The greedy and the unfortunate poor

Sep 17, 2014 Letters

Dear Editor,
“The fact is that people who made out like bandits, shoved money into their own pockets by the bucketful, and drove our economy into a crisis, have no apparent shame.”Larry Brown – National Union of Public and General Employees, Ottawa, Canada.
One of my firm convictions is that, whatever activity or enterprise we may engage in, we must NEVER forget that it is people, above all, who matters in the end – human beings like you and me, with blood coursing through our veins, and who with every heartbeat, are struggling to make an honest living in a harsh and uncaring world.
Those who are unmindful of this and who are callous and indifferent to the pains and sufferings they inflict on others, in their selfish quest for wealth and self-aggrandizement, are as good as dead even though still living.
During and in the aftermath of the Great Recession in the USA and elsewhere, untold suffering and misery were brought to bear upon helpless, innocent and decent people by the ruthless and rapacious acts of multinational corporations and big businesses, which revealed the inhuman and evil face of enterprise.
Corporations are run by people (mostly the super-rich and self-serving) whose overriding concern is PROFITS AND NOT PEOPLE. If more profits can be generated then these fat-cat executives, who run banks, investment firms, technology, construction, oil, insurance, health care and pharmaceutical companies, have no qualm in shutting down factories, shipping jobs overseas, breaking the backs of unions, paying miserly wages (but with outrageous compensation and bonuses for themselves), turning full-time jobs into part-time positions, snatching health care and other benefits from their employees, and creating a fear-based, intimidating and stultifying working environment.
These are the people who (especially in the USA) can use their billions to influence greedy and corrupt politicians, and thereby , markedly affect the shape and outcome of policies, legislation, rules and regulations that may impact upon their business.
Nowhere is this more shamelessly and obscenely evident than in the area of corporate taxation. What these companies are enjoying is symptomatic of the widespread corporate tax avoidance in the USA. This is legalized greed at its worst and makes most wicked the assertion that there is ‘no money’ to fund socially desirable programmes.
While the stock market in the USA is booming and banks, hedge funds and private equity firms are raking in tens of billions of dollars, 16.4 million children are living in poverty today i.e. nearly a quarter [22.6%] of the children in the USA.
What is most shocking, shameful and disgusting is the financial billionaires who are profiting so immensely from the ‘recovery’ were the very culprits that took down the US economy in the first place by creating and peddling toxic securities that puffed up and then burst the housing bubble. These financial mercenaries caused 8 million workers to lose their jobs in a matter of months and are directly responsible for almost 17 million American children going to bed every night hungry.
What is equally sinister and wicked is that the major corporations have made record profits and profit margins (profits after expenses are covered) while simultaneously laying off workers in record numbers. They have, therefore, wrung huge profits from cutting labor costs to the bare bones.
In other words, they have filled their coffers and lined their pockets at the expense of the pains, tears, and hunger of the working class. These ruthless monsters have no feelings left in them that they cannot see that, by their selfish and avaricious acts, they have snatched bread from the mouths of millions of children as they seek to augment their almost incalculable wealth.
CECIL RAMKIRATH
Bayonne, NJ, USA

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