We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Saturday, October 27, 2012

Paying Taxes to Your Boss: Another Step Toward 21st Century Feudalism

Click here to access article by Tim Price from Next New Deal.

Corporations are demanding all kinds of subsidies to locate in your communities and to provide you with jobs. They are the "job-creators", aren't they? Well, yes, in a capitalist organized society or any society controlled by a ruling class. However, a new bill just passed in the Pennsylvania legislature, and awaiting the governor's signature, may have taken things a bit too far (back). You may be shocked to learn, as I was, that this peculiar arrangement is already permitted in numerous states. This article says 19, but the supporting document reports 16.
Good Jobs First, which has researched this and other instances of corporate welfare, found that laws in 16 states have allowed more than 2,700 companies to pocket $700 million of their workers' tax dollars. 
On the other hand, this arrangement has a certain perverse logic to it. If tax money typically goes back to companies via government inducements or subsidies, why not short circuit this process and directly give tax money to the companies? What we are seeing is the endgame of capitalism, a new, 21st century version of feudalism.