Editing Corporate welfare (section)

==== Background ====
[[Subsidies]] considered excessive, unwarranted, wasteful, unfair, inefficient, or bought by [[lobbying]] are often called corporate welfare.<ref name="NYT-20140327">{{cite news|last=Kristof|first=Nicholas|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/27/opinion/kristof-a-nation-of-takers.html|title=A Nation of Takers?|date=March 27, 2014|work=[[The New York Times]]|access-date=March 27, 2014|author-link=Nicholas Kristof}}</ref> The label of corporate welfare is often used to decry projects advertised as benefiting the general welfare that spend a disproportionate amount of funds on large corporations, and often in uncompetitive, or [[anti-competitive]] ways. For instance, in the United States, [[agricultural subsidy|agricultural subsidies]] are usually portrayed as helping independent farmers stay afloat. In actuality, the majority of income gained from commodity support programs has gone to large [[agribusiness]] corporations such as [[Archer Daniels Midland]], as they own a considerably larger percentage of production.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter3.htm |title=USDA: American Farms |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070210035144/http://www.usda.gov/factbook/chapter3.htm |archive-date=February 10, 2007 |work=[[United States Department of Agriculture]] }}</ref>

Alan Peters and Peter Fisher, Associate Professors at the [[University of Iowa]],<ref>{{cite conference |url=https://www.bostonfed.org/-/media/Documents/neer/neer297f.pdf |title=Tax and Spending Incentives and Enterprise Zones |last1=Fisher |first1=Peter S. |last2=Peters |first2=Alan H. |date=March–April 1997 |publisher= [[Federal Reserve Bank of Boston|Boston Fed]] |pages=109–137 |location=Boston |conference=New England Economic Review}}</ref> have estimated that state and local governments provide $40–50 billion annually in economic development incentives,<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Fisher |first1=Peter |last2=Peters |first2=Alan |date=March 2004 |title=The Failures of Economic Development Incentives |url=http://www.crcworks.org/cfscced/fisher.pdf |journal=Journal of the American Planning Association |volume=70 |issue=1 |pages=27–37 |doi=10.1080/01944360408976336 |access-date=April 13, 2018 |citeseerx=10.1.1.661.6308 }}</ref> which critics characterize as corporate welfare.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://baltimorebrew.com/2011/07/14/tax-breaks-for-developers-economic-development-or-corporate-welfare/ |title=Tax breaks for developers – economic development or corporate welfare? |first=Mark |last=Reutter |date=July 13, 2011 |website=Baltimore Brew |access-date=November 3, 2019 }}</ref>

Multiple economists have considered the [[Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008|2008 bank bailouts in the United States]] to be a form of corporate welfare.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/business/us-could-cut-deficit-and-gain-but-thats-unlikely-20101207-18oew.html |access-date=December 22, 2010 | title=US could cut deficit and gain, but that's unlikely |work=Sydney Morning Herald |first=Joseph |last=Stiglitz |date=December 8, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/20/welfare-for-bankers/ | title=Welfare for Bankers  |first=Nancy |last=Folbre | work=[[The New York Times]] |date=April 20, 2009 | url-access=limited}}</ref> U.S. politicians have also contended that zero-interest loans from the [[Federal Reserve System]] to financial institutions during and after the [[2008 financial crisis]] were a hidden, backdoor form of corporate welfare.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://thehill.com/policy/finance/131487-sanders-uses-fed-disclosures-to-call-for-further-inquiry |access-date=December 15, 2010 | title=Sanders uses 'jaw-dropping' Fed disclosures to call for further inquiry |work=The Hill |first=Peter |last=Schroeder |date=December 1, 2010 }}</ref> The term gained increased prominence in 2018 when Senator [[Bernie Sanders]] introduced a bill, singling out [[Amazon (company)|Amazon]] and [[Walmart]] in particular, to require a company with 500 or more employees to pay the full cost of welfare benefits received by its workers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/5/17819450/bernie-sanders-stop-bezos-amazon-worker-pay-corporate-welfare-tax-bill |title=Bernie Sanders introduces "Stop BEZOS" bill to tax Amazon for underpaying workers |first=Adi |last=Robertson |website=The Verge |date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=September 14, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/bernie-sanders-amazon-walmart-with-100-tax/ |title=Bernie Sanders targets Amazon, Walmart with 100% tax |first=Kate |last=Gibson |publisher=CBS |date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=September 14, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/5/17822810/bernie-sanders-bill-bezos-amazon-ro-khanna |title=Bernie Sanders's BEZOS bill takes aim at how Amazon pays workers |first=Emily |last=Stewart |publisher=Vox |date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=September 14, 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.huffpost.com/entry/bernie-sanders-amazon_n_5b8eecade4b0511db3dcfd55 |title=What the Bernie Sanders Amazon welfare fight is really about |first1=Arthur |last1=Delaney |first2=Dave |last2=Jamieson | work=[[HuffPost]] |date=September 5, 2018}}</ref>