3 In the past ten years, plant closings in the | US. have eliminated millions of jobs. In the __ never-ending pursuit of profits, corpora- | tions move their operations to non-union areas of the U.S. and to foreign countries. Transnational Corporations A recent government study reported that in 1977, 3,540 U.S. transnational corpora- tions (TNCs) employed 26 million workers, of whom 7.2 million or 28% worked in foreign affiliates. In the U.S. in 1977, the parent company paid $8.76 in compensation per hour, compared to $1.74 in develop- ing countries (see Table 3). Principally because of these wage and benefit differentials, U.S. transnationals are more profitable in developing countries than in developed countries or at home. Corporations derive more and more of their total profits from overseas investments. For many of the giant TNCs, more than half of total profits come from foreign investments (see Table 4). There is a higher rate of return from developing countries than anywhere ($ millions) - ¢ Exxon $61,815 Mobil 32,629 Texaco 25,157 Phibro-Salomon 20,100 IBM 17,058 Ford 16,080 General Motors 14,913 Gulf 11,535 SOCAL 10,952 DuPont 10,816 Source: Forbes, July 2, 1984 else. As a result, since 1977, the number of employees in U.S. owned foreign affiliates has now grown to about 10 million. , Compensation Per Hour in Foreign Affiliates of U.S. Transnational Corporations Production Workers, Select Countries, 1977 USS. Parent $8.76 Canada 8.31 Italy 5.83 Greece 2.73 Portugal 2.39 Mexico 2.06 South Korea 1.39 Central America — other 1.08 Philippines 57 Developed Countries — Avg. 6.84 Developing Countries — Avg. 1.74 All Countries — Avg. 4.92 Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Survey of Current Business, 2/82. Top Ten TNCs, 1983 Foreign Revenue As % Foreign Profit As % of Total (8 millions) of Total 69.7% $2,913 54.0% 58.7 1,010 67.2 62.8 900 73.0 67.5 235 50.0 42.5 2,142 39.1 36.2 258 6.9 20.0 258 6.9 43.4 604 61.8 40.1 755 47.5 30.8 436 26.6 MULTINATIONALS EXPLOIT from “Economic Notes, Sept. 84” CORPORATE TAX BREAKS USELESS The argument that corporate tax breaks are necessary to spur business to create jobs may work on the uninformed, but it doesn’t take much scrutiny to discover that if there is any relationship between tax breaks and job creatioin, it isn’t a positive one. Between 1975 and 1981, corporate tax breaks increased 355 per cent to over $25 billion. More than three-quarters of that money went to large corporations, those with assets of $25 million or more. They make up only 0.5 per cent of Canada’s 350,000 corporations. In the same period, the number of jobs created by those corporations declined by 6.1 per cent. Since most of the tax breaks go to corpora- tions that aren’t creating jobs, it’s impossi- ble to accept the idea that giving billions of dollars to Canada’s power brokers is some- how a productive economic or labour policy. Aside from the lack of job creation, the tax structure roughs working Canadians up another way. They now give the federal government 53 per cent of its revenue, more than twice the share they were responsible for in 1950. From 1978 to 1981, the number of Canadi- ans who paid no taxes increased more than 400 per cent from 2,316 to 8,031. From Ontario Labour, Summer 1984 The statistics on this page sum up — but by no means tell the whole story of — the cost in pain of the Reagan Reces- sion and the Reagan cuts in important people-helping programs. It is a cost not nearly offset by the present period of partial recovery — a recovery which many economists fear might collapse in early 1985 under the weight of re¢ord-high Reagan deficits. Millions of working and needy Amer- icans have paid and are still paying a staggering price for Reaganism: In - jobs lost, in health care withheld, in nutrition denied, in higher education forestalled or abandoned, in job train- ing aborted, in homes foreclosed. Their story — by the numbers — follows. (Figures front AFL-CIO Dept. _ of Economic Research, Congressional Budget Office, Children’s Defense _ Fund, U.S. agencies.) Workers . . . victimized © Number of individual workers suffering one or more episodes of unemployment, 1981 through 1983: 30 million (minimum figure). e Number of individual workers suffering ness by year: 1981, 23 million; 1982, million; 1983, 27 million. Average mean duration of unemploy- t, 1981-83 respectively: 14 weeks, 16 eeks, 20 weeks. ts , e Average gross weekly earnings lost per by jobless workers: 1981, $3,315; 1982, 005; 1983, $5,620. : » Overall gross weekly earnings of work- lost per year through unemployment: loss $76.2 billion; 1982 loss $108.1 llion; 1983 loss $151.7 billion. | Total gross weekly earnings lost THE STATISTICS OF (REAGAN’S) PAIN from AFL-CIO NEWS through unemployment 1981 through 1983: $336.1 billion. © Value of lost production 1981-83 respec- tively (as result of unemployment above 1979 level): $180 billion, $390 billion, $380 billion. e Total value lost production 1981-83: $950 billion. e Loss to U.S. Treasury through unem- ployment, 1981-83 (over 1979) respectively: $54 billion, $117 billion, $114 billion. © Total loss to Treasury through unem- ployment 1981-83: $285 billion (enough to substantially reduce record Reagan deficits). a. e Number of persons losing some or all health coverage as result of unemployment: 10.7 million. © Mortgage foreclosures during Reagan Recession (actual or in foreclosure process): 116,000 in 1981; 160,000 in 1982; 178,000 in 1988 (highest levels since tracking of statis- tic started in 1958). e Business failures during Reagan Reces- sion: 16,794 in-1981; 25,364 in 1982; 30,794in 1988 (highest since 31,822 in 1931 and four times 1970 rate of 7,564). Total business failures 1981-83: 72,934. e Rate of business failure: In 1979, 28 per 10,000; in 182, 89 per 10,000. The needy .. . needier e Needy persons losing all food stamp aid: 1 million. e Number of working poor, others, losing some food stamp aid: 4 million. e Increase in number Americans living in poverty: 6 million (1981-82 alone). Rate of poverty now highest in 17 years — 15% ofall Americans. EXPERTS ARE RIGHT erm eed a of chance. Butif war breaks outit will be vast and terrible. For time it will be universal, sucking in all the continents. Capitalism has widened the field and the entire planet will turn red with the blood of countless men. No more terrible iton can be made against this social system.” ean +h Socialist Leader speaking a decade before the outbreak of World War 1, var lee Gach nan’s “The Proud Tower”. e Cuts in Aid to Families with Dependent Children program (AFDC): $4.8 billion (18%); 725,000 families affected, 1.5 million children. © Children of needy families losing Medi- caid protection: 700,000 (1982 alone). © Children of needy families losing servi- ces at community health centers: 290,000. e Cuts in child nutrition programs: 28%. e Number of children from low-income homes losing free or reduced-price school lunches; 1.1 million. e Number of children from low-income homes losing free or reduced-price school breakfasts: 900,000. e Cutback in higher education loan pro- gram: 27%. e Number of young persons affected by cutbacks in low-interest loans for higher education: 700,000-plus. e Cuts in other student financial aid programs: 13%. © Medicaid/Medicare cuts: 5%. © Other health program cuts: 22%. e Cuts in job-training for disadvantaged: 35% ($7.4 billion). e Funds cut from retirement programs overall — food stamps, unemployment insurance, housing aid, AFDC: $27 billion. © Funds cut from health programs over- all: $18.5 billion. e Funds cut from education and social service programs overall: $18.7 billion. e Funds cut from employment and train- ing programs overall: $25 billion. e Total funds cut from people- helping programs under Reagan (1981- 84): $110.2 billion. NOTE: The $110.2 billion cuts in people-helping programs represents only that portion of Reagan-proposed slashes that Congress agreed to. They were not really deep enough for his taste. Had all Reagan cuts been adopted as proposed, the $110.2 billion figure would balloon to the $140-$150 billion range over the same time period. Lumber Worker/October, 1984/7