Who are the Real "Welfare Queens"?

At one of his recent Shrimp ‘n Disco grift events at Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump asked the rich oil executives in attendance for $1 billion (with a “B”) as a campaign. It would certainly pay off should Trump regain office: he’s promised to roll back every regulation that safeguards the environment and allow oil companies to drill/frack with impunity. Plus, he’d give them back the $110 billion in tax breaks that Biden’s budget aims to recover.

Trump may say the quiet part out loud, but the government (under every administration) has long been in the business of subsidizing some of the biggest, most profitable companies in America. The original idea of these subsidies (aka “our money”) was to invest in infrastructure, training, and other helpful things, but in truth, it’s just become free money. And frankly, a lot of these companies don’t need it.

Consider the aforementioned oil companies. In 2023, they reported over $100 billion in profits, yet globally, they get subsidies in the neighborhood of $7 trillion. That money could be better spent on education, housing, or healthcare.

In 2021, Amazon reported $35 billion in pre-tax income, and was taxed at a rate of just 6%. Despite the kinds of profits that allow Jeff Bezos to not just buy a super-yacht but a “support yacht” to go with it, the company gets close to another $7 billion in federal subsidies.

Elon Musk is personally worth $180 billion, yet gets nearly $3 billion in government subsidies for Tesla and nearly $2 billion for SpaceX.

Walmart is one of the biggest retailers in the world; the Walton family is the richest in the country, worth almost $260 billion. Yet Walmart gets a little over $6 billion in annual subsidies, mainly in the form of Medicaid, food stamps, and other programs for Walmart workers who make nowhere near a living wage. In short, we’re paying their workers, ‘cause they’re too damn cheap to do the right thing.

Adding insult to injury, in 2023, Walmart CEO Doug McMillon took home almost $27 million, a prime example of the current disparity in pay between CEO and worker (about 272-1).

When Ronald Reagan ran for president in the 80s, he made a point of talking about fictional “welfare queens,” poor people supposedly gaming the system, driving Cadillacs and using their food stamps to buy lobster tails. Of course, when big corporations do the equivalent, that’s somehow OK.

The Biden Administration is working to try and re-balance the scales. His new tax policy raises the corporate minimum rate from 15 to 21 percent and gives the IRS the tools to more closely eyeball anything that lets them get away with Fiscal Shenanigans. Additionally, this is a great site to track where some of our federal funds are going, and includes contacts to make your voice heard.

Big, profit-heavy companies have gotten so used to fat cash injections from the Feds, that cutting (or reducing) those subsidies will be like asking us to give up pasta. But we must try; the Government Accountability Office is a good place to see who’s getting what and to lodge a protest.

Since taking office in 1999, Vladimir Putin has made spreading the wealth and resources of Russia among his closest allies his tool for maintaining power; we can and should do better with our own.

Cindy Grogan is a writer, lover of history and "Star Trek" (TOS), and hardcore politics junkie. There was that one time she campaigned for Gerald Ford (yikes), but ever since, she's been devoted to Democratic and progressive policies.