Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
The free market, right? I wonder how libertarians would defend this.
Quote:
Consider Charles and David Koch. Their company, Koch Industries, has relied on $88 million worth of government handouts. Yet, as the major financiers of the anti-government right, the Kochs are still billed as libertarian free-market activists.
Similarly, behold the big tech firms. They are often portrayed as self-made success stories. Yet, as Good Jobs First shows, they are among the biggest recipients of the subsidies.
Intel leads the tech pack with 58 subsidies worth $3.8 billion. Next up is IBM, which has received more than $1 billion in subsidies. Most of that is from New York—a state proudly promoting its corporate handouts in a new ad campaign.
Then there’s Google’s $632 million and Yahoo’s $260 million—both sets of subsidies primarily from data center deals. And not to be forgotten is 38 Studios, the now bankrupt software firm that received $75 million in Rhode Island taxpayer cash. The company received the handout at the very moment Rhode Island was pleading “poverty” to justify cuts to public workers’ retirement benefits.
Along with propping up companies that are supposedly free-market icons, the subsidies are also flowing to financial firms that have become synonymous with never-ending bailouts. Indeed, companies like Goldman Sachs, Bank of America and Citigroup—each of which were given massive taxpayer subsidies during the financial crisis—are the recipients of tens of millions of dollars in additional subsidies.
All of these handouts, of course, would be derided if they were going to poor people. But because they are going to extremely wealthy politically connected conglomerates, they are typically promoted with cheery euphemisms like “incentives” or “economic development.” Those euphemisms persist even though many subsidies do not end up actually creating jobs.
How would someone like myself defend this? By noting its a blog making things up to suit their purpose. Nobody considers the Koch brothers libertarians outside of this blog.
If the government is offering why should they not take it?
Should they not take it and be at a competitive disadvantage? You cannot expect companies to not take advantage of government tax breaks or handouts unless they are removed for everyone.
You people are obsessed with Koch Bros., they did not even make the top 100 list, and yet they made the headline of your thread.
So, finally you lefties are upset about crony capitalism? Welcome to the party. Of course, your anger and vitriol is aimed at Koch, not the Obama admin, or the tax and spend liberal political establishment in Washington DC. All hail big government!
FYI the subsidies are usually tax breaks. The government didn't write them a check for 88 million, they got to keep more of their money for whatever the government was trying to get them to do.
I love how "subsidies" has become a code word for tax write offs. They follow the rules of the tax code to keep more of the money they make, and liberals are screaming that we're "subsidizing" them.
But when Buffett won't even pay what he legitimately owes, not even a peep from the liberals.
FYI the subsidies are usually tax breaks. The government didn't write them a check for 88 million, they got to keep more of their money for whatever the government was trying to get them to do.
Yep, and they used 100's of millions of dollars building hospitals for everyone to use. It is not like they were manipulating the currency of a foreign country like George Soros.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
