"The handed trillions in funds or tax breaks to oil companies, the airline industry, which alone got $50 billion in stimulus money, the cruise ship industry, a $170 billion windfall for the real estate industry, private equity firms, lobbying groups, whose political action committees have given $191 million in campaign contributions to politicians in the last two decades, the meat industry and corporations that have moved offshore to avoid U.S. taxes. The act allowed the largest corporations to gobble up money that was supposed to go to keep small businesses solvent to pay workers. It gave 80 percent of tax breaks under the stimulus package to millionaires and allowed the wealthiest to get stimulus checks that average $1.7 million. The CARES Act also authorized $454 billion for the Treasury Department’s Exchange Stabilization Fund, a massive slush fund doled out by Trump cronies to corporations that, when leveraged 10 to 1, can be used to create a staggering $4.5 trillion in assets. The act authorized the Fed to give $1.5 trillion in loans to Wall Street, which no one expects will ever be paid back. American billionaires have gotten $434 billion richer since the pandemic. , the richest man in the world, whose corporation Amazon paid no federal taxes last year, alone added $34.6 billion to his personal wealth since started."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Activists from the United StatesPhilosophers from the United StatesHuman rights activistsHarvard University alumniJournalists from Vermont
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
"The Treason of the Ruling Class" Scheerpost (June 2, 2020).
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Chris_Hedges
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Chris Hedges
Christopher Lynn Hedges (born September 18, 1956) is an American journalist, Presbyterian minister, and visiting Princeton University lecturer. His books include War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning (2002), a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award for Nonfiction. In 2002, Hedges was one of eight reporters at T
185 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Chris Hedges →
Related Quotes
"There will be no economic or political justice for the poor, people of color, women or workers within the framework o…"
"Technocratic human beings are spiritually alive. Their objective is to fully utilize our technological capabilities f…"
"Neoliberalism as economic theory was always an absurdity. It had as much validity as past ruling ideologies such as t…"
"Amazon workers, like many American workers, endure appalling work conditions. They are forced to work compulsory 12-h…"
"Global capitalists have turned back the clock to the early days of the Industrial Revolution. The working class is in…"
"The long campaign against Julian and WikiLeaks is a window into the collapse of the rule of law, the rise of what the…"
"The architects of imperialism, the masters of war, the corporate-controlled legislative, judicial and executive branc…"
"Political, economic and social dysfunction define the American empire. Our staggering inability to contain the pandem…"
"I'm more optimistic because I see the resistance in the streets... That's where hope lies.... They're mostly young, i…"
"The tinder that could soon ignite widespread violent conflagrations throughout the United States lies ominously stack…"