Politicians reached a budget compromise in
Washington, D.C., late in the day April 8, narrowly averting a
shutdown of the federal government.
A shutdown would have severely
impacted government workers, but the damage would also have rippled
out, affecting many other workers in service industries whose
livelihoods depend on government workers. In Washington, D.C., large
parts of the working class were essentially held hostage as the
politicians argued.
Although a shutdown was avoided, it came at a very
high price. Democrats and Republicans agreed to a budget that will
cut $38 billion in federal spending. The Washington Post reported on
April 12 that more than half of the spending cuts will come from
education, labor and health programs.
A look at the proposed cuts reveals the politicians’
priorities. A program to subsidize food and nutritional needs for
low-income children will be cut $504 million, while $1 billion will
be cut in grants to states to help pay for drinking water
infrastructure projects. Nuclear waste disposal programs will be cut
by $101 million. A staggering $1.045 billion will be cut from
programs for HIV-AIDS, viral hepatitis, STD and tuberculosis
prevention.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration—a
longtime target of corporations wanting to undo even the inadequate
worker safety laws that do exist—will see its budget cut by $49
million. One provision in the compromise would specifically ban
federal and local funding for abortion in Washington, D.C.
Do not expect funds to be cut from the
military-industrial complex, whose profits are soaring. The Obama
administration somehow had no trouble finding millions of dollars to
fund the recent attack on Libya. Both
parties are singing the same tune when they call on the working class
to bear the burden of sacrifice in the aftermath of the Wall Street
bailouts, the housing crisis, the unemployment crisis and reduced
government services.
As the April 15 income tax filing deadline
approaches, increasing numbers of workers are discovering that the
country has no shortage of money—it is just in the wrong hands.
Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders recently released figures showing
that major corporations have completely avoided paying U.S. taxes
while making huge profits. Exxon Mobil, with profits of $1.9 billion
in 2009, paid no taxes at all. To top it off, Securities and Exchange
Commission filings reveal that the IRS actually paid the corporation
a $156 million rebate.
Bank of America made $4.4 billion in profits last
year, received bailouts from the Federal Reserve and the Treasury
Department of nearly $1 trillion, and received a refund from the IRS
of $1.9 billion. Citigroup made more than $4 billion in profits last
year, paid no taxes and received a bailout of $2.5 trillion from the
Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury.
General Electric, which had made huge profits on wars
of aggression and on flawed nuclear reactors like the one spewing
radiation in Japan, has made $26 billion in profits over the last
five years, and has received a $4.1 billion refund from the IRS.
Adding insult to injury, a study recently released by
Equilar, a Redwood City, Calif.-based compensation consulting firm,
found that the median pay for chief executives in 200 major
corporations was $9.6 million last year. This was a 12 percent
increase over the previous year. The highest compensation went to
Philippe Dauman, Viacom CEO, who received $84.5 million over just
nine months.
Democrats and Republicans will argue over details of
the budget in the coming weeks, and the corporate media will work to
hype their differences. But both parties will join in calling for the
working class to sacrifice, saying the money just is not there to
fund basic services and human needs. That lie has been exposed for
all to see, and workers can see that capitalism offers no viable
solutions to the challenges we face.
