I hope Americans, the ones who support those who pass policies that allow those who perform the least to profit off your labor and intellect are watching. Goldman Sachs’ profits exploded by 27% and way over expectations. In the process, they have built nothing nor made anything better for the average American. So why is that profit deserved again?
The titans of finance brainwashed Americans into believing they deserve the profits and wealth we impart to them for dubious claims of being the necessary part of our economy. Let’s do some quick and easy numbers that illustrate a system that does not reward real work and intellect but instead making money from moving paper and money around. Remember that is the business Goldman Sachs is in most of the time. They produce no product of real value or service that a public bank could do at a fraction of the cost.
This quarter Goldman Sachs pulled in $10.04 billion in revenues. They have 36,600 employees. So that is just over $274,000 per employee in income. Of that, they had $2.21 billion in earnings. That is over $60,000 per employee. Remember, this is after they pay the salaries, investment banker bonuses and expenses of the employees. So after the investment bankers and brokers get their million dollar bonus, who partakes the $2.21 billion spoils? You guessed it. The folks who could afford to buy their stocks. You can bet that most of the 36,600 employees are not high-level employees. That they are there means the company needs them. You would think more of the $60,000 per employee could go to them, the ones working. That is not how they designed our economic system.
Many in the plutocracy talk about makers and takers. It is all about how we define these terms. Read clearly, my friends. Investment bankers produce nothing of value to you. Many of those takers, the ones who make so little that they pay little to no income taxes are the ones responsible for Goldman Sachs and the other titans of finance to thrive. They do not pay those ‘takers’ enough for them to pay income taxes. They are effectively stealing their labors and capitalizing it as their profits.
When a company underpays an employe, the profit margins increase. That increased profit makes the shares of the company more valuable. That underpaid employee takes more from the public sector (e.g., food stamps, healthcare, etc.). Working middle-class America pays the lion share of that social burden with their taxes.
It did not help that Donald Trump and the Republicans’ tax cut scam puts even more of the burden on working middle-class Americans. Those who get their income from work pay up to 37% of that in taxes. The wealthy investors pay between 15% to 23.8% for just profiting from the labor and intellect of those who will pay up to 37%.
Tax cut scam failed – Repoatriating offshore profits only helped the rich
And if you believe the Trump/Republican tax cut scam was of any help to the middle-class, here is the reality.
Recent tax legislation, which lowered the corporate tax rate from 35 percent to 21 percent, also helped results. Goldman said its effective tax rate for the first quarter was 17.2 percent.
Paul Krugman proved economists were right all along. Trump’s tax cut scam allowing companies to bring their offshore loot to the U.S. did not work as advertised. The reduced rates did not go to employ people or increase salaries. These lowly taxed profits went into stock buybacks expanding the wealth of the already wealthy.
America’s indoctrination must end. Our infrastructure is dilapidated. Healthcare continues to sap our wealth as corporations find more ingenious ways to charge us more to keep their growth rate up for their shareholders. It is time for us to redefine who the real takers are.
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