Howard Schultz and Donald Trump share a religious faith in the self-evident goodness of wealth, greed and “The Market.” This is the evil religion of planet-destroying greed. It’s the religion of empty people who put other considerations ahead of decency and access to happiness for all.
Libertarianism is actually what Schultz is hawking. This not a step forward in terms of moral, spiritual and fairness goals. It is the billionaire creed Ayn Rand turned into a religion for the already senselessly over-wealthy.
Schultz’s Starbucks pretends that the way it created wealth is good. It says that “the planet is our most important business partner.” This is just another lying billionaire-making fraud. They could cut profits and only serve coffee as they do in Italy, on washable reusable china. Their very business “takeout” model is evil.
In Italy you drink espresso out of washable reusable traditional cups. In Starbucks you walk out with plastic trash that destroys our planet. That makes everything Starbucks has done evil. Period. No profit is worth the destruction of our one and only Earth.
The amount of plastic trash created by Starbucks is out of control and is ending up in waterways and fragile ecosystems. In 2008, Starbucks said it would serve a 100% recyclable paper cup and increase reusables to 25% by 2015. To date, it hasn’t done either. Each minute the equivalent of a garbage truck full of plastic ends up in the ocean. So why do 4 billion plastic-lined Starbucks paper cups get thrown away every year with masses of its single-use plastic lids, straws, and cutlery?
This year the wealthiest top 0.1% in America are projected to owe 3.2% of their wealth in taxes. The bottom 99% are projected to owe 7.2%. It’s not possible for people facing poverty, food insecurity and untreated health problems to fully engage in democracy as fully equal citizens. It is time to redistribute America’s wealth away from people like the Koch brothers and Howard Schultz. It is time for change.
Schultz, the Koch brothers and Trump detest the idea of higher taxes on the super-rich, and they worry about the nation’s budget deficit, which they’d all shrink by targeting Medicare, Social Security and all welfare spending. In other words these are all old school Republicans.
Would the billionaires please just shut up!? They are the problem not the solution. Those doing very well in this earth-wrecking economy must recognize that our growing wealth gap threatens democracy. Their inexorable aggregation of wealth is destructive, greedy and stupid. It is destroying the planet. We did not NEED Starbucks! But we do NEED an un-polluted Earth!
Do Democrats want to win in 2020? If so here’s the #1 priority: Focus on the broad recognition by most Americans that issues of inequality- the aggregation of enormous wealth at the top and stagnation facing ordinary people- is America’s biggest problem. Talk about that 24/7!
Talk of a wealth tax and taxing people who make more than ten million dollars a year is not radical. What is extreme is the billionaire elite’s idea that shareholders profits are more important than individuals’ well-being. And let’s add another pollution tax on companies like Starbucks.
If anyone needed a reminder that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck while working full-time, last month should have done the job. The 35-day government shutdown led to two missed paychecks for about 800,000 workers and many of them had to rely on food banks for their meals. And if anyone wants to know what companies like Starbucks represent, look at our oceans.
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Dear Frank Schaeffer:
‘Would the billionaires please just shut up!? They are the problem not the solution. Those doing very well in this earth-wrecking economy must recognize that our growing wealth gap threatens democracy.’
Apparently, the upper-middle class petty bourgeoisie is starting to feel the pinch!
‘If anyone needed a reminder that many Americans live paycheck to paycheck while working full-time, last month should have done the job. The 35-day government shutdown led to two missed paychecks for about 800,000 workers and many of them had to rely on food banks for their meals…’
Oh sure! Mimic the rhetoric of the working class — when the narrative can be made petty bourgeoisie compliant. But will you rally the working class, the 90% to unite and deliver the top 10% the crushing repudiation it so justly deserves?
Not on your life!
You behold the working class in the same contempt as you do the ownership/1% class!
Stop pretending, Frank! Drop the talk, and walk the working class walk.
Epiphany Blessings!
Thank you for your challenging words. I have always appreciated your creative work and this blog et al is no less. Thank you, also, for the call of moving the dialogue to find solutions to the real issues/problems that span our relationships rather than pin pointing only ‘popular’ ones.