President Obama’s program of cutbacks, wage freezes and war was already clear before his speech today. Last November 29 he announced a two year wage freeze on for two million federal workers including many like Veteran Affairs Nursing Techs who make only $28,000 per year. In December he agreed to a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts for the rich. In February he said that aspects of the Pell Grant program for students would have to be cut because they were too expensive. At the same time he has spent billions for war in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya.
While the details of last week’s budget deal are sketchy, it is already clear that a number of vital programs will face severe cuts. WIC, a nutrition program for poor women will be cut by $504 million; Community Health Centers will be cut by $600 million; Dislocated Worker Assistance will be cut by $125 million; infectious disease prevention programs will be cut by $277 million; Substance Abuse and Mental Health assistance will be cut by $45 million. Funding for the Environmental Protection Agency was cut by 16 percent or $1.6 billion. Revealing the priority of imperialist war and repression, spending for “defense” will increase by $5 billion.
President Obama’s deficit commission has targeted basic rights that were won decades ago such as Medicare and Social Security. They have justified these cuts based on an alleged deficit, as if the country had no financial resources to draw on. But the fact is that there are more than enough resources to sustain these programs and to expand them. Corporate profits are at all time highs. Yet the taxes that they pay are at all time lows. The same goes for the super rich.
Neither the Republican nor Democratic Parties call for taxing the rich and corporations in a way that funds the social needs of the society they have been milking and exploiting for over 100 years.
General Electric paid no federal income taxes in 2009
While over 22 percent of children live in poverty and millions depend on food stamps to survive, 25 percent of large corporations paid no federal income tax in 2005 while earning $1.1 trillion in revenue. In 2009, Exxon Mobil, made $19 billion in profits and paid no federal income tax. In fact they got a $156 million refund from the government. General Electric paid no federal income taxes in 2009. Bank of America paid no income taxes in 2009 despite earning $4.4 billion that year. Citibank paid no taxes either.
In 2009 the Federal Reserve reported that the richest 400 people in the US have more wealth than the bottom 186 million people combined. That is just 400 rich people who own $1.27 Trillion in wealth- have more than 60 percent of the population who own just that 2.3 percent by the nation’s total net worth. In 2009 the richest 400 paid a lower percentage of their income in taxes than they did in 1995.
While President Obama and other politicians may talk about a tiny increase in this or that tax on the rich they have repeatedly acted to extend tax cuts for the rich. They have never called for truly taxing the rich and corporations as a measure of justice. Considering all that these corporations have done to the workers who produce all the profits, considering all the ways that these corporations have benefited from government programs funded by working class tax payers, taxing the rich and the corporations is a demand whose time is long overdue.
