Spit out Schultz's shallow candidacy: His bromide-filled campaign will only help elect Trump
Weak brew. (Elaine Thompson / AP)
Most people don’t put V-8 in their coffee. But if you do, there’s a perfect presidential candidate for you: former Starbucks Chairman and CEO Howard Schultz.
The Seattle billionaire is running as an independent. His campaign makes as much sense as adding vegetable juice to your espresso. Indeed, if Starbucks coffee were as weak and poorly brewed as the positions Schultz has ever so vaguely advanced so far, the coffee chain would go bankrupt.
His run will, however, make it possible for Trump to win a second term. All Schultz needs do is divert a few million votes from people who want Trump out but dislike voting for any Democratic Party nominee.
Schultz isn’t offering fully developed policy proposals yet, just bromides and claims of expertise. There’s someone sitting in the White House who did a lot of that in his campaign.
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And what’s especially disturbing about the new businessman-politician on the block, 65, a lifelong Democrat, is that at a time of massive wealth inequality, his vague statements would sit just fine with both fellow plutocrats and Republican leaders on Capitol Hill.
For example, he says Medicare for All “is not affordable.” Instead he wants to adjust the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, so “corporations have more skin in the game.”
How would that cut costs and improve care?
Saying universal coverage is not affordable is a curious argument since every other modern country has universal coverage and lower costs, and most have better outcomes overall.
Despite the progress of the Affordable Care Act, our country still has about 30 million people with no health insurance and many millions more with inadequate coverage. Only in America do people lose their homes or go bankrupt because of medical bills.
Consider French health care, rated best in the world by the World Health Organization. The French economy is only 70% as large per person as America, yet the French enjoy high-quality care with little out-of-pocket cost.
If we spent per person what the French (or Germans) do, the savings would be the equivalent of eliminating income taxes for everyone who makes under $500,000. But Schultz says we can’t afford that. Say what?
On taxes, Schultz wants “tax reform.”
Don’t we all. But one person’s tax reform may be even lower rates for the rich, as with the Trump tax law, while working stiffs pay taxes before they collect their pay.
So what kind of reform does Schultz want? He opposes the proposed 2% tax on wealth over $50 million and 3% over $1 billion proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat. On his $2.8 billion of Starbucks stock, Warren would make Schultz pay $74 million a year.
Under current law, Schultz’s fortune will only be taxed if he sells shares or gives them to his family. Congress lets he and other plutocrats borrow against their wealth, currently at the lowest interest rates in seven centuries. That lets plutocrats enjoy spending their money without paying any tax. Done right, they can even deduct the interest on their tax returns.
And what about taxing private jets? In 2017, Starbucks rented a jet from Schultz for $3.2 million a year. On top of that, Starbucks shareholders paid all operating costs.
Schultz paid only for purely personal use of his jet. Under exceptionally favorable tax rules, Congress treated, and still treats, personal use by executives as income valued at 18 cents to 24 cents per mile. That means the income tax on personal use is at most 9 cents per mile flown. Nice deal if you can get it.
Asked by CNN if his candidacy might give Trump a second term, Schultz said, “I would never put myself in the position where I am the person who re-elects Donald Trump.” Keeping that promise is easy. Schultz just needs to stop his campaign today.
Johnston is author of “It’s Even Worse Than You Think: What the Trump Administration Is Doing to America.”
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