We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Monday, November 17, 2014

U.S. Companies Now Stashing $2 Trillion Overseas

Click here to access article by Jeff Cox from NBC News. (I added a paragraph and a sentence to my commentary at 7 PM Seattle time.)

As David Ruccio of Real-World Economics pointed out:
It is a portion of the surplus captured from workers in the the United States and around the world that could be used to create jobs and improve the infrastructure—and is currently not being used for that purpose. Instead, it’s being hoarded as cash for corporations to do with it what they will, when they will.
Not only do they stash away their wealth in foreign lands, but often it is hidden in tax havens which permits them to pay less taxes. Should anyone be surprised? That is the way the system is supposed to work: the accumulation of wealth and power by "owners" of the economy. I suppose you thought that this process would work to create jobs and ultimately benefit society. Didn't you know that jobs are an expense on their profit and loss statements? Didn't you know that "there is no such thing as society? ...there are only individuals and their families." (M. Thatcher) Thus, capitalists do everything they can to eliminate jobs, or failing that, to reduce these costs as low as possible.

If you don't like the system, organize and change it!
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