“Capitalists continually search for the highest return on their investments -- not creating jobs.”
The Republicans' so-called tax reform bill represents at least $1.5 trillion increased gifts to the one to ten percenters that own a disproportionate part of the wealth and means of production that fuels the economy. The corporate rate is slated to be cut from 35 to 20 percent.
The big business New York Times said their goal is to reduce the tax bills of corporations and small businesses to “stimulate investment, create jobs, increase global competitiveness, and promote economic growth.” Ironically, the bill is called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
Why do most of these corporations desire this cut? The world economic crises continue to squeeze capitalists’ profits. For several decades capitalists stepped up replacing workers with robots. They slashed wages; speeded up production; attacked unions; contracted out work; opposed a $15 hour or union minimum wage.
At the core of it all is the declining rate of profit. It represents a drop in the ratio of investment to profit. Capitalists refrain from capacity expanding factories, equipment, and machinery that encourage job creation. Capitalism is built to exploit workers.
Capitalists continually search for the highest return on their investments -- not creating jobs. So they speculate in stocks and bonds as well as other forms of commercial paper. Sometimes they just hang on to profits and put them in banks overseas.
“People of color will become a majority of the working class by 2032.”
Latinos and Blacks represent a disproportionate percentage of the working class if you use college graduation as a criterion. Using 2013 data according to the Economic Policy Institute data, 13 percent of Latinos and 21.2 percent of African Americans in the labor force attained a bachelor’s degree.
This figure is compared with 36.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites. The same report projects that people of color will become a majority of the working class by 2032. The labor participation rate has shrunk to 62.7 percent. Blacks bear the brunt. For us, it means an unemployment rate twice that of whites.
Democrats do not offer anything too much better. Democrats provided a skeleton of their proposal to Republicans on August 1. They said that Republicans had to "work through regular order, could not raise taxes on the middle class, or cut taxes for the one percent, and their reforms couldn't increase the deficit," according to CNN.
Malcolm X reminded us in "Malcolm X Speaks": “The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is the Republicans will stick a 12-inch knife in your back. Then the Democrats will come along and pull it out 3 inches.”
- as working class and working class-minded blacks need our black independent political party, as do whites. Both groups need to identify their commonalities to put forward an agenda for working people.
Dr. Morgan is a Black, and internationalist activist scholar. He can be reached at kmorgan2408@comcast.net.
Peru's coup government and its president Dina Boluarte remain in power despite the deaths of protesters and planned mobilizations for the Third Takeover of Lima.
The Juneteenth holiday is an opportunity to delve into Black history in a serious way. Unfortunately, the designation of a federal holiday has trivialized Juneteenth's meaning and given license to…
Ja Morant plays basketball in Tennessee, an "open carry" state with lose firearm regulations. But the issue of Black people carrying guns is not one of strict legality. Racism is also the issue.
This episode of Black Republic Media is the second in a series entitled, Murder Inc: The White Settler Republic as Homicidal Maniac.
Jalil Muntaqim was invited to attend a conference in Venezuela regarding the case of diplomat Alex Saab, who was kidnapped by the United States three years ago and is still being held in prison.
