June 2021 – Damned Liberal

June 19, 2021June 19, 2021

Marathon Petroleum cut nearly 2,000 jobs – and reaped $2.1bn in pandemic benefits

Marathon Petroleum received more tax benefits than any other US oil company while also cutting about 9% of its workforce.

Last year, Marathon laid off 1,920 workers across the US despite taking $2.1bn in federal tax benefits meant to cushion the pandemic’s blow to the economy, according to a report from BailoutWatch.

According to SEC filings examined by BailoutWatch, Marathon came to receive roughly $1.1m in federal dollars for every job the company eliminated.

The Guardian

[Note: Marathon owns the gas station chain “Speedway”]

June 10, 2021June 10, 2021

Wages Have Gotten Worse

From a Bureau of Labor Statistics press release:

06/10/2021

Real average hourly earnings for all employees decreased 0.2 percent in May, seasonally adjusted. Average hourly earnings increased 0.5 percent and CPI-U increased 0.6 percent. Real average weekly earnings decreased 0.1 percent over the month.

Yet red states have been cutting unemployment benefits in an effort to force people to take a job–even if it’s low-paying.

June 9, 2021June 9, 2021

Leaked: The Rich Pay Less Taxes Than Wage-Earners

In 2007, Jeff Bezos, then a multibillionaire and now the world’s richest man, did not pay a penny in federal income taxes. He achieved the feat again in 2011. In 2018, Tesla founder Elon Musk, the second-richest person in the world, also paid no federal income taxes.

Michael Bloomberg managed to do the same in recent years. Billionaire investor Carl Icahn did it twice. George Soros paid no federal income tax three years in a row.

ProPublica

Generally, the wealthy of all stripes keep their tax rates low in multiple ways. Some are simple: They avoid forms of income, like wages, that are taxed at a high rate, 37%, and instead make most of their money via capital gains and dividends from investments, most of which is taxed at 20%.

You May Be Paying a Higher Tax Rate Than a Billionaire

June 8, 2021June 8, 2021

Republicans Creating Inflation Fear: Fuhgeddaboudit

Slight increases in the rate of inflation in the United States and Europe have triggered financial-market anxieties. Has US President Joe Biden’s administration risked overheating the economy with its $1.9 trillion rescue package and plans for additional spending to invest in infrastructure, job creation, and bolstering American families?

Such concerns are premature, considering the deep uncertainty we still face. We have never before experienced a pandemic-induced downturn featuring a disproportionately steep service-sector recession, unprecedented increases in inequality, and soaring savings rates.

Joseph Stiglitz