Economy – Page 25

It’s A Small World, After All

Published on December 7, 2006

Now see, this is the reason I blog, so that someone else will take the ball and run with it.

Yesterday I posted a rather flip comparison using the latest global wealth inequality figures and a letter to the WSJ. but Belledame took those figures, broke them down, and extended her research to show how those global inequities are actually mirrored in the US and how, despite the continued mass delusion of belief in the Americam Dream, it’s no accident that the American rich keep getting richer and the poor, poorer.

And that ‘poor’ means you. What? You didn’t really think you were middle-class did you? Do you own your own means of production? No? Could you survive independently beyond maybe one or two last paychecks? No? That fat pension fund you’re were relying on, is it invested in the markets? Then it could disappear tomorrow: you’re working class just like the rest of us. Deal with it.

So many are in denial of this reality though. As Belledame says:

I’ll be honest. I had a bunch of reasons for not tackling this shit before; dunno if they’re the same as y’all’s or not. Well, one, I suppose relatively speaking I am comfortable enough to sort-of pretend this isn’t actually happening (although denial works in mysterious ways, doesn’t it); certainly more so if you factor in my family background, who by now i expect is in, oh, i don’t know what percentile, but i suspect it’s up there. Not in the supra-wealthy micro-fraction percentile, no, but…and especially globally…so.

And, gender stereotypes or not, I’ve always had issues with numbers, personally. I wasn’t kidding: math and anything related literally gives me nightmares. (I dread my upcoming statistics class).

And let’s face it: this shit’s boring compared to, oh I don’t know, blowjobs.

And yet.

Somehow, you know, call it a hunch; i have the feeling that even if I, we, most, all? of us? don’t start concerning ourselves with this shit pretty soon?

It’s gonna concern itself with us.

Well yes, it is going to. It’s inescapable. Create an unsustainable global economic system and everyone suffers whenit all goes pear-shaped.

As a long time Euroweenie socialist these sorts of glaring inequalities are not news: they are the reason for our huge protests at every G8 summit. So I posted the link rather glibly assuming it was recieved wisdom.

From a European perspective it does sometimes seem as though America is living in its own self-created bubble and doesn’t see or even want to see the self-created potential wave of global misery headed its way and which according to your figures, is already lapping at American feet.

Schadenfreude, though tempting, is pointless at this late stage because we’re all affected by this new reality of resource wars, declining quality of life and a fucked-up planet. On the streets of Amsterdam you can see people from all over the world who’ve had to flee to safety for whatever reason, economic, climatic or political, from their home countries, largely as a result of the rampages of international capitalism and the arms trade.

And every day drowned young Africans wash up on the shores of Italy and Spain, or Eastern Europeans and Asians asphyxiated in containers at Dover or Calais, desperate to get away from grinding poverty and warfare. So far the US has been insulated from many of the worst effects of global capitalism like these, but not for much longer.

If not for posts like Belledame’s about the way the current economic model affects Americans personally they’d never know it’s happening till it’s too late. Is there any reporting of this on US TV? I certainly haven’t seen it on Fox or CNN.

Americans’d be surprised at the goodwill that’s still out there though: we still don’t hate Americans per se, despite Iraq, despite everything – we know you’re just like us. Mostly. We just loathe what the guzzling juggernaut that your nation has become is doing and the way it’s driving the rest of the world into poverty to fuel its own temporary comfort and prosperity and its insane competition with China and India.

BTW, I’m British, and Britain is as prime an offender as the US. Our government talks about tackling global poverty, but Brown & Blair’s Britain’s right in there hoovering up capitalism’s crumbs, making money from moving all the money around, all the while applying free-market US business models to public services like the NHS and water supplies and being one of the biggest arms traders on the planet. Oh, and don’t get me started on the GATT agreements…

We’re also completely exasperated by US media and governments’ refusal to see the looming danger – even when the facts and figures are staring them in the face – because it doesn’t fit the mythical national narrative they’ve constructed, of ever expanding profits, military glory and boundless influence.

Unfortunately for that narrative and those who still beleive in it, so far history is heading exactly in the way Marx predicted.

How angry are the American people going to be when they realise this and that they’ve been had? Will they even realise it? And if they do how will that angry realisation manifest itself, if at all? I think all bets are off on what happens in US and consequently global, politics in the next 5 years. Events are moving so fast now any prediction is contingent and the rollercoaster is accelerating.

Is socialism the answer to such gross inequalities? Revolution? What? Is it too late already? I don’t bloody know, I’m just a blogger. At least some of us are attempting to create some equity even if it’s only by making the current obscene situation better known.

But whatever your politics, surely our common humanity says that such massive inequalities as these are totally unjust, unsustainable and something has to give globally, and soon.

Read more: Global inequality, Capitalism, Anticapitalism, Marxism, US

Holy Tax Evasion, Batman!

Published on October 9, 2006

Is it godly to avoid paying your taxes?

But of course. It must be – for did not Jesus himself invite the moneylenders into the temple? Or do I misremember? It seems all you have to do in the US is call yourself a religion, slap on a dogcollar and presto change-o you’re exempt from the law of the land.

No wonder so many dodgy characters become ‘pastors’ and start their own churches. It’s a license to print money, with no oversight.

The New York Times lays out just how free from any sort of tax or regulation being a ‘religion’ can make you:

At any moment, state inspectors can step uninvited into one of the three child care centers that Ethel White runs in Auburn, Ala., to make sure they meet state requirements intended to ensure that the children are safe. There must be continuing training for the staff. Her nurseries must have two sinks, one exclusively for food preparation. All cabinets must have safety locks. Medications for the children must be kept under lock and key, and refrigerated.

The Rev. Ray Fuson of the Harvest Temple Church of God in Montgomery, Ala., does not have to worry about unannounced state inspections at the day care center his church runs. Alabama exempts church day care programs from state licensing requirements, which were tightened after almost a dozen children died in licensed and unlicensed day care centers in the state in two years.

[…]

An analysis by The New York Times of laws passed since 1989 shows that more than 200 special arrangements, protections or exemptions for religious groups or their adherents were tucked into Congressional legislation, covering topics ranging from pensions to immigration to land use. New breaks have also been provided by a host of pivotal court decisions at the state and federal level, and by numerous rule changes in almost every department and agency of the executive branch.

The special breaks amount to “a sort of religious affirmative action program,” said John Witte Jr., director of the Center for the Study of Law and Religion at the Emory University law school.

Professor Witte added: “Separation of church and state was certainly part of American law when many of today’s public opinion makers were in school. But separation of church and state is no longer the law of the land.”

The changes reflect, in part, the growing political influence of religious groups and the growing presence of conservatives in the courts and regulatory agencies. But these tax and regulatory breaks have been endorsed by politicians of both major political parties, by judges around the country, and at all levels of government.

“The religious community has a lot of pull, and senators are very deferential to this kind of legislation,” said Richard R. Hammar, the editor of Church Law & Tax Report and an accountant with law and divinity degrees from Harvard.

As a result of these special breaks, religious organizations of all faiths stand in a position that American businesses and the thousands of nonprofit groups without that ‘religious’ label can only envy. And the new breaks come at a time when many religious organizations are expanding into activities, from day care centers to funeral homes, from ice cream parlors to fitness clubs, from bookstores to broadcasters, that compete with these same businesses and nonprofit organizations.

Religious organizations are exempt from many federal, state and local laws and regulations covering social services, including addiction treatment centers and child care, like those in Alabama.

Federal law gives religious congregations unique tools to challenge government restrictions on the way they use their land. Consequently, land-use restrictions that are a result of longstanding public demands for open space or historic preservation may be trumped by a religious ministry’s construction plans, as in a current dispute in Boulder County, Colo.

Exemptions in the civil rights laws protect religious employers from all legal complaints about faith-based preferences in hiring. The courts have shielded them from many complaints about other forms of discrimination, whether based on race, nationality, age, gender, medical condition or sexual orientation. And most religious organizations have been exempted from federal laws meant to protect pensions and to provide unemployment benefits.

Governments have been as generous with tax breaks as with regulatory exemptions. Congress has imposed limits on the I.R.S.’s ability to audit churches, synagogues and other religious congregations. And beyond the federal income tax exemption they share with all nonprofit groups, houses of worship have long been granted an exemption from local property taxes in every state.

As religious activities expand far beyond weekly worship, that venerable tax break is expanding, too. In recent years, a church-run fitness center with a tanning bed and video arcade in Minnesota, a biblical theme park in Florida, a ministry’s 1,800-acre training retreat and conference center in Michigan, religious broadcasters’ transmission towers in Washington State, and housing for teachers at church-run schools in Alaska have all been granted tax breaks by local officials or, when they balked, by the courts or state legislators.

These organizations and their leaders still rely on public services, police and fire protection, street lights and storm drains, highway and bridge maintenance, food and drug inspections, national defense. But their tax exemptions shift the cost of providing those benefits onto other citizens. The total cost nationwide is not known, because no one keeps track.

Read whole article

Do read the whole thing if you can ( registration required). The way that the Christian Right has pushed its moneymaking agenda disguised as the practice of religious freedom, all the while bleating that they’re being victimised by those mean ol’ atheist liberals boohoo, ( you know, those atheist liberals who actually pay their taxes) is quite shocking even to a confirmed cynic like me.

This isn’t religious freedom, it’s rampant capitalism disguised as religious freedom – and doing what capitalism does best, making a fast buck. It’s also theft from the taxpayer.

Who do you think is paying for all these ‘pastors’ tax breaks and the public services they use? It’s surely not them.

‘Greed’, Painting by M. Connors.

Death, War, Pestilence & The Free Market

Published on April 6, 2006

According to neoliberal economists, the free market’s a panacea for all ills, including. apparently, civil war. The Iraqi government, holed up in Baghdad, is unable to govern day to day and on the verge of collapse, but one thing it can do is push through neoliberal structural adjustments to usher in a free market.

I wonder whose idea that was?

On the face of it it’s a totally pointless move, given the breakdown of Iraqi civil society and the fact that there’s a bloody civil war on – but then again, the free market’s ultimately what this war’s about, so it could be argued that this economic tinkering is relevant, if only in a sick sort of way.

Of course the people it will affect most will be women and children, as usual.

I can hardly conceive how it must be to be female in large parts of Iraq. I don’t have the guts of a Jill Carroll, so I have to use my sketchy imagination, news reports and blogs – but what with disease, death squads, neighbours turned enemy, seemingly random suicide bombings, family members dragged away by troops, your children’s teachers murdered in front of their eyes, potential rape and having to go back to the chador, life must be terrifying. I can barely imagine the physical difficulties, but what’s really hard to comprehend is just how scared people must be all the time.

Against this horrific backdrop meals have to be cooked, children fed, laundry washed and dried – all the usual tedious routine of life, of feeding and clothing a family and running a household. Even when income, fuel and supplies are erratic and the threat of sudden death omnipresent, all that and more has still got to be done and it’s the women who have to do it.

There’re regular food shortages and meat is scarce and expensive. Some products have seen their prices increase by as much as 300 percent or more. In 2002, lentil beans were sold for about US $0.50 per kilogramme. Since then, the retail price has jumped to around US $2 per kilogramme, but at least there were the rations to rely on.

Until now.

Food Rations Cut Hurting Poor

The government has slashed subsidised food, despite rising poverty.

By Daud Salman in Baghdad (ICR No. 170, 29-Mar-06)A government decision to cut food rations has hurt poor Iraqis who cannot afford high prices on the open market, say economists and Baghdad residents.

Despite rising poverty, the government has decided to cut the food ration budget from four to three billion US dollars in 2006, as the country shifts from a socialist to a free market economy.

The Iraqi government has provided subsidies on basic food items such as flour and sugar for decades. The United Nations expanded the programme when the country was under crippling economic sanctions.

However, subsidies have now been cut on staples including salt, soap and beans. Trade ministry spokesman Faraj Daud said the government will continuing to supply Iraqis with free rice, sugar, flour and cooking oil.

The ministry claims that items that were once scarce during sanctions are now widely available on the open market and therefore do not need to be distributed by the government.

Approximately 96 per cent of Iraq’s 28 million people receive food rations managed by 543 centres. The UN World Food Programme estimated in a 2004 report that one-quarter of the population is highly dependent on the rations, warning that without them “many lower-income households, particularly women and children, would not be able to meet their food requirements”.

Daud, however, insists that the ministry has studied the impact of cancelling the subsidies and found it would not hurt families economically.

For Qadiryia Mohammed, a mother of eight with a disabled husband who cannot work, the cuts are devastating.

“We have no income and totally depend on the rations,” said Mohammed, 48, from Baghdad’s al-Karkh neighbourhood. “The cut on some items and problems with food distribution might force us to beg.?

The ministry of labour and social affairs reported in January that more than two million Iraqi families are living below the poverty line and that poverty had risen by 30 per cent since the US-led invasion in April 2003.

[…]

What exquisite timing.

Oh well, I guess when the babies are crying for food, their mothers can give them their purple fingers to suck while singing them lullabyes about the wonders of western capitalism.

Read More: Iraq War Iraq Women Feminism Neoliberalism

Rotten Ralphs

Published on December 16, 2005

Crooks and Liars picks this up from The Talent Show:

“A federal grand jury in Los Angeles this morning returned a 53-count indictment against Ralphs Grocery Company, the owner of about 300 Southland supermarkets, alleging that the company secretly rehired hundreds of locked-out employees under false names and false social security numbers during the 2003-2004 grocery workers labor dispute.

The indictment alleges that Ralphs required rehired locked-out employees to work under false identities to hide its illegal activities from labor unions, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration and the National Labor Relations Board.

According to the indictment, in secretly rehiring hundreds of locked-out employees under false identities, Ralphs falsified thousands of employment records, including forms filed with government agencies such as employment eligibility forms (INS Forms I-9), employee withholding allowance certificates (IRS Forms W-4), and income tax statements (IRS Forms W-2).

The indictment also alleges that Ralphs falsified reports it submitted to trust funds responsible for providing pension and health benefits for current and retired grocery workers. In addition, Ralphs allegedly issued thousands of weekly payroll checks under the false names used by rehired workers, and then allowed these workers to cash their paychecks at Ralphs stores as means of concealing and promoting the ongoing use of false identities.

The indictment alleges that, in combination with a secret revenue sharing agreement that Ralphs executed with its two main competitors, Ralphs’ covert rehiring of locked-out workers was intended to better Ralphs’ position in the 2003-2004 labor dispute by, among other things, mitigating the financial and operational hardships of a complete lockout. The indictment alleges that Ralphs’ resulting ability to withstand a lengthier lockout provided it with increased leverage over the labor unions, whose financial resources were exhausted by the end of the lockout.
The case was announced this afternoon in Los Angeles “

[…]

Ralph’s is already trying to spin this as the work of a fwe rogue store managers, but that conveniently overlooks the fact that this was going on at approx. 90% of their stores.

Full Story here.

American corporations have fuck-all respect for the law, witness my previous post on liar and thief Ken Lay. The law, like taxes, is apparently meant only for the little people.

Before WWII, hired thugs and violence were used to break strikes, with the tacit support of the government. How long before it’s happening again?

It wouldn’t be the first time:

Farmworker strikes have traditionally been broken by strikebreakers and, all too often, drowned in blood. No country has done more than the U.S. to enshrine the right of employers to use strikebreakers, and no workers have been as devastated by the effect of strikebreaking as farmworkers.

From the first Delano grape strike, UFW members watched in anger and agony as growers brought in crews of strikebreakers to take their jobs. When necessary to break a strike, as it was during the lemon strike in Yuma in 1974, the Border Patrol opened the border, and trucks hauling strikebreakers roared up through the Sonora desert every night. Local police and sheriffs provided armed protection.

Non-violence is a basic principle of the UFW because violence in the fields has such a long history. Growers killed strikers in Wheatland at the turn of the century, and Pixley and El Centro in the 30s. Nagi Daifullah and Juan de la Cruz lost their lives in the grapes in the 1973 strike. Rufino Contreras was shot picketing a lettuce field in the Imperial Valley in 1979.

Wiped clean

Published on June 19, 2003

Lambert at Eschaton on what the Republican’s long term plans means for the average American:

Student loans? “Wiped clean.” Unemployment insurance? “Wiped clean”? School lunch for your kids? “Wiped clean.” National parks? “Wiped clean.” Your Mom’s Medicare? “Wiped clean.” Your Dad’s Medicaid? “Wiped clean.” And so on. Well, it is certainly “bold” and “audacious.”