Government - councils, legislatures, taxes, projects, courts, police, military - has for thousands of years been used by the rich to 1) get rich in the first place, and 2) get even richer. The main talent of the rich is in fact the taking money from everyone else, via the government, and putting it in their deep golden pockets.
Corporate or plutocratic or ruling class welfare is essential to the existence of the ruling class. Without it they perish. They see money as a zero-sum game - the only way for them to have any or more money is to take it from the poor. And of course they always want more. Take enough crusts of bread out of the mouths of enough starving children, and you've got another glass of fine wine or serving of caviar. Welfare for the poor (unemployment insurance, universal health care, assistance, etc) enables people to reject the lowest wages. The rich prefer to end welfare for the poor, so they can pay the lowest wage, and keep more for themselves. So here at the city level we have developers - condos, freeways, stadiums, big boxes, etc - cajoling councils for TIF and rezoning and eminent domain and free brownfield cleanup and other forms of corporate welfare, and usually succeeding. The crucial question with welfare is - who gets it? If it's from the rich to the poor (via taxes and unions and fair wages... then on to public schools and libraries etc) it is bad bad bad, and we are taught to foam at the mouth when it is mentioned. If it's from the poor to the rich, it is superspecial just plain wonderful, the American way of life, city on a hill, god's blessing, the miracle of free enterprise. The rich like to talk about a free market (including no corporate welfare), but they never want to live there. The battle of the rich against the citizen is endless; it requires endless citizen awareness and action to slow/stop/reverse our losses. --David Shove Roseville On Tue, 17 Aug 2004, Pam Ellison wrote: > I would agree that it is citrizens that the government should be looking out > for, not corporate welfare and particularly not corporations that harm the > health and safety of the citizen. I find it so interesting that those who > consider themselves to be more conservative on welfare programs to citizens > have no problem with billions of dollars of corporate welfare going to > corporations. I have always thought this a great irony. We live in a free > market society with HUGE WELFARE CRUTCHES for LARGE CORPORATIONS and CEO's, > but we would be better off letting business whether large or small to live > and die by their own swords. If you cannot manage a budget, your company > goes down. If you can't attract well qualified employees and managers > without bankrupting the business on perks and prohibitive salary and bonus > plans, your company goes down. If you cannot meet the somewhat nominal > environmental requirements to do business then your business goes down. > > I wish that as many conservatives that are so slash happy in ending welfare > programs for the poor and disadvantaged with their wielding swords would be > half as dilligent when it comes to CORPORATE DISASTERS that we just seem to > assist to gimp along until they run out of their funds, government funds and > our tax dollars, polluting and hurting the health of the general public > along the way. > > I consider myself to be somewhat conseervative when it comes to our tax > dollars, but I am equally or shall I say more concerned about the pilfering > that goes on in cases like ENRON and in the Health Care Industries today. I > think we could affect more reform if elected officials would let the FREE > MARKET STAND ON ITS OWN. > > I favor the city working on streets, not stadiums. > > Pamela Ellison > Como Park > Saint Paul. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "CRISTY DELACRUZ" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "StPaul Forum" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2004 12:30 PM > Subject: [StPaul] Sitting Idly By Costs Taxpayers Too > > > In response to Paul Kuettel: > > Sitting and watching something that is terribly, terribly wrong also costs > taxpayers. For example: > > -Letting a GSE plant pollute an urban environment while people pay to cover > their health costs is expensive, both to the individuals and those of us who > are in the risk pool for insurance companies. > > -Watching "NCLB" money be pulled from failing schools is a cost to taxpayers > who paid the cost of building and maintaining schools. Empty public school > classrooms may be what some want, but they create a burden and do not fully > maintain our past investments. > > -If this were a national forum, I'd mention the billions of dollars it costs > to run a war that was not called for, but this is Saint Paul issues so I'll > try not to digress. > > NON-activism and watching public servants squander money costs too. > > Cristy > > * * * * * * * * * * > Cristy A. De La Cruz > Roseville resident > Moving to Highland Park in 2 weeks > _____________________________________________ > To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _____________________________________________ > NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul > > Archive Address: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ > > _____________________________________________ > To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion > Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > _____________________________________________ > NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul > > Archive Address: > http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/ > _____________________________________________ To Join: St. Paul Issues Forum Rules Discussion Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] _____________________________________________ NEW ADDRESS FOR LIST: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, modify subscription, or get your password - visit: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/listinfo/stpaul Archive Address: http://www.mnforum.org/mailman/private/stpaul/
