Mission Statement: To spark the minds of people everywhere that there is hope for the economic system....just not THIS economic system.
This is a strange year for our country: the politicians are lining up to tell you that you’re lazy, that you are dependent on the government, and that you won’t take responsibility for your own life. That’s what politician Mitt Romney said to a group of wealthy donors behind closed doors at a fundraiser in early 2012. And this sentiment echoes throughout most of the financially well to do in America. The notion that we are encouraging a nation of freeloaders is the hot topic of the election, and the blame is being put on the poorest Americans. As usual, the people at the very bottom are blamed for society’s woes.
Here at Corporate Welfare, we believe that food stamps and social security are a tiny fraction of the governmental handouts in this country. These small-scale safety nets pale in comparison to the enormous size of corporate bailouts and tax rates. Next to the TARP relief fund, a family of welfare recipients seems non-existent. The sure size of the 2008 bailout was enough to put every single man, woman, and child into a home in this country. And yet it wasn’t used for any of that. Though the problems stemmed from bad bets on the real estate market from firms who pushed lousy mortgages, virtual none of the funds received from TARP were used to stem the tide of foreclosures. And yet the people who ran their own financial firms into the ground walked away with their fortunes intact.
And this, of course, is thanks to the government. If not for big-government intervention, big business would have crumbled to bits. If the market really was the best decider of winners and losers than Goldman Sachs would be the new downtown Value Mart and AIG would be a Christmas supply store. We refuse to let these institutions go bankrupt because they’re thought of as too big to fail. And we can’t let the “job creators” fail. Because then we’d all be worse off. Right?
What this blog is here to argue is that the biggest hand-me-outs in this country go to failed businesses that are deemed too big to fail. And the people with these failed businesses are still compensated in millions of dollars. So why is it that when the rest of us fail we are labeled as parasites to society when we receive government assistance? We are we allowed to fail and they aren’t? And what’s the motivation for these top earners to do business honestly if they know they’ll never get arrested or go bankrupt? Is there any meaningful way can we voice our concern when the financial services lobbyists in Washington have the ability to make their arguments with million dollar checks?
Keep up to date as we delve into the topic of financial reform in America and how it is desperately needed if big business is to abide by the same golden rule that everyone else lives by: that if you win, you win big. But if you lose, you lose like the rest of us.