By MARSHA MERCER
President Donald J. Trump rails against
Jeff Bezos, owner of The Washington Post, because Trump hates the Post’s tough
coverage of his administration. For Trump, it’s always all about him.
Former presidential candidate Sen.
Bernie Sanders attacks Bezos because he’s the richest man on earth and chief
executive of Amazon. Thousands of Amazon workers reportedly make so little they
have to rely on public assistance. For Sanders, it’s about taxpayers
subsidizing the rich.
Must be an election year.
“The American people are tired of
subsidizing multi-billionaires who own some of the largest and most profitable
corporations in America,” Sanders, a Vermont independent, said Wednesday when
he proposed the Stop BEZOS Act -- Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies
Act.
Nothing subtle in that stiletto-knife
acronym.
The measure would require companies with
more than 500 workers to reimburse, in effect, the government for federal
benefits their low-wage workers receive. If an Amazon worker received $2,000 in
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits, formerly food stamps,
Amazon would be taxed $2,000 to cover the cost.
Amazon.com Inc. reached $1 trillion in
market value Tuesday, and Bezos’ personal net worth is somewhere in the stratosphere
of $167 billion. Naturally people resent him and Amazon’s ever-expanding reach
into our lives -- even as we enjoy one-click ordering and same-day delivery.
Amazon is not the only employer that
relies on the kindness of taxpayers. Workers at Walmart, Burger King, McDonalds
and American Airlines, among others, get federal assistance.
“Thousands of American workers have to
rely on food stamps, Medicaid and public housing to survive. That is what a
rigged economy looks like,” Sanders tweeted.
Rep. Ro Khanna, Democrat of California,
has introduced a similar bill in the House.
But don’t get your hopes -- or your
dander -- up. These bills are dead. Nothing will come of them.
Like Trump’s claim Bezos should pay
higher delivery fees to the U.S. Postal Service, Sanders is making a political
point. Sanders’ bill is still significant because it is ludicrous that
taxpayers have to plump the bottom line of companies like Amazon.
A living wage is still a dream for many
in this country. Congress refuses to raise the federal minimum wage from $7.25
an hour, though many states have. About 39.6 million Americans still need SNAP
benefits, despite Republican efforts to pare the rolls.
Taxing the companies is pleasantly
punitive but it wouldn’t put a dime in workers’ pockets and could provide a
disincentive to hire poor people.
Amazon reported its median salary was
$28,446 last year but insists that’s the global median and include part-time
workers. The median salary in the United States is $34,123, and full-time
employees receive generous benefits, the company said. Median, as you know,
means half the people make more and half less.
But, Sanders said, the figures are
misleading because Amazon hires 40 percent of its workforce as temporary
workers, and their pay isn’t included.
At a “CEOs vs Workers” panel Sanders
held in July, Seth King, an eight-year Navy vet who worked at Amazon’s
fulfillment center in Chester, Va., talked about working conditions.
On his feet for 10 hours, he was not
allowed to sit down or talk to coworkers in his aisle, and work goals were
unattainable, he said. Isolated and depressed, he quit after two months. Sanders
plans to visit the Chester facility this month.
Sanders Wednesday shared this story from
a current employee:
“I work 40 hours a week at $13.25. I
have 2 kids to support. I receive 90 dollars of food stamps . . . I don’t make
enough to eat lunch at work so I split a protein shake between 2 meals to make
sure my children eat,” the worker wrote.
Is this the kind of country we want?
Sanders says billionaires like Bezos and
the Walton family of Walmart need to get off corporate welfare and pay their
workers a living wage. A Democratic Congress might nudge them in that
direction.
Trump says the economy has never been
better, he’s doing the best job of any president ever, and everybody’s rich. He
wants a Republican Congress so he can keep things as they are.
For me, there’s no contest.
©2018 Marsha Mercer. All rights
reserved.
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