Why Do We Give Everything to Billionaires and Nothing to the Poor?
Some questions to think about.
Why do we give everything to billionaires and nothing to the poor?
Why do we give tax subsidies to big companies and expect them to do great things but cut welfare benefits for the poor and expect them to lift themselves out of poverty on a pittance?
Why do we expect those with disabilities to live on incredibly low payments when their medical and living expenses are often much higher than typical? Why do we impose wealth limits on disability benefits? Why do we penalize people with disability benefits when they get married?
Why hasn’t the federal minimum wage gone up since 2009, but rent has increased dramatically during the same time? Why isn’t the minimum wage indexed to inflation? Why is $15 an hour “too much” for a front-line McDonald’s employee, but $10.8 million just fine for the McDonald’s CEO?
Why do we expect everyday folks to have three to six months of savings but need to bail out financial institutions that hold that savings within two weeks of a market crash? Shouldn’t those financial institutions also have three to six months of savings on hand? Shouldn’t they know how to manage money wisely to avoid going bankrupt the minute the markets go south?
Why do we allow banks to become “too big to fail?” Why do we allow them to take on debt to buy back shares, which primarily benefits the shareholder class, when it puts them further in danger of that failure that we absolutely must avoid?
Why did almost nobody go to jail after the 2008 financial crisis? Why do we sentence people to long prison terms for robbing banks and getting away with a few thousand dollars, but most multi-million dollar corporate fraud gets a handful of months?
Why don’t we penalize wage theft the way we penalize other theft, and why are we only now starting to prosecute it more? Why are white-collar criminals given much more lenient sentences than other property crimes, particularly those committed by BIPOC? Why do we consider tax avoidance patriotic, and why do we think highly of billionaires who pay very little in taxes?
Why was marijuana a moral hazard ten years ago, but a profitable industry now? Why are drug crimes often seen as higher among black people despite similar rates of use between black and white people? And, if black people really do use at higher rates than white people, why are there very few black-owned dispensaries now that it’s legal in many places?
Why did we penalize drug crimes much more harshly than many other crimes? Why are minorities arrested at higher rates than white people for drug crimes, despite similar drug use? Why was crack cocaine treated differently than powder cocaine for sentencing purposes? Why have so many drug crimes been treated as felonies when wage theft crimes aren’t?
Why are BIPOC arrested for and convicted of felonies at much higher rates than white people? Why do we prevent felons from voting?
Why is one’s ZIP code a major factor in one’s success in life? Why do we pay for schools with property taxes, and why don’t we provide more support to schools in low-income neighborhoods with low property taxes? Why do we force kids to pay for their lunches or go hungry?
Why do we think that fast-food jobs are for teenagers when so many of them are held by 20-somethings? Why do we insist that retail, fast food, and service jobs are “low-skill” when they require important skills like time management, emotional intelligence, and customer service? Why do we think it’s okay to yell at retail and foodservice workers? Why is tipping still a thing?
Why is it okay to pay people low wages to destroy their bodies stocking shelves, operating warehouses, and delivering packages? Why do we demand 24-hour drive-thrus, quick-service food, and next-day delivery while simultaneously denigrating the people who hold the jobs that make those things possible?
Why do we continue to push the bootstrap mentality when it’s not an accurate portrayal of reality? Why do we idolize “hustle culture” when it’s only successful for a few people? Why do we crow about how great things are when so many people don’t get to enjoy the progress that we’ve made?
Why do we tout trickle-down economics when it’s failed Americans miserably? Why do we give so much to so-called “job creators” when they only create low-income jobs with no benefits? Why is it okay that Walmart executives make billions while employees rely on SNAP to feed their families?
Why do we give everything to billionaires and nothing to the poor?
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