Skip to main content

Dear Americans: get ready to say goodbye to what is left from your social state!


Since the Dark Ages of the Reagan administration that opened Pandora's box to unleash the destructive forces of neoliberalism and financial capitalism, the US social state has suffered multiple hits to the point that is barely alive in our days.

While working class wages remained almost flat for decades, the social state has been almost eliminated and the American families were being forced into a vicious circle of increased debt to cover even their basic needs.

The main cause of this ugly situation was always the continuous tax breaks in favor of the wealthy elite. Plutocracy was getting richer not only directly through tax cuts, but also by making business and speculation in economic areas that were traditionally provided publicly in previous decades: health, education, housing.

As people were fed up with the classic bipartisan politicians, fully aligned with the neoliberal establishment, Donald Trump came as an unpleasant gift for the elites to fulfill their goals, which, basically, are 'business as usual': more tax cuts, more for-profit wars, further deregulation in every level, total destruction of the social state.

Many argue that everyone will be benefited from the recent disastrous more-tax-cuts-for-the-plutocracy bill passed by Trump administration. In reality, Donnie and his wealthy friends tricked again the working class with a small piece of cheese in the bait. Except that the tax cuts are enormous for the elite compared to those for the working class, the total implications for the vast majority of the Americans will be more than serious.

Aaron Maté of the Real News speaks with William K. Black to uncover the ugly truth behind the bill:

As Maté says:

So, this corporate tax rate now is going down to 21%, and that's permanent. But yet, with these bonuses from say ATT and Comcast of a thousand dollars to their employees, those aren't recurring bonuses. They're a one-time bonus of one thousand dollars. So, the employees get one thousand dollars once. These companies get a massive cut to 21% for life.

Black continues:

It's actually of course worse than that. You're quite right in what you've said, except that two things have to be kept in mind.

One, these companies were going to do it anyway. They were going to raise wages for this small segment, for example, in Wells Fargo's case, because they had operational needs to do that anyway. So this has nothing to do with the Trump tax cut. It is pure theater.

And second, not only are the corporate tax cuts permanent, but if the logic is tax competition, the United States needs to cut its corporate tax rate to compete with Ireland and such. Well, what are Ireland and other nations going to do that are in competition with us if we slash our corporate tax rate? They're going to cut their corporate tax rate as well, and there are a number of countries already beginning that process.

And then, the logic is going to be, we need to make further cuts in our corporate tax rate, and of course this "logic" inexorably leads you to have zero corporate tax rate, which is what their real goal is. And by the way, they are open behind the scenes in terms of conservative economists that that's exactly what they want to produce.


Zero corporate tax rate equals definite death of the social state. Instead of going forward, the American society slips into another dark age of corporate Feudalism. That's why Bernie Sanders fought so fiercely against the latest tax bill. As Bernie states:

This is why the Koch brothers are spending so much money to see this legislation passed. Their family will benefit to the tune of some 30 billion dollars. So, spending a few hundred million dollars to elect people like Senator Cruz is pocket change if your family is gonna get 30 billion.

We had a young lady coming up here talking about the cost of college. I think it makes a lot more sense for us to make public colleges and universities tuition-free and lower student debt rather than give the Walton family up to 50 billion dollars in tax breaks.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Trump's tariffs: A unique opportunity for BRICS and the Global South to fully escape from dollar tyranny

globinfo freexchange   Does Trump know what he is doing? Well, yes and no. While many interpretate his latest move, mostly as an attempt to halt China, his main goal is to give the final blow to the neoliberal order on behalf of his oligarchs .  From this perspective, Trump's unprecedented decision to decide mass tariffs against almost everyone, was an act of strategic hit against the global free market neoliberalism, with the financial capital  at its top. And that's because this dominant-for-almost-half-century system, identifies restrictions and protectionism as major threats against its own existence. In other words, Trump acted as a commander of the capitalist faction that wants to beat its neoliberal rivals and put itself in charge, through a new transformation of capitalism into a 21st century corporate feudalism.   Concerning China, Trump's move may have some negative impact on its economy for a while, since China has chosen to partially play by the rule...

Deranged euroclowns want to revive a nazi-origin project!

globinfo freexchange   Behind the ridiculously cartoonish latest spot of the EU that gives "instructions" to the European citizens on how to deal with a major crisis during the first hours, lies a secret desire.    The deranged euroclowns of the crypto-fascist extreme center , are trying to build up a condition of consent inside the minds of Europeans, which is related to their biggest wet dream: an autonomous imperialist European army. The idea was not born suddenly because of Trump's hostile attitude against his own allies. From the early 50s, pan-European networks of neo-Nazis were created. In May 1951, the European Social Movement (MSE) was founded in Malmö, Sweden. Essentially, it was about projecting the ideology of the German SRP on a pan-European level. The MSE, which would remain active until the 1980s, proclaimed the need for Europe to emancipate itself from the divisive tutelage of the USA and the USSR, called for the defense of the “European race” against th...

Neoliberalism Needs To Go

Second Thought  

Netanyahu BRAGS About Genocide - And Our Media COVERS IT UP

Owen Jones  

Google Imports Ex Israeli Spies, The Genocide Resumes, Cruel Britannia

by Nate Bear   Part 3 - Cruel Britannia   The UK is moving ahead with large welfare cuts for disabled people, including those with cancer. On TV the other day, the UK’s health secretary Wes Streeting said that people with cancer should be in work, not at home resting. Alongside this, the government has said that to cut youth employment it will push young people to join the army. This, of course, is in the context of a massive expenditure on military weapons in the face of the Russian bogeyman.   What’s happening in the UK under a nominally centre-left Labour government is a good reminder that there is never a lesser evil if your leaders are neoliberals. Balancing the books on the backs of the poorest and most vulnerable in society is the north star of all neoliberals, whether they call themselves centrists, left wing or right wing. Cruelty is the policy and the point.    Yet the last few years have also been a good reminder that everything is a choice. Cov...

Trump Speeds Up FALL OF THE WEST With Tariff War

Owen Jones     Related:   Trump's tariffs: A unique opportunity for BRICS and the Global South to fully escape from dollar tyranny

UN rapporteur Francesca Albanese: World is watching a live genocide in Gaza and doing nothing

The New Arab   As Israel’s war on Gaza enters its 19th month, UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese is sounding the alarm louder than ever: the world is watching a live genocide — and doing nothing to stop it. In an exclusive interview with The New Arab , Albanese describes the devastation in Gaza as unparalleled since WWII. Entire neighbourhoods lie in ruins, tens of thousands are dead, and 91% of Gaza’s population is at risk of malnutrition. Over 60,000 children show signs of cognitive impairment due to starvation.  “This is not just war. This is genocide in real time,” she says. “What we are seeing now is the destruction of a people who refuse to leave.” Despite UN mandates and international law, Albanese says the global system is paralysed, and governments, corporations, and even universities are complicit. “If Palestine were a crime scene, it would bear all our fingerprints.”

US Official EXPOSES Truth About Gaza From The Inside

Owen Jones  

Google Imports Ex Israeli Spies, The Genocide Resumes, Cruel Britannia

by Nate Bear   Part 2 - The genocide resumes   The day before the Wiz deal, Israel resumed its genocide of Gaza with an unhinged bloodthirsty rampage, the deadliest twenty-four hours in the last nearly eighteen months of genocide. A high bar had been set, and it was cleared. They attacked at night, itself an act of utter cowardice and sadism, and slaughtered hundreds as they slept in tents. In tents. Close to one hundred babies and young children were killed. The overall death toll exceeds 400 and is rising. As expected, there is not a flicker of condemnation from world leaders, many of whom are arming Israel with the weapons and intelligence it needs for genocide. The British air force spent the ceasefire period gathering intelligence on Palestinians and feeding it to Israel so they could restart the mass murder efficiently.  The genocide is the end of the west. It destroys any claim to moral superiority over Russia, China, Iran or any of the officially designated bad g...