to the abuses of the mega-corps rather than helping them decimate jobs and local ownership! While the lower and middle classes fight about “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” the wealthiest corporations are literally laughing with glee at record profits that come at our communities’ expense!
If you support pro-life and pro-family, then support your neighbor, support social justice beyond the single issue, support putting families and towns back in control of their own economic well-being! Right or Left we can all agree to end corporate welfare from sea to shining sea!
