I live in Raytown MO and we just had to lay off half of our police force because of financial difficulties. Although there are other factors that contributed to the action, one of the contributing factors was the 300,000 dollars we pay each year for a loan we took out for a TIFF program for our local Walmart. I have only lived here for 8 years and the Walmart was here when I arrived. I don’t know how long they have been paying or how much longer Raytown has to pay.
I am aware that the normal Walmart will cost the local community around a million dollars a year in extra costs such as food stamps, housing assistance, healthcare, etc.. In addition, many times small businesses of the community will be driven out of business because they can’t compete with the volume pricing Walmart can mandate from their suppliers.
The wealth of the 6 Walmart heirs increased some 38 BILLION DOLLARS in the last year from the 100 BILLION DOLLARS they were worth at that time.
The profit they earned from the store in Raytown will flow out of the state of MO and into their coffers in Arkansas. Not only will the profits leave the state, but most of their expenses for merchandise will leave, not only the state of MO, but the US. What product they buy in the US will have been negotiated down to the very minimum of profit for the manufacturer. Many times, even those who manage contracts with Walmart will find increasing pressure to lower prices, sometimes to the extent of ceasing business.
The current estimate of wealth in the US is that one trillion dollars moved from the masses to the one percenters in a year. And…, and a tax bill was just passed that will allow even more of the wealth of the US to gravitate to and stay with the small percent of wealthy.
Because we can’t do anything at the present time through Congress and don’t know how long it will be before a rebellion of the exploited arises and overthrows the current kingdom, I have a suggestion of what and how we can change things almost immediately. My suggestions to follow are currently enacted in certain parts of our country and the results are staggering. These suggestions will have examples from both a local (city) and statewide area and although they may be difficult to enact, they can be done with local uprising already in place.
The NEW TAX BILL creates opportunity. Look at the extra money the rich have to invest. Follow Me!! (For a good read try (Column: Fighting trickle-down economics in Seattle By — Nick Hanauer --Nick Hanauer is a Seattle-based entrepreneur, venture capitalist, philanthropist and author.)
Since our business climate is so rewarded now with companies sitting on ‘huge’ amounts of cash and since they will have even more because of the tax bill, we have an automatic source of funds to play with. All across the nation, activists are marching for $15 per hour. Seattle began the march toward $15 in 2015.
Not surprising is the number of articles already written on how this has hurt the people of Seattle. I find it interesting that the number of low-wage workers (up to $19 per hour) has decreased, but according to Nick Nanauer, these people have in many instances moved to a wage (same work) above the twenty dollar mark. That is not a bad event. “We just lost a poverty wage and replaced it with a living wage.” is his response. “Seattle Times published a story titled “Heated local economy has employers working hard to fill jobs,””
Let me post some excerpts from his article. “We have more hotels in Seattle than when we passed the $15 minimum wage. We added more restaurants —... Businesses keep moving here...King County, which surrounds Seattle, saw the largest year-over-year increase in employment in the country — in fact, it is the only large county in the entire United States to see an increase in average weekly wages. Employment is up in almost every low-wage industry...
Amazon is expanding at enormous rates, ... Google and Facebook are investing in the city. High-wage, high-value employers are moving to town and setting up shop...”
We only have to look at the chain Costco which reflects the effect of a well-run company that pays good wages. Even though their wages far exceed Sam’s Club, their sales per square foot, as well as profits, exceed Sam’s Club. Sometimes you get what you pay for.
Switching from a local area (as a city like Seattle) to a statewide area, we only have to go to Minnesota and Wisconsin, where the New York Times featured in an article titled the Right vs Left in the Midwest, that shows the difference that occurs when a state cuts rather than increases corporate taxes. Beginning in 2010, a major shift occurred with the election of a Republican governor in Wisconsin and a Progressive Democrat in Minnesota.
Gov. Walker of Wisconsin attacked unions and wages, cut spending and taxes. Minnesota increased taxes by over 2 billion, mostly on the wealthy. At three years, Wisconsin ranks 34th in job growth. Minnesota is the 5th fastest growing state ranked 8th for business. As Wisconsin cut education, Minnesota expanded opportunities. And of course, the extra money meant that Minnesota had extra for capital improvements.
In American Prospect Ann Markusen on May 8, 2015 writes in “ The High Road Wins- How and why Minnesota is outpacing Wisconsin”:
“... these neighboring states with similar populations and economies have pursued radically different strategies. Dayton embraces good government, progressive taxation, and high-wage policies, while Walker has chosen shrunken government, fiscal austerity, and a war on labor.”...
“... Dayton’s progressive taxation has not scared off business, but has funded better public services, besting Walker’s fiscal strategy of regressive tax cuts and deficit reduction... ”...
“But if government programs improve business viability by efficiently providing services such as infrastructure (rail, highway, airports) and competent regulatory oversight, they contribute to job creation and prevent out-migration to lower-cost regions. If government support of K-12 and higher education results in better-trained workers, more jobs will be created and maintained.”
I hope I didn’t violate any rules with the quotes, but everyone needs to read this article. This article goes on and on about how spending money on state resources improve the business climate as well as the welfare of citizens.
These examples show what happens when minimum wages are made a living wage and when taxes, especially on the corporate world, helps to expand an economy. Certainly, I could go on to use Kansas and other states as an example of what happens when taxes are reduced.
The purpose of this article is to recognize that there is an awful lot of money now available for states and cities to tap into so we can increase the results we have wanted all along. When we increase the minimum wage for large corporations, that is a portion of the money flowing out of the state that we capture. And it is done without a tax increase. In addition, increasing taxes on the corporations will not equal what the federal government is giving them in tax breaks. They may scream and holler like a "stuck pig" (sorry the farm boy in me), but even a large number of corporations thought that the tax program went too far.
In Missouri, as well as in many other states, we can use petitions to bring a measure to the vote of the citizens. After all, isn’t this what the Republicans call for, a return to states rights without interference from the government.
In Missouri, we just collected enough signatures (3X what was needed) to cause repeal of the ‘right to work’ law passed by the state Republicans to be put on the ballot. We have a petition circulating now to increase the minimum wage to $15 and the last I checked, they had collected about half the needed signatures. In addition, we have a petition circulating to “Expand Medicaid”, reinstate the Franchise Tax and make voter registration automatic along with protections against unlawful voting.The last can be seen at www.Our-Voice.Us and we can use help collecting signatures.
Expanding Medicaid brings in 1.8 billion dollars from the Federal government without any tax increase. The Franchise Tax reinstatement (which was just eliminated by MO Assembly) will bring in 2.25 billion dollars for road construction and 2.25 billion dollars for schools that are in stressed high poverty areas. This more than 6 billion dollars (1/3 of that from Feds) will only affect the larger corporations in MO. With the trillions that the new tax law gives the corporations, this will be like a fly on a horses’ a.., enough to swat their tail at, other than that a small aggravation.
For a New Year's Resolution, help us get the signatures necessary to put these measures on the ballot for the citizens to vote on. It is not hard to help. Go to our site and download the petitions or email us and we will send you copies. Most people know 10 or more friends that will sign the petition (not necessary for all 10 spaces to be filled before sending back to us). Many of you will be involved with churches, veterans groups, senior citizens groups, PTA or PTO’s, unions, construction companies, people of little means, people with medical needs and no insurance, hospitals and medical groups and on and on. All of these will be impacted by these measures and it takes so little to collect a few signatures.
Lives will be saved. The sick will be healed. Jobs will be created. Living wage income will become the norm. How much more good can a person do just by collecting a few signatures.
HAPPY NEW YEAR gary
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