Connect! Unite! Act! is a weekly series encouraging the creation of face-to-face networks in each congressional district. Groups meet to socialize, support candidates, get out the vote, and engage in other local political actions that help our progressive movement grow and exert maximum influence on the powers that be. Visit us every week to see how you can get involved!
Money. We all want some, we all need at least some, and while money won’t buy you happiness, being destitute can certainly cause you great sorrow. You can lose your family, your living conditions, your health, and opportunities. Our culture loves money. Douglas Adams in The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy said: “This planet has - or rather had - a problem, which was this: most of the people living on it were unhappy for pretty much of the time. Many solutions were suggested for this problem, but most of these were largely concerned with the movement of small green pieces of paper, which was odd because on the whole it wasn't the small green pieces of paper that were unhappy.”
At what point, though, does having money stop being about trying to get by or even setting up a better future for your progeny and start becoming about sheer avarice? “Avarice” is a term you don’t see used often very much anymore; it refers to extreme greed. Yet extreme greed has become the driving force behind too many decisions in our country. How do we address this from a morals and values position?
If you listen to Republicans, they will tell you that they are the party of morals and honor or however they want to put it. That lie is revealed in their cruelty to others, refusal of help for people who need it, treatment of people different than themselves, and oppression of groups that need support. When it comes to corporate greed, however, we sometimes don’t even understand how to address the problem because it is so big that it goes beyond comprehension.
When we look at the price we pay at the pump (which is finally below $3 where I live this weekend), we have to realize that for all of their talk, oil companies were making an absolute killing this year, and they were not doing it to help consumers. Instead, as Robert Reich notes, it became a field day for their own executives and stock holders.
At the same time, big oil has hit a gusher. Exxon just reported second-quarter profits of $17.9bn, more than three times what it earned a year ago. Chevron’s profit more than tripled to $11.6bn.
The two giant American oil companies aren’t pouring their profits back into energy, green or otherwise. They’re buying back their shares of stock to reward investors and executives.
For most of the 20th century, stock buybacks were considered illegal. They were viewed as a form of market manipulation and until 1982, you could find yourself in serious legal trouble for engaging in such a practice. It would be viewed as manipulating your own stock, altering values for other investors, and creating alternative income outside of the normal tax system. What changed? Well, Reagan changed all of that.
When Republicans put forward the tax bill of 2018, they managed to put stock buybacks on overdrive, and make a process that was already attractive even more attractive for businesses, CEOs, and those with incredible wealth. That’s saying something: Since 1984, we’ve seen roughly $9.9 trillion in stock buybacks.
So when exactly is corporate greed avarice? At what point is profit more than profit and simply punishing the consumer for minimal benefit? I bring this up because at some level of income, there is simply no tangible difference. Think of it this way: If your net worth is $98 billion right now, but next year it is $110 billion, has your lifestyle really improved or fallen apart? Do you feel that extra $12 billion as a big benefit? Probably not, because you simply couldn’t spend the money you have fast enough on anything that matters.
The best food in the world suddenly didn’t accelerate where it costs you $100,000,000 a meal. You aren’t finding that your wardrobe runs you $3 billion a year. And guess what? Even if it did, you are earning so fast in the stock market and interest that you can’t spend your money fast enough to get rid of it!
AppleTV took this problem on:
While it’s fun to laugh at, is there any actual interest in addressing the problem? When it came time to address profiteering and oil gouging, Republicans said nyet.
Yet not a single Republican backed the intervention, which gives the president the authority to issue an Energy Emergency Declaration prohibiting increases in gasoline and home energy fuel prices that are exploitative. In fact, House Republican leaders actively mobilized against the proposal, with House Republican whip Steve Scalise dismissing the bill as “an attempt by the Majority to distract and shift blame from the administration’s self-inflicted energy and inflation crisis and blame energy producers, despite no evidence of price gouging.”
One problem: There was, and still is, plenty of evidence of price gouging.
So when is enough enough? What constitutes the difference between the American dream, incredible success, and just avarice? How can a just government help the people survive for a better future, and what role can the administration play in making that happen?
As we move to November, one of the questions we start asking ourselves has to be about the future we want for our progeny. Not everyone will be worth a $100 billion-plus. Everyone, however, deserves an opportunity at a life of fair and equitable wages and a better future. That’s what is on the line at the ballot box.
What are you doing to help make that happen?