Lucas,
I've been thinking lately of what I wrote at the end of my book Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America:
The "working poor" ... are in fact the major philanthropists of our society. They neglect their own children so that the children of others will be cared for; they live in substandard housing so that other homes will be shiny and perfect; they endure privation so that inflation will be low and stock prices high. To be a member of the working poor is to be an anonymous donor, a nameless benefactor, to everyone else.
Since I wrote that, Big Business has not only gotten more and more brazen about nickel and diming its workforce and its customers, it has also received more and more billions in bailouts, subsidies and tax breaks from We the Taxpayers and been granted the "right" to spend literally as much money as it wants corrupting our politics.
We're getting nickel and dimed on one end, and million and billioned on the other!
- We've seen Hostess Brands, Inc. — after abandoning pension commitments to retirees and demanding concession after concession from employees — liquidate the iconic snack food company and then have the gall to ask the bankruptcy court to approve almost $2 million in bonuses for a handful of top executives.
- We've seen Goldman Sachs' Lloyd Blankfein — and other CEOs of corporations that simply wouldn't exist without government largesse — trying to slash Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid while living the high life as the most undeservedly "entitled" class of people ever to walk the earth.
- And, most tragically, 112 workers in Bangladesh were killed when fire swept through the garment factory they were working in — after being ordered back to work by their bosses when the fire alarms sounded and where there were no emergency exits. Among the corporate giants the factory made clothes for? Walmart.
I serve on Public Citizen's Board of Directors because no organization does more to counteract corporate power.
Will you join me in supporting Public Citizen by making a donation right now?
Together, we have the strength to stand up to the giant corporations that are trying to take over our lives and our democracy.
Thank you for giving as generously as you can.
Sincerely,
Barbara Ehrenreich