Food stamps for fascists Dr. Joel McDurmon Sep 17, 2014
Conservatives rightly rail against “welfare” programs such as food stamps. This is especially true when these programs are abused, but it is true in general as well. The government simply should not be in the business of redistributing wealth, and certainly not of giving direct handouts, especially to people who are perfectly capable of working.
But did you know that business corporations receive far more in direct handouts than do these maligned individuals—often backed by conservatives and conservative politicians? And the numbers will startle you. According to a report by watchdog organization “Open the Books,” Fortune 100 companies received direct handouts of over $1.2 Trillion between 2000 and 2012.
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And these are not the indirect, so-called “subsidies” often condemned by the left (such as “tax breaks” for big oil companies, etc.). These are direct payments, etc.
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That $1.2 trillion number does not include the hundreds of billions of dollars in housing, bank, and auto-company bailouts in 2008 and 2009, because those payments are kept mostly invisible in the federal-agency books. It also doesn’t include the asset purchases of the Federal Reserve, indirect subsidies such as the ethanol mandate that enriches large agribusinesses like Archer Daniels Midland, or special tax breaks for wind and solar manufacturers.
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Isn’t 100+ years of corporate fascism enough? Isn’t 100+ years of the warfare-welfare state enough?
The article is a bit frustrating. He tells us what these "corporate welfare" payments are not, doesn't tell us what it is, and lumps in payment for contracted services.
I'll try to read the report and see if I can tease out what the writer is referring to.
Quote: Sanguine wrote in post #2The article is a bit frustrating. He tells us what these "corporate welfare" payments are not, doesn't tell us what it is, and lumps in payment for contracted services.
I'll try to read the report and see if I can tease out what the writer is referring to.