The Real Motive Behind the GOP’s “Culture War”Why do Putin…

The Real Motive Behind the GOP’s “Culture War”

Why do Putin and the Republican Party sound so much alike? Simple: Their culture wars have similar agendas.

Both are trying to distract attention from the economic looting by their respective oligarchies.

Vladimir Putin has been blasting so-called “cancel culture.”

This was his third “cancel culture” rant in recent months. It’s the same imaginary crisis that Trump and the GOP have been ranting about for several years.

Tucker Carlson, one of Fox News’s most infamous personalities, accuses liberals of trying to cancel all sorts of things. 

Last fall, Putin argued that teaching children about different gender identities was, quote, “on the verge of a crime against humanity.” Putin’s fixation on LGBTQ people is also echoed on the American right.

Republican state legislators are attacking trans people and restricting discussion of gender and sexual orientation in schools. And in Texas…”state attorney general Ken Paxton likened kids getting gender-affirming medical care to child abuse.” 

While Putin’s MO has been to fuel Russian ethnic pride and nationalism, America’s right wing has been fueling white nationalism.

To conclude from all of this that authoritarians think alike misses a deeper truth. 

Putin, Trump, Carlson, and America’s right wing have been promoting the same narrative for the same reason: Manufacturing fears of “the other” to distract from where all the wealth and power have gone…all the way to the top.

Remember, Putin was put into power by a Russian oligarchy made fabulously rich by siphoning off and privatizing the wealth of the former Soviet Union.
Likewise, Trump and the radical right in America have been bankrolled by an American oligarchy — Rupert Murdoch, Charles Koch, Rebekah Mercer, Peter Thiel, and other billionaires.

Sowing racism, homophobia, and transphobia creates life-or-death dangers for many people in our society. For both Putin and the American right, it serves to divert attention from the economic plunder by the ultra-rich.

They want people to fear one another rather than unite behind higher wages, better working conditions, and a fairer economy — and against authoritarianism.

To fight back, we must fight widening inequality while defending marginalized communities from these demagogues’ attacks. The real threat is not diverse identities – it’s corporate greed and political corruption.

We have to see the culture wars waged by Putin and America’s right for the cynical strategies they are, and build a future in which prosperity is widely shared.

How Corporations are Using Inflation to Take Your MoneyInflation…

How Corporations are Using Inflation to Take Your Money

Inflation is a cover corporations are using to squeeze more money out of you. But as I’ll explain, there are five things we can do to fight back.

Corporations are using inflation as an excuse to raise their prices, hurting workers and consumers while they enjoy record profits. 

Prices are surging – but let’s be clear: corporations are not raising prices simply because of the increasing costs of supplies and labor. They could easily absorb these higher costs, but instead they are passing them on to consumers and even raising prices higher than those cost increases.

Corporations are getting away with this because they face little or no competition. 

If markets were competitive, companies would keep their prices down to prevent competitors from grabbing away customers. But in a market with only a few competitors able to coordinate prices, consumers have no real choice. 

As a result, corporations are raking in their highest profits in 70 years.Are they using these record profits to raise their workers’ real wages? No. They’re handing out meager wage increases to attract or keep workers with one hand, but effectively eliminating those wage increases by raising prices with the other.

Wages grew 5.6 percent over the past year — but prices rose 8.5 percent. That means, adjusted for inflation, workers actually got a 2.9 percent pay cut.

So what are corporations doing with their record profits? Using them to boost share prices by buying back a record amount of their own shares of stock. Goldman Sachs expects buybacks to reach $1 trillion this year – an all-time high.

This amounts to a direct upward transfer of wealth from average working people’s wallets into CEOs’ and shareholders’ pockets. 

Just look: billionaires have become at least $1.7 trillion richer during the pandemic, while CEO pay (based largely on stock values) is now at a record 350 times the typical worker’s pay.

The Federal Reserve wants to curb inflation by continuing to raise interest rates. That would be a grave mistake, because it doesn’t address corporate concentration and it will slow job and wage growth. The labor market isn’t “unhealthily tight,” as Fed Chair Jerome Powell claims. Corporations are unhealthily fat.

So what’s the real solution?

First, tougher antitrust enforcement to address the growing concentration of the economy into the hands of a few giant corporations. Since the 1980s, over two-thirds of American industries have become more concentrated, enabling corporations to coordinate price increases.

Next, a temporary windfall profits tax that takes corporation’s record profits and redistributes them as direct payments to everyday Americans struggling to cover soaring prices.

Third, a ban on corporate stock buybacks. Buybacks were illegal before Ronald Reagan’s SEC legalized them in 1982 – and they should be made illegal again.

Fourth, higher taxes on the wealthy and on corporations. Corporate tax rates are at near-record lows, even as corporate profits are at a near-record highs. And much of billionaires’ pandemic gains have escaped taxes altogether.

Lastly, stronger unions. As corporate power has grown, union membership has declined, and economic inequality has risen – the reason most workers haven’t seen a real raise in 40 years. All workers deserve the right to collectively bargain for higher wages and better benefits.

In short, the real problem is not inflation.The real problem is the increase in corporate power and the decline in worker power over the past 40 years. 

Unless we address this growing imbalance, corporations will continue siphoning off the economy’s gains into their CEOs’ and shareholders’ pockets — while everyday Americans get shafted.

How America Can Lower Gas Prices Like Other CountriesGas prices…

How America Can Lower Gas Prices Like Other Countries

Gas prices are going down, but they’re still way too high. While you pay through the nose at the gas pump, Big Oil is lining its pockets.

I’ll get to how to funnel some of these profits back to you in a moment, but first let me explain why and how gas prices got so high.

The major drivers of price increases are pent-up demand after two years of the pandemic, coupled with supply shocks and shortages.

But let’s be clear about another major cause of rising prices: American corporations enjoying their highest profits in 70 years, and using inflation as a cover to push up prices even further.

Recently, the average price of gas gushed to over $5 a gallon across the country — a near record high. It’s now down somewhat, but it’s still way higher than it should be. And this is not just because the cost of crude oil has gone up. It’s because Big Oil’s profit margins have surged above that cost.

The annual U.S. inflation rate was 8.6% in May. Meanwhile, gas prices rose a whopping 47%.

Last year, when Americans were already struggling to pay their heating bills and fill up their gas tanks, the biggest oil companies posted profits totaling $75 billion. This year, Big Oil is on the way to an even bigger bonanza.

In the first quarter of 2022, the five biggest oil companies siphoned off over 200 percent more in profits than the year before. That’s more than $35 billion in profits in just three months. They’re on track to make a record $140 billion this year.

Big Oil could easily absorb the higher costs of crude without raising prices at the pump. But they’re raising prices more than their costs are rising – because they have so much market power. So they’re passing on higher costs to consumers in the form of higher prices and pocketing record profits on top of that.

Lower-income people are bearing the brunt of these higher gas prices. Not only are they less likely to work from home, but they’re more likely to commute longer distances in order to afford housing.

Meanwhile, the profits flow to Big Oil investors and executives. In 2021, oil giants spent over $35 billion on stock buybacks in order to pump up share prices. This year, ExxonMobil alone is planning on buying back $30 billion of its own shares of stock – triple what it had originally planned on.

Make no mistake: this is a direct upward redistribution from consumers like you to Big Oil and its investors.

What can we do about all this? Hit Big Oil with a windfall profits tax.

A windfall tax is aimed at profits that come from taking advantage of a crisis, such as were imposed in World War II.

Britain’s Conservative government just enacted a 25 percent windfall profits tax on oil and gas giants. The revenue from that tax will go to lower-income households to help them weather the energy crisis.

If Britain’s Conservatives can do this, so can the United States. This should be a no-brainer.

There’s currently a bill in Congress to do just this. This windfall profits tax is estimated to recoup $45 billion per year, which would be rebated directly to consumers.

The windfall tax is exactly what we need to stop the gush of money flowing from consumers to Big Oil and its investors.

It’s good policy, good politics, and it’s the right thing to do.

Debunking 4 Myths About InflationThe truth about inflation is…

Debunking 4 Myths About Inflation

The truth about inflation is getting covered up by countless myths spewed by corporations and their political lackeys.

Here are the facts:

Fact #1: Inflation is not being driven by wage increases.

Although wages have been rising, they’ve been rising more SLOWLY than prices. Hourly wages grew by 5 percent in the past year — but prices rose 8.6 percent. This means, when you adjust for inflation, workers actually got a 3.5 percent pay cut over the past year.

Fact #2: Corporate profits are one of the main drivers of inflation.

Corporations are raising prices above what’s needed to cover their higher costs. These mark-ups have soared. Corporations are getting away with this price gouging because they face little to no competition. And they’re using the specter of inflation as a cover.

Last year, corporations raked in their highest profits in 70 years. One recent study found that over half the increase in prices we’ve been experiencing can be attributed to fatter corporate profits.

Fact #3: Federal assistance to people during the pandemic did not overheat the economy.

Most families — who haven’t had a real wage increase in years — used the assistance to pay down debt or save for the future. The assistance was barely enough to keep working families afloat.

Fact #4: Inflation is not the result of President Biden’s or Democrats’ policies. 

Republicans want to blame them for rising prices. But Democrats have tried advancing bills to bring down prices and address corporate price gouging, yet Republicans and a handful of corporate Democrats refuse to pass them.

So don’t fall for the corporate myths about inflation.

Higher prices are not being driven by wage increases. They were not driven by federal assistance to people during the pandemic. And Democrats aren’t to blame.

Inflation is being driven in large part by record corporate profits. The best way to fight it is to remove corporate incentives to raise prices through a windfall profits tax. And reduce monopoly power through tougher antitrust enforcement.

Know the truth.