The Right to the City and the Greed of the Rich
by Julia Lis and Michael Hartmann
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2017/12/435333.shtml
Thanks to everyone who resisted the GOP tax giveaway! Unlike the security state, the constitutional state should mean compromises, negotiations, concessions, and countermeasures to reverse exploding inequality and precarious work. The state should represent the public interest and yet is often “the errand boy of the banks” (Bill Moyers). Indifference is love’s enemy! Path-dependency and fear of the new can make radical change difficult.
Closing tax havens, ending tax competition, and prohibiting profit-shifting are necessary for a fair tax system. The richest 1% in Pennsylvania could receive another $3 billion from Trump’s tax scam! Democracy is different than plutocracy. Problems do not disappear when they are ignored or repressed as fake populists and lies must be overcome with truth-tellers and sharing wealth.
Only radical change can avert egoism replacing solidarity. Social security, medicare, medicaid, Pell grants, WIC food assistance, food stamps, SNAP, The Legal Corporation, the National Institute for Health, PBS, EPA, public education, Amtrak, the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities, Head Start, school lunches and after-school programs were all great achievements.
