MILWAUKEE — Corporate welfare is a bipartisan practice in Washington and state capitals, but ideologically, most conservatives and some liberals consistently inveigh against it.
The topic scrambles the simplistic categories used by the news media and even by many partisans and politicians. So it was fitting that Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, whose very presence at the Republican National Convention scrambles standard narratives, would bring it up.
“We need corporate welfare reform,” O’Brien said near the end of his prime-time speech . “The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations, and this is real corruption.”
But again, Republicans and conservatives have been attacking corporate welfare, at least in speech, since at least the Tea Party, which was triggered in part by the bailouts of Wall Street Banks. And you’ll recall that Democrats in 2012 ran primarily on their government bailout of General Motors.
O’Brien’s attack on corporate welfare was extremely interesting, though, and fairly novel for a Republican gathering. What was odd was not the criticism of Big Business for benefitting from Big Government. It was the precise policies he was attacking as "corporate welfare."
When conservatives bash corporate welfare, they usually talk about government transfers to corporations, along with tax credits, or mandates, taxes, and regulations that steer money toward Big Business. The Export-Import Bank of the United States, the Jones Act, the ethanol mandate, and the sugar program are four examples. Green energy subsidies, bailouts, and padded government contracts are three more.
O’Brien wasn’t talking about anything like that, though. Here are his full comments on “corporate welfare.”
“We need corporate welfare reform. Under our current system, massive companies like Amazon, Uber, Lyft, and Walmart take zero responsibility for the workers they employ. These companies offer no real health insurance, no retirement benefits, no paid leave, relying on underfunded public assistance. And who foots the bill? The individual taxpayer.
“The biggest recipients of welfare in this country are corporations, and this is real corruption.”
When O’Brien says “welfare,” he means safety net programs for individuals — “public assistance.” Food stamps, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the earned income tax credit, refundable child tax credits, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Obamacare tax credits, and all the other federal, state, and local government programs that cover the cost of living for poor and working-class people.
How are corporations “recipients” of this public assistance? These benefits, the argument goes, make it possible for corporations to pay less and provide fewer benefits. Amazon, in this telling, pays workers less than they could possibly live off of and relies on Uncle Sam to provide the remainder of a subsistence wage.
This is a common but disputed argument, and it’s almost an argument against government safety net programs, but in some ways, it is undoubtedly true. Wisconsin, for instance, subsidizes housing built to accommodate the workforce . That makes it possible for employers to hire workers without paying them enough to afford rent.
Whether that is unfair exploitation, prudent public-private partnership, ripping off the taxpayer, or helping the working guy is a matter of debate. What could be done about it is also debatable. Increasing the cost of employing someone will not only risk driving up unemployment but also kill small business, which will be good for Big Business.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Labor advocates generally would require employers to provide better benefits and pay — either through employment law or through union negotiations. Others might propose reforming the benefit programs.
As the GOP leadership adopts a pro-worker stance these days, we will see if they have any ideas for this type of “corporate welfare reform.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0