EDITORIAL
War, taxes & struggle
The large number of people registering to vote for the first
time in what are heavily Democratic Party areas undoubtedly
reflects the growing politicization of the masses caused by the
blatantly pro-rich, pro-war policies of the Bush
administration. To that extent, it is a welcome development,
all the more so since the Republicans have been throwing every
obstacle in the way of voting by poor people, especially people
of color. The disenfranchisement of African Americans continues
in Florida and other states, and there is healthy skepticism on
whether new electronic voting machines will be subject to
manipulation.
That said, it is necessary to add that the Democratic Party
doesn't deserve the support of these new voters and will not do
what they are hoping for. Like the GOP, it is just another
party of big business, but with a kinder, gentler image. On the
issue of the war, which hangs over everything because it is a
war for profit and plunder that is eating away at public funds,
John Kerry's program is no better than Bush's. He's for putting
even more troops into Iraq and Afghanistan, he's for a more
aggressive stance against the Democratic People's Republic of
Korea and Iran, and he's just as pro-Israel and anti-Palestine
as Bush.
The venal character of both capitalist parties was made
crystal clear on Oct. 11 when the Senate passed an outrageous
corporate tax break bill and sent it to President George W.
Bush to sign. Even the name of this bill is a travesty. Called
the "American Jobs Creation Act of 2004," it will give
corporations tax cuts worth $136 billion over 10 years.
Why haven't more people heard of this obscene pork-barrel
bill, which contains 633 pages of detailed giveaways for big
business, especially the energy companies? Because it's been a
minor issue in the presidential debates. Kerry mentioned it
only briefly in the final debate, and then attacked China more
than U.S. corporations. In the Senate, 25 Democrats voted for
it, along with most Republicans. The vote was 69 to 17. The
bill had passed in the House earlier by 280 to 41, with 73
Democrats joining Republicans in voting yes.
The bill cuts by 3 percent the general tax rate on
manufacturers and other "producers," all in the name of saving
jobs. What it will save is $76.5 billion for the corporations
over 10 years. By redefining who are manufacturers, the bill
was able to extend this tax cut to corporations like Bechtel,
Halliburton and NASCAR. Other big winners will be Microsoft,
Oracle and other software giants, as well as Hewlett-Packard
and drug giant Eli Lilly. Other provisions favor oil companies,
cruise ship operators and tobacco producers.
National Public Radio commentator Connie Rice says that
"Instead of being indicted for tax evasion, a special group of
big Houston corporations that dropped American citizenship to
hide their profits in overseas tax havens will be forgiven and
allowed to take advantage of the one-year tax holiday and
one-seventh of the former tax rate. This is a one strike and
you're in bill that grandfathers in only select Houston tax
cheats."
The Expense Account Expansion Clause, Rice points out,
"increases the small business expensing limit from $25,000 to
$100,000. This same Congress--so generous with
business--requires welfare mothers to count their thrift-shop
dishes and winter coats toward their assets."
As usual, however, most of the tax giveaways go to big
business. That's who really writes these tax laws, through the
well established and perfectly "legal" nexus that exists
between corporate lobbyists, well-financed think tanks and the
politicians who so often are well-heeled lawyers
themselves.
At the same time that this new bill was being passed, the
government was cutting back on Section 8 subsidized housing,
which several million people, many of them elderly and/or
disabled, rely on to keep a roof over their heads.
How long can all this injustice and misery continue? The
emergence of the Million Worker March movement shows that,
while many millions are just now beginning to develop social
awareness and are moving toward the ballot box, there are
millions of others within the working class and its allies who
recognize the futility of capitalist politics and are resolved
to organize independent class struggle.
Reprinted from the Oct. 28, 2004, issue of
Workers World newspaper
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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