ALL BILLIONAIRES ARE FOR OPEN BORDERS, NO ENFORCEMENT AND NO E-VERIFY TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED.
Ingraham: Global elites are pushing for a new world order
Oxfam report documents “explosion of inequality” during pandemic
In the face of an unending pandemic, war and inflation, the wealthiest people and multinational corporations on the planet became “dramatically richer,” driving an “explosion of inequality,” according to the latest report from the UK-based charity Oxfam.
In the report, titled “Survival of the Richest” and delivered ahead of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Switzerland, the charity documents an enormous concentration of wealth in the hands of a tiny corporate and financial oligarchy.
The report refers to what it calls a “global polycrisis” developing throughout the world. It states:
Tens of millions more people are facing hunger. Hundreds of millions more face impossible rises in the cost of basic goods or heating their homes. Climate breakdown is crippling economies and seeing droughts, cyclones and floods force people from their homes. Millions are still reeling from the continuing impact of COVID-19, which has already killed over 20 million people. Poverty has increased for the first time in 25 years.
In the midst of this social catastrophe, the report notes that “the very richest have become dramatically richer and corporate profits have hit record highs.”
In the first page of its executive summary, Oxfam lays out the following staggering facts:
Since 2020, the richest 1 percent have captured almost two-thirds of all new wealth—nearly twice as much money as the bottom 99 percent of the world’s population.
Billionaire fortunes are increasing by $2.7 billion a day, even as inflation outpaces the wages of at least 1.7 billion workers, more than the population of India.
Food and energy companies more than doubled their profits in 2022, paying out $257 billion to wealthy shareholders, while over 800 million people went to bed hungry.
Only 4 cents out of every dollar of tax revenue comes from wealth taxes, and half the world’s billionaires live in countries with no inheritance tax on money they give to their children.
A tax of up to 5 percent on the world’s multimillionaires and billionaires could raise $1.7 trillion a year, enough to lift 2 billion people out of poverty, and fund a global plan to end hunger.
The extreme growth of social inequality continued through the pandemic, though there was a slight dip in the wealth of the oligarchy last year due to the increase in interest rates by central banks aimed at beating back demands for higher wages by workers.
In a stunning graph, Oxfam shows that the top 1 percent siphoned 63 percent of all new wealth created, more than $26 trillion between 2020 and 2021. The top 9 percent below them gobbled up 27 percent of all new wealth, a bit more than $11 trillion, leaving only 10 percent, or about $5 trillion, for the bottom 90 percent, or 7.2 billion people.
Based on these figures, one can only conclude that the pandemic, which is a massive catastrophe for hundreds of millions of people, has been a bonanza for the rich.
This concentration of wealth has been facilitated by capitalist governments. Citing a study conducted by the Research School of International Taxation (RSIT), which covers 142 countries, Oxfam notes that governments throughout the world have reduced taxes on corporations, while increasing Value Added Taxes (VAT) or consumption taxes, which disproportionately affect the incomes of workers and the poor.
For every $1 of tax revenue, 44 percent was generated via VAT or consumption taxes in 75 countries measured by RSIT from 2007 through 2019. Corporate income taxes, meanwhile, accounted for only 14 percent of tax revenue, 4 percentage points less than payroll taxes.
Notably, Oxfam reported that for the first time in 25 years, there was an increase in wealth inequality and poverty “simultaneously.” In another “first,” the United Nations Human Development Index—which measures life expectancy, expected years of schooling and inequality within a country—fell in 9 out of every 10 countries in either 2020 or 2021.
No matter where they live, workers around the world have had to contend with skyrocketing inflation, which Oxfam, using data from the International Labor Organization, estimated wiped out “$337 billion” in wages from workers last year. Revealing the global character of the crisis, Oxfam conducted an analysis of wage data from 96 countries in 2022 and found that at least 1.7 billion workers, nearly a quarter of humanity, live in countries where inflation is outpacing wage growth, driving up inequality and poverty.
In contrast to the claims of US President Joe Biden and other leaders of the major capitalist countries, the authors of the report squarely place the blame for once-in-a-generation inflation on corporate profiteering. Noting that this began well before the pandemic, Oxfam writes that global Fortune 500 firms increased their profits by 156 percent, from $820 billion in 2009 to $2.1 trillion in 2019, and that this trend has only accelerated.
The report reveals that price increases are bound up with the fact that a small number of corporations have “effective oligopolies,” allowing them to “maintain high prices,” while passing on savings when the costs fall to “shareholders rather than consumers.”
The charity analyzed the profits of the largest 95 food and energy companies in the world and found that “Corporate price profiteering is driving at least 50 percent of inflation in Australia, the US, and Europe, in what is as much a ‘cost-of-profit’ crisis as a cost-of-living one.”
In its report, Oxfam notes that in response to widening inequality, the vast majority of governments around the world, 95 percent, have not increased taxes on the rich. Instead, they “either did not increase, or even lowered, taxes on rich people and corporations.”
That is, instead of enacting hugely popular policies to lessen inequality, capitalist governments the world over have foisted the “polycrisis” onto the back of the working class, while enriching a parasitic few.
The Oxfam report states that beyond starving society of resources, the corporate and financial oligarchy is a massive factor in precipitating and intensifying the crisis. It notes that “the richest are key contributors to climate breakdown,” explaining that “a billionaire emits a million times more carbon than the average person…” It adds that “the very existence of booming billionaires and record profits, while most people face austerity, rising poverty and a cost-of-living crisis, is evidence of an economic system that fails to deliver for humanity.”
The facts and details presented in the report should be studied by every worker. However, as a liberal reformist organization, Oxfam evades the fundamental issues. It presents as a panacea a “one-off solidarity wealth tax,” which would eventually lead to “permanent tax increases,” with the goal of eventually eliminating billionaires.
Such a proposal ignores two fundamental facts: 1) Those who have used their power to accumulate their wealth, and who control capitalist governments throughout the world, are not going to just give it up; and 2) The massive concentration of wealth is rooted in capitalist relations of production, based on the exploitation of the working class for corporate profit.
There is no solution to the crises confronting mankind without a frontal assault on the wealth and power of the corporate and financial oligarchy. But the power of this oligarchy can be broken--and will be broken-- and its ill-gotten fortunes expropriated only through a massive social movement of the working class, which has as its aim the conquest of state power and the reorganization of all of social and economic life on the basis of equality and socialism.
Watch–Republican Maria Salazar Lectures Americans in Davos: Illegal Aliens Are Owed Amnesty
Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) lectured Americans while in Davos, Switzerland, for the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting, urging them to accept amnesty for the nation’s 11 to 22 million illegal aliens.
During a panel discussion alongside Sens. Joe Manchin (D-WV), Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), and others, Salazar said some form of amnesty is necessary for illegal aliens living across the United States. She said:
We need to also give dignity to those people who are in the country and those are the people that I represent. We’re talking about 13 to 15 million people — who are, most of them, Hispanics, I would say 85 percent who speak my language, look like me, and sound like me — who are contributing to the economy of this country and they live in the shadows.
“So it’s time to seal the border … let’s see who comes in and who doesn’t and then turn around and give dignity, that doesn’t mean a path to citizenship, that means to include them and make them dignified members of our community,” she continued.
Last year, Salazar joined six other House Republicans in unveiling an amnesty plan that would have allowed illegal aliens to secure 10-year work permits to hold American jobs before then applying for green cards to permanently reside in the U.S.
An amnesty for illegal aliens, which would hugely inflate the U.S. labor market and likely spur more vast waves of illegal immigration, is critical for many of Salazar’s largest donors, who include real estate developers looking to build more housing and Wall Street-linked financial firms focused on driving up the number of consumers and available workers.
Independent analysis has shown that amnesty, in addition to more legal immigration, is a net loss for Americans’ job security and wages.
In 2013, Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis stated that the “Gang of Eight” amnesty plan would “slightly” push down wages for American workers. Another CBO analysis, published in 2020, stated that “immigration has exerted downward pressure on the wages of relatively low-skilled workers who are already in the country, regardless of their birthplace.”
Other research finds current legal immigration to the U.S. results in more than $530 billion worth of lost wages for Americans.
Recent peer-reviewed research by economist Christoph Albert acknowledges that “as immigrants accept lower wages, they are preferably chosen by firms and therefore have higher job finding rates than natives, consistent with evidence found in US data.”
Every year, the U.S. gives green cards to more than a million foreign nationals who can eventually sponsor an unlimited number of foreign relatives for green cards — a process known as “chain migration.” In addition, more than a million are brought to the U.S. on temporary work visas to take America jobs and millions of illegal aliens are arriving at the southern border annually. Many are being released into the U.S. interior where they can secure work permits.
John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com. Follow him on Twitter here.
Mexican President Celebrates ’40 Million’ Mexicans in the U.S.
"The newly elected president, Andrés López-Obrador, was gleeful during the election when he told his compadres they should all move to America, illegally. His encouragement along with his pro-poverty policies will set the stage for another tsunami of illegal immigration." COLIN FLAHERTY
"They will destroy America from within. The leftist billionaires who orchestrate these plans are wealthy. Those tasked with representing us in Congress will never be exposed to the cost of the invasion. They have nothing but contempt for us who must endure the consequences of our communities being intruded upon by gangs, drug dealers and human traffickers. These people have no intention of becoming Americans; like the Democrats who welcome them, they have contempt for us." PATRICIA McCARTHY
The immigration debate has been raging for years. Advocates for open borders can be found on both sides of the political aisle and in a wide variety of special interest groups who have come to see the immigration system that delivers an unlimited supply of cheap and exploitable labor, an unlimited supply of foreign tourists, and unlimited supply of foreign students and, for the lawyers, an unlimited supply of clients. MICHAEL CUTLER
'It's Totally Possible': How Dems Could Push Immigration Reform Through a GOP-Controlled House
Just five Republicans would need to cross aisle to create nightmare scenario for border hawks
A slim Republican majority and a speaker of the House weakened by concessions made to anti-establishment conservatives could give Democrats an opening to push through immigration reform this year, senior Republican aides and left-wing immigration activists told the Washington Free Beacon.
House Democrats could force a vote on a bill giving citizenship to "dreamers"—illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children—residency to millions of illegal immigrants, an expansion of work visas for foreigners, and other wish-list items using a parliamentary maneuver called a discharge petition. In other words, House Democrats could make an alliance with just five moderate Republicans and pass the first major piece of immigration reform since 2000.
This would be a nightmare scenario for border hawks and Republicans who campaigned against President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, which they blame for the millions of illegal crossings on the southern border since he took office. Left-wing activists are pushing for such a scenario and see the discharge petition as a way to get a more radical bill than should be possible in a Republican-controlled House. Some border hawks and senior Republican staffers see that outcome as a distinct possibility, citing anger from the Democratic base and a push from business groups.
"It’s totally possible. Current House GOP immigration plans don’t have broad buy-in from the rest of the party right now anyway," a senior Republican aide told the Free Beacon. "The chances only increase if the Supreme Court rules against Biden on Title 42 and [the DREAMer program]."
Should the House pass an immigration reform bill, Senate Democrats, who hold a majority, could change filibuster rules—or find nine Republicans who support the law as they did with a number of bills since 2021, including the Respect for Marriage Act and the infrastructure law—and send it to Biden’s desk.
House Republicans are divided on how to best tackle immigration reform. Texas Republicans unveiled a framework in December focused on building a border wall and enhancing domestic enforcement. That plan, Republican sources told the Free Beacon, is unlikely to pass.
But passing an amnesty bill through the House would only require a buy-in from five House Republicans. A few dozen moderate Republicans have already signaled openness to working with Democrats on immigration reform by signing on to narrowly tailored amnesty bills in 2021. A discharge petition would allow a bill to move to the floor for a vote after 218 members sign on in favor, bypassing the traditional route where House leadership and the Rules Committee control which legislation comes up for a vote and when.
This scenario played out in 2018, when over a dozen Republican moderates signed on to a discharge petition to override Republican leadership and force votes on immigration, including bills to prevent the deportation of illegal immigrants who arrived in the United States as children.
Then-speaker Paul Ryan (R., Wis.) managed to curb the rebellion by promising a vote on compromise legislation hashed out within the party. That bill failed after it was voted down by half the Republican caucus and every House Democrat. Compromise legislation would be more difficult for House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.), who has less control over which bills make it to a floor vote after giving immigration hardliners on the House Freedom Caucus seats on the House Rules Committee, where they can effectively block bills from being considered.
A number of House Republicans have shown openness to working with Democrats on immigration amnesty issues. In 2021, nine Republicans voted in favor of the American Dream and Promise Act and 30 voted for the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, both Democratic-sponsored bills that provided pathways to citizenship for immigrants in the United States illegally. Both bills ultimately died in the Senate.
Immigration activists who spoke with the Free Beacon supported the idea of using a discharge petition to force through immigration reform. Lydia Guzman, who works as the director of advocacy and civic engagement at the left-wing pro-immigration group League of United Latin American Citizens, said her organization plans on pressuring both Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal in the new Congress.
"[A discharge petition] is on our radar, and we’re glad to see that Republicans are looking at immigration reform seriously. I think this is a golden opportunity for them to be leaders on this," Guzman told the Free Beacon. "We have been pushing and have been advocating for reforms for decades. We can accomplish this."
If Senate Democrats can't get enough Republicans on board, they could also modify the filibuster to get the bill past the finish line. One Democrat seen as a key vote to change the procedure, Sen. Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.), has said he'd be willing to make it so senators must speak for the length of the filibuster on the floor. Such a change would allow bills to pass with a simple majority after all opposing lawmakers finish their remarks.
Manchin has also said Republicans and Democrats must work together on immigration reform as recently as December. In an interview with CBS, he said "West Virginia needs more workers" and called on the Senate to work on a bill.
Around the same time as those remarks, reports surfaced that some Senate Republicans were working on an immigration deal with Democrats. According to the Washington Post, Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) was working with Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D., Ariz.) on a bill that would offer a pathway to citizenship for two million "dreamers."
RJ Hauman, lead lobbyist with the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for restrictions on illegal immigration, said his group is "a bit concerned with the threat of amnesty due to a slim [Republican] majority and a more open floor process."
But he added that "Democrat extremism on the immigration issue could be a saving grace," arguing that many Democrats are likely to object to a bill that includes border security provisions supported by Republicans.
"There is zero chance that the entire Democratic caucus would unite behind a discharge petition that contains any border security provisions—even if a mass amnesty is included," said Hauman. "There are some Republicans like Rep. [Maria] Salazar [of Florida] who relish the idea of amnesty, but even they recognize that border security is the top priority right now."
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