(Time to repeal the tax giveaway to the big corporations. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)
(Disclosure: I work for the Yes on 24 campaign)
You can’t blame a CEO like Johnson & Johnson’s William Weldon for enjoying the finer things in life, even in the midst of a recession. After all, the head of the pharmaceutical giant makes ten of millions of dollars annually, according to Forbes Magazine, and can expect to see $60 million added to his bank account over a 5 year period. So when Weldon decided to drop $8.45 million on a nice piece of lakefront property in Florida in late 2009, who could fault him?
Here’s a photo of Weldon’s new digs (as with the price info, courtesy of Bnet).
Well, about 8,100 of his former employees might take issue with him. In moves that J&J described as “global restructuring initiatives”, Johnson and Johnson laid off 6-7% of their workforce, according to their own estimates. These layoffs began in November 2009.
Interesting timing, right? Earlier that same year, a backroom deal to pass the state budget instituted massive corporate tax loopholes in California, giveaways that Weldon and his company are very eager to protect. The corporate interests in favor of these giveaways claimed they would create 144,000 jobs in California and increase state revenues at the same time.
We know now that this isn’t true. Non-partisan analyses show that California will lose billions in revenue each year as the result of the giveaways, and companies like Johnson & Johnson haven’t guaranteed a single job created or saved in California. If we give away more largesse to William Weldon, we know how he’ll spend it- on lakefront homes in Florida. And when we ask his company to pay their fair share by placing Proposition 24 on the November 2010 ballot, Johnson & Johnson responds by pouring $100,000 into the campaign to defeat it. They disingenuously claim that Prop 24 will affect small businesses, when in reality its effect is on major corporations alone.
Who are they trying to protect? Not us. Not their laid-off employees.
Vote Yes on Proposition 24. Make sure they pay their fair share.
![img]](http://i.bnet.com/blogs/1284-and-1264-lake-worth-lane.jpg[/img){kind=link}
even I, a relatively geeky sort on political matters, have no idea which initiative 24 is… Always good to lead with a title.
If anybody ever actually believes these lies about tax cuts. I know politicians don’t. Corporate executives surely know better. So I have to go with the explanation Thomas Frank gave in What’s the Matter with Kansas? He figured ordinary folks bought into this blatant bull-pucky because they believed that someday, they too would benefit. That, eventually, their ship would come in and they’d be glad they’d supported tax cuts for the super rich–even before they qualified for the millionaire’s club.
In truth, my mother actually tried that argument on me. My mother is, for the record, a rabid Republican and fairly well off. She told me I’d be glad of the Bush tax cuts when it came my time to inherit. I pointed out to her that my inheritance would do me little good if the lousy economy destroyed my business in the meantime–depriving me of the ability to make my house payments and to maintain my meager health coverage. This, of course, made little impression on her. Hence the label “rabid.” Because common sense never wins the day.
It is clear to me who tax cuts are supposed to protect. But also just as obvious that there are those who simply don’t get it.
Johnson & Johnson's orthopedic subsidiary, DePuy Orthopedics, recently issued a hip replacement recall for 90,000 of its hip implants. J&J tells patients that the bill for the surgery to remove and replace the recalled hip implant should be sent to the patient's insurer, which in some cases may be the cash-strapped MediCal system. Although J&J claims that it will pay back these payors at some point in the future for claims that meet J&J's as-yet-undefined criteria, it seems irresponsible for J&J to ask the State of California and the MediCal system to pay for the replacement of its defective products in the first place.