President Trump took to Twitter this morning in order to once again rub it in our faces that our Republican-strangled Congress has managed to put their varying degrees of ideological extremism aside in order to wage class warfare on American working people – and inadvertently made a stunning revelation about his approach to “business” and how corporate America treats their workers.
Our big and very popular Tax Cut and Reform Bill has taken on an unexpected new source of “love” – that is big companies and corporations showering their workers with bonuses. This is a phenomenon that nobody even thought of, and now it is the rage. Merry Christmas!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 22, 2017
What does it say about the arrogance of American plutocracy and the disdain that so-called “successful businessmen” like Trump appear genuinely surprised at the thought of corporations rewarding their workers?
It is a dire indictment of the excesses of American capitalism that the very thought of handsomely compensating the diligence and productivity of the people whose labor creates the profit in the first place has clearly never been considered by the President of the United States, a spoiled brat who has petulantly frolicked from business failure to business failure, leaving a trail of laid-off workers and hungry families in his wake without a second thought as to the consequences of his actions.
It goes without saying that the President’s statement is a gross overdramatization. AT&T and Comcast are not giving one-time to bonuses to their workers out of the goodness of their hearts; with the passage of the tax bill and the repeal of President Obama’s net neutrality protections, the executives know they’re in for a huge payday and are shamefully trying to buy away the resentment and frustration of the workers before they begin to demand their fair share.
Indeed, rather than raise wages or create jobs, most companies will be engaging in stock buybacks with their tax cuts. As the bill neared passage, 29 companies announced a staggering $70.2 billion in buybacks, driving up the stock prices and filling the pockets of wealthy shareholders while sparing mere scraps for the workers.
No matter how Trump might try to clumsily put lipstick on this pig, there’s going to be no hiding it from the American people when the plutocrats slaughter said pig and gorge themselves on what wealth remains in the hands of working people.
Two companies do not make a “rage” – and a few tweets are not going to be able to contain the simmering rage of the American people at this highway robbery writ large.
