There is much talk these days about the "pork" in government spending most recently brought to light by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, most people know it as the bill pushed through Congress on the eve of December 31, 2012 to avoid the so called "Fiscal Cliff".
Most people are aware that there is no shortage of pork in government spending, almost every bill is loaded with funding for something not related to the bill itself. Some of the pork is simply extensions or modifications of previously approved pork while some of it is new pork. The only time it seems to matter what kind of pork is in the bill is when it conflicts with the people who yell the loudest. There was plenty of pork passed down during the Bush administration; however, no one seems to remember it because it was so long ago and there was a Republican in the White House. We were living in the golden age of an artificial bubble created by the housing market, the GDP was up, there was a war going on and everything seemed to be just wonderful on the surface. Bills were being passed left and right to fight terrorism or prop up the housing market, all the while taxpayer dollars were going out the door faster than they had in decades on corporate welfare.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 was no exception to this obsession with pork. While the bill did nothing to address a 2% Social Security payroll tax increase set to take effect January 1, which increased taxes for an estimated 77% of Americans, the bill also extended the Farm Bill spending ($6 billion), extended tax breaks for certain business entities ($3 billion) and continued tax incentives for renewable energy companies($15 billion).
Of the $6 billion in the Farm Bill extension a majority of the money will be sent to corporations like St. Louis based Monsanto. Monsanto is most famous for the weed killer Round-Up, what most people do not know is that they started out making Agent Orange, a herbicide used during Vietnam, which is highly toxic to humans. Monsanto now makes it's money by creating Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). These GMOs are resistant to certain pesticides and herbicides which allow for the farming of extensive areas of land without the risk of pets damaging the crop. GMO foods have been abolished in nearly every country, except for the United States, largely due to evidence that these foods are toxic to laboratory animals, causing horrible birth defects and cancer in most subjects. In the United States; however, no research concerning GMOs has been done and the research conducted in other countries has been largely ignored by the government as a whole. The most common GMOs are Corn, Soy and Canola, ironically pork may soon be joining the list of GMOs due to a $500,000 grant by the FDA.
Of the $15 billion in renewable energy tax extensions most of these extensions will go to corporations not unlike Solyndra, corporations which would never be able to turn a profit without government assistance. Renewable energy may be the way of the future; however, it should be privately funded as an endless stream of government funding and tax abatement only encourages contractors to produce very little at high costs.
Of the $3 billion in tax extensions most of the extensions will go to the national and multi-national corporations who lobbied for the extensions such as: Nascar, Hollywood, Puerto Rican rum producers, and railroads. Most smaller businesses will not be affected by this extension, causing their taxes to increase this year.
The American Taxpayer Relief Act also continued the practice of "Active Financing Exception" exempting multi-national corporations from paying almost all corporate income tax. These multi-national corporations, such as: Citi Bank, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and General Electric, are able to defer U.S. Taxes by moving profits offshore.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, after everything is said and done this bill will increase government spending by $33 billion per year even after tax increases. While a majority of Americans will see some increase and a few will see a large increase in taxes, some corporations, primarily banks, will continue to avoid paying any taxes at all.
So, a person is left to wondering, who's relief was this act meant for?
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