The Cancer-stage of Capitalism
by Thom Hartmann
May 6, 2013
Unregulated capitalism is cancer on our nation. Like tumors, greed has metastasized, strangling once-healthy parts of our economy, and our social safety net. A new piece on Alternet lists several ways this cancer capitalism has taken hold. For starters, the hoarding of wealth by the banksters and the 1% has diverted resources away from nutritional aid programs. Twenty people in our country collected a whopping $73 billion in investment income - all taxed at a lower rate than working Americans. Compare that with the fact that President Obama couldn't even get $1 billion to improve childhood nutrition in our schools.
And, while cancer capitalism has lead to higher-than-ever corporate profits, it hasn't translated into good jobs for college grads. Because of rising tuition costs, the average student graduates with $26,000 of student loan debt, and adding to that burden, high-unemployment allows the corporate elite to underpay workers, and hoard a larger share of profits.
In addition, tax-dodging corporations have drained much-needed revenue out of our society like a tumor choking off the blood supply to our economy. According to Alternet, tax exemptions and corporate loopholes drain nearly a trillion dollars from "the body of our society" every year.
And, the worst parasite of all is the unrestrained corporate purchase of our politicians. Cancer capitalism has left voters feeling weak and powerless, while Congress repeatedly represents only the will of the corporate elite. We must stop this cancer before it spreads into every last inch of our national body.
Just like conquering any type of cancer, we must attack this problem from all sides, from getting money out of politics, to regulating Wall Street, to breaking up the monopolies that have too much power over our government. We can do all this, and we must.
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