>During a recent taping of Jubilee Media’s web series Surrounded at the company’s Los Angeles studios, Talarico sat down with roughly 20 undecided Texas voters to debate his policy positions. The episode, which released on Monday, caught fire on social media after Talarico delivered a pointed reframing of conservative rhetoric about welfare spending. In a sharp challenge to long-standing political talking points about “welfare queens”—a term traditionally used to disparage low-income individuals receiving government benefits—Talarico flipped the script, arguing that the nation’s actual dependency on public resources flows upward, not downward.
>“The biggest welfare queens in this country are the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in federal taxes,” he said. He also extended his critique to include wealthy executives, adding “the biggest welfare queens are the CEOs who get a tax deduction for flying on a private jet.”
…
Talarico’s argument strikes at a real issue: Some of America’s largest corporations have legally structured their tax arrangements to minimize or eliminate federal income tax liability. This practice has drawn scrutiny from policymakers across the political spectrum and sparked ongoing debates about tax code reform. So, rather than accepting that welfare is primarily a lower-income issue, he argues the problem is systemic and benefits the wealthy.
>Talarico said his background as a middle school language arts teacher at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio informed many of his policy positions.
>“I was a public school teacher, so I saw how when kids showed up hungry, they couldn’t learn,” he told local ABC affiliate KSAT in October. “Even my brightest students, even my hardest working students couldn’t succeed. Couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they didn’t have boots.”
>To illustrate the point, he invoked a metaphor about teaching someone to fish: “If you’re gonna take your friend out on a boat for the day to teach him how to fish, you wanna make sure he had breakfast that morning. You wanna make sure he’s not sick, because that allows him to learn how to fish again,” he said.
>Since his election to the Texas House in 2018 at age 28, Talarico has positioned himself as a champion of legislation targeting corporate and pharmaceutical industry practices. He was instrumental in passing legislation capping insulin copays at $25 per month in Texas and enabling the importation of lower-cost medications from Canada.
>His Senate campaign messaging appears to hinge on this core idea: that fairness and personal responsibility should apply equally to billionaires and working people.
>“We don’t want dependency. We want to reward hard work. And I think that should apply to those billionaires, not just working people,” he said during the recent taping.
sexeveg314 on
Well farmers exist too.
ExoticAssignment5394 on
He has a point
QuestionSign on
I mean that’s just fact.
Ohuigin on
This is the whole ballgame.
It’s not left vs right. It’s up vs. down. It always has been, and it always will be.
It’s the most basic of strategies – divide and conquer. And it works so, goddamn well.
All of us fighting and at each other’s throats…it benefits no one other than the ruling class. Everyone reading this has more alike with one another than they do with whichever politician (save for a few, like Mr. Talarico here) they so vehemently attack or defend, because they’re all multi-millionaire+ people who haven’t been a part of normal society for 40+ years.
purplebrown_updown on
Absolutely. Finally someone saying the truth. THis is 100% correct. Any tax subsidy is welfare.
37Philly on
The Kansas City Chiefs are leaving Missouri for Kansas in a few years because Missouri wouldn’t give them a taxpayer funded stadium but Kansas will. The owners of the Chiefs are billionaires. Tax the rich.
riedmae on
And hes A1, gradeA, prime-cut, 100% fucking correct
---reddacted--- on
Corporate socialism
Specialist_Lock8590 on
Corporations have been purchasing the Republican Party for decades! Trump finally delivered! “Patriotic”, “American”, “Christians”, must be so proud!
HydrolicDespotism on
Billionaires and Corporations are parasites.
MushroomTypical9549 on
Exactly! The tax payers should get an annual report listing which companies are not paying a living wage.
If you work full time you should it be on welfare or foo stamps.
Floreat_democratia on
Repeal and replace Reaganomics.
Inevitable_Butthole on
“The American dream” was created after WW2 when a tax was placed on the wealthy. It made the nation incredibly prosperous.
Then Reagan took office and removed the tax, lowered capital gains tax, and catered to the rich. Since then, the dream quickly vanished while wealth only grew for the rich while everyone else was left in the dust.
Today, Trump follows the same principles Reagan did, creating a second round that will severely burden everyone but the rich for decades to come.
Made_in_Montana on
No notes.
Mikethebest78 on
People know this and don’t care. They have been fed a lie by the ruling class that they are not poor only temporarily embarrassed millionaires. They don’t want the corporations or the billionaires taxed because they cling to this fantasy that one day it will be them.
Exact_Platypus5179 on
That’s my boy! Get him on the ticket in 28 and the country will be alright
xoSweetCherriesxo on
The only time a politician used the phrase “welfare queen” without it being dog whistle soup was to point at corporations that bulldoze loopholes and dodge taxes while everyone else actually pays.
ReactionJifs on
Let him cook, but everyone knows that from birth
tripping_on_phonics on
Talarico is significantly better than his opponent in the primary.
SparkySpark1000 on
I don’t think Reagan would have liked this, and that’s a good thing.
Chimerain on
James Talarico ~~says~~ **goes against the wishes of mass media moguls and acknowledges that** the biggest ‘welfare queens’ in America are ‘the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in income taxes’
Fixed it for them.
rellett on
and nothing happens and they keep getting more, and shit hits the fan they get a bailout and we are screwed.
snowbirdnerd on
Obvious facts that’s taken way too long to hit the mainstream
DrFlaberghast on
The USA is a corporate socialist country dressed up as capitalism.
Take from the poor and give to the corp
CowboyBebopCrew on
100% Agree
Sonofagun57 on
Blue voting Texans, if you’re listening, this should be your candidate and please don’t f this up.
already-taken-wtf on
….also giving food stamps to full time workers is subsidising companies that don’t pay adequate liveable wages. …but hey, let’s complain about any brown person who competes for our third job. ;p
29 Comments
>During a recent taping of Jubilee Media’s web series Surrounded at the company’s Los Angeles studios, Talarico sat down with roughly 20 undecided Texas voters to debate his policy positions. The episode, which released on Monday, caught fire on social media after Talarico delivered a pointed reframing of conservative rhetoric about welfare spending. In a sharp challenge to long-standing political talking points about “welfare queens”—a term traditionally used to disparage low-income individuals receiving government benefits—Talarico flipped the script, arguing that the nation’s actual dependency on public resources flows upward, not downward.
>“The biggest welfare queens in this country are the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in federal taxes,” he said. He also extended his critique to include wealthy executives, adding “the biggest welfare queens are the CEOs who get a tax deduction for flying on a private jet.”
…
Talarico’s argument strikes at a real issue: Some of America’s largest corporations have legally structured their tax arrangements to minimize or eliminate federal income tax liability. This practice has drawn scrutiny from policymakers across the political spectrum and sparked ongoing debates about tax code reform. So, rather than accepting that welfare is primarily a lower-income issue, he argues the problem is systemic and benefits the wealthy.
>Talarico said his background as a middle school language arts teacher at Rhodes Middle School in San Antonio informed many of his policy positions.
>“I was a public school teacher, so I saw how when kids showed up hungry, they couldn’t learn,” he told local ABC affiliate KSAT in October. “Even my brightest students, even my hardest working students couldn’t succeed. Couldn’t pull themselves up by their bootstraps when they didn’t have boots.”
>To illustrate the point, he invoked a metaphor about teaching someone to fish: “If you’re gonna take your friend out on a boat for the day to teach him how to fish, you wanna make sure he had breakfast that morning. You wanna make sure he’s not sick, because that allows him to learn how to fish again,” he said.
>Since his election to the Texas House in 2018 at age 28, Talarico has positioned himself as a champion of legislation targeting corporate and pharmaceutical industry practices. He was instrumental in passing legislation capping insulin copays at $25 per month in Texas and enabling the importation of lower-cost medications from Canada.
>His Senate campaign messaging appears to hinge on this core idea: that fairness and personal responsibility should apply equally to billionaires and working people.
>“We don’t want dependency. We want to reward hard work. And I think that should apply to those billionaires, not just working people,” he said during the recent taping.
Well farmers exist too.
He has a point
I mean that’s just fact.
This is the whole ballgame.
It’s not left vs right. It’s up vs. down. It always has been, and it always will be.
It’s the most basic of strategies – divide and conquer. And it works so, goddamn well.
All of us fighting and at each other’s throats…it benefits no one other than the ruling class. Everyone reading this has more alike with one another than they do with whichever politician (save for a few, like Mr. Talarico here) they so vehemently attack or defend, because they’re all multi-millionaire+ people who haven’t been a part of normal society for 40+ years.
Absolutely. Finally someone saying the truth. THis is 100% correct. Any tax subsidy is welfare.
The Kansas City Chiefs are leaving Missouri for Kansas in a few years because Missouri wouldn’t give them a taxpayer funded stadium but Kansas will. The owners of the Chiefs are billionaires. Tax the rich.
And hes A1, gradeA, prime-cut, 100% fucking correct
Corporate socialism
Corporations have been purchasing the Republican Party for decades! Trump finally delivered! “Patriotic”, “American”, “Christians”, must be so proud!
Billionaires and Corporations are parasites.
Exactly! The tax payers should get an annual report listing which companies are not paying a living wage.
If you work full time you should it be on welfare or foo stamps.
Repeal and replace Reaganomics.
“The American dream” was created after WW2 when a tax was placed on the wealthy. It made the nation incredibly prosperous.
Then Reagan took office and removed the tax, lowered capital gains tax, and catered to the rich. Since then, the dream quickly vanished while wealth only grew for the rich while everyone else was left in the dust.
Today, Trump follows the same principles Reagan did, creating a second round that will severely burden everyone but the rich for decades to come.
No notes.
People know this and don’t care. They have been fed a lie by the ruling class that they are not poor only temporarily embarrassed millionaires. They don’t want the corporations or the billionaires taxed because they cling to this fantasy that one day it will be them.
That’s my boy! Get him on the ticket in 28 and the country will be alright
The only time a politician used the phrase “welfare queen” without it being dog whistle soup was to point at corporations that bulldoze loopholes and dodge taxes while everyone else actually pays.
Let him cook, but everyone knows that from birth
Talarico is significantly better than his opponent in the primary.
I don’t think Reagan would have liked this, and that’s a good thing.
James Talarico ~~says~~ **goes against the wishes of mass media moguls and acknowledges that** the biggest ‘welfare queens’ in America are ‘the giant corporations that don’t pay a penny in income taxes’
Fixed it for them.
and nothing happens and they keep getting more, and shit hits the fan they get a bailout and we are screwed.
Obvious facts that’s taken way too long to hit the mainstream
The USA is a corporate socialist country dressed up as capitalism.
Take from the poor and give to the corp
100% Agree
Blue voting Texans, if you’re listening, this should be your candidate and please don’t f this up.
….also giving food stamps to full time workers is subsidising companies that don’t pay adequate liveable wages. …but hey, let’s complain about any brown person who competes for our third job. ;p
Most of us regulars are in a 25% income bracket.