“We have to go into this vote eyes wide open.
What did the Senate majority fight for?
Corporations have been getting rich off the taxpayer dime for decades,
thanks to special tax breaks, subsidies, and regulatory rollbacks
secured by their armies of lobbyists.
With the coronavirus pandemic wreaking havoc on the global economy,
here’s how massive corporations are shafting the rest of us
in order to secure billions of dollars of taxpayer-funded bailouts.
“We will be helping the airline industry.
We will be helping the cruise ship industry.
We probably will be helping the hotel industry.”
The airline industry demanded a massive bailout of nearly
$60 billion taxpayer dollars,
and ended up securing $50 billion
half in loans, half in direct grants that don’t need to be paid back.
Airlines don’t deserve a cent.
The five biggest U.S. airlines spent 96% of their free cash flow over
the last decade buying back shares of their own stock to boost
executive bonuses and please wealthy investors.
United was so determined to get its windfall of taxpayer money that it
threatened to fire workers if it didn’t get its way.
Before the Senate bill passed, CEO Oscar Munoz wrote that
Airlines could have renegotiated their debts with their lenders outside court
or file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
They’ve reorganized under bankruptcy many times before.
Either way, they’d keep flying.
The hotel industry asked for $150 billion.
The industry says as many as 4 million workers could lose
their jobs in the coming weeks if they don’t receive a bailout.
Everyone from general managers to housekeepers will be affected.
But don’t worry
Hotel chains don’t need a bailout.
For years, they’ve been making record profits while
underpaying their workers.
Marriott, the largest hotel chain in the world, repurchased
$2.3 billion of its own stock last year, while raking in
nearly $4 billion in profits.
Thankfully, Trump’s hotels and businesses, as well as any of his
family members’ businesses, are barred from receiving anything from
the $500 billion corporate bailout money.
But the bill is full of loopholes that Trump can exploit to benefit himself
and his hotels.
Cruise ships also want to be bailed out, and Trump called
them a “prime candidate” to receive a government handout.
But they don’t deserve it either.
The three cruise ship corporations controlling 75 percent of the
entire global market are incorporated outside of the United States
to avoid paying taxes.
They’re floating tax shelters
Democrats secured key provisions stipulating that companies are only
eligible for bailout money if they are incorporated in the United States
and have a majority of U.S. employees,
so the cruise ship industry likely won’t see a dime of relief funding.
However, Trump has made it clear he still wants to help them.
The justification I’ve heard about why all these corporations need
to be bailed out is they’ll keep workers on their payrolls.
But why should we believe big corporations will protect their
workers right now?
The $500 billion slush fund included in the Senate’s emergency relief package
doesn't require corporations to keep paying their workers
and it has dismally weak restrictions on stock buybacks and executive pay.
Even if the bill did provide worker protections, what’s going to happen
to these corporations’ subcontractors and gig workers?
And what about worker benefits, pensions and health care?
How much of this bailout is going to end up in the pockets of executives
and big investors?
Well, I'll tell you.
A lot.
The record of Big Business is not comforting.
Walmart, the largest employer in America,
doesn’t even give its employees paid sick leave.
Nor do any of the giants of the fast-food industry.
McDonald’s, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Dunkin Donuts, Wendy’s, Subway.
None of them give paid sick leave.
Amazon, one of the richest corporations in the world,
which paid almost no taxes last year,
is only offering only unpaid time off for workers who are sick
and just two weeks paid leave for workers who test positive
for the virus.
Meanwhile, it demands its employees put in mandatory overtime.
Oh, and these corporations made sure they and other companies
with more than 500 employees were exempt from the requirement
in the first coronavirus bill that employers provide paid sick leave.
And now, less than a month into statewide shelter-in-place orders
and social distancing restrictions,
what you hear is Wall Streeters and corporate America’s
chief executives calling for supposedly “low-risk” groups to be sent
back to work to restart the economy.
They are so concerned about protecting their bottom line
that they’re willing to let people die to preserve their stock portfolios,
all while they continue working from the safety and security of
their own homes.
It's the most repugnant class warfare you can imagine.
Here’s the bottom line:
For decades, these companies and their billionaire executives have
been dodging taxes, getting tax cuts,
shafting workers,
and bending the rules to enrich themselves.
There is no reason to trust them to do the right thing with billions
of dollars of taxpayer money.
Every penny we have needs to go to average Americans
who desperately need income support and health care,
and to hospitals that need life-saving equipment.
It is outrageous that the Senate bill gave corporations nearly
four times as much money as hospitals on the front lines.
Corporate welfare is bad enough in normal times.
Now, in a national emergency, it's morally repugnant.
We must stop bailing out corporations.
It’s time we bail out people.