COVID-19 is Exposing the 5 Biggest Lies of Corporations

With the industrialized world and hundreds of millions of employees hunkered down against the corona virus, it’s easy to spot at least five big lies that corporations have been trying to get us to believe for decades:

1. What we do doesn’t measurably impact the planet in a negative way. 
2. Wealthy people are the real (and the most important) income producers.
3. Trickle down economics are working just fine.
4. Profit-making isn’t predatory, it’s simply capitalism at its finest.
5.  Democratic socialism is a dangerous path to travel (unless it benefits us, in which case it’s just fine).

 

Lie #1: What we do doesn’t measurably impact the planet in a negative way.

 

Wildlife in abundance is revisiting and inhabiting lakes, streams, and rivers in densely populated areas (like the Venice canals) now that the water has cleared from all of the toxins and chemicals that gets poured into them every minute of every day and night. There are swans and dolphins in Venice again in and atop crystal-clear water, having the time of their lives in areas where they used to be plentiful.

 

City streets are being repatriated by critters that  have been made into outliers because of the traffic, noise, pollution and hubbub that people create when they aren’t sequestered in their homes.

 

NASA photos from space show how shutting down noxious productions in China and elsewhere has cleared the air and made it safe to breathe again.

 

Isn’t this a huge wake-up call to the rest of us? What we buy and do alters the world, for better or worse.

 

A little less conspicuous consumption (keeping up with the Joneses; those who die with the most toys wins) and more regulation of industries can make a huge impact on the future inhabitability of Mother Earth.

 

What have each of us stopped doing/using/consuming that has positively impacted our immediate environments? (More bidets; less toilet paper!) Let’s do whatever that is when our quarantine time ends!

 

If the animals can’t live in the immediate environments we’ve made, we need to pay attention to that. They’re our bellwethers as to how we’ll be faring if we don’t turn this around with all deliberate speed.  What  kills or expels them will kill or expel us eventually, and we don’t have any other place to go, so we’d better get this right sooner rather than later.

 

Lie #2 Wealthy people are the real (and the most important) income producers.

 

Really? I don’t see wealthy people standing behind cashiers, driving delivery trucks and emergency vehicles, providing nursing care, or stocking shelves during this unprecedented crisis.

 

Instead, wealthy people (who frequently pay zero dollars in taxes and get hundreds of millions in subsidies) can presently be seen with their hands out, seeking to profit further from federal government “largesse” (our taxpayer dollars!!!) because their companies are shut down and the stock market has crashed.

 

And get this! They’re still filthy rich! They’re just not as rich as they were a few weeks ago because their businesses (operated and delivered by some of the above-named cash-strapped employees) are hobbled for a time.  HORRORS!

 

They’re asking for democratic socialism for the rich (government assistance, safety nets) while paying lobbyists and talking heads to tell the rest of us that we should be satisfied with greedy  crony capitalism  for our ongoing needs during this catastrophic economic downturn (and at all other times).

 

Oh! But wait! Trump may be sending us a big one-time $1000. Whoop de do! Most likely as a bribe to vote for him in November, paid for by our tax dollars, right out of our own pockets; $1000 that will be taxed!

 

I call utter bull crap and hypocrisy on this!

 

Lie #3: Trickle down economics are working just fine.

 

Most Americans are living paycheck to paycheck. 500,000 people are sleeping in the streets, many of them veterans and LGBTQI cast-offs; many of them are working one or two jobs but can’t afford rent or a mortgage.  The only thing trickling down from on high is disdain and apathy.

 

Lie #4 Profit-making isn’t predatory, it’s simply capitalism at its finest.

See above (Lie #2.)  Is that why poor and working people are being screwed during this pandemic and the rich and greedy have their hands out and are getting the lion’s share of OUR tax dollars to help them recoup their losses?

 

Lie #5  Democratic socialism is a dangerous path to travel (unless it benefits us, in which case it’s just fine).

 

We’ve been over this, too. By paying their taxes, every other developed country’s citizens have their basic needs met by the government: health care (including dental care, eye care and hearing care), higher education, child care, five weeks of vacation from year one of employment, less crime (because people aren’t desperate or marginalized there and kept in menial, low-paying jobs), and other good stuff. Why should we have to be playing catch up?  We’re like the poor country cousins. Other countries adopted our best ideas and put them into action while our government since 1980 has been dedicated to denying them to us.

 

Think about this. Who has your back right now? Joe Biden is in hiding, saying this is beyond his pay grade (but he wants to be President, thank you very much!)

 

Donald Trump’s COVID-19 (“Chinese virus!!!”) press conferences are charades. Dr. Fauci is the only one telling you the truth and it will probably cost him his job since all the other truth tellers under Trump’s command have lost theirs (Vindmann, Sondlund, et al).

 

Then there’s Bernie… who has turned his contribution portal into a portal to help those hardest it financially by the corona virus.

 

Watch and listen to his plan (link below) for helping us all get through this. (Imagine it: OUR EXSTING TAX DOLLARS BEING USED TO ACTUALLY HELP US instead of oligarchs, plutocrats, corporations, the Military Industrial complex and the Prison Industrial complex!!! HALLELUJAH! WHAT A CONCEPT!!!! I heartily concur!!!)

 

https://www.democracynow.org/2020/3/18/headlines/sen_bernie_sanders_outlines_2_trillion_coronavirus_emergency_plan?fbclid=IwAR3uZqhfkFc3fl0q0vL8LcKPiGKFyo0cwykR3or3xgMvgHBEjnlm2aibTOc

 

Longer, more complete outline of Bernie’s plan (1:35 minutes)

 

To me, this a a no-brainer. We need someone in the Oval Office and in other  federal government positions who have our backs. That’s their fucking job, isn’t it???

 

That was my understanding of why we pay our taxes, to provide for the common defense and welfare of Americans, not just oligarchs, plutocrats and corporations.

 

I’m tired of corporate whores. Let’s get rid of them all in November.

 

Those of you who haven’t voted in your primaries yet have the opportunity to save this nation and the planet and earn the eternal gratitude of the entire world. Will you squander your vote on “not my pay grade” Biden or on “Here’s what we need to do”  Bernie Sanders?

 

You know where I stand…