No money for student debt relief, universal healthcare, schools and teachers, public housing, childcare, and on and on. War? Money materializes like magic and flows directly to US weapons manufacturers, the “defense” industry.
The business press spells out US spending priorities in no uncertain terms because the US business press speaks to and for the ruling elite. Regular people get mainstream media war propaganda.
An editorial in the March 8 issue of the Wall Street Journal lays elites’ cards on the table. As always, the working class and poor will pay for the latest US proxy war. Champagne and yachts for corporate CEOs, the oil and gas industry, and the military/industrial complex! Inflation and austerity for the rest of us.
Laying the ground work
“In Europe and the U.S., public finances have long favored social spending over public goods such as defense.” Head-smacking emoji. They sure fooled me.
“Western democracies now face a more uncertain and dangerous world than they did two weeks ago. Navigating it will require significantly higher levels of defense and security spending.” Get ready for who’s going to pay.
Wall Street Journal, March 8, 2022.
Here it comes
“Paying for higher levels of defense spending will force most governments either to raise taxes or cut spending. Tax increases raise risks to growth.” Ah, I get it. Cut spending; it’s the only viable alternative.
“A significant tax increase in the U.S. would need to be accompanied by fundamental tax reform, dialing back income taxes (as with the 2017 reduction in corporate tax rates) and increasing reliance on consumption taxes.” Consumption taxes are the most regressive of all taxes—they apply to everyday products that the working class and poor need to survive. Corporate taxes? Those always need to be dialed back. Trickle down, baby.
Working class, don’t expect to retire
“Spending offsets to accommodate higher defense spending would surely require slowing the growth in social-insurance spending.”
“Spending on social Security, Medicare and Medicaid has come to dominate the federal budget….It is possible to slow the growth of this spending while preserving access to such support for lower-income Americans. Accomplishing that will require focusing net taxpayer subsidies on lower-income Americans…”
Translation: social security and Medicare will be on the chopping block via means testing—you only get the benefits if your low income qualifies you. Means testing turns these programs from an everyone’s-in social benefit to a welfare program, thus drastically cutting the number of recipients.
Or get healthcare
“…Accomplishing that will require focusing net taxpayer subsidies on lower-income Americans, along with undertaking market-oriented health reforms.”
The current market-oriented (profit-based) US healthcare gave us 1 million covid deaths—the highest number in the world. But let’s double down on this shithole system so there’s even more money for the healthcare oligarchs and more deaths and sickness for everyone else.
Meanwhile
Oligarchs like Bezos can cruise the world (on unconfiscated yachts) happily unconcerned with the peons.
His old yacht; the new one’s on order.