Congress pulls a fast one
Boosts profits but not jobs
By Heather Cottin
In a cynical move that used unemployed workers as hostages,
Congress passed an "economic stimulus" package that rewards the
ruling class with nearly $100 billion in tax breaks. The House
voted 417-3, the Senate 85-9, to give the corporations a
three-year ride on the gravy train. Only after they secured
this deal to enrich their wealthy supporters did the members of
both parties reluctantly approve a miserly 13-week extension on
unemployment benefits.
President George W. Bush quickly signed the bill into law on
March 9.
Unemployment stands at nearly eight million. Many workers'
benefits were about to expire. The major unions had been
calling for at least a 26-week extension, but the bill offered
only half that. In past recessions, extensions of 26 and even
more weeks of unemployment benefits have been almost
routine.
Under the terms of the bill, employers can also reduce
contributions to pension funds for their employees.
Congress and the Bush administration have tried four times
to deliver special tax breaks to the rich. This time the deal
was: no tax breaks, no unemployment benefits. Democrats and
Republicans hurried the bill through both houses, providing
seven times more money for the rich than for the poor.
In the last 20 years, the rich have grown even richer
through the intercession of the government, which has become
more openly a tool of the capitalist class. Deregulation and
tax breaks coupled with aggressive business practices have
busted unions, moved businesses out of the country, lowered
wages and erased benefits.
A New York Times analysis of a U.S. Census Bureau survey in
August 2001 showed that the economic situation for most people
was worse at the end of the 1990s than at the beginning of the
decade. One percent of the U.S. population, the ruling class,
owned 40 percent of the national wealth.
The new tax law is designed to further enrich this
class.
Lots for a few, little for the many
While the news headlines focused on the extension of
unemployment insurance, the actual cost of helping the workers
was a paltry $14 billion. Not much was said about the fact that
Congress, by a huge vote, rejected provisions in the bill that
would have extended health benefits to unemployed workers.
Nor did the corporate press criticize other provisions of
the bill, which is systematically designed to fleece the public
while it benefits the corporations.
Tech firms, which have spent about $6 million buying friends
on Capitol Hill since 2000, lobbied to enable corporations to
deduct the cost of depreciation on their machines. This clause
will cost the treasury $35.3 billion--which is sure to
eventually come out of workers' wages and benefits, since it is
human labor that creates all wealth. (http://www.washtech. com/
news/regulation/15569-1.html).
According to the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities,
the bill will worsen conditions in most states, which are
already facing state budget shortfalls of up to $50 billion in
2002.
The "stimulus" package will deepen the economic crises in
individual states by producing an additional shortfall of $14.1
billion. The CBPP lists some of the victims of this
congressional grand larceny:
"Cuts in Medicaid and the State Children's Health Insurance
Program (SCHIP) ... would affect thousands of low-income
children and elderly and disabled people ... New Mexico may
eliminate its SCHIP program for children entirely. Tennessee
has proposed cutting Medicaid eligibility for 180,000
low-income people.
"Some states, such as Florida and Oregon, are likely to cut
coverage for the 'medically needy,' a group of low-income
people who incur catastrophic health care expenses. Some other
states will no longer cover disabled workers returning to work
and low-income women with breast and cervical cancer. In
addition, a number of states, including Indiana, Maine and New
Jersey, are suspending measures to reach more of the
uninsured."
Other provisions of the bill give five years of tax breaks
to multinational corporations engaged in banking, finance and
insurance activities overseas. (http://www.cbpp.org/)
Businesses benefiting from the stimulus package include
Citigroup Inc., McDonaldand the Intel Corporation. (Bloomberg
News, March 11)
Federal Reserve Bank chair Alan Greenspan has proclaimed
that the recession is over--but unemployment could still rise
to 6 percent. If he is right, what is needed is more help for
the unemployed, not the big corporations that are poised to
increase their profits. Congress quickly passed this bill to
deliver billions of dollars to the corporations and the
wealthy.
As long as they can, the bosses will use the government to
legitimize their robbery of the working class. When workers
organize to challenge these crooks, this will all change.
Reprinted from the March 21, 2002, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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