The Corporate Debt to
Society: $10,000 Per Household, Per Year
Big business owes Americans big time for
providing them most of their labor and
resources.
By Paul Buchheit
February 23, 2015 "ICH"
- The corporate debt to society: $10,000 per
household, per year. That estimate is based
on facts, not the conservative-style emotion
that might deny the responsibility for any
debt to the American people. Wealth
redistribution to big business has occurred
in a variety of ways to be explained below.
And there's some precedent for paying
Americans for the use of their commonly-held
resources. The Alaska
Permanent Fund has been in effect, and
widely popular, for over thirty years.
The Main Argument:
Corporations Have Used Our Money To Build
Their Businesses
Over half (57
percent) of basic research is paid for
by our tax dollars. Corporations don't want
to pay for this. It's easier for them to
allow public money to do the startup work,
and then, when profit potential is evident,
to take over with applied R&D, often with
patents that take the rights away from the
rest of us.
All the technology in our phones and
computers started this way, and continues to
the present day. Pharmaceutical companies
have depended on the National
Institute of Health.
The quadrillion-dollar trading capacity of
the financial industry was made possible by
government-funded Internet technology, and
the big banks survived because of a $7
trillion public bailout.
A particularly outrageous example of a
company turning public research into a
patent-protected private monopoly is the
sordid tale (here)
of the drug company Gilead Sciences.
Adding to the Argument: Publicly
Funded Technology Is Taking Our Jobs Away
Despite a continuing growth in productivity in
the last 35 years, wages
have fallen dramatically, and now it's
getting even worse, as technology and new
business models have begun to diminish
the need for warehouse workers, bank
tellers, cashiers, travel agents, and a host
of other middle-income positions. Underemployment and
long-term unemployment are on the rise. Jobs
involving product delivery, driving, and
serving food may be the next to go.
We paid for the technology that is reducing
us to low-wage workers.
Corporations Owe $5,000 Per
Household for the Public Research Bill
According to the National
Science Foundation (Table 4-3), public
money pays for about 30 percent of all U.S.
research, including basic, applied, and
development. 30 percent of over $2 trillion
in corporate profits comes
to about $5,000 per U.S. household.
Add $2,000 for Pollution and
Disaster Relief Costs
A quarter of
the fossil fuels produced in the U.S. in
2014 came from public land, much of it by
the two biggest oil producers, Exxon and
Chevron, neither of which pay much in U.S. taxes,
and both of which claim mostly
foreign profits despite using mostly U.S.
resources.
It is estimated that
pollution costs run anywhere from $71
billion to $277 billion per year. The
midpoint of $174 billion comes to about
$1,500 per U.S.
household. It is further estimated that
federal and state disaster relief payouts
cost every person in the US more than $300,
which translates to well over $500 per
household.
Add Another $3,000 Per Household for
Unpaid Taxes and Corporate Welfare
Tax avoidance and federal tax subsidies add
up to about $3,000 per household, per
year. A lot more could be added if the
industry-specific costs of
excessive bank fees and overpriced
medications were factored in.
That's a total of at least $10,000 per
household, per year. If the corporations
plead poverty, they might be reminded about
the 95
percent of S&P 500 profits spent on
stock buybacks (which enrich stockowners)
and dividend payouts, and the $2
trillion hoarded overseas in tax
havens.
The America Permanent Fund
With an America
Permanent Fund (APF), based on Alaska's
successful program and further developed by Peter
Barnes, all of us -- rich and poor alike
-- would receive a share of our national
productivity, as indeed we deserve.
Not only is the APF fair, but it is also
good business. Money earned by average
Americans stimulates economic activity. A
stronger consumer class will generate even
more profits for the nation's corporations,
if those big profit-makers will support the
people who provided most of the labor and
resources.
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