There’s one political issue that unites us all, whether we realize it or not.
In fact, if a politician ran on this issue, they would likely get support from both folks
who lean to the right politically AND folks who lean to the left politically.
I’m just a Mr. Beat Just another person in the media…wait I
had better explain what the “media” is…
The media is communication that reaches a large audience
Anyway, many in the media don’t let us know that there’s this one issue that unites
us, probably because most media is controlled by very big corporations…wait I’d better
also explain what a “corporation” is.
A corporation is a business legally separate from the people who run it.
We tend to automatically assume all corporations are huge, but most of them are actually small
businesses.
But the vast majority of media?
Heh, it’s controlled by just a few very, very big corporations.Oh, in the script I
wrote three “verys.”
So let me do that part over again.
It’s controlled by just a few very, very big corporations.
In fact, these five (Comcast, Disney, Paramount Global, Warner Brothers Discovery, and Fox
Corporation) control the majority of American media.
So perhaps that’s why they often don’t report that most of us are united on the issue
of corporate welfare.
And it truly doesn’t matter where you lean politically.
Folks who lean to the left, folks who lean to the right, capitalists, socialists, communists,
libertarians, anarchists, conservatives, liberals- they all generally agree that corporate welfare
is bad.
In fact, when you search “corporate welfare” on YouTube…which is where you’re probably
watching this media right now by the way…the first videos that come up talking trash about
it are from John Stossel, a commentator who leans to the right, and Robert Reich, a commentator
who leans to the left.
Wait I’d also better explain what “corporate welfare” is…ya know…since this video
is about corporate welfare.
Corporate welfare is financial aid provided by a government to corporations.
So yes, we’re talking about public funds, taxpayer money going to corporations.
Ralph Nader first popularized the phrase way back in 1956, and he has spent most of his
life fighting it.
The most common form of corporate welfare are subsidies.
A subsidy is a direct or indirect payment from a government to a private business.
Yes, sometimes governments straight up just give private businesses money.
But they also provide free or cheap land or infrastructure improvement for businesses.
Often, people in government justify subsidies for the really big projects, like sports stadiums
or large factories, since these big projects help the entire community by helping the local
economy.
The idea is that these big projects create jobs and attract consumers to spend their
money there.
Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees, is one of the most expensive stadiums ever
built.
It ultimately cost more than $2.3 billion to build, but an estimated $1.2 billion of
that money came from public subsidies.
And stuff like this happens all over.
My home state of Kansas recently offered $829 million in subsidies to Panasonic Energy so
that it would build a new plant there.
Often, though, corporate welfare is just tax breaks.
Corporations regularly use deductions and tax exemptions to avoid paying taxes altogether.
In fact, Amazon, which is currently the fourth largest corporation in the world, paid no
federal income taxes in the United States in 2018, despite making more than $11 billion
in profit that year.
In 2021, all of these American companies reported billions in profits, yet that same year all
of them paid a lower effective tax rate than you did.
In fact, THESE FOUR companies all GOT MONEY BACK FROM THE GOVERNMENT.
But it’ s not just individual corporations that get direct subsidies and tax breaks.
Often entire industries do.
One of the most profitable industries in the United States, the fossil fuel industry, is
subsidized, despite the industry threatening the environment.
In fact, it gets more than $20 billion in subsidies each year.
The pharmaceutical industry, which…ya know…everybody loves…and which has notoriously has profited
in recent years selling expensive life-saving medication, is also heavily subsidized.
Between 2010 and 2016, all 210 drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration benefited
from subsidies.
The technology industry gets billions in subsidies each year.
The agriculture industry gets billions in subsidies each year.
The defense industry gets billions in subsidies each year.
I have a whole video on the Military Industrial Complex, by the way.
If you want to check it out.
Oh, it’s gone.
Sorry, you missed your opportunity.
The real estate industry even gets subsidized, despite a growing housing crisis in which
people can longer afford to buy or even rent homes.
In 2021, the real estate industry got nearly $38 billion in subsidies.
So whether it’s Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Tech, Big Ag, Big Defense, Big Real Estate,
Big Daddy, or Big Momma, it appears that all of us are helping to pay for it.
Corporate welfare also comes in the form of exclusive contracts.
Governments DO pick winners and losers, and politicians DO play favorites with certain
companies, often due to personal connections.
In recent decades, corporate welfare really tends to skyrocket when there’s an economic
crisis.
(bailout montage) Yep, it’s often not the taxpayer getting bailed out during a recession.
Instead, it’s the taxpayer bailing out corporations.
(too big too fail).
The idea is that if we let these giant corporations fail, our entire economy will collapse, and
uh…yeah…that probably would happen and it WOULD suck for all of us.
But isn’t that evidence that our economy relies too much on just a small handful of
huge corporations?
We saw governments bail out corporations and industries quite a bit during the Great Recession,
which peaked in 2008 and started when the American housing bubble burst when people
couldn’t afford to pay back their mortgages anymore.
In response to this bailing out of corporations, many of which were at least partially responsible
for the economic crisis to begin with by the way, people got understandably angry.
Two big movements began as a backlash to the corporate welfare seen during the Great Recession.
One was a left-leaning movement, and one a right-leaning movement.
Hmmmmm
The Tea Party Movement, the right-leaning one, focused on lowering government spending
and lowering taxes, and Occupy Wall Street, the left-leaning one, focused on the influence
of money in politics and income inequality.
However, while both movements seemed to be on opposite ends of the spectrum…one thing
united them- their hatred of corporate welfare and special interests.
Flash forward to the COVID-19 pandemic (COVID 19), and the United States government once
again spent hundreds of billions of dollars bailing out both corporations and small businesses.
But guess what?
It also bailed out individuals and families quite a bit, and, as it turns out, most Americans
were just fine with that.
By this point in the video, you likely agree with me that corporate welfare is more bad
than good.
That it, at the very least, is pretty unfair.
However, there are strong arguments for it.
Many economists and politicians argue that corporate welfare is necessary to keep the
economy growing.
Countries have to compete in a global economy, after all, which often makes it necessary
to provide incentives to corporations to invest at home.
Those incentives?
Subsides, of course.
And as I said earlier, the majority of economists argue that bailing out corporations and industries
during an economic crisis is absolutely critical at preventing an even worse crisis.
Think of it as a necessary evil.
No one feels good about it, but the alternative would be much, much worse.
Finally, often the biggest projects only happen to begin with due to government investment.
They’re just TOO big, too risky, too freaking expensive.
So yeah, corporate welfare may be a necessary evil during crazy times or in certain circumstances,
but that’s not the problem.
The problem is corporate welfare just being the norm- something that governments have
been doing for a long time, like it isn’t no thing but a chicken wing.
And governments keep doing it… again and again…despite it not being popular.
Then again, we know why.
The current political system makes it so that politicians are easily bribed.
Corporations that benefit from corporate welfare bribe politicians to give them subsidies and
tax breaks, either through campaign contributions or through kickbacks.
After all, influence peddling, or using one’s influence in government in order to get special
treatment, is often perfectly legal in the current system.
Therefore, the current system must be reformed.
There are plenty of reforms that can fight back against corporate welfare, from getting
rid of gerrymandering, to term limits, to reducing the influence of lobbyists, to campaign
finance reform, or to ending corporate personhood, just to name a few.
But first, we just need to be aware of corporate welfare as a major problem.
It’s often not even brought up, despite being arguably the quickest way to see how
the entire political system is currently out of touch with most of its citizens.
And perhaps raising awareness about corporate welfare is the quickest way for all of us
to realize that we are more united than most media wants us to think.
Much of what drove the support for Ross Perot for President in 1992, (I'm spending my money,
not PAC, not foreign money, to take this message to the people) Ron Paul for President in 2008
(Whether they're Republicans or Democrats, they're gonna support the corporations.
Even in medical care reform, who do you think is gonna come out well in this?
Corporations.
Drug companies and insurance companies.
They're being protected) and Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump for President in 2016, (legislation
to proivide some $53 billion in corporate welfare with no strings attached to the highly
profitable microchip industry) (the special interests, Wall Street, the career politicians.
The system is rigged, and I've been saying it for a long time) was a backlash against
corporate welfare, whether their supporters actually realized it or not.
Those on the left end of the political spectrum, tend to criticize corporations, and those
on the right end of the political spectrum, tend to criticize the government.
But what if I told you that these corporations and the government were often on the same
team?
And the rest of us?
We’re not on that team.
In fact, I predict that the politicians in the next election who talk trash the most
about corporate welfare will get elected, no matter what their political affiliation.
And you’re never gonna see a campaign ad like this.
Tired of big corporations not getting enough handouts from the government?
Tired of your tax dollars not going to bail out greedy, wealthy plutocrats?
Want less money?
Want corporations to have more money?
Want them to keep raising prices despite us having less money?
Then vote for me!
Don’t be fooled.
Big Oil, Big Pharma, and Big Tech are our friends.
Corporations should pay no taxes.
Heck, they should get free money!
And I’m only saying this because they donated to my campaign.
Uh yeah, if you were horrified by that campaign ad….you’re probably against corporate
welfare.
A shout out to Joe Cook, a Patreon supporter of mine who inspired me to make this video.
Check out his Common Sense essays, which he will be publishing on his Substack.
I’ve linked it in the description of this video.
Thanks for watching!