The Waste of Corporate Welfare
An interview with Arlene Martínez of Good Jobs First
Welcome to You’re Probably Getting Screwed, a weekly newsletter and video series from J.D. Scholten and Justin Stofferahn about the Second Gilded Age and the ways economic concentration is putting politics and profits over working people.
Good Jobs First is a pioneering corporate watchdog. The organization has done amazing work over the years exposing the ways in which state and local governments funnel taxpayer money to the biggest corporations.
I was honored to interview Arlene Martínez - Deputy Executive Director and Communications Director at Good Jobs First - this week. We talked about how billionaires like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos would not have the immense power and wealth they have without taxpayer subsidies, data center boondoggles, broken economic development policies, and what everyday people can do to fight back against this waste!
You can find Good Jobs First website here. I would particularly recommend checking out the following key resources:
Shutting Down Data Center Subsidies
SOCIAL MEDIA
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BEFORE YOU GO
First, I want to apologize for any confusion our last newsletter headline caused. Medicare is obviously a critical program both for readers of this newsletter and millions of other Americans, which is why we spotlighted the harm Medicare Advantage is causing.
Second, I need two things from you: 1) if you like something, please share it on social media or the next time you have coffee with a friend. 2) Ideas, if you have any ideas for future newsletter content please comment below. Thank you.
Break Em Up,
Justin Stofferahn
The common, erroneous refrain incredibly still prevails amongst supposedly-free-market capitalist nation governments and corporate circles: It claims that best business practices, including what's best for consumers, are best decided by business decision-makers. But that has been proven deadly false numerous times.
Also, increasingly problematic is the very large and growing populace who are too overworked, worried and even angry about food and housing unaffordability for themselves or their family — all while on insufficient income — to criticize or boycott Big Industry for the societal damage it needlessly causes/allows, particularly when not immediately observable.
It really does seem there's no human(e) or moral accountability when big profit is involved; nor can there be a sufficiently guilty conscience if the malpractice is continued, business as usual. ‘We are a capitalist nation, after all,’ the morally lame self-justification goes. Worsening matters, such big businesses can get, or are getting, unaccountably even bigger, defying the very spirit of government rules established to ensure healthy competition by limiting concentrated ownership.
Still, there must be a point at which corporate greed thus practice — where already large corporate profits are maintained or increased while many people can’t afford even basic necessities (including healthcare) — will end up hurting big business’s own monetary interests. I can imagine that a healthy, strong and large consumer base — and not just very wealthy consumers — are needed. Then again, maybe the unlimited-profit objective/nature is somehow irresistible. It brings to mind the allegorical fox stung by the instinct-abiding scorpion while ferrying it across the river, leaving both to drown.
The more that such corporations make, all the more they want — nay, need — to make next quarterly. It's never enough. Maximizing profits at the expense of those with so much less, or nothing, will likely always be a significant part of the nature of the big business beast. One can see corporate officers shrugging their shoulders and defensively saying their job is to protect shareholders’ bottom-line interests. And the shareholders also shrug their shoulders while defensively stating they just collect the dividends and that the big bosses are the ones to make the moral and ethical decisions.