Have you seen this video?It was made by one of the anti-worker groups funded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. It’s a clear attempt to pit working people against each other. They hope that private sector workers will turn on public sector workers who, the video claims, “haven’t had to sacrifice” in these hard times.
One problem with their argument: it’s not true.
Here in Southern California and across the country, the people who maintain our parks,keep our beaches safe and keep our water clean have accepted salary reductions, benefits cuts, overtime reductions and other hits to their economic well being.
But the Koch Brothers and their anti-worker politician friends don’t want people to know that. If people stopped scapegoating workers, they might look around for the real villains in our economy–the corporations who haven’t had to sacrifice one bit. According to the latest federal figures, “U.S. corporate profits hit an all-time high at the end of 2010, with financial firms showing some of the biggest gains.” Does that sound like sacrifice? It doesn’t even sound like hard times. And these are the same financial firms that caused the global recession in the first place.
Similarly, The Wall Street Journal just reported that last year “CEO bonuses at 50 major corporations jumped a median of 30.5%, the biggest gain in at least three years.” Sacrifice? Not even close. Apparently the mere thought of sacrifice is so foreign a concept to America’s richest citizens that General Electric, which reported $14.2 billion in profits last year, didn’t pay a single cent in taxes.
The call for public service workers to bear the lion’s share of cuts in these difficult times is wrong-headed. Instead, it’s time to call for large corporations and the wealthiest Americans to do their part in helping our country through these difficult economic times. Until that happens, we’ll be forced to make all the sacrifices as our public services are eroded and our communities quickly degrade.
WATCH: Wisconsin Club for Growth Video
READ: Corporate Profits At All-Time High As Recovery Stumbles
READ: Executive Bonuses Bounce Back
READ: G.E.’s Strategies Let It Avoid Taxes Altogether