Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes
by hajile on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @09:31AM
(#26724627)
If welfare didn't exist, corporations would be forced to pay those wages directly.
UBI solves all these issues nicely. People get to spend the money in the way that works best for them. Because they aren't 100% tied to the corporations, the worst, lowest paying jobs gain leverage when negotiating.
While not the best solution, it is far better than current welfare. Even Milton Friedman supported UBI in this context.
Re:Jeff Bezos comes out in support of increased corporate taxes
by subsaharancoder on Wednesday April 07, 2021 @05:00PM
(#26731194)
> Because they aren't 100% tied to the corporations, the worst, lowest paying jobs gain leverage when negotiating.
They're just shackled to a government handout making them totally dependent on the government of the day's generosity or lack thereof.
This is an oft-touted talking point, but not actually correct. If you add up all the numbers, most social welfare in the West proportionally goes to pensions and healthcare. Poverty relief is usually a smaller budget than corporate welfare. This article (0) shows the distribution for the US.
Additionally, part of US social welfare specifically enables companies like Walmart to get away with not paying their employees a living wage, so is de facto corporate - not social - welfare. In short: thinking of it in terms of "the poor are the problem" only helps hide the wealth transfer from the middle class to the upper class.
There is no way for the middle class to have more money while keeping the wealth for the upper class constant, because the system already trickles up middle class wealth. At some point, we should be expecting companies to pay their dues and change rules to make them: corporation tax, liveable wages, overtime compensation, emissions, pollution, workplace safety and perhaps even off time caused by burnout.
0: https://www.usgovernmentspending.com/us_welfare_spending_40....