Gibson begins: "If you put long hours and hard work into a job, would you be upset with a boss who paid you with a handful of nickels, especially if hundred-dollar bills spilled out of your boss's pockets while he dug around for the coins?"
House Republicans unveiling their 'Plan for America's Job Creators,' 05/26/11. (photo: RNC Blog)
"Job Creators" Aren't Doing Their Job
07 January 12
Reader Supported News | Perspective
�
f you put long hours and hard work into a job, would you be upset with a boss who paid you with a handful of nickels, especially if hundred-dollar bills spilled out of your boss's pockets while he dug around for the coins?
As taxpayers, Americans expect to get what they pay for - safe infrastructure, prompt emergency response, good schools, and a strong social safety net. As shareholders in profitable companies, investors expect to get what they pay for - dividends. And as job seekers in a troubled economy, America's unemployed are trying to find work wherever they can; but corporate greed is depriving taxpayers, shareholders and job seekers of what they need and deserve.
With $2 trillion at home and $1.4 trillion abroad, corporations are sitting on record-high piles of cash. For example, Apple holds $76 billion by itself, more than the U.S. Treasury. Yet these hoards of cash remain untaxed. A 35% tax on corporate America's cash reserves in the United States alone would generate $700 billion in revenue. That amount would reverse every budget cut in every state, rejuvenating America's schools and infrastructure by re-creating almost a half-million public sector jobs lost since the recession.
If corporations simply invested their American stash of cash reserves in creating good jobs for America's unemployed, they could put 3.5 million new people to work in the private sector each year for five years, at an annual salary of $40,000. If corporations just used their cash reserves to pay dividends to their shareholders, investors like the Mississippi Public Employees Retirement System wouldn't have to cut benefits for their retirees.
Corporate executives blame the "uncertainty" of the economy as an excuse to sit on piles of cash, yet the economic boost of 17.5 million jobs created in five years would dramatically lower the unemployment rate and increase GDP, bolstering local economies by creating a surge of new demand for struggling small business owners. Using cash reserves to pay dividends to shareholders would restore confidence in the market and strengthen the investments millions are counting on for their retirement.
It is both greedy and irresponsible for American corporations to allow untaxed cash to pile up on their balance sheets while American infrastructure crumbles, public education suffers, the unemployed struggle to survive, and shareholders lose their investments. It's time for America's "job creators" to do their job.
Carl Gibson, 24, of Lexington, Kentucky, is a spokesman and organizer for US Uncut, a nonviolent, creative direct-action movement to stop budget cuts by getting corporations to pay their fair share of taxes. He graduated from Morehead State University in 2009 with a B.A. in Journalism before starting the first US Uncut group in Jackson, Mississippi, in February of 2011. Since then, over 20,000 US Uncut activists have carried out more than 300 actions in over 100 cities nationwide. You may contact Carl at carl@rsnorg.org.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader Supported News.
|
THE NEW STREAMLINED RSN LOGIN PROCESS: Register once, then login and you are ready to comment. All you need is a Username and a Password of your choosing and you are free to comment whenever you like! Welcome to the Reader Supported News community. |
Comments
We are concerned about a recent drift towards vitriol in the RSN Reader comments section. There is a fine line between moderation and censorship. No one likes a harsh or confrontational forum atmosphere. At the same time everyone wants to be able to express themselves freely. We'll start by encouraging good judgment. If that doesn't work we'll have to ramp up the moderation.
General guidelines: Avoid personal attacks on other forum members; Avoid remarks that are ethnically derogatory; Do not advocate violence, or any illegal activity.
Remember that making the world better begins with responsible action.
- The RSN Team
Truck Drivers are not supposed to drive more than x amount of hours due to fatigue but bad companies keep double logs. Drivers for these types do not make good money to begin with...greed.
NEVER VOTE REPUBLICAN, it is a vote for big business.
Never vote for either party...they are both corrupt and paid for.
We cannot afford to pay (again) for the positions our taxes put in place for our protection. We will have to do it ourselves at OUR sacrifice. Persist, tolerate, exhibit tenacity, but PERSIST. That giant boat will roll over in due time and the hyenas and the jackals, swimming for their lives, will ask for the People's forgiveness. Their jails, built with tax $ will house clients that are more appropriate to the protection of the People. PERSEVERE!!!
The Villianaires are so cheap. Why are they paying NYPD $37 an hour when they have their compounds protected by Xe, or a competitor for $1,000. a day?
Oh, I forgot, they are just beating "hippies" and workers.
The big-shots have their own private security from the "professionals. "
And we can do it. Vote Democrat and Bernie Sanders in.
We can do it. Those young peole on Occupy Wall street are our heroes. And we have to help them as much as we can.
I would look into if these hourly pay comes with Insurance Coverage. If it doesnot that means that the City of NY and everywhere else they are hiring gestapo will be liable and the Residents/Busin esses will be paying for that. So I do not want to hear about what it is costing any City...You are being paid by the same People we had Federal Laws put into place to stop.
You are being apid by the Wal Street, Bank and Corporate Mafia, want to talk about Mob Mr Perry. Taking Payoffs is a Federal Offense, State
/Federal Authority are not Above the Law, when we allow them to be, or the Lawyers allow them to be, we are no better than a Dictatorship