Big business rules (and prospers) while the little guy suffers

In an age of climate change deniers, corporate welfare facilitating government riches for the one-percenters while our taxes are raised to pay for them, and lobbyists that assure the top dogs get it all and leave the table scraps for the rest of us, big business rules the roost across America. Take it or leave it, we are being told; it’s the way we roll.

There’s little we can do about it, too, unless we come up with revolutionary new ideas led by the grassroots – and act! And I don’t mean bloody revolts, by the way, just people taking notice that they are being screwed by elected ‘leaders’ and their proxies, and doing something about it.

Our reaction can be considered understandable. We are all busy getting along with our lives, making sure to make ends meet: getting our kids to school, two and three jobs to pay for living (which are sometimes still not enough), and a 21st century economy that sometimes favors many of  the least deserving – simply because they were born with silver spoons in mouths as they watch their fortunes grow while others struggle. Understandable… when you see what goes on in Washington, and one’s instinct is to disconnect and try to cope with a situation that is thoroughly stacked against us.

Let us point to two recent examples in my home state of Florida.

Florida Power and Light 

FPL is a monopoly – in spite of the Sherman and Clayton Anti-Trust Acts which outlaw them. Sure there are a few tiny power companies running around Florida getting the tail-end (practically the throw-aways) of a business that serves almost 20 million persons in this state. But for all practical purposes, FPL dominates (with an iron fist) energy services here.

Their service is good. I can’t complain about my power at home. If I pay for it (very important) at the end of every month, I have plenty of electricity for my lights, A/C, home electronics and a host of other things we call necessities in our modern-day lives.

And FPL does well, as it should. Very well, in fact. NextEra Energy Inc., FPL’s parent company, reported first quarter earnings of $359 million in 2014, for example. As reported by The Palm Beach Post at the time, “The results exceeded expectation on Wall Street…” Interestingly, it was reported that their growth came from the company’s unregulated solar and wind subsidiary. Growth and earnings in 2015 were even better.

Now here’s the point. The Miami Herald reports that last week FPL asked the Public Service Commission – which oversees the utility company and whose members are named by the governor and confirmed by the state senate – to allow it to raise rates on its Florida customers. The raise? They want to stick us up for a 23.7 percent rate hike by 2019: a $1.3 billion increase. And here’s the kicker, as reported by the Herald: “The increase is … designed to reward its shareholders with substantially higher profits.” At this point I refer you back to an earlier paragraph where I cite the one-percenters. Also, and just as bad, this past year FPL spent $3.4 million in a campaign (lobbyists) “to stave off competition from the solar power industry by mounting an effort to keep a constitutional amendment off the November ballot that would have opened the door to a competitive solar market in Florida.”

The Sunshine State, and FPL and its lobbyists in Tallahassee, does not see the sense in turning to solar power while they are making billions on fossil-fuel-driven energy. A state with so much sun, and we’re on the bottom half in the country in our drive for solar power.

But it all comes down to the fact that billion dollar profits yearly are not good enough for FPL’s shareholders.

Polluters winning in Florida

In his Sunday column, Carl Hiassen writes that “the water policy bill passed last week by the Florida Legislature is actually a major win for polluters and the politicians they own.”

“The [new] plan allows Big Ag operators to supervise their own waste releases, which is a fantasy come true for those who pollute, including the sugar barons.”

They are turning over the hen house to the fox and expecting it to control itself.

Then again, what can you expect? The state is run by a governor, Rick Scott, who just a couple of weeks ago, in his annual State of the State speech, “ignored vast areas of public policy and failed to mention a single one of the problems that desperately need attention in Tallahassee,” said a Miami Herald editorial. The newspaper said of the governor: “Scott’s … speech last week should have been called the State of Denial.”

While ignoring the myriad problems ordinary Floridians are facing, Scott’s emphasis is the economy, but one that focuses on tax cuts for big business and a $250 million incentive fund to lure large corporation into the state. And while Scott doles out our millions, Florida is mired in poverty (17th nationally, according to the Census Bureau; Miami is the 7th poorest city). One other important factor, Florida is 28th in income growth. In other words, we may be creating jobs, but they are jobs that only help grow our working poor.

And yet, in spite of all that I’ve just mentioned (and all that’s not been mentioned), there are hundreds of thousands of American voters who will soon be voting for persons like a Donald Trump – a perfect example of the mess we’re in.

Maybe Americans voters have a bit of masochist in them. Or have we gotten to the point where we just don’t care?