Canadian Coprorate Welfare is Collosal
The most important story was buried on page C7 of the Business section this morning.
The Headline is "Taxpayers' Bill for Corporate Welfare Soars." The report comes from a Fraser Institute study called "Corporate Welfare: A $144 Billion Addiction," and it includes these gems:
"There is no concrete evidence showing that government subsidies to business provide any net benefit to Canada's economy."
"The top 50 business subsidy recipients include Ford Motor, Rolls-Royce, Noranda, IBM...and so on."
What this timely study does is two things:
It reveals the truth of David Lewis' famous catch phrase of 30 years ago - "Corporate Welfare Bums."
And it exposes the utter duplicity of the so-called "free enterprise system" that we have been led to believe in by endless myth making from the captains of industry.
The shoddy truth is that these Barons of Bumph have been sucking on the Public Teat with greater vigor and success all along than any unemployed dishwasher.
You, the taxpayer, are working so that General Dynamics can have leather seats in their board rooms.
2 comments:
I recently re-watched the excellent film "The Corporation" (based on the equally excellent book by Joel Bakan).
One of the fundamental problems with "corporate welfare" is that tax money is given to the corporations, which in turn are not answerable to the very taxpayers from which this money came. They might support the odd social cause here and there - but it is on the terms of the administration of the corporation that makes the decision to throw a few crumbs back to society - not the people (and their elected representatives).
Tax dollars need to be spent on public initiatives that support the needs of industry AND society (this could be in the form of advanced education subsidized daycare - thus helping to provide a workforce, low cost materials or land so that businesses can afford to operate here (thus increasing productivity and family supporting jobs), road and bridges so people can travel to and from businesses, etc.
For the money to just be given to corporations is ridiculous. Even the poor "unemployed dishwasher" has to jump through hoops and go through endless bureacracy to get any goverment help (and this just to support him/herself at the most basic level).
For anyone who is interested, the book and video/dvid "the Corporation" is availalbe at the Public Library (or available for purchase in stores). Joel Bakan is a professor of law and scholar - not a "professional protester" or whatever else people like to call someone who speaks against the status quo....
Joel Bakan, a UBC professor, lives around the corner from me. He was a guest on my radio show a few years ago.
I agree - his book and film are required reading and viewing.
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