There are more than five ways, of course. There are numerous product rip-offs, as described in a recent article by Lynn Stuart Parramore, who identified textbooks, bottled water and print cartridges as a few of the ways Americans are duped into paying a lot more than reason and regulation would dictate.
And there are many industry-specific rip-offs, most notably in health care. We have the most expensive health care system in the world, yet we're falling behind other developed countries in numerous health measures.
Here are five more industry-specific rip-offs of the American people:
1. The Retail Industry (Wal-Mart): Building Owner Fortunes with Public Tax Money
A study in Wisconsin by the U.S. House Committee on Education and the Workforce determined that a typical Wal-Mart store costs taxpayers over $1.7 million per year, or about $5,815 per employee. A 2004 study in California put the cost per employee at $2,103.
In 2012, Wal-mart's pre-tax U.S. income was almost $18.7 billion. That's over $14,000 per U.S. Wal-Mart employee.
2. The Financial Industry: Printing Their Own Money
Thanks in good part to the derivatives market, the world's wealth has doubled in 10 years. Estimates of the speculative value of the financial derivatives market vary, from $708 trillion to $1.2 quadrillion. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange alone reported a 2011 trading volume of over $1 quadrillion on 3.4 billion annual contracts.
3. The Private Prison Industry: Billing Taxpayers for Empty Cells, then Selling Inmate Labor and Paying Them Sub-Minimum Wages
Almost two-thirds of the private prison contracts analyzed by In the Public Interest "included occupancy guarantees in the form of quotas or required payments for empty prison cells (a 'low-crime tax')."
Some private prisons, such as Corrections Corporation of America and G4S, sell inmate labor to corporations like Chevron, Bank of America, AT&T and IBM, and pay the prisoners less than a dollar an hour.
4. The Telecommunications Industry: Low Quality at High Prices
In the 1990s the FCC deregulated phone and cable and Internet companies with the intention of promoting competition. But just a few companies -- Verizon, AT&T, Comcast and Time Warner -- have divided up the market, reducing competition, as they remain poorly regulated.
So now South Korea has Internet access speeds 200 times faster than the U.S. at half the cost. Same thing is true in Hong Kong, while in Europe unlimited texting and voice from Verizon costs about a third of U.S. prices.
It gets worse, according to David Cay Johnston, who reports that regulations have been written to allow large corporations to add unsubstantiated charges to cell phones, cable TV, internet service providers and others, which can cost American families over $2,000 per year.
5. The Drug Industry: Buy American...But Tax Us Like We're Foreigners
Bernie Sanders notes that pharmaceutical companies, such as Eli Lilly and Pfizer, have lobbied to keep Americans from buying cheaper prescription drugs from Canada and Europe, but then they shift their drug patents and profits to offshore tax havens to avoid paying U.S. taxes.
Higher drug prices cost an average American family over $1250 per year.
Drug companies also participate in "Pay-for-Delay" deals through which brand-name firms pay generic makers to keep their cheaper drugs out of the market for a number of years.
That's capitalism. Ripping a once-strong society into little pieces.
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ABOUT PAUL BUCHHEIT
Paul Buchheit is a college teacher with formal training in language development and cognitive science. He is the founder and developer of social justice and educational websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, RappingHistory.org, PayUpNow.org), and the editor and main author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.
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