Job Seekers Allowance is a drop in the ocean compared to the billions sucked out of the welfare state by big business tax breaks. Would these corporations continue to thrive without these tax breaks? Of course they would...but we are continually sold the lie that they depend upon them. By way of example, the UK government recently gave Disney a £170 million tax credit. Disneys global profit for 2013? About £3.7 billion. Yes, billion. In. One. Year. That £170 million (that Disney needs so badly) makes up a whopping 0.004 % of their annual profit! How much money do you have in your wallet right now? £20? £30? The equivalent would be dropping a 1 penny coin on the floor on the way to work. Not even a penny...the tiniest fragment of a penny. Would you stop to pick it up, or just keep on walking? If the UK government took that £170 million away from Disney, their day to day operations would not be affected in the slightest. No jobs would have to be cut, no projects would have to be cancelled. The top execs would take a pay cut, and the billions would continue to roll in as normal. Disney CEO David Iger paid himself £21 million last year. If he took a £1 million paycut - hell, if he took a £5 million paycut - would it change his lifestyle one iota? Not unless hes building a solid gold ladder to climb to the moon! At this point, someone (usually Alexander Hall) will say: If the UK government didnt pay Disney £170 million, then Disney will take its business to whatever country was willing to pay. To me, the appropriate playground analogy would be: If I dont give the bully my lunch money so hell be my friend, someone else will give him their lunch money...then hell be their friend instead. Heres a crazy, crazy thought: If nobody gives the bully their lunch money, they have to make friends without making demands...or theyll have no friends at all. Now, imagine an international treaty whereby every Western government agrees to end tax breaks for billionaire corporations. Why would they agree? If David Cameron wanted to guarantee himself victory at the next general election, he could do so with a 15 second speech: Instead of making cuts to public services, Im going to spend MORE on public services. Just for starters, well spend £170 million more on schools, hospitals and homeless shelters. And you, the British public, wont have to pay a penny more in tax. Thank you, and good night! Now, imagine the political backlash in any country that DIDNT sign the treaty. Good luck to any party running for office with their we chickened out, so expect lots of cuts campaign! No, this is not communism, nor anything remotely close to it. This is just a new kind of capitalism - a capitalist ideology for the 21st century. People can still get rich by working hard, and businesses large and small will continue to be supported by government...but no person or business will be given money when they are already turning a profit, at least until more urgent concerns were addressed. Government funds would be allocated on the basis of need. When there are no more homeless people, when food stamps are no longer necessary, when public services are not dangerously underfunded...THEN we can talk about helping big business get bigger. This wouldnt be about everyone having the same amount of money, or the same amount of success...it would be about every person, every business and every institution having the same OPPORTUNITY for success. Id call it equitable capitalism. And personally, I think its about time our leaders had the balls to try it.
Posted on: Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:39:08 +0000
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