[Col. Writ. 2/26/05] Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There is in the air today, a whiff of something hoary,
something old, something musty, like the air in an attic
that has been unopened for decades.
We are beginning to sense the smell of the arrogance
of business, when wedded to state power.
It can be seen in the war against social security,
the incessant sniping at unions, the brutish nature of
what passes for popular culture; where, on every
channel is the race to humiliate one another for a
roll of dollars, or perhaps even worse, where the
media masquerades as your best friend, smiling,
joking, teasing, as the nation's house is on fire.
It dawned on me that we *have* been here before,
perhaps a century ago, around 1903, when the
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
began its attack on the nation's unions, calling them
"mob power" and "socialistic" syndicates. This
was but an echo of the mid-nineteenth century
stance of the nation's courts, which held that
unions were "criminal conspiracies." The
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 provided a
statutory basis for the legal system to declare
unions were "illegal combinations in restraint
of trade." [Piven, Frances Fox & Richard A.
Cloward, *The New Class War: Reagan's Attack
on the Welfare State and Its Consequences*
(Rev'd/Ex'd Ed.) (Pantheon Books: N.Y.,
1982/1985), p. 54.]
It took popular movements and long, hard
social struggles to win the right to unionize,
for the 8-hour day, for decent wages, and for
retirement benefits. It is those very social gains
that are now under attack by the business
community, using the State, and rhetoric
about 'government efficiency', as cover
for these moves.
Back in 1940, American corporations paid
roughly half of the federal government's general
tax revenues. That percentage has declined
steadily (with a few, brief blips).
Despite steadily growing corporate profits
over the past 60 years, guess what today's
percentage of corporate income taxes is
paid by businesses? Answer: 7.4%!
As Mark Zepezauer has written in *Take
the Rich Off Welfare* (Cambridge, Ma.;
South End Press, 2004):
The taxes corporations avoid paying
have to be raised from individuals. Not
all individuals, of course -- that would
be un-American. Thanks to a series
of tax "reforms" that began in 1977,
the rate paid by the richest Americans
has been cut nearly in half, while
Social Security taxes -- which are
paid overwhelmingly by ordinary
wage earners, *and not paid at all
on incomes over $87,000* -- have
steadily risen. [p.5; (intro).]
And we don't have to mention taxes on
transnational corporations -- (but we will).
Again, Zepezauer notes:
Of the U.S.-based transnationals with
assets over $100 million, *37% paid no
US federal taxes at all* (that's right,
zero taxes), and the average tax rate
for those that did pay was just 1% of
gross receipts. (I'd tell you what it was
as a percentage of profits, but nobody
knows. That's just the point --
transnationals avoid paying tax by
concealing how much profit they make.)
[*Id.,* p. 29]
And you wonder why people are crying
about the imminent demise of Social Security!
This government is the bound servant of
the corporations - not the people - and it is
proving this every day.
In the early 1900s, the NAM fought against
8-hour days, and union organizing. Today,
the government is advancing an anti-
democratic agenda that privileges the rich
and well-to-do, and the subtle destruction
of Social Security is but the opening salvo.
Although some Democrats claim that this
project is 'dead on arrival', we shall see.
Their behavior on recent right-wing Bush
nominees doesn't give much support to that
claim.
As ever, people can only rely on themselves,
to fight for their interests. Organize. Organize.
ORGANIZE!
Study the issues. Read Zepezauer's book
(available on the web by one of my
publishers, at: www.southendpress.org).
Join a social movement! Because only
movement creates change!
Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
There is in the air today, a whiff of something hoary,
something old, something musty, like the air in an attic
that has been unopened for decades.
We are beginning to sense the smell of the arrogance
of business, when wedded to state power.
It can be seen in the war against social security,
the incessant sniping at unions, the brutish nature of
what passes for popular culture; where, on every
channel is the race to humiliate one another for a
roll of dollars, or perhaps even worse, where the
media masquerades as your best friend, smiling,
joking, teasing, as the nation's house is on fire.
It dawned on me that we *have* been here before,
perhaps a century ago, around 1903, when the
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
began its attack on the nation's unions, calling them
"mob power" and "socialistic" syndicates. This
was but an echo of the mid-nineteenth century
stance of the nation's courts, which held that
unions were "criminal conspiracies." The
Sherman Anti-Trust Act of 1890 provided a
statutory basis for the legal system to declare
unions were "illegal combinations in restraint
of trade." [Piven, Frances Fox & Richard A.
Cloward, *The New Class War: Reagan's Attack
on the Welfare State and Its Consequences*
(Rev'd/Ex'd Ed.) (Pantheon Books: N.Y.,
1982/1985), p. 54.]
It took popular movements and long, hard
social struggles to win the right to unionize,
for the 8-hour day, for decent wages, and for
retirement benefits. It is those very social gains
that are now under attack by the business
community, using the State, and rhetoric
about 'government efficiency', as cover
for these moves.
Back in 1940, American corporations paid
roughly half of the federal government's general
tax revenues. That percentage has declined
steadily (with a few, brief blips).
Despite steadily growing corporate profits
over the past 60 years, guess what today's
percentage of corporate income taxes is
paid by businesses? Answer: 7.4%!
As Mark Zepezauer has written in *Take
the Rich Off Welfare* (Cambridge, Ma.;
South End Press, 2004):
The taxes corporations avoid paying
have to be raised from individuals. Not
all individuals, of course -- that would
be un-American. Thanks to a series
of tax "reforms" that began in 1977,
the rate paid by the richest Americans
has been cut nearly in half, while
Social Security taxes -- which are
paid overwhelmingly by ordinary
wage earners, *and not paid at all
on incomes over $87,000* -- have
steadily risen. [p.5; (intro).]
And we don't have to mention taxes on
transnational corporations -- (but we will).
Again, Zepezauer notes:
Of the U.S.-based transnationals with
assets over $100 million, *37% paid no
US federal taxes at all* (that's right,
zero taxes), and the average tax rate
for those that did pay was just 1% of
gross receipts. (I'd tell you what it was
as a percentage of profits, but nobody
knows. That's just the point --
transnationals avoid paying tax by
concealing how much profit they make.)
[*Id.,* p. 29]
And you wonder why people are crying
about the imminent demise of Social Security!
This government is the bound servant of
the corporations - not the people - and it is
proving this every day.
In the early 1900s, the NAM fought against
8-hour days, and union organizing. Today,
the government is advancing an anti-
democratic agenda that privileges the rich
and well-to-do, and the subtle destruction
of Social Security is but the opening salvo.
Although some Democrats claim that this
project is 'dead on arrival', we shall see.
Their behavior on recent right-wing Bush
nominees doesn't give much support to that
claim.
As ever, people can only rely on themselves,
to fight for their interests. Organize. Organize.
ORGANIZE!
Study the issues. Read Zepezauer's book
(available on the web by one of my
publishers, at: www.southendpress.org).
Join a social movement! Because only
movement creates change!
Copyright 2005 Mumia Abu-Jamal
0 Comments: