Corporate Welfare

I believe we can all agree on the root cause of the state's $20-billion budget gap. It's welfare: all those millions of taxpayer dollars going to recipients who line up for their government handouts instead of competing in the marketplace on a level playing field like the rest of us, who don't pay their fair share of taxes and who get protected by a politically powerful lobby. Yes, I'm talking about the business community. For all the hand-wringing by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about how there's almost nothing left to cut in the state budget except services to children, the aged and the destitute, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year on handouts to business.

Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked a Democratic effort to scale back oil industry tax breaks, underscoring the difficulty of getting Congress to agree to any significant measures aimed at bringing down gas prices. All but two Republicans — along with three Democrats — voted against bringing the repeal measure up for debate, even though the $2 billion a year in additional tax revenue from five major oil companies would have been steered into reducing the federal budget deficit, a Republican priority.

After months of bickering with European allies, U.S. unilateralism leads to war. Europe stews for a while, then figures out how to retaliate. This time, the fight is over free trade. The story begins with a decades-old U.S. tax break that exempts a portion of U.S. exporters' sales from the corporate income tax. The World Trade Organization ruled in January 2002 that this provision was, in fact, an illegal subsidy, which it certainly is.

POP MUSIC Hot Hot Heat Post punk impresarios from British Columbia, Hot Hot Heat returns with "Future Breeds," its first album since 2007's "Happiness Ltd." The dudes have been burning up the Bootleg Theater every Wednesday this month, and Wednesday they'll be closing out their residency with Voxhaul Broadcast and the Union Line supporting. Bootleg Theater, 2220 Beverly Blvd. 8:30 p.m. $12. www.foldsilverlake.com. Damien Jurado With his ninth album, "Saint Bartlett," misty-eyed troubadour Damien Jurado has turned in a steadily affecting batch of rustic songs made lush with unexpected instrumentation and a wider sense of space.

Re "Bush Proposes 'Ethic of Work' in Welfare Plan," Feb. 27: Now that President Bush has supported more stringent work requirements for welfare recipients, how about similar controls and limitations on corporate welfare, which his administration has done more to subsidize than any previous administration in American history? Sadly, the corporate hogs continue to gorge themselves freely at the public trough while the less fortunate members of society are required to work before they can eat--even in a recessionary economy with dwindling employment opportunities.

America is a land of rugged entrepreneurs, fighting fiercely to sell their goods in a free market unfettered by the heavy hand of government. Not quite. Maybe the image is real for the software geniuses of Silicon Valley or the owners of garment workshops in Los Angeles or the family farmers in the San Joaquin Valley. But Washington has a much different version of free enterprise.

The midterm elections ended the misconception that proposing changes to Social Security leads to a swift political death. President Bush has repeated his support for voluntary personal retirement accounts, and the moderate Democratic Leadership Council also leans toward the idea. But how to pay for it? Reformers had targeted budget surpluses to fund the transition of Social Security from government collections and disbursements to personally directed investment accounts.

Corporate welfare is not against the law. Just as the nation may decide, after due deliberation, to provide aid to dependent children, so it may decide to provide aid to dependent corporations, corporations that cannot make it on their own. Washington bailed out Lockheed in 1971 and Chrysler in 1979. The wisdom of those bailouts has been debated ever since, but the necessary political support was clearly in place at the time, and the legality of the bailouts has never been questioned.

Since taking office in January, congressional Republicans have proven they weren't kidding. In the House, they followed through with their vows to go after welfare, school lunches, food stamps--the entire anti-poverty structure--to reverse what they see as decades of wrongheaded policies that have redistributed income to the betterment of the bureaucratic class rather than the poor.

Nothing demonstrates the need to streamline the bloated federal bureaucracy more than does the Commerce Department. One of our first steps on the road to a balanced budget is going to be the elimination of this taxpayer rip-off. Commerce is the home of the most shameless examples of corporate welfare, it performs functions that are already done elsewhere in government and its mismanagement has become the stuff of lore in Washington.

I believe we can all agree on the root cause of the state's $20-billion budget gap. It's welfare: all those millions of taxpayer dollars going to recipients who line up for their government handouts instead of competing in the marketplace on a level playing field like the rest of us, who don't pay their fair share of taxes and who get protected by a politically powerful lobby. Yes, I'm talking about the business community. For all the hand-wringing by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger about how there's almost nothing left to cut in the state budget except services to children, the aged and the destitute, hundreds of millions of dollars are spent every year on handouts to business.

Afew miles outside of Los Angeles, in a business-tax-free haven of strip malls and strip clubs called the city of Industry -- under 800 residents and fewer than 100 voters -- ground is ready to be broken for an $800-million football stadium. The team to play there is yet to be determined. But the hope is that a wayward owner longing for luxury boxes will want to call it home. The deal was celebrated by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger as both environmentally friendly and fiscally responsible.

Soaring prices for corn, wheat and other agricultural commodities aren't just contributing to inflation, they're increasing hunger and misery among the poor. Confronted with a chance to help, Congress is instead on a path to boost corporate welfare for wealthy farmers. There is much to dislike in the most recent farm bill, the five-year plan for agricultural subsidies and food stamps, but there's something to like as well.

It's good to be a farmer. With money rolling in as many subsidized crops such as corn, wheat and soybeans command unusually high prices, and with net farm income expected to hit a record this year, the government continues to throw cash at commodity growers.

A CENTURY AND a half ago, the U.S. cotton industry fueled a booming trade in African slaves and indirectly helped spark the Civil War. One big difference between then and now is that although American cotton is still afflicting Africa, now the Africans suffer at home rather than here. Cotton is a staple crop for many West and Central African countries, where a difference of a few pennies in the price of a pound of fiber can mean the difference between deprivation and relative prosperity.

Re "Homeowner tax breaks are breaking the budget," Current, Oct. 30 Isn't it amazing that President Bush's tax reform panel has decided that tax benefits to the average American are the problem with the budget deficit? Apparently it's not the huge inheritance and capital gains tax reductions, taxes most Americans will never pay. Nor is it the largesse of corporate welfare, or even the expense of the Iraq fraud. Little did we know that it was the fault of all those homeowners aspiring to the American dream, as well as those struggling to pay health insurance or provide some little extra for their retirement.

Tax relief for the middle class is coming next year. Guess who'll pay for it? Corporations, and their shareholders, will foot a large share of the bill. "The whole issue of corporate welfare will be on the table in 1997," says Linden Smith, managing director of the Peat, Marwick accounting firm that tracks tax legislation on Capitol Hill.

Re "Its Ego Bruised, San Diego Asks: 'What Next?,' " April 29: San Diego is ego-bruised, tarnished, a deep instability -- what kind of nonsense is this? As a native San Diegan, I would submit that the negative publicity and political fallout have had little effect on me or anyone I know. As far as L.A., Orange County, San Francisco and Silicon Valley having more of an impact on the state, please remember that while you're stuck in endless traffic jams seven days a week. It hasn't affected tourism at all. Have you heard any visitors say, "The mayor of San Diego just resigned.

Re "More Corporate Welfare," editorial, March 5: The tax bill being considered by Congress is about American jobs, not corporate welfare. The U.S. must comply with our world trade obligations to end increasing sanctions against American businesses and farmers. Our goal is to also create needed jobs at home by providing relief for domestic manufacturers, small businesses and other U.S.-based companies trying to succeed in a worldwide economy. The United States' corporate tax rate is among the highest in the industrialized world.