Pulling Power from the Little Guy

Now that the special election in Pennsylvania’s “steel country” 18^th is over – sorry Donald – the President has begun walking back his long-term commitment to maintain those steel and aluminum tariffs that so many Republicans despise. Despite the chaotic cabinet shuffle going on, Mr. Trump has signaled that he is open to working out a deal with willing global participants anywhere. He even admitted to pulling Canadian PM Justin Trudeau’s chain over the “trade imbalance” with Canada; there isn’t one!

Mr. Trump is back as Big Business’ best buddy. I’ve long since blogged on his administration’s push against net neutrality, healthcare, safety rules in the workplace, his defunding the Consumer Protection Agency, lifting restrictions on industrial pollutants (into our public waterways, our air and across public lands as well), turning over federal parkland and coastal waters for immediate exploitation and pushing to deregulate financial institutions (gee, they are so trustworthy)… the list goes on and on.

His tax cut has done little for most of us, but we have a record numbers of corporate stock buy-backs with virtually nothing benefitting the little guy. Wages remain flat for most Americans, even after adjusting for the very minor benefits that some received in tax cuts. His new chief economic advisor, TV pundit Larry Kudlow, is a believer in the rather dramatically disproven “trickle-down economics” theory… where you give lots of money to the rich, and somehow they in turn send that trickle of cash down to the “let them eat cake” folks at the middle and bottom of the economic ladder. Trump is obsessed with eliminating rules and regulations that limit business or cost them money, regardless of the harm done to ordinary people, including his base.

What really brings home how little Trump cares about much of anybody but himself and his mega-rich cronies is his invitation to our airlines to list all the regulations they hate, from having to declare their full fee up front, to limiting how long a flight can sit on the tarmac, not being allowed to charge $25/a bag for each leg of a trip, charging even for carry-ons, etc., etc. “Last year, the U.S. Department of Transportation temporarily froze all pending airline-industry regulations as part of an administration push to cut the burden of red tape on American businesses. And it asked the public and airlines for comments on existing regulations that could be halted, revised or repealed…

 “‘The airlines are pretty clear that they want every consumer protection law repealed or not enforced,’ said Paul Hudson, president of Flyersrights.org, a nonprofit group with more than 60,000 members. ‘I’m concerned that they would try to repeal the few consumer-protection regulations that are out there.’…

“For its part, Airlines for America, a Washington, D.C.-based industry trade group, called the Transportation Department’s initiative ‘a much-welcomed shift from a decade’s-long Washington practice of regulatory interference in the market.’

“The group is specifically asking to modify or rescind more than 30 regulations, while individual airlines such as Delta, United and American either echoed those ideas or suggested rule changes of their own with the Transportation Department. All three airlines declined to comment on their filings…

“The deregulation push comes as the industry is basking in profit. Airlines reported a combined $17.6 billion in profit last year, a dramatic improvement from the nine years after the 9/11 terrorist strikes when the entire U.S. airline industry lost a combined $65 billion.

“That improved financial performance resulted in an industry profit margin of more than 6% last year, compared with an average loss of 6.3% in the previous nine years, according to Airlines for America. Still, carriers say the regulations imposed by Washington are hurting their bottom lines.

“‘Many of the regulations/initiatives adopted or issued at the end of the previous administration are extremely costly, will be unduly burdensome on the airline industry, and should be repealed or permanently terminated,’ United Airlines said in its statement filed with the Transportation Department.” Los Angeles Times, March 18^th. I think they should kill a few more dogs or drag more people off over-booked flights. United Airlines has been responsible for the death of more dogs than the next top U.S. carriers combined! It’s pretty clear that voting for a Trump-platform, unless you are very, very rich, is always a vote against your best economic interests.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and “greed, for lack of a better term, is good”… for everyone at the very top of the wealth food chain… and terrible for everyone else.