2 - SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 2014 - THE CAROLINA TIMES
Some
(Continued From Front))
ecording to a different CMD report, the company also owns two political action com
mittees. which annually contribute hundreds of thousands of dollars to the Florida Re
publican Party, the National Republican Party, and their candidates. In the last decade.
GEO Group (formerly known as Wackenhut) has faced and settled several lawsuits
involving abuse, neglect, cover-ups. and mismanagement leading to inmate deaths. De
spite this, the company routinely makes more than $1 billion each year in revenue from
local governments (and thus, taxpayers).
-The other five CEOs highlighted in the report are: David Steiner of Waste Manage
ment: Ron Packard oi K12. Inc. (which runs virtual public charter schools and other
online education programs): Richard Montoni of Maximus. Inc. (which administrates
federal human resources and health care programs such as Medicaid): Nicholas Moore
of financial firm. Macquarie (which operates several major highways and loll roads):
and Jeffry Sterba of American Water.
. Between 2006 and 2012. Steiner earned more than $45 million in personal compen
sation; tax payers paid approximately half of the company 's $13.65 billion profit in
2012 alone. Packard made more than $19 million from 2009-2013. with $730.8 million
in revenue from public schools. Montoni earned $19 million in personal compensation
from 2009 to 2013. with his business earning $1.1 billion in revenue in 2012. Moore's
compensation last year was $8.8 million, with $6.7 billion in companv revenue. In his
three years at American Water. Sterba has earned more than $8.3 million - last v ear. the
company received approximately 89 percent of its $2.9 billion profit from the munici
palities it serves.
. ."These and other ’government workers' who head big firms in the fields of education,
corrections, waste management, water treatment, transportation and even social ser
vices make billions off of taxpayers, but muddy accountability, and cut corners when it
comes to public health and salety. slates the report. "Given these astronomical salaries,
and evidence of higher prices, poor serv ice and al limes outright malfeasance, taxpavers
have every right to be concerned whether their outsourced dollars are spent efficiently
and effectively."
1 he.se companies also lend to offer their employ ees lower wages and fewer benefits,
compared to public workers doing the same job. Often, municipalities sign contracts
w ith these companies that either do not make provisions for existing public workers, or
make arrangements that result in lay offs and.or pav cuts.
According to the Bureau of l abor Statistics. 15 percent of the nation's 6.7 million
public administration workers are black.
Big Money Lobbying
Protects Big Tax Havens
(C ontinued DiTom front)
But this scheme is any thing but patriotic. I he companies argue, as WinAmerica. the
front for the current campaign does, that they 'll invest in jobs here in the 1 .S.. but can’t
afford to pay the taxes due (the same taxes that domestic small businesses can t avoid).
So let them bring the dough back al a nominal lax rale and they ’ll reinvesl millions in
America.
OI course, each lime the C ongress provides this kind of lax holidav or amnestv. it
giv es the corporations an even greater incentive to stash their cash abroad. And more
and more corporations hire accountants to figure out how io report then profit abroad,
even ifearned here in the U.S.
I he last time the Congress bought this malarkey. even the jobs argument turned out
to:be lalse. as General Electric's CEO Jeff Immelt admits.
I he companies bringing the dough back actually laid off workers in the ensuine
' cars. 1 hey used the money to buy back slock (raising the value of iheir stock options),
or to buy other companies, olten merging aiid purging workers or just to pav down debt.
Now with the trillions sitting abroad, the game is beginning again. "Bipartisan ” bills
bave been introduced in the I louse and the Senate to let corporations brine bucks back
lome al a zero percent lax rale, il they agree lo use some ol the monev io purchase
pnds issued by a newly created federal infrastructure bank. I hev eel to brine So back
tax-lice for evcry $ 1 they invest in infrastructure bonds. 1 nstead ol taxing multination
als as it does small businesses, the federal government will borrow monev from them
and pay them interest on it.
Ibis is an easy problem to solve. Congress could simply gel rid of deferral and tax
companies on their profits no matter where they are reported, allowing them credit for
taxes paid to foreign entities. Multinationals should pay the same lax rates as domestic
companies do.
I he obstacle is politics - anil big money - not policy. Republicans in Congress will
block any thing that closes ov erseas loopholes, but at least the stales can act. 1 )rc”on
recently raised millions by forcing multinationals to pay the state its lair share of taxes
on ptofils stashed abroad. I he I .S. Public Interest Research Group estimates that states
could raise another billion in rev enues by follow ing (hegon's example. Surely. it is lone
past lime lo gel on with it.
Jesse L. Jackson. Sr. is founder and president of die 1'1 SI/ Rainbow ( oalidon.
Che CarSife Claes
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Most municipalities use some level of public-private collaboration to carry out pg
services: common examples of privatized public services include electricity, gas.
health care. Property, sales, and state income taxes pay for these services, and win
private company is hired to provide them, that private company is paid with tax fun
I he report also addresses the risks of privatization without careful planning, oi
sight, or accountability.
In addition lo disclosing the dollar amounts, the report highlights the compan
relevant shareholder lawsuits, criminal investigations. U.S. Securities and Exchai
Commission (SIX’) sanctions, and court settlements. Each firm headed by these top
earners has been sued, or investigated and penalized in the recent past, for harmful bi
ness practices and/or federal crimes in relation to providing public services.
I he report is part ol a larger project called "Outsourcing America Exposed." wh
aims to raise awareness about public serv ice privatization, and how il "hinders transf
ency and shortchanges taxpayers."
"Business is in business to make a profit: there is nothing inherently wrong with th;
say s Shar Habibi, the research and policy director al In The Public interest, a resea
organization focused on privatization, and one of C enter for Media Democracy's p;
ners in this project. "But not w hen that profit comes at the expense of public health;
saiety . Not w hen taxpay ers suddenly realize they no longer have control over theiro
schools, roads, or w ater sy stems. And not when the heads of these corporations in;
salaries that are literally 200 limes what a dedicated public service worker makes."
Injustice System
By Lee A. Daniels
NNPA Columnist
It all seems so familiar, doesn’t it?
A black man. or woman, or child is murdered by a white person - and America's critiii
justice system compounds the I ragedv.
11ovv deep is that particular well oI American racial injustice now'? How many names of
nocents are on that list of sorrow ? I low many more times w ill we hav e to look at the faces
the slirv ivors and see thal the pain ol the loss ol a loved one taken bv criminal v lolence has ly
etched more deeply by the betray al of a sy stem that - supposedly - exists lo protect them?
In la cl. until the civil rights v ictories oI the mid-1960s, being betraved bv the nation's vvli
majority was the only thing blacks could count on getting I rom the nation 111 e v helped bn
and support, lot lay's "stand your ground" laws more than 20 states have enacted continue
cloaked-purpose dynamic ol the post-IOOOs get-tough-on-crime and crack-cocaine-versi
powder-cocaine laws - and the 19th century vagrancy laws southern legislatures passed al
destioy ing Reconstruction. I hey look "race-neutral on the books but their origins and applii
lions were and are shadowed by racial fear, anxiety, and hatred of black people. I heir goal
not justice but injustice.
But there can he no peace if there is no justice. Isn't ihat one of the central lessons ofi
histoiy ol Mrican Americans in .America? I )I course, il s an exaggeration to sav the incompli
verdict proves there s no justice today lor black Americans in America.
I or one thing, as other cases in Florida. Arkansas and elsewhere hav e shown, the trigs
happi response to being angered - not physically threatened - by the words and actions ofo
ers sometimes rellecls not racism but rather the pathological need of millions of Americans
consider guns a security blanket and problem-solv er.
I or another, hope remains thal the murderer ol Jordan Dav is. now conv icted of attempting
murder three ol his companions who were in the SUV with him that night, will face justice
thal crime as well. Prosecutor Angela Corey has been emphatic in staling she will retry Midi;
Dunn lot lust-degree murder. 1 ertainlv. his actions alter the shooting anil his whining letti
Lioni jail show a deep haired ol young black people, especially males, anil the profound calloi
ness required lo iw isi hatred into murderous action.
In that sense, no matter the injustice legislated into I lorida law that protects the "shoot-Ill-
another truth ol black Americans'history. Ihat is that all through the centuries they Ae alm
had lo lorge a response lo a terrible question: What becomes a tragedy most'.’
I he answer lo thal qucsuon has been exemplified in our present bv the conduct of the si
v Ivors ol Oscar tirant and Jonathan Ferrell and I ray von Marlin, and. now. Jordan Davis:
demand ihat ill-dice be done. I hat has alvvavs been thi
their all Ie-
ic responsibility of black Americans (ill
among other Americans) - to redeem the humanity of those whose murders hl
ordered by the stale or condoned by the stale or ignored bv the stale, for all the s|
Ihat responsibility.
history makes clear: I he spasm ol turions racist violence against the Civil Rights Movent
in the South in the early lo mid-ldbOs was actually a harbinger of the movement's success!
So. today, the v lolence - of language and of murderous action - against black Americanse
emphlied by die Michael Dunns ol the nation in fact signals that the retrograde force of wli
supremacy is still losing ground.
I hal bn I a "happy thought when measured a"ainst the tragedy that ended the life of a will
who had his w hole lile ahead ol him. I he only consolation av ailable to those who seek to lull
light that terrible wrong is to remember die most powerful answer lo the question of what Is
comes a tragedy most and stand their ground on the fundamental lesson of Black I listory -eiiil
elated last by the I Oth -century w bite abolitionist I heodore Parker, anil given fresh energy (
Di .Mailin I ulhei King. Jr.: I he arc ol die moral universe is long, but it bendstoward justice
lee \. Daniels is a longtime tou rna 11 st based tn New York City. 11 is latest book is "L«
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