USW International Secretary-Treasurer Stan Johnson and progressive talk show host Leslie Marshall this week discussed income inequality and the gaping corporate loopholes that are driving the collapse of the middle class.
“Income inequality is greater now than it’s ever been,” said Johnson. “The poor are getting poorer, the middle class is disappearing, and the rich continue to be able to explode their income.”
Wages for the vast majority of Americans have fallen to a record low as a share of gross domestic product. In the meantime, corporations continue to rake in trillions of dollars every year, all while finding ways to avoid giving anything back to the communities that support them.
“The really sad thing about this,” said Johnson, “is that these are major corporations, using our nation’s roads, bridges, and infrastructure to have their product shipped and sold around the country, yet they don’t want to pay their fair share.”
“At the end of the day, if these corporations were reinvesting in modernization, rebuilding facilities, creating jobs, growing domestically, maybe they should get tax credits,” said Johnson. “But they shouldn’t get tax credits if they’re exporting our jobs, outsourcing products and exploiting workers around the world.”
Solving the problem falls to ordinary people, Johnson said. “The willingness to work for change is the only thing that’s going to affect change.”
“We have got to decide as a nation, as citizens, that we want something different,” said Johnson. “We have to demand something different.”
Click the audio below to hear the full conversation.
Background/Materials