Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), candidate for the GOP presidential nomination, testified in 2005 to the Minnesota Senate. She stated if we eliminated the (laughably low) minimum wage, we could wipe out unemployment. Yes, instead of paying one person eight dollars an hour which makes him eligible for food stamps and (in some cases) Medicaid – let’s pay eight people one dollar an hour and they can be eligible for food stamps, Medicaid AND General Assistance. Basically, allow the government to take care of the work force so private industry can have the profit. This is corporate welfare. This is also corporate socialism. The government covers what Walmart gets away with not covering.For those of you who do not know, I ran for Governor of Oregon in 1998 on the Socialist Party of Oregon ticket. One of my big talking points at the many events I attended was corporate socialism. Mainstream politicians always decry how evil the socialist conception is, but they seem to have no problem with it when it benefits the fat cats of this world.
~ Taxpayers Should Stop Subsidizing Walmart by Tina Dupuy ~
After going through my regular remarks, here is the first question I invariably was asked: What do you mean by "corporate" socialism? Can you provide an example? The example I provided again and again was Walmart, for the very same reasons Dupuy states above.
It is the concerted strategy of Walmart (as well as many other big box stores and Wall Street, in general) to socialize the costs of business. In other words, big business seeks to externalize the amount of money they must spend to be successful. So, all of us, through a variety of government-backed strategies, pay to insure that Walmart generates a profit.
But here's the kicker. Though the costs are externalized as much as possible, the profits are not. Unlike shareholders who receive dividends, taxpayers get nothing for our investment. All the profits go into Walmart's accounts and then they use these profits to bribe our elected officials to approve more regulations to externalize even more costs!
What we end up with is an inverted form of socialism -- socialism that is inside out and upside down. Rather than benefiting the many -- real socialism -- only the elite few are "taken care of" and everyone else ends up getting stuck with the bill!!
Great post on a subject that many Americans simply do not understand.
ReplyDeleteWalmart pays poverty wages and has terrible benefits. People who work for them must then seek government help for food and medical needs.
So Walmart can keep prices low but taxpayers are paying for their employees to eat and see the doctor.
We shop at Walmart. We feel guilty every time we do so. But, we can not do otherwise. We buy what we must from them and that is it.
We have one local grocery but their prices tend to be high. (and they have cut their wages due to Walmart) we have four big chain choices. Aldi, Kroger, WalMart, and Meijer.
Meijer has 196 stores and they are the smallest of the bunch so we tend to shop there.
I wish we had the financial freedom to shop where and how we wanted. But we don't, so we hold our nose and buy from stores we would rather not buy from.