ZANNE says,
> If only it were so! The problem is, capitalism requires a very
> different kind of "vision" than the one needed to save our planet, and
> people who do not share the capitalist vision (Growth! Profit!) will not
> last long enough within a capitalist structure to have any significant
> impact on the direction of a corporation or an economy. They'll be
> chewed up and spit out, and the corporation will continue along on its
> globe-gobbling way. It's the very structure of the economy that must be
> transformed; otherwise all you get is new wine in old skins, or, in
> slightly more contemporary terms, "Meet the new boss, same as the old
> boss."
>
You've got THAT right!!!!! I would paraphrase, but I couldn't say it
better or clearer.
Jackie
>
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Tue Sep 2 22:11:49 1997
Date: Tue, 02 Sep 1997 21:11:40 -0700
To: STUDIES IN WOMEN AND ENVIRONMENT <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
From: Chris <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: RE: Acting up
In-Reply-To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
The city that I live, Arcata, is the first in the history of the United
States to have a Green Party majority on the city council. Although we are
a very small city we have a very tight community and alot of support for
local business. Lot's of local farms that produce high quality food at low
prices, good schools and a very vocal community. It can happen if you are
willing to make personal changes. It's happening here, why not where you are?
It starts with us...the "consumer"...one who consumes...be careful what you
buy...do you need it? Right now we are gearing up for the Sept. 14th
demonstration against Pacific Lumber and are expecting 10,000 people. Last
year the press said that there were a few thousand...by best estimate there
were 7,000 with 1000 arrested for peaceful non-compliance. What is at
stake? The last remaining ancient Redwoods in private hands...stolen from
the taxpayers by S&L raider, Charles Hurwitz...he wants to sell back to the
taxpayers a piece of the forest that he stole....we bought it already when
we bailed out his S&L to the tune of $1.6 BILLION ....no, he is not in
jail! Who is in jail? A 26
year old man who dumped a pie on his head..yes he is in jail with a $10,000
bail! This is where we start...each of us joining with another and another
and another to stop the madness...DON"T CONSUME that which is gotten by
irresponsible means by greedy people!
It all starts with you as an individual!
Locally we are fortunate to have a monthly newspaper that is now online,
called Access. It can be found at:
http://www.projecta.com/access/pastframe.html read it!
Christine
Let's Eliminate Corporate Welfare
by Paul Cienfuegos
"The federal government's corporate welfare programs number over 120. They
are so
varied and embedded that we actually grow up thinking that the government
interferes
with the free enterprise system, rather than subsidizing it."
Ralph Nader
Did you know that most federal welfare spending goes to the rich, not the
poor? In 1994, the
amount of money allocated for Aid to Families with Dependent Children,
AFDC, the program
that is popularly known as welfare, was about $23 billion, or less than 2%
of the entire budget.
An additional $50 billion was spent on low-income assistance such as school
lunches and food
stamps. However, since President Clinton's welfare "reform" bill, poor
Americans are
receiving even less. In contrast, the federal government handed out over
$200 billion to giant
corporations last year in price supports, export subsidies and export
promotions, subsidized
insurance rates, new plants and equipment, marketing services, and
irrigation and reclamation
programs. Additional billions were spent on loan guarantees and
debt-forgiveness, including
the erasure of most of the mega-billion-dollar debt owed by the nuclear
industry for uranium
enrichment services provided by the government.
"Welfare for the rich is the name of the game," says Michael Parenti, a
leading author and critic
of domestic government policies. "Over the years, the federal government
has sold or leased
to private firms, at fees of 1 to 10% of true market value, billions of
dollars worth of gold,
coal, oil and mineral reserves, along with grazing and timber lands =96 all
of which are the
property of the people of the US. The government has provided billions of
dollars to rescue
giant corporations like =85 Lockheed =85 and over $500 billion to bail out
savings-and-loan
institutions [we'll be paying till the year 2020]. The government
distributes billions in research
and development grants, mostly to corporations that are then permitted to
keep the patents
and market the products for profit. [One example is Taxol, an ovarian
cancer-fighting drug,
produced by a federal grant of $31 million, then given away to
Bristol-Myers Squibb
Corporation which now charges up to $15,000 per patient for a series of
treatments. If the
patients can't pay, they go on Medicaid, and the taxpayer pays at the other
end of the cycle,
too.]=20
"The government develops whole new industries, takes all the risks, absorbs
all the costs, then
hands the industries over to private companies for private gain =96 as has
been done with
aerospace, nuclear energy, electronics, synthetics, space communications,
mineral exploitation,
computer systems =85 biotechnology, agriculture, and pharmaceuticals.
"[Yet] no mainstream commentator ever asks, 'Where are we going to get the
money to pay
for all these things?' =96 an inevitable question when social programs are
[the topic]. Nor do they
seem concerned that the corporate recipients of this largess will run the
risk of having their
moral fiber weakened by dependency on government handouts. In sum, the myth
of a
self-reliant free market, trickle-down economy is just that, a myth. In
almost every enterprise, government provides business with supports,
protections, and
opportunities for private gain at public expense."
Here's just a small sampling of how your tax dollars are being spent=
annually:
=95 $7.6 billion for grants, financing and tax breaks to US arms exporting
corporations (warfare
welfare).
=95 $32 billion to corporations permitted to write off the value of their
equipment (depreciation)
faster than it actually wears out.
=95 $40 million in subsidies to millionaire ranchers using public lands to
graze their herds (like
ABC news anchor Sam Donaldson who leases 2360 acres of state trust land in
NM for $1.25
per acre per year).
=95 $200 million to mineral mining corporations that pay peanuts for the
leasing of public lands.
=95 $69.4 million to the Market Access Program (MAP) which subsidizes
advertising by
exporters of food and wine (like McDonalds, M&M, Sunkist, Dole, Ocean
Spray, etc.)
=95 $660 million to build forest roads on public lands for corporate use =96
not included in this
estimate is the environmental cost in terms of lost recreational
opportunities, commercial
fisheries and drinking water supplies, as well as the enormous social costs
of restoring
damaged forests and streams.
=95 $1 billion in "restructuring costs" (payoffs for layoffs) related to the
merger of Boeing and
McDonnell Douglas; in addition, Boeing paid $0 taxes in 1995 (not an
unusual event) and
received a $33 million rebate via the Foreign Sales Corporate Tax Credit
and hefty deductions
for R&D costs .
=95 $40 million to Westinghouse and GE to finance their application (!) for =
a
nuclear power
license.
=95 $5.8 billion in tax-supported free research to private industry =96 call=
ed
CRADA's
(cooperative research and development agreements), like $733,000 to the=
Disney
Corporation to design a semiconductor for igniting fireworks displays.=20
=95 $56.2 million to the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) whic=
h
provides loans,
loan guarantees, and political risk insurance to US corporations which
invest in risky countries
(the "job-killers" subsidy).
=95 $700 million to fund the General Agreements to Borrow (GAB) which is=
part
of the International Monetary Fund.
=95 $800 million for hundreds of highway demonstration projects across the=
US
that members of Congress have requested that are unnecessary.
=95 $6.7 billion on the mortgage interest deduction ("mansion" subsidy).
=95 $5.5 billion for the business deduction for sports, 2-martini lunch and
entertainment
expenses.
=95 $22 billion for 100% current tax deduction for corporate advertising to
US citizens.
=95 $3 billion for subsidized irrigation water.
=95 $3 billion giving up to $10,000 to corporations for each welfare mother
they hire at minimum
wage (first to sign up were Monsanto, Sprint, United Airlines, UPS and ATT).
And if they can get away with it this year =85
=95 $78 billion in added bank profits if the government allows them three
days to clear your
deposits through the system instead of the two-day current legal maximum.
Corporate welfare handouts are so out of control that even conservative
organizations are
getting involved. Recently, a broad range of taxpayer, consumer, free
market and
environmental groups formed the Stop Corporate Welfare (SCW) Coalition
which plans to
target hundreds of millions of dollars in Federal spending over the next=
year.
Of course, not everyone is concerned. California Governor Pete Wilson, a
devoted corporate
worshipper, is supporting the move to cut off Social Security benefits to
hundreds of
thousands of non-citizen residents, many elderly. And how does he plan to
use the anticipated
savings? He wants to cut the Corporate Tax Rate by 10%!
In 1945, corporations paid 50% of all tax revenues. Last year, they paid
7%. Since 1973, the
average rate of corporate profit has risen over 50%. Between 1983 and 1992,
US-based
corporations created 345,000 jobs abroad while cutting 783,000 jobs at
home. Of the 100
largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations and 49 are nations.
Corporations have
become so powerful that they control virtually every economic policy
decision made by
governments. This is why they now pay virtually no tax, leaving mostly
middle and low-income
citizens to cover the tax bill.=20
So, the next time you read in your daily corporate newspaper that your town
or county or
state or country can no longer afford to keep its library's doors open, or
house its homeless, or
provide public transportation at an affordable price, remember that your
community is as
wealthy as it ever was, but the rich and powerful no longer pay their
share. (Of course, your
corporate daily is probably among the tax evaders, so don't expect adequate
coverage of this
story from them. You may have to research and write the story yourself!)
Have you heard enough? Have I gotten you steaming mad? Let's work together
to eliminate
AFDC - Aid for Dependent Corporations, that is.
Here=92s How You Can Get Involved
Join the effort to eliminate corporate welfare:
=95 Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, 215-563-7110 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(Corporate Wealthfare posters).
=95 Share the Wealth, 37 Temple Place, Boston MA 02111 (Wealthfare Reform
Organizing
Kit).
=95 Corporate Welfare Project, POB 19405, Washington DC 20036 (Aid For=
Dependent
Corporations Report).
=95 Western Ancient Forest Campaign, 202-789-2844 or [EMAIL PROTECTED]
=95 Stop Corporate Welfare Coalition, c/o Public Citizen, 202-588-1000 or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
=95 Campaign for New Priorities, 202-544-8222.
=95 Common Cause, 2030 M St., Washington DC 20036.
=95 US PIRG's, 202-546-9707
Read independent, non-corporate newspapers and magazines:=20
=95 Some excellent choices =96 Nation, Z, Progressive, In These
Times, Multinational Monitor, Counterpunch, Earth Island
Journal, North Coast XPress (Sonoma County), Rachel's
Weekly, and The Progressive Populist.=20
If you'd rather read the computer screen:=20
=95 Corporation Watch at www.corpwatch.org.=20
Read relevant books, including:
=95 Democracy for the Few by Michael Parenti; Who Will Tell the People: The
Betrayal of
American Democracy by William Greider; The Case Against the Global Economy
(and
For a Turn Toward the Local) edited by Jerry Mander and Edward Goldsmith;
and When
Corporations Rule the World by David Korten (see this month=92s article in
ACCESS by
David Korten).
Look for my article on Clearcutting and Landslides in the July issue (I=92m
taking this next month
off) which will be based on the testimony from concerned citizens
anticipated at the upcoming
Hearings organized by the HOPE Coalition, and tentatively scheduled for
June 5th in Eureka,
CA. See you there!
