this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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Work Reform

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[–] [email protected] 61 points 8 months ago (2 children)

“I met Joe Biden,” Smalls said, referring to the 2022 meeting where the president referred to him as “my kind of trouble.”

Smalls was less enthusiastic. “I met [Biden], I met a lot of these politicians that we thought would be looking out for the working class. And y’all — there ain’t no cavalry coming. I met with Joe Biden for an hour, and I don’t remember the conversation — it was that bad. When I left the White House, I felt empty.”

Six months after that meeting, Amazon secured an $8 billion loan from the federal government. “And that just told me right there that, once again, if we don’t organize, nothing’s going to be given to us. Nobody’s going to be held accountable,” Smalls said.

“So it’s a must. It’s our duty. Because we’re at a point of no return. We have to organize ourselves. Because no amount of money in the world can stop the power of people when we come together.”

[–] [email protected] 35 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Also why in the hell is a giant corporation like Amazon, with pockets do deep they exceed the GDP of many countries, getting a loan from the federal government. Make it make sense.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 8 months ago (1 children)

That part seems wrong. Amazon has to announce stuff like that. SEC filing on the loan has a list of all the lenders and none of them are the government.

https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1018724/000119312523000849/d429499dex101.htm

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

Maybe what they meant was that it's one of those things the government had to approve, similar to when big companies merge and the SEC has to weigh in first. Just a guess.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

WTF is the government doing loaning tax payer dollars to the richest man in the world?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Rich people don't stay rich by spending their money. They get money in order to be able to spend other people's money.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I get that. What I don't get is why our government would be involved in loaning them our tax dollars. Usually the government borrows money through bonds, or backs loans. They don't usually directly loan our tax dollars out to wealthy corporations.