The unbearable Whiteness of Protesting: Commercial news coverage of the April 30 protest at the State Capitol in Lansing
On Thursday, an estimated 600 – 700 people gathered in front of the State Capitol in Lansing, to protest the Governor’s Stay at Home order. In this post, I particularly want to look at how the news media reported on the protest, the kind of language they used, what sources they cited and what was omitted.
The news sources that I want to deconstruct are MLive, WOODTV 8, WZZM 13, WXMI 17 and the Detroit News. The MLive headline read, Protesters tell lawmakers ‘vote no’ on extending state of emergency, argue freedoms outweigh coronavirus threat. The MLive article does provide some history with when Gov. Whitmer first issued a state of emergency, along with the current order, which expired on April 30. The Governor did request an additional 28 days, which would put the stay at home order in effect til late May.
The MLive article cites one cop from the Michigan State Police and three people involved in the protest, Patricia Stephanoff, Jason Kelley and Lou DeLuca. Kelley was identified as one of the organizers, but the other two protesters were identified based on their profession. While Kelley is identified as one of the organizers, MLive fails to mention that the protest was organized by Michigan United for Liberty, with support from the Michigan Conservative Union and the Libertarian Party of Michigan.
MLive also fails to mention that Patricia Stephanoff was also at the protest outside of Whitmer’s home last week, as reported on by the Lansing State Journal. Lou DeLuca, also sourced in the article, has a lot of video from the April 30 protest on his Facebook page, footage that once again demonstrates that many of those protesting did not practice social distancing. DeLuca was quoted in MLive as saying:
“We should have been the beacon of hope to the world,” DeLuca said. “That we will not tell our citizens what to do. We’re adults. They could have asked us and we could have followed. The second you demand or force somebody to do something or threaten jail, it ends America.”
DeLuca’s comments are instructive, since there is no criticism being directed at the federal government and specifically the Trump administration. The last sentence about threatening people with jail, which apparently ends America, is definitely reflective of a white privileged worldview. The government has been threatening people with arrest or worse, death, for not obeying orders since the beginning. Just ask indigenous people and African Americans how long the US government has been demanding conformity and submission, always with threats of violence.
The MLive article also does not include any dissenting views, which seems pretty standard to how the commercial media reports on protests, or at least that is the case with protests from the left. Also, there is no mention of the significant push from GOP legislators, like Senator Mike Shirkey and Lee Chatfield or the groups like the Michigan Chamber of Commerce and the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, all of which have messages that align with those protesting at the State Capitol.
The WOODTV 8 story focused more on the lack of social distancing and the fact that the protestors moved inside the State Capitol. There are several short videos of police and protestors, but little information about the motives of those protesting. The channel 8 story does cite a protestor, but there is no name attributed to that person. Reporter Leon Hendrix spent most of his report on “how loud people were” and then films people singing the Star Spangled Banner.
The WZZM 13 story follows a similar approach to the channel 8 story, but with even less information. The WXMI 17 story was also limited in scope, with even less information and mostly protest video.
The Detroit News coverage was also lacking in substance, with a headline that read, Protesters, some armed, enter Michigan Capitol in rally against COVID-19 limits. The Detroit News piece focused on the inside protest, with very little information or comments from those protesting. The story did end with this:
“the Michigan House authorized Speaker Lee Chatfield to file suit against Whitmer over her use of emergency powers and the Senate was scheduled to vote on a similar measure.”
Overall, the commercial news coverage tended to focus more on the spectacle of the protest, rather then offering any insight or analysis of what the protest was really about. In addition, the commercial news sources we looked at failed to mention that in all of the photos and video taken, it was essentially a sea of white people. Along with the whiteness of this protest, the news media also could have made a stronger connection to the message of those protesting, with that of the GOP legislators and the organization who are essentially pushing for the same outcome……the open up Michigan’s economy, regardless of the health consequences.
Two weeks ago, we posted an article about a COVID-19 relief fund that the DeVos-funded AmplifyGR organization had announced. We noted in that article that the relief project was in partnership with the Family Independence Initiative and the Koch brothers created group, Stand Together.
In that initial announcement from AmplifyGR, they stated:
A generous group of Kent County residents have partnered with a nonprofit called the Family Independence Initiative (FII) to create a fund for families that are experiencing financial hardship because of COVID-19.
Well, we now know that the “generous group of Kent County residents,” is actually referring to members of the DeVos family. The project is called the Kent County Relief Fund and the funding has come from 4 different DeVos family foundations – the Dick & Betsy DeVos Foundation, the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation, the Dan and Pamela DeVos Foundation and the CDV5 Foundation.
Now, it’s not just the funding that the DeVos family is providing, the address for the Kent County Relief Fund is 48 Fountain St. NW, Grand Rapids, which is the address for the Doug & Maria DeVos Foundation.
As of a few days ago, the Kent County Relief Fund post an update stating that the fund had given away all of its available resources. People still apply, but they will be put on a waiting list. The update also noted that the Kent County Relief Fund has given $1,679,000, which seems like a lot of money. However, considering the wealth of the DeVos family, this is like contributing $20 for most of us. In fact, as we reported 10 days ago, the DeVos family members, and all other millionaires and billionaires in Kent County, will get on average $1.7 million (each) in a tax break as part of the Care Act. Therefore, between the four DeVos foundations that have providing the funding for the Kent County Relief Fund, they would collectively be receiving $6.8 million in tax breaks for doing nothing. It seems to be that the DeVos foundations should provide another $5 million to the relief fund, since they got these funds from an unjust tax policy that was crafted by the same politicians that the DeVos family funds through campaign contributions.
There are also several other important things to point out about the Kent County Relief Fund.
First, the application process for the Kent County Relief Fund has very similar conditions that we see in other charity-based assistance. People have to present some form of government issued ID and provide tax returns or a recent pay stub. This kind of scrutiny carries with it the same shame-based conditions that those experiencing poverty too often experience.
Second, the community partner list provided on the Kent County Relief Fund’s website is very instructive. These nonprofit supporters and partners are not just random entities, rather they were deliberately selected since virtually all of these groups have some major DeVos connection.
This means that of the 23 partners working with the Kent County Relief Fund, 20 of them have a direct connection to the DeVos family. The only nonprofits partners that do not have a direct DeVos family connection are Dwelling Place, River City Scholars Charter Academy (part of the National Heritage Academies – J.C. Huizenga) and Michigan Works.
The fact that the majority of nonprofit partners working with the DeVos-created Kent County Relief Fund should tell us something. First, the DeVos family is very strategic and does not like working with entities that they cannot control. Second, most of these groups are Christian in orientation, which is what the DeVos family prefers. Third, the nonprofits are not known for challenging systems of power and oppression in Grand Rapids, which means they do not exist to fight the structural or root causes of the problems of the people they serve.
Lastly, while I am glad for the families that have received the $500 funds provided by the Kent County Relief Fund, but make no mistake about it, this project is designed only as a form of charity. More importantly, the very people that the Kent County Relief Fund has provided money to, are the same families who have been negatively affected by the policies that were created by the politicians that the DeVos family has funded over the decades, policies which have benefited the millionaire/billionaire class and punished poor families, especially families of color.
There are numerous things that we have all learned about ourselves during the COVID-19 pandemic and there are lots of things we have learned about our community.
One thing that seems to be overwhelmingly clear, is that we cannot go back to the way things were before this crisis. In fact, the current crisis has revealed to us that the existing systems of power and oppression in Grand Rapids have not only exacerbated the crisis, but they created the long standing conditions that have led to so much suffering in this community.
The conditions I am referring to are the profound levels of poverty that so many families live in, especially black, latinx and native families. Add to the fact that thousands more in Grand Rapids are now unemployed and you have a major economic crisis. The government “stimulus” checks are not getting to people fast enough, plus there are lots of other families, namely immigrant families, who are not even eligible to receive them.
However, at the same time that thousands of people are struggling to survive in Grand Rapids, those who have economic and political power and using the crisis to push and expand their own agenda. We have been reporting on what groups like the West Michigan Policy Forum are doing to not only get back to normal, but to use this crisis to push for further policy changes that will benefit the business class. In addition, many of the same people who serve as part of the Grand Rapids Power Structure, those who are billionaires and millionaires, are benefiting from this crisis, because of tax breaks that were built into the Cares Act. This small group of people are profiting off the crisis, while thousands in Grand Rapids are left wondering if they can pay rent, pay their utilities or feed their families.
Then there is the issue of what the system is referring to as “essential workers” during this crisis. Essential workers are generally the people on the front lines of the health care industry, like nurses, doctors, direct care staff, hospital kitchen staff, hospice workers, etc. But essential workers also includes those who are part of the food system, migrant workers, fast food workers and grocery store workers, all of which do not make a livable wage in this system. The current crisis also reveals that these workers were always essential, but the system of capitalism doesn’t value the work they do.
Other conditions we could identify are the housing crisis in Grand Rapids, police violence and the prison industrial complex and the homophobic/transphobic systems that exists in Grand Rapids.
These systems of power and oppression in Grand Rapids are nothing new, but if we are interested in not just surviving the COVID-19 crisis, but thriving afterwards, then we need to collectively organize for the things we want. Already there are powerful examples of grassroots responses to the COVID-19 crisis, like the Grand Rapids Area Mutual Aid Network, the La Lucha Fund, No Rent Michigan. Together We Are Safe and Movimiento Cosecha GR. Hundreds of volunteers and practicing Mutual Aid to make sure that the families who are the most vulnerable right now are getting some of their needs met.
However, unless we dismantle the systems of power and oppression that have created the conditions for the current crisis, then there will always be a crisis. People living in poverty is a crisis. People living with pain or dying from preventable diseases or conditions is a crisis. People living on the streets is a crisis. People suffering under white supremacy and settler colonialism is a crisis. People living under patriarchy and heterosexism is a crisis. Climate change is a crisis.
The Grand Rapids Power Structure is not sitting around during this crisis, just waiting for things to get back to normal. They are strategizing and planning to figure out ways to benefit from this crisis and to shore up the power they have. We need to strategize, to plan, to organize and radically imagine that another world is possible.
In the coming weeks, we will post pieces that look at what is possible. We will look at ways to get to a just food system, a just housing system, how to get to climate justice, workers justice and a just health care system. Another World is Possible!!!!
Betsy DeVos makes statement about how US History is taught
On Thursday, US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, released a statement on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) 2018 Civics, Geography, and U.S. History Assessments for 8th Graders:
“America’s antiquated approach to education is creating a generation of future leaders who will not have a foundational understanding of what makes this country exceptional. We cannot continue to excuse this problem away. Instead, we need to fundamentally rethink education in America. It is the only way our nation’s students will be in a position to lead our nation and the world.
The results are stark and inexcusable. A quarter or more of America’s 8th graders are what NAEP defines as ‘below basic’ in U.S. history, civics and geography. In the real world, this means students don’t know what the Lincoln-Douglas debates were about, nor can they discuss the significance of the Bill of Rights, or point out basic locations on a map. And only 15% of them have a reasonable knowledge of U.S. history. All Americans should take a moment to think about the concerning implications for the future of our country.”
While I agree that the way US history is taught in American schools is deeply troubling, what Betsy DeVos thinks is important about US history and what should be taught about US history are vastly different.
Betsy DeVos’ father-in-law, Richard DeVos Sr., had a view of US history, one that has been taught for a long time. The co-founder of Amway, in his book Believe, when talking about freedom and the founding of the US, says:
“that call of freedom went forth from a rugged wilderness, and Europe and Asia and Africa sent their sons of adventure to hew out a new society in a land of forests and savages.”
Is this what Betsy DeVos means by a foundational understanding of what makes this country exceptional? The statement above by Richard DeVos is reflective of one of the foundational aspects of US history, namely the genocide of Indigenous people. The other major foundational aspect of US history is the enslavement of African people, the very same people who created a great deal of the wealth in the US, but did not benefit from their labor.
Indeed, based on the lived experience of Betsy DeVos, growing up as part of the Prince family and then marrying into the DeVos family, the US Secretary of Education would see US history through the lens of someone who is deeply privileged. Betsy DeVos no doubt views US history as something that the capitalist class built, a history that believes the US was founded on Christian principles, and one that is governed by White Supremacy.
US History has primarily been taught through the view of the historical victors, as Howard Zinn used to say. US history is always about the powerful, those with great wealth and very much centered on wars and US global dominance.
This type of US history began to be challenged at the university level in the 1960s, with the introduction of women’s studies and ethnic studies, particularly black studies. Unfortunately, what is being taught at the university level hasn’t always trickled down to the K-12 level. There are some amazing US history teachers across the country, but they are in a minority. Some of these US history teachers have been influenced by Zinn’s, A People’s History of the United States or the resources offered through groups like Rethinking Schools.
The group Grand Rapids for Education Justice has heard from the black, latinx and Anishinaabe communities that they want to see their communities’ history taught and not just the dominant. white version of history.
US Secretary of Education, Betsy DeVos, is right to point out the antiquated way in which US history is taught. However, we cannot and should not allow people like her to determine how US history is taught, nor what version of US History.
“I’m worried that students will take their obedient place in society and look to become successful cogs in the wheel — let the wheel spin them around as it wants without taking a look at what they’re doing. I’m concerned that students not become passive acceptors of the official doctrine that’s handed down to them from the White House, the media, textbooks, teachers and preachers.” Howard Zinn
West Michigan CEOs who are pushing to open their businesses
Last week, the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF) hosted an online forum with CEOs talking about how to get Michigan businesses up and running.
This discussion from the WMPF happened the day before Gov. Whitmer announced another extension of the stay-at-home, with the extension going til May 15. However, there will be some relaxation of the previous order, allowing some sectors to open, particularly the lawn and garden industry, greenhouses, boating and golf courses.
The WMPF event involved Amway President Doug DeVos as the moderator, with several CEOs offering information on their respective businesses, along with a few other voices in the mix.
The hour-long forum was recorded and you can watch the video on the WMPF Facebook page, at this link.
In his opening comments, DeVos made the point that, “we are very alined with what Sen. Shirkey’s plan is.” We wrote about Senator Mike Shirkey’s plan on Tuesday.
Another important thing that Doug DeVos mentioned had to do with regulations that have slowed the business community down for years, and that “once we come back from this crisis, maybe some of those could be changed or eliminated.” Such a statement comes as no surprise, since the West Michigan Policy Forum has more than a decade of working to change state policy in ways that benefits their interests. Deregulation would be the next logical step for this group.
The CEOs and other executives that took part in the online forum were:
- Mike VanGessel, the CEO of Rockford Construction,
- Bill Dobbins, Caster Concepts
- Brian Cooper, ELCo Enterprises, Inc.
- Kelly Presta Sturgis Molded Products
- Kurk Wilks, Mann + Hummel
- Matthew Haworth, Chairman of Haworth
- Ron Geisman, Lomar Machine & Tool
- Steve London, Bekum America
- Birgid Klohs, CEO of the Right Place Inc.
- John Hendrickson, C=H Solutions
- Jennifer Owens, Lakeshore Advantage
- Jase Bolger, WMPF advisor
- Mike Hill, Coldbrook Insurance
- Johnny Brann Jr., Brann’s Restaurants,
Several of these businesses are in West Michigan, specifically in Grand Rapids. It is interesting that there has been a significant increase in COVID-19 cases in the Grand Rapids area, just within the last week. Therefore, while the business community in West Michigan continues to push for “re-opening” the state’s economy, they are ignoring the fact that COVID-19 cases are up in Grand Rapids. Having more people go back to work will most likely put more people are risk of contracting the coronavirus. Thus, these business leaders are taking a very similar position as those who protested in Lansing on April 15, a position that says, “profits before people.”
Yesterday, several dozen people protested outside of the Governor’s mansion in Lansing, calling on Gov. Whitmer to re-open Michigan’s economy.
The person credited with organizing the demonstration is Brandon Hall. Hall was quoted in the news source, Up North Live as saying:
“Gretchen Whitmer is tyranny, this is like a third world country. It’s like V for Vendetta and Idiocracy hooked up and they produced this baby that is 2020.”
Brandon Hall is originally from Grand Haven and was sentenced to 30 days in jail in 2012 for election fraud. Hall is the editor of a blog called West Michigan Politics, which ironically has as its banner on Facebook an image of Richard DeVos Sr.
Brandon Hall said that Nick Somberg, a lawyer, also helped to organize the protest. Somberg, is also with the group Michigan United for Liberty, which brought a lawsuit against Governor Whitmer a few days ago.
Michigan United for Liberty is a fairly new entity that has a number of people on their “team” who have previous experience with campaign organizing and other conservative efforts. Michigan United for Liberty is claiming that Facebook has blocked their anti-government protest events on the social media platform, but that is not preventing them from promoting several upcoming actions.
On April 30th, Michigan United for Liberty is hosting another protest at the State Capitol in Lansing. According to their announcement, Governor Whitmer’s, “executive orders are direct violations of our constitutional rights and are infringing upon our basic freedoms.” The protest on April 30 is also sponsored by the Michigan Conservative Union, a group that has been around since 1975 and includes former State Rep. Dave Agema. The other group involved in the April 30th protest is Libertarian Party of Michigan.
Then on May 1st, Michigan United for Liberty is organizing a MayDay to PayDay action. This action is a call to business owners to start back up again, regardless of what the Michigan Governor has to say. The MayDay to PayDay action says:
Calling all small business owners! Are you fed up? Ready to re-open and start making an income again?
Michigan United for Liberty believes ALL jobs are essential and we want to help you re-open! Unite with us as we band together to make this a reality!
Join us in our stand for freedom by committing to re-opening your business on May 1st!
Clearly, the groups involved in the April 15 protest at the Lansing State Capitol, the protest at the Governor’s mansion and the upcoming protests have generated a fair amount of interest from the public. It would be a mistake to be dismissive of these groups, as Ben Burgis stated in a recent article in the Jacobin Magazine.
Many on the Right have cheered on the protesters. Centrists have mostly just rolled their eyes. The Left needs a better response. While the lockdowns are necessary, it’s unacceptable to ask everyone to continue paying their bills without far more robust government assistance. We should offer genuine solutions to legitimate economic worries even as we acknowledge that much of what was said and advocated at the protest was irresponsible and absurd.
In addition, I think it is not a matter of simply giving blind support to Gov. Whitmer. I agree with the stay-at-home orders, since we need to flatten the curve. However, people are hurting and we need some short-term and long-term ways of addressing the fact that millions of people are struggling around having basic needs met. We need to pressure the State Government and Gov. Whitmer to make sure that people are being taken care of. We need a rent freeze, an end to evictions, and to release people from prisons, jails and detention centers. We need to demand that health care workers, agricultural workers, those working in grocery stores and fast food restaurants, along with all other essential workers – who do essential work – get real, substantive hazard pay.
Some conservative groups are saying, We’re suing that woman from Michigan, while liberals are saying, We support that woman from Michigan. Such simplistic slogans are meaningless if we don’t have clear-headed strategies and plans to make sure that people have the resources to make sure they can stay safe, have access to food, housing and the health care we all need.
There has been some additional attention around the power and politics of the DeVos family, even in commercial media.
Gov. Whitmer made the claim that Betsy DeVos was financially contributing to the Michigan Freedom Fund, one of the organizations behind the protest held on April 15, calling into question the governor’s stay-at-home policy.
In addition, there has been some focus on the DeVos funding of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy and how the DeVos family, along with other millionaires and billionaires in the country will be getting massive tax breaks, as part of the Cares Act.
If you just can’t get enough about the power, influence and history of the DeVos family, then we invite you to check out our 536 page document, We’re Rich and We Do What We Want: A DeVos Family Reader.
The document includes:
- Introduction to their Religious and Political Ideology
- Early Critiques of DeVos/Amway
- DeVos Family, Elections and Money
- DeVos Family and West MI Politics
- DeVos Family Foundations
- West MI Media and the DeVos Family
- ArtPrize
- Betsy DeVos Watch
- Additional Resources
In these pages you can read about the cumulative impact that the most powerful family in West Michigan has had on Grand Rapids politics, State politics and Federal politics. You can read about how Amway workers tried to form a union in the early 1980s, how the DeVos family transformed GVSU, how much money they have spent on buying elections, the impact of their foundations, and how they so often get a free pass from the commercial media.
We believe the DeVos Family Reader is a great resource for those who want to understand how power functions and just how much influence this family has across the state.
Help pressure the City of Grand Rapids to provide support for immigrant workers during the current crisis
A few weeks back, we posted an article that pointed out how some cities are providing financial support to immigrant workers during the current pandemic. That article talked about my interaction with Grand Rapids City Commissioners about their willingness to offer the same kind of support.
Now there is a new call to action around the same issue, coming from the group GR Rapid Response to ICE.
In their Action Alert, they state:
Immigrant workers are on the front line of this pandemic. Many continue to work in dangerous conditions because they have no choice–they do not receive unemployment, will not receive a relief/stimulus check from the federal government, and still need to support themselves and their families. We are calling on the City of Grand Rapids to immediately start providing COVID-19 pandemic relief to all immigrant members of the community–regardless of status or documentation–including payments for rent, food, utilities, and any other benefits the city is providing to the rest of the community.
The Action Alert then invites people to send a message to Grand Rapids City officials, by going to this link.
It’s a simple action, but an important one, especially if the City of Grand Rapids hears from enough people, thus making them commit to providing critical support to immigrant workers and their families during the crisis. Please send the message and share it with your networks on social media.
Towards the end of last week, both Senator Mike Shirkey and Rep. Lee Chatfield, continued to push Gov. Whitmer on the need to re-open the economy in Michigan.
Last Monday, we reported on how Shirkey and Chatfield had expressed “frustration” with Gov. Whitmer over the extended stay-in-place order, that current goes on into the end of the month. We reported that Shirkey and Chatfield both were taking the position that re-opening the economy was more important than preventing people from contracting the COVID-19 virus and possibly dying.
Now Sen. Shirkey and Rep. Chatfield are continuing to push to let businesses re-open, this time with the support of powerful allies and with a “plan.”
Senator Mike Shirkey was doing a Q & A with the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce on Friday, plus the Michigan Chamber of Commerce posted their own news, with a headline that read, Senate Republicans and Whitmer Increase Focus on Economic Reopening. In that Michigan Chamber post, it stated:
The Michigan Chamber is encouraged by the Senate’s action and currently analyzing their proposal. The Senate’s proposal, referred to as Open Michigan Safely, is summarized as “relying on measurable data points to serve as indicators of decreased risk. The proposal is structured in phases that outline conditions in the state, suggest safe business operations, and propose levels of citizen activity.”
On April 15, the Michigan Chamber of Commerce released a a set of guidelines for policymakers to create clear and consistent expectations for employers. These guidelines were crafted with the help of the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, which we also reported on last month, with their policy wish list during the crisis and their new partnership with the Great Lakes Education Project and the Michigan Freedom Fund. The guidelines that the Michigan Chamber and the Mackinac Center have released are rather basic, but also very vague. It is important to remember that the Mackinac Center was the main driving force behind Michigan’s Right to Work policy, plus they have a long history of undermining public sector unions and public education.
Meanwhile, the Senate Republican caucus has released their own set of guidelines, which is described in 5 phases. One thing that I find troubling about their plan is the lack of testing. The Senate Republican Caucus does mention testing, but only as something people could do. There is no plan for statewide testing and there is no clear plan for what to do if there another outbreak across the state. Also, it would seem that this commitment to re-open businesses doesn’t fully take into account the seriousness of the human loss of life across the country and across the state. In addition, there is no known cure for COVID-19, which seems like that should be a larger priority than businesses opening back up again.
Closer to home, the West Michigan Policy Forum (WMPF), which was created in 2008 to provide the business community with an opportunity to push their own state policies agenda, has affirmed the push by Senator Mike Shirkey and the Senate Republican Caucus. The WMPF stated on their Facebook page on April 16:
The principles offered by Senator Mike Shirkey today smartly allows for a regional and phased approach to safely reopening businesses and protecting employees as they go back to work. We must reject the false choice between work and safety, so these outlined principles rightly empower workers, protect customers and increase economic security. We applaud Senator Shirkey’s welcoming approach to further input by medical experts. We urge the governor, lawmakers and business leaders to further refine the appropriate and sensible proposal by Senator Shirkey to coalesce around one plan to protect both lives and livelihoods and provide a safe pathway to restart our economy.
The WMPF, then posted yesterday, a link to a Detroit News article, where West Michigan Policy Forum chair John Kennedy was interviewed. In that interview, Kennedy talks about how his business, Autocam, has continued to operate during the COVID-19 crisis and what precautions they are taking. However, Kennedy primarily responds to the plan that Sen. Mike Shirkey is pushing. One thing that Shirkey believes, and Kennedy agrees with, is that roughly 75% of businesses could re-open if they followed certain protocols. One thing that was not revealed in this interview with John Kennedy, is that Kennedy is the number one campaign contributor to Sen. Mike Shirkey since 2011.
Again, it seems to this writer that there is still so much that we do not know about the virus, then add to that the lack of systemic testing and the fact that no cure has yet been developed, which leaves us very vulnerable to many people contracting and dying from the coronavirus. We know that the business community has a great deal of leverage with state policy makers, since they have been major campaign contributors and are always at the top of entities engaged in lobbying. The question for those of us who identify more with civil society is, should we have as much say as the capitalist class? Maybe we need to organize in such a way as to have more say than the capitalist class.
The 600 Millionaires living in Kent County will receive on average $1.7 million because of the COVID-19 Relief Policy
“The class which has the power to rob upon a large scale has also the power to control the government and legalize their robbery.” —Eugene V. Debs
Several news sources, including the Washington Post, have been reporting that:
More than 80 percent of the benefits of a tax change tucked into the coronavirus relief package Congress passed last month will go to those who earn more than $1 million annually, according to a report by a nonpartisan congressional body expected to be released Tuesday.
This information is based on the research done by group known as the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), a nonpartisan Congressional body.
Forbes reported that the 43,000 millionaires and billionaires in the US will get on average $1.7 million because of the Cares Act.
While wealthy Americans are not eligible for the comparatively measly $1,200 stimulus checks that are now being disbursed to many Americans, they are on pace to do even better. 43,000 taxpayers, who earn more than $1 million annually, are each set to receive a $1.7 million windfall, on average, thanks to a provision buried in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
If there are 43,000 millionaires (some being billionaires) in the US and each of them will receive an average of $1.7 million because of the Cares Act, that would mean that the wealthiest people in the US will collectively receive $73,100,000,000, which is $73 billion and change. That is a massive amount of money, almost too big to comprehend, and it is going to the wealthiest people in the US because that is how the tax structure is set up through policy.
If we were to think about this on a local level, what would this mean? According to the most recent data (2019), there are 600 millionaires in Kent County. If they each receive on average $1.7 million because of the Cares Act, that equals a total of $1,020,000,000 coming to those 600 millionaires collectively. This means that people like Doug DeVos, John Kennedy, Michael Jandernoa, Peter Secchia, Steven Van Andel, those that make up the Grand Rapids Power Structure, will be benefitting from the Cares Act, just for being disgustingly rich.
Now, image for a moment, how $1,020,000,000 could benefit the individuals and families who are no longer working in Kent County because of COVID-19. Imagine how much this money could be used to pay people’s rent or mortgages in Kent County. Imagine how this money could be used to provide testing to every resident in Kent County. Imagine how this money could feed all those who are food insecure in Kent County. The crisis isn’t just COVID-19, the crisis is capitalism and the capitalists who push policies to the politicians they have bought, policies which the capitalists benefit from.
Grand Rapids Institute for Information Democracy 