carolmurchie

[carolmurchie]

The Truth About Corporate Subsidies

Why won’t big American corporations do what’s right for America unless the government practically bribes them?

And why is the government so reluctant to regulate them?

Prior to the 1980’s, the U.S. government demanded that corporations act in the public interest.

For example, the Clean Air Act of 1970 stopped companies from polluting our air by regulating them.

Fast forward to 2022, when the biggest piece of legislation aimed at combating the climate crisis allocates billions of dollars in subsidies to clean energy producers.

Notice the difference?

Both are important steps to combating climate change.

But they illustrate the nation’s shift away from regulating businesses to subsidizing them.

It’s a trend that’s characterized every recent administration.

The CHIPS Act –– another major initiative of the Biden administration –– shelled out $52 billion in subsidies to semiconductor firms.

Donald Trump’s “Operation Warp Speed” delivered over $10 billion in subsidies to COVID vaccine manufacturers.

Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act subsidized the health care and pharmaceutical industries.

George W. Bush and Obama bailed out Wall Street following the 2008 economic crash while providing about $80 billion in rescue funds for GM and Chrysler.

And the federal government has been subsidizing big oil and gas companies for decades, to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars.

Before the Reagan era, it was usually the case that America regulated rather than subsidized big business to ensure the wellbeing of the American public.

The Great Depression and FDR’s Administration created an alphabet soup of regulatory agencies — the SEC, FCC, FHA, and so on — that regulated businesses.

Corporations were required to produce public goods, or avoid public “bads” like a financial meltdown, as conditions for staying in business.

If this regulatory alternative seems far-fetched today, that’s because of how far we’ve come from a regulatory state to a subsidy state.

Today it’s politically difficult, if not impossible, for government to demand that corporations bear the costs of public goods. The government still regulates businesses, of course –– but one of the biggest things it does is subsidize them. Just look at the growth of government subsidies to business over the past half century.

The reason for this shift is corporations now have more political clout than ever before.

Industries that spend the most on lobbying and campaign contributions have often benefited greatly from this shift from regulation to subsidy.

Now, subsidies aren’t inherently bad. Important technological advances have been made because of government funding.

But subsidies are a problem when few, if any, conditions are attached — so there’s no guarantee that benefits reach the American people.

What good is subsidizing the healthcare industry when millions of Americans have medical debt and can’t afford insurance? What good are subsidies for oil companies when they price gouge at the pump and destroy the planet? What good are subsidies for profitable semiconductor manufacturers when they’re global companies with no allegiance to America?

We’re left with a system where costs are socialized, profits are privatized.  

Now, fixing this might seem daunting — but we’re not powerless. Here’s what we can do to make sure our government actually works for the people, not just the powerful.

First, make all subsidies conditional, so that any company getting money from the government must clearly specify what it will be spent on – so we can ensure the funds actually help the public.

Second, ban stock buybacks so companies can’t use the subsidies to pump up their profits and stock prices.

Third, empower regulatory agencies to do the jobs they once did — forcing companies to act in the public interest.

Finally, we need campaign finance reform to get big corporate money out of politics.

Large American corporations shouldn’t need government subsidies to do what’s right for America.

It’s time for our leaders in Washington to get this message, and reverse this disturbing trend.

[carolmurchie]

Over 600 artists worldwide have signed an open letter calling for the release of award-winning actor and writer Taraneh Alidoosti. We demand her freedom. Join us. Petition link below. #FreeTaranehAlidoosti #FreeThemAll www.change.org/p/justice-for-taraneh-alidoosti?recruiter=987602512&recruited_by_id=573abce0-b1f2-11e9-ba8d-e76026f97775&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=email

[carolmurchie]

Laughter much appreciated!

First snow

[carolmurchie]

Just six more days until Lakota Nation vs. United States has its first of three screenings at #PSIFF2023! In this film, you’ll see that the Lakota people are a resilient nation fighting for what is rightfully theirs, despite the generational trauma inflicted by America’s dark past. It’s harrowing to see how the treatment of Indigenous people has not improved. This cycle must end. Be sure to visit the link below to reserve your tickets.

https://www.psfilmfest.org/film-festival-2023/film-finder/lakota-nation-vs-united-states

[carolmurchie]

Some new photos of the winter in an internal displacement camp in Afrin. To help, you can donate at https://togetherwecare.org

[carolmurchie]

Dear Daddy : Half a Century Later

Dear Daddy : Half a Century Later

Dear Daddy,

It has been 50 years since you left this world suddenly.  I cannot believe that it has been so long.

Memorial Day, the original Memorial Day, has more significance than the Monday Federal holiday that the US celebrates.  Monday’s holiday is little more than a day off to shop and consume, because that is all we ever do in America now. According to sources, the first declared “Memorial…

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Healthcare in America : Journeys Large and Small

Healthcare in America : Journeys Large and Small

Recently on Facebook, a friend I’ve known only a short while posted her story about the old days in America when any hope of health insurance was through employment.  Denise, I knew from the first time I met her, had been widowed at a young age with two little girls she needed to support.  It resonated for me as my own mother, widowed at 42, was suddenly thrown into a foreign world of trying to…

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Jump in Homelessness for Older Women : One Story

Jump in Homelessness for Older Women : One Story

Nouveau Poor A sympathetic friend of mine shared this item on Facebook, and I’m probably the one person she knows with whom it resonates the loudest.  It comes from Vox, and features a guest columnist named CeliaSue Hecht. CeliaSue is actually “over the wall” as she reached the age where Social Security checks are there for her.  But that’s about all.  She is in a region where I think it may be a…

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Older Women and Age Bias in Hiring

Older Women and Age Bias in Hiring

A while back, an article in an online site for mature Americans, Nextavenue.org, as we euphemistically call ourselves, published a resonating piece that was shared on Facebook, and that one can view here.  I posted some of my thoughts on this, and I also offer a smattering of other inputs from other women who felt this hit too close to home. Donna D. Immediately I think of three single over…

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Long Time Gone from Blogging

Long Time Gone from Blogging

I’ve been busy, mercifully, with some extra work this summer but hit a dry patch.  So finally getting around to tackling new entries in the hope that I can keep on it a bit more regularly. This present year has its troughs and peaks between what personally goes on in my life and what is happening in the general events around the world.  I get an idea and develop it in my head, typically in the…

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Universal Basic Income : an Idea Whose Time Must Come?

Universal Basic Income : an Idea Whose Time Must Come?

On May 11, 2016, Robert Reich posted this on Facebook: “Last week I delivered a lecture in Switzerland on why Switzerland needs a universal basic income (the Swiss are voting on it very soon). The logic is the same for the United States: New technologies will replace so many jobs that we will need a universal, minimum basic income in order to provide everyone at least subsistence earnings, as…

[carolmurchie]

Delegates, Schmelegates

There’s one primary left to go and neither Bernie Sanders nor Hillary Clinton have the required 2382 delegates secured for the outright nomination as the Democratic candidate for the Presidency. This did not stop the media outlets prior to the big Tuesday primaries in NJ, California, Montana, etc. from crowning Hillary the nominee presumptive, based on the party elite known as super delegates who…

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Two Meanings of Memorial Day

Two Meanings of Memorial Day

This is one of the tough times of the year for me personally.  My father was a WWII veteran, having served in the US Army Air Force in the European Theatre from about 1942 (stateside) until the end in 1945.  1944-1945 was served on a base in Norfolk England, Hethel to be precise. Memorial Day as a kid was probably mostly picnics or planting flowers in the garden, as well as the day my parents…