It’s been all over the news this weekend. “Obama forms task force on working families,” Market Watch slugged it. And in long standing tradition, VP (to be) Joe Biden will chair it. The purpose, according to the article is to address the issue of:
“Hardworking men and women [who] are struggling to make ends meet because of stagnant wages and declining family incomes. Personal consumption is the largest component of the U.S. economy and workers’ wages are the largest single source of consumer spending,” Anna Burger said.“Without action to stimulate wage increases, consumption will continue to falter, and the economy will slip deeper into recession. The ‘White House Task Force on Working Families’ is a vital first step toward restoring our economy and making government work for working people again,” she said.
The Wall Street Journal Online’s version this morning reported the Obama transition office as saying the task force’s mandate is to:
” …make sure the economic-stimulus package — which would be the biggest implemented since the Depression — slows the soaring cost of education, expands work-force training and arrests the eight-year slide
in middle-class incomes… “
Okay. Fine. I’m sure all that is needed and will help. But Mr. Obama, if you really want to do something for the lower and middle income class, put an end to corporate taxation without representation! We didn’t elect the corporations. Why should they be allowed to tax us by using the euphemisms of “fees” and “penalties” and “analysis charges” to line their pockets — usually at the expense of society’s most vulnerable?
All during your campaign,you claimed you understood the struggles of “average Americans.” Well then, Mr. President (elect), I’m sure you fully understand the devastating impact of $100 or $200 these corporate taxes can have on a family just scrimping by pay check to pay check.
Yes, companies have to make a profit. They can’t stay in business if they don’t. And yes, despite the (rather silly) grumping about how “evil” publicity traded companies are, it is also true that our elderly would be totally destroyed if their IRAs and 401Ks were wiped out (they’re just bundled stock holdings). But really! Does that mean profits have to be built on the backs of our most vulnerable by legal manipulation such as the shell game?
Granted, the passage of the new credit card regulations that eliminate universal default and that prevent the companies from resetting interest rates on carried balances will help. But there’s much much more that needs to be done to curb these excesses that pray on those least able to pay.
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