There’s yer socialism
Taxpayer subsidy of American business isn’t new. And although the GOP is bleating about socialism/communism, they’re conspicuously unbothered by flagrant federal subsidies to the means of production.
“Amazon and Walmart are two of the largest and most profitable companies in the country — collectively generating $100 billion in profits in 2025 — but many of their employees still qualify for Medicaid because their take-home pay hovers around (or below) the poverty line.
“As taxpayers keep their workers afloat, the wealth of the two companies’ largest shareholders is increasing exponentially. The Walton family, the largest shareholders of Walmart, saw their collective wealth increase from $238 billion in 2021 to $513 billion at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, Amazon founder and current executive chairman Jeff Bezos saw his net worth increase from $187 billion to $255 billion over roughly the same time period.”
American taxpayers have paid billions for biomedical research that then gets exploited for profit by Big Pharma. I suspect most Americans would be OK with that if the result were improved health (pace RFK Jr). But subsidizing poverty wages of employees would be unpopular if voters knew. I wonder if the Medicaid cuts next year will start to cut into the corporate bottom line.
Medicaid subsidizes profitable US companies
“Amazon and Walmart are two of the largest and most profitable companies in the country — collectively generating $100 billion in profits in 2025 — but many of their employees still qualify for Medicaid because their take-home pay hovers around (or below) the poverty line.
“As taxpayers keep their workers afloat, the wealth of the two companies’ largest shareholders is increasing exponentially. The Walton family, the largest shareholders of Walmart, saw their collective wealth increase from $238 billion in 2021 to $513 billion at the end of 2025. Meanwhile, Amazon founder and current executive chairman Jeff Bezos saw his net worth increase from $187 billion to $255 billion over roughly the same time period.”
American taxpayers have paid billions for biomedical research that then gets exploited for profit by Big Pharma. I suspect most Americans would be OK with that if the result were improved health (pace RFK Jr). But subsidizing poverty wages of employees would be unpopular if voters knew. I wonder if the Medicaid cuts next year will start to cut into the corporate bottom line.
Medicaid subsidizes profitable US companies
The concept of “subsidizing poverty wages” might have it backwards. Consider that there are lots of employers with jobs that have higher compensation such that those employed do not rely on SNAP or Medicaid benefits….in fact, both Amazon and Walmart have many such jobs. For whatever reason, these employers have not hired the Amazon or Walmart workers that also take these benefits. So an alternate view of this is that certain employers help reduce the subsidy burden by having jobs for this population of workers. This, at least in my view, is very similar to what Reich was “semi-predicting” about the job market with a few more years of AI development. For certain, universal basic income concepts are conceptually the same thing as this situation and I’d argue that retirement at 50 is similar. For what it’s worth, I do not sense a big desire to cut SNAP and Medicaid as a method of forcing employers to pay more to workers, but that seems like a logical step if you frame it as a “subsidy”.