×

Government should represent people

To the editor:

On Jan. 12, Wal-Mart announced that it would be paying $1,000 bonuses to their employees. The corporations that own the mainstream media lapped up this news. Many channels discussed this as though it’s proof that the Trump tax cuts are working phenomenally.

Even networks that are supposedly “liberal media” like CNN and NBC drooled over the bonuses that would be paid out as the massive companies that own them pushed this narrative. Hours later, it was announced that Wal-Mart was closing 63 Sam’s Club stores and laying off thousands of employees. A few hours after that, we found out that only employees who have been employed for 20 years were getting the $1,000.

This phenomenon repeated itself again and again. Companies using one time bonuses to soften the blow of massive amounts of layoffs. Comcast announced 100,000 one-time bonuses, but fired 500 full-time managers. AT&T gave one-time bonuses of $1,000 to 200,000 employees, but laid off thousands.

The media bent over backward again and again to make sure their corporate overlords were painted in a positive light.

Kimberly-Clark, the company that makes Huggies diapers and Kleenex, announced that it is laying off 5,500 workers, and using the massive tax cut to pay for a new army of robots that will replace their employees. I always thought that the tax cuts were supposed to stop automation and encourage hiring, but apparently you can buy a lot of automation with tax cuts.

Remember when President Trump and Mike Pence went to the Carrier factory in Indiana at the beginning of his presidency? They gave a major tax cut to the company to get them to save jobs. They then got another tax cut with this tax plan. Those jobs have all been eliminated now, but the company gets to keep all of the tax cuts it received.

Almost 98 percent of people say that they have not seen a bonus from this tax cut. Thousands are being laid off. The Trump administration, and the Republican Congress are allowing massive companies to run roughshod over the American people. You would never know it by watching the propaganda that is on every channel. Most people are receiving a tax cut, but as Paul Ryan pointed out, most of them are very small. Ryan himself called the tax cuts “crumbs” and acknowledged a secretary who is getting $1.50 a week more than before. All while corporations are breaking the bank. Hopefully, the Republicans increasing the budget deficit by $1.5 trillion does not lead to cuts to Medicare that the secretary will someday need.

The American people need a government that represents the people, not corporations. We will have a chance to begin to rectify this situation this year. I hope the middle class survives in the meantime.

Barbara Davis

Wintersville

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today