{"id":801,"date":"2017-04-24T17:48:21","date_gmt":"2017-04-25T00:48:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/georgiagreenparty.org\/?p=801"},"modified":"2017-04-24T17:48:21","modified_gmt":"2017-04-25T00:48:21","slug":"a-green-revolution-to-end-corporate-welfare-raise-wages-in-georgia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.wp.georgiagreenparty.org\/?p=801","title":{"rendered":"A Green Revolution to End Corporate Welfare & Raise Wages in Georgia"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Rachel Gray, Cobb Greens & Friends<\/em><\/p>\n

It might shock some Georgians to learn that they live, work and pay taxes in a country where\u00a0the top 1% of our national citizenry owns almost 40% of the country\u2019s wealth<\/a>. Unlike these multinational, multibillion-dollar corporations and their millionaire CEOs, Americans are tirelessly working, sometimes at more than one job, yet too many can barely raise their heads above the poverty line. The cost of living continues to rise, while the median hourly wage of U.S. workers advanced only 5 percent higher in 2013 than in 1975. Essentially, Americans in the lower half of the income scale have not seen an increase in income for 40 years.\"\"<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, .01% — composed of an elite circle of enormously wealth families — possesses $6 trillion dollars. Specifically, the Walton family, who rakes in billions of dollars in profits from WalMart. This retailer has the immoral credit of having the biggest customer base paying in food stamps, while also being the\u00a0biggest employer of people who rely on food stamps<\/a>. That is the definition of corporate welfare in America; rich profit-sucking stock holders forcing the working class to rely on social programs like food stamps, subsidized housing and Medicare.\u00a0A corporate subsidy bill that runs taxpayers a cost of $153 billion from the state to federal level each year.<\/a><\/p>\n

This kind of successful, legal wealth grab victimizes average taxpayers. It also relies on extremely harsh, low wages for American workers who cook our food, care for our loved ones, clean up our messes, watch over our young children, transport and stock our never-ending list of daily supplies and in many other ways grind the gears of our service economy, as we slug further each day into an entrenched, corporatized, consuming society.<\/p>\n

According to a recent article in\u00a0Common Dreams<\/a>, \u201cThese multi-millionaires effectively\u00a0shifted nearly $4 trillion in wealth\u00a0away from the rest of the nation to themselves in 2016…That’s over\u00a0$17,000 in housing and savings\u00a0per lower-to-middle-class\u00a0household\u00a0lost to the super-rich.\u201d This funneling is mostly done through tax breaks to the top 1%, all while our hospitals, schools and roads fall into disrepair, and the average middle-class family falls further into bottomless debit.<\/p>\n

GOP Wages War On Poor; Democrats Play The Victim Role\u00a0<\/strong>
\nThis week, President Trump pitched his horrific budget proposal, drastically cutting $6.2 billion in safety-net, assistance programs from departments like Housing and Urban Development, as well as\u00a0eliminating the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness<\/a>. The White House budget proposal also decimates job training, heating subsidies, community development grants, financial support for homebuyers, Meals on Wheels and Head Start, with the harshest targets being small town, rural America, the exact areas candidate Trump boasted he would protect. The GOP is hoping the\u00a04.5 million low-income households<\/a>\u00a0will be too lazy to do anything about this moral crime, and the Democratic Party is relying on their base being too helpless to do anything but ask for mercy, and then declare it a victory with the cuts are slightly rolled back.<\/p>\n

The GOP plan would place the burden of these programs (dating back to the 70s and 80s under Johnson, Nixon and Ford) to state governments, despite the horrible record of municipalities on ensuring affordable housing in some of the nation\u2019s largest, most diverse cities. Still, local progressive initiatives might be the only way to actually achieve progress in this area. For instance, voters in Los Angeles, where\u00a0Green candidate Kenneth Mejia is running for U.S. Congress<\/a>, approved a $1.2 billion bond measure to house the homeless.<\/p>\n

If the federal government actually ensured a living wage, along with fully funding education from pre-K through college, and increased Social Security benefits, then American citizens would be less reliant on food stamps, housing credits and other \u2018welfare\u2019 programs. The lack of foresight and understanding by the GOP is actually perpetuating this cycle of \u2018handouts,\u2019 which the Democratic establishment also seems completely content with maintaining, as it makes their supporters more and more reliant on this \u2018charity,\u2019 while doing little to actually build a prosperous middle class.<\/p>\n

Georgia Greens Demand Wealth Equality<\/strong>
\nTrickle-down economics doesn\u2019t work. That debunked theory seems to be something the average American knows today. When wealth only flows to the top, the elite have no incentive to loosen their grasp on trillions of dollars. These dollars, when placed in the hands of working Americans, could cycle through the system, creating a robust economy that benefits everyone. Real solutions can only be discussed in new ways by the Green Party. Progressive economists don\u2019t merely want this captured money (held at ransom) to trickle down; the true goal is for America\u2019s wealth to flow down and all around, especially at the local level. The Democrat establishment, tied to Wall Street and large charitable foundations, are content with trickle down. The status quo allows them to be glorified for taking pity on the poor. The Green Party recognizes pity isn\u2019t what is needed, as desperately as dignity, respect and opportunity.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u201cGreen economic policy places value not just on material wealth, but on the things which truly make life worth living \u2014 our health, our relationships, our communities, our environment, and building peace and justice throughout our nation and the world\u2026We support using the tax system to bring more equality to our nation. Rising income inequality makes us all poorer in myriad ways. More equal societies are happier, healthier, safer and greener.\u201d \u2013 U.S. Green Party Economic Justice & Sustainability<\/p>\n

Green Party policies to lift up the working poor and our struggling middle class:<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n