Wealth Transfer

Watching Al Franken cut Bill O'Reilly to pieces last week on C-SPAN, (it sure is tougher debating someone when you don't control their microphone, huh Bill?), Mr. O'Reilly spouted a number of oft repeated right wing platitudes that constitute his "beliefs". Among them was the popular right-wing tonic; Mr. O'Reilly doesn't believe in "wealth transfer". Ever since Tom DeLay gave an expanded child credit to everyone but the poor and Bush told him he had gone too far, the idea of the government facilitating "wealth transfer" has become something a political hot potato. So let's take a look at what the right means when it says it doesn't believe in "wealth transfer".

When Republicans talk about "wealth transfer", they are usually referring to programs like welfare and food stamps, where poor people are prevented from starving. Let them eat cake! say the Republicans. Since Republican constituents hate the poor, there is little downside for Republicans who object to the wealth transfer that keeps poor children alive. But programs for the poor are just the tip of the federal iceberg when it comes to "wealth transfer".

A "wealth transfer" program Republican's love is farm subsidies. Farm subsidies allow Republicans to dole out billions of dollars of taxpayer's money to huge corporations, keeping commodity prices low and destroying family farmers and the economy of a variety of third world nations in the process. The large corporations then recycle a small portion of the graft back in the form of campaign contributions, keeping the whole happy cycle going. A few small family farmers do get a tiny portion of the money, which serves to keep the few farm state Democrats left in the Congress on board. Republicans would like to do away with that feature.

One of the "wealth transfer" programs Republican's hate is Social Security. Current payors, also known as "workers",pay into the system, and current payees, such as retirees and the dependent children of widows, draw out of the system. Far more money is paid into Social Security than comes out, so about $300 billion dollars a year from worker's Social Security taxes doesn't go into the Social Security system. This money is instead used to finance tax cuts for the rich, efficiently transferring the worker's money to millionaires. Republicans would like to get rid of Social Security, but as long as they are able to use the money to keep the millionaire's taxes low, they aren't going to admit it.

Yet another "wealth transfer" program Mr. Reilly doesn't believe in is public education. At the primary level, children, who don't have any money, are subsidized by adults, who do. Republicans aren't exactly in love with this form of wealth transfer, either. They would prefer a system of "vouchers", a first step toward a system whereby primary education is financed without any public money at all. Colleges and universities are another mechanism for wealth transfer, since taxes cover more than half of tuition costs at a typical public university. The on-going financial crises in state governments are forcing students to pick up a larger and larger share, so eventually, the only colleges and universities that will be able to subsidize their students will be the private ones Republican children attend as legacy admittees. No one else will be able to afford to go. Republicans are happy with this trend.

Of course the biggest wealth transfer program in the country is capitalism itself. Since no business in its right mind is ever going to hire anyone who doesn't make more money for the company than they are paid, the entire economy acts as a giant wealth transfer program, efficiently moving money from workers to owners. It is no coincidence that Wal-Mart is the biggest employer in the country, earns the most profits of any retailer, and pays its workers the least. For Republicans, this mechanism of wealth transfer is literally what America is all about, and anyone who suggests that America is really about protecting the least among us from the most powerful, or having a government elected in free and fair elections, should obviously be declared an enemy combatant, stripped of their citizenship, and shipped off to a military prison in Cuba to await execution. It goes without saying that any mechanism that might slow a company's exploitation of the workers is therefore a target for the Republicans. Whether minimum wage laws, unions, worker safety rules, or overtime pay laws, the Republican agenda is to remove any statute, rule, or system that has the effect of slowing the wealth transfer from workers to owners.

Lately, the Republican's execution of their anti-worker agenda has been seen more and more in broad daylight. The Republicans appear to be emboldened since the public, the vast majority of whom are on the receiving end of this royal screwing, have yet to express anything approaching concern, much less outrage. Perhaps they are distracted by the ever more difficult task of surviving in the America the Republicans are building for them. I tend to suspect the bigger reason is that they are brainwashed by the small handful of giant corporations who control the media, and who benefit mightily from the status quo. These corporations feed America a non-stop stream of useful idiots. Idiots like Bill O'Reilly, who usually controls the microphone, and can shut off anyone who disagrees with him. And so it goes.