Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 02:05 pm
Sen. Bernie Sanders is saying what many in the mainstream press won’t. Trump’s deal with Carrier has endangered the jobs of every worker in the United States by rewarding the bad behavior of outsourcing.
Sen. Sanders (I-VT) explained why Trump’s Carrier deal is dangerous to US workers in a Washington Post piece:
In exchange for allowing United Technologies to continue to offshore more than 1,000 jobs, Trump will reportedly give the company tax and regulatory favors that the corporation has sought. Just a short few months ago, Trump was pledging to force United Technologies to “pay a damn tax.†He was insisting on very steep tariffs for companies like Carrier that left the United States and wanted to sell their foreign-made products back in the United States. Instead of a damn tax, the company will be rewarded with a damn tax cut. Wow! How’s that for standing up to corporate greed? How’s that for punishing corporations that shut down in the United States and move abroad?
In essence, United Technologies took Trump hostage and won. And that should send a shock wave of fear through all workers across the country.
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Trump has endangered the jobs of workers who were previously safe in the United States. Why? Because he has signaled to every corporation in America that they can threaten to offshore jobs in exchange for business-friendly tax benefits and incentives. Even corporations that weren’t thinking of offshoring jobs will most probably be re-evaluating their stance this morning. And who would pay for the high cost for tax cuts that go to the richest businessmen in America? The working class of America.
Anyone who has worked in state or local government knows that Sen. Sanders is correct. State and local governments have been extorted for decades with threats of shipping jobs overseas. Once a government starts providing incentives to stay, the corporations demand more, and the cycle of extortion never stops. Just like in Indiana, it is always the taxpayers who pick up the tab, because when big corporations pay less, somebody else has to pay more. The people who always end up paying more for vital local services are the citizens and small local businesses who don’t have the ability to threaten their way to a sweetheart deal.
Trump has set a dangerous precedent where bad corporate behavior will be rewarded. If this concept sounds familiar, it should. Because this is similar to what happened after Wall Street collapsed the economy and triggered The Great Recession. Nobody went to jail over the economic collapse, so the people who got rich after costing you your home and retirement account moved forward with business as usual.
President-elect Trump sold out America’s workers with a laughably bad Carrier deal. United Technologies got the incentives, and they get to ship jobs overseas. Trump got a token gesture, some good PR, and fuel for his faux populist smoke and mirrors gimmick. However, every manufacturing job in America is now in jeopardy thanks to the shortsighted President-elect.
The corporate media won’t say it, but Bernie Sanders did.
Trump’s Carrier deal is bad for US workers and will cost the American people money and jobs in the years to come.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
