Generally speaking, the political writing I do is catharsis for me. It helps me to deal with the things that upset me in the realm of politics and government. But, every once in awhile, I write something that actually makes me more upset. My most recent piece for A2Politico is one of them.
The piece is titled Whirlpool Corp — A Michigan Job Creation “Success Story”: Dodging Taxes & Profiting from Poverty. In the article, I talk about how Whirlpool has been largely responsible for the traumatic decline of Benton Harbor and has spent (at least) the last decade profiting handsomely from it. In the process, they have had help from their political benefactor and paid representative Congressman Fred Upton. I conclude the piece with this:
Whether or not Jonathan Mahler is right about Whirlpool being the salvation of Benton Harbor remains to be seen. What is clear is that, if they are, it will be because they have very deliberately used the city’s desperate situation, in part caused by Whirlpool’s outsourcing of manufacturing jobs to other countries, to direct taxpayer monies into their own bank accounts. If Whirlpool saves Benton Harbor, it will likely because they were able to steal Benton Harbor from the largely black, poor residents who live there—a scam underwritten, in part, by taxpayers.Maybe they’ll rename the town Upton Harbor.
I commend your attention to it HERE.
ADDING… You can contribute to Fred Upton’s Democratic opponent John Waltz HERE.
