How does it
happen, that the wealthiest man in the history of the world, Jeff Bezos, is
also one of the largest welfare recipients in America?
It is
quite simple, really.
Jeff
Bezos and his company, Amazon, make huge profits by paying their employees
wages that are so inadequate that many of them need public assistance just to
get by. Today in America, thousands of Amazon workers are forced to rely on
food stamps, Medicaid and public housing because they can't survive on the
wages they receive. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is now worth $158 billion, and his
wealth increases by $260 million - every single day. How absurd is that?
And
who pays for the public assistance subsidizing Mr. Bezos’ wealth? You do. The
middle class subsidizes the wealthiest person in the world, while his workers
struggle to put food on the table. That is what the rigged economy is all
about. And in my view, that has got to end.
That
is why I introduced a piece of legislation that aims to end corporate welfare
by establishing a 100 percent tax on corporations with 500 or more employees
equal to the amount of federal benefits received by their low-wage workers.
So, if
a worker at Amazon receives $1,000 in food stamps, Amazon would be taxed $1,000
to cover that cost.
The
bill gives large, profitable employers a choice: pay your workers a living wage
or pay for the public assistance they need to get by. It’s common sense. Now I
want you to send a message to my colleagues that it has your support, as well:
Add your name as an original Citizen Co-Sponsor of
my Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS) Act and send a message
that taxpayers should not have to expend huge sums of money subsidizing
profitable corporations owned by some of the wealthiest people in America.
ADD YOUR NAME
Make
no mistake about it, Jeff Bezos is not alone in this regard. Some of the most
profitable businesses in America sustain their wealth through this kind of
corporate welfare.
According
to one report, in 2014, Walmart employees received at least $6.2 billion in
public aid every year. Walmart is owned by the Walton family, the wealthiest
family in the country.
More
than half of employees in the fast food industry rely on some kind of public
assistance.
McDonald’s
workers are actually encouraged to sign up for assistance, and the co-owner of
Burger King has a net worth of $25 billion, while his workers receive an
estimated $356 million in subsidies each year.
According
to a study from the University of California, low wages cost American taxpayers
$150 billion every single year.
So let
me be as clear as I can be: The government has a moral responsibility to make
certain that every man, woman and child in this country has a decent standard
of living and that we provide for the vulnerable in this country — our kids,
the sick, the elderly and the disabled. It is not acceptable, however, that the
American taxpayer is being asked to subsidize the wealth of some of the
wealthiest people in the history of the world.
And it
must end.
Please add your name as an original Citizen
Co-Sponsor of my Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies (BEZOS) Act and
send a message that taxpayers should not have to expend huge sums of money
subsidizing profitable corporations owned by some of the wealthiest people in
America.
ADD YOUR NAME
The
economic and political systems of this country are stacked against ordinary
Americans and in the favor of the most powerful among us.
The
rich get richer and use their wealth to buy elections — just recently, it was
announced that Jeff Bezos made a $10 million donation to a Super PAC that in
one place is running ads supporting a candidate who will “work with President
Trump to fight for Florida’s conservative values.”
For
the rest of us, who don’t have the wealth it takes to buy the legislative
outcomes they want, it’s survival of the fittest.
That
is not democracy. That is oligarchy. Let's work together to end it.
In
solidarity,
Bernie
Sanders
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