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posted by mrpg on Wednesday September 05 2018, @11:33PM   Printer-friendly
from the corporations-are-people-too dept.

DannyB chased by a bunch of wild rabid kangaroos writes . . .

Bernie Sanders introduces 'Stop BEZOS' bill to tax Amazon for underpaying workers

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) have introduced a bill that would tax companies like Amazon and Walmart for the cost of employees' food stamps and other public assistance. Sanders' Stop Bad Employers by Zeroing Out Subsidies Act (abbreviated "Stop BEZOS") . . . would institute a 100 percent tax on government benefits that are granted to workers at large companies.

The bill's text characterizes this as a "corporate welfare tax," and it would apply to corporations with 500 or more employees. If workers are receiving government aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps), national school lunch and breakfast programs, Section 8 housing subsidies, or Medicaid, employers will be taxed for the total cost of those benefits. The bill applies to full-time and part-time employees, as well as independent contractors that are de facto company employees.

Sanders announced his plans for the proposal last month. He emphasized today that "this discussion is not just about Amazon and [Amazon CEO] Jeff Bezos." But as the bill's name would suggest, he's been particularly critical of Amazon and Bezos who became the richest person in the world (and modern history) last year. "The taxpayers in this country should not be subsidizing a guy who's worth $150 billion, whose wealth is increasing by $260 million every single day," [ . . . rest omitted . . . ]

Food stamps, School Lunch, Medicaid, great . . . but what about employees who must shop at Walmart?


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:20AM (2 children)

    by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:20AM (#731133) Journal

    And on the board sits a gentlemen who has a PhD in Economics from the University of Chicago! Some people are too stupid to live, even if they are smart enough to get a PhD.

    That is just further evidence that degrees in economics or in business administration are fantasy-based and not grounded in empircal facts. Short term they are money makers for the grifters who acquire such degrees but long tem, they are killing the country. The anti-science trend has continued to become an anti-knowledge trend which has continued to become an anti-competency trend.

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    Money is not free speech. Elections should not be auctions.
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  • (Score: 2) by jelizondo on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:53AM (1 child)

    by jelizondo (653) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @03:53AM (#731146) Journal

    You are quite correct. Indeed, I worry that the anti-science trend will effectively kill the U.S. faster than any attacks from Russia or China.

    The Russians and particularly the Chinese, have gone from the idiotic idea that peasants should run everything (look up the Great Purge or the Cultural Revolution for details) and understood that Science is the only way. Watch Yuval Harari [youtube.com] expound this view better than I could.

    The advantage they have is that both Russia and China have authoritarian governments, so what Joe Sixpack thinks is irrelevant while in the U.S., Joe is electing representatives that want to bring back the 16th century.

    • (Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:26AM

      by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Thursday September 06 2018, @04:26AM (#731160) Journal

      The advantage they have is that both Russia and China have authoritarian governments

      It's also a huge disadvantage. Science doesn't work so well in authoritarian societies.