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United Welfare States of America: In 2011 Nearly Half The Population Received Some Form Of Government Benefit
While politicians may debate whether or not America is the most "generous" (with other generations' money of course) socialist welfare state in the history of mankind, the undoctored numbers make the affirmative case quite clear and without any chance for confusion. The single most disturbing statistic: in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit, which in turn accounted for 65% of total federal spending, or $2.5 trillion, and amount to 15% of GDP. And yet some people out there still think these people, long since indoctrinated to do little but mooch off the welfare state (which will continue subsidizing its existence so long as debt rates are so low that the government can issue trillions each year without fears of consequences) will halt their iTunes purchases, will voluntarily stop subsisting on the government's teat, or will rebel against a government which is their only source of income? Why? Especially since something tells us that there will be a peculiar overlap between this 50% and the 50% of Americans that pay zero taxes.
Of course, this chart should be observed in conjunction with the "What is this?" chart we presented two days ago from Morgan Stanley which pretty much explains everything about the US "economy"
From John Lohman
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"Last time I checked you need to pay back student loans."
It might be a bit technical, but there are grants, subsidized loans and unsubsidized loans. Subsidized loans are free money the same way that the Fed giving nearly interest free loans is giving free money. Government grants are purely free money. Regardless of whether you have to pay them back or not, they all qualify as government assistance.
"You have obviously never seen the ease most of the "working poor" get their assistance."
You have no god damn idea who you're talking to.
I've been on gvt assistance. It is not "easy", the hoops you have to jump through to get food in the WIC program are absurd. Its almost difficult enough to keep one from being able to get a job. Every public assistance program I've been involved in or known someone thats been involved in is a beaurcratic nightmare that makes doing taxes look easy.
"I've never met anyone recieving government assistance that works hard. I've also never seen anyone try to get off it once they start sucking the government tit. "
That doesn't surprise me, you sound like someone who tries to keep as far away from the "Unwashed masses" as possible. Check this out; There are people in the world that exist despite your limited exposure to the world.
Sorry if you're insulted; But that's ME and My Family You're talking about.
I'll bet i've done more hard manual labor on government assistance than you will in your life, but even if I'm wrong....Now you've met someone who was BORN on government assistance, till his parents worked their asses off to get off of it. Got on WIC again when he was a young father, working and in college. Got off, and never went back.
My ex wife was on government assistance. Right up until she graduated from nursing school (While she had a job and raised a kid, none of which I'm sure you think is working hard) Shes still working (Can't afford not to), right after surgery for brain cancer. IF she lives she might one day deliver one of your grandchildren. You should think about that.
Nearly Half? hahahahaha! Try nearly all.
How quickly we forget home much government assistance goes into propping up the Great American Homeower, who still believes that house prices not going to infinity and beyond is some kind of "glitch" that must be corrected. But, but, but they're not part of this dispicable "Welfare State," are they?
http://acrossthestreetnet.wordpress.com/2011/07/21/fun-with-dick-and-janes-addiction-sort-of/
Yeah, Mark, the fascist doesn't recognize that every time he files a tax return, he is getting a gov payout.
To paraphrase, We are all welfare recipients now...
And this is the way it has always been and will always be, isn't the definition of politics, the allocation of scarce government resources?
G
Let's get real. Government handouts have been growing unbounded for the last 80 years. The economy hasn't.
I agree. The government is supporting ALL industries and ALL people either directly or indirectly. The economy of the future is going to look much much different once the government handouts dry up.
How much government assistance goes into propping up the fucking stock market? Now THAT'S a fucking scandal that ain't getting much ink...but sure...let's blame the ones that can't afford to eat.
The implied blame in this article if fucking sickening and disgusting.
This may be the first time I'm ashamed of ZH.
The "implied blame" since day one of Zero Hedge is that it is the man in the mirror who is to "blame" for everything at the end of the day.The problem since before day one, is that said man rarely if ever, especially in any welfare state, accepts said blame
BINGO!
Do you really believe that the barely schooled, minimum wage do anything to survive person in this or any other county is dealing with choices? Do you think people really make a philosophical choice to need food stamps to live?
I don't ask the following question in a sarcastic or derisive manner but instead I ask you sincerely: do you know any people on food stamps?
Yes: YOU. Well, I don't really actually know you. And I don't care if you retort by claiming you are not on foodstamps.
The fact that you OK people on foodstamps, that you OK their humanity being defiled, that you praise their descent into slavery...that means you are like the oligarchs.
They -the oligarchs- and you....will dance in the air when TSHTF.
That Sir, is fucking cold blooded, but I like it.
You make no sense whatsoever.
"The fact that you OK people on foodstamps, that you OK their humanity being defiled, that you praise their descent into slavery...that means you are like the oligarchs."
That is a completely imbecilic response. Is it your contention that denying people the means with which to eat is more humane?
And what's the deal with this Alex Jonesian dose of psychobabble?
"They -the oligarchs- and you....will dance in the air when TSHTF."
An I supposed to be scared? Confused? Aroused? Perplexed? What? What the fuck is that nonsense?
Jesus fuckin christ man, grow up.
You are a lost cause. You believe foodstamps are the cureall for world hunger. The state is your saviour. You are a lackey and proud of it.
I might not make sense to you.... in the same way a bunch of cockroaches could not make sense of someone trying to lecture them on quantum field theory.
Now go back to cheering Ogolfer's foodstamps and the NE Patriots.
Gee, I guess when I, my ex-wife and our baby got on food stamps while we were in college, and got to stop trying to live off a can of muscle blast and a jumbo size bag of mini-pretzles that someone gave us because they felt sorry for us, those food stamps were the oligarchs supressing us.
When my daughter gets home from her college veternary class and her mom gets home from delivering babies at the local hospital, I'll be sure to tell them how they were drug down by the man by being given enough food to survive.
What. Ever.
The welfare system is flawed, sure. But your paranoid delusions of enslavement through keeping people from becoming malnourished are perposterous.
Hey, heres a question; I thought that the grand conspiracy was to dumb everyone down with crap food that malnourishes us and makes us pliant slaves?
Can you explain why the WIC program is so carefully designed to ensure that children get whole foods that are nutritious instead of junk? Its very thouroughly designed so that children aren't living off of junk food. Or is WIC forbidding Chocolate milk and juice that is less than 10% real juice more "suppression of the oligarchs?"
I know quite a few people on food stamps. As far as I can tell michigan has loosened up on who they give food stamps to. Some people actually need them and others just get them so they no longer have to pay for food. I know people who more or less specialize in working the system. I'm all for helping someone in true need but what i see going on now looks like we're really just setting our selves up for failure.
US is a welfare state, but not for 99%. Got that, or would you rather continue to live in your fantasy land of 'trickle down' bullshit. They can't even kick the illegals out of Georgia because they''re finding out that it's the illegals that support the local economy. Now, spin this!
No, sorry.. The article describes EVERYONE who happens to live in the same household as someone who has received any form of government assistance for any amount of time during 2011 as "being conditioned to mooch off the welfare state."
Never mind that "government assistance" includes;
programs to feed babies and seniors
Disability for people that are injured doing dangerous jobs
Veterans
Grants for education
subsidized housing
And numerous other programs that are designed for the working poor.
The assertion that by merely living in the same household as; a injured Vet, someone injured on an oil platform, or your sisters baby thats on the WIC program for a month, you are somehow a parasite on society, is CLEARLY a classist Blame Game tactic that honestly I would expect more from the likes of Rush Limbaugh than this site.
I thought this site prided itself on the critical assessment of statistics? The inability to distinguish between "50% of people live in a household that has a member that..."
And
"50% of people are mooching off the system..."
Really calls that into question.
And the notion that the field laborers that I've met that literally live 15 deep in chicken coops with dirt floors simply need to "cancel their I tunes subscriptions" makes me wonder if the author has any idea what poverty is actually like?
who got the damn biggest government paychecks of all !!! It sure wasn't me ! & no one i know got any monster paycheck to pay off their mortgages. Funny how GOLDMAN, G.E., G.M., (& others) were on the verge of bankruptcy in 2008 ..... they get monster government paychecks, yet, those who can't find employment thru no fault of their own (outsourcing, i think they call it) , these are the people who are supposedly ruining this country. the RUINATION of this country is in Washington & Wall St. .... not the elderly, the children & the unemployed.
The elderly, the children and the unemployed are NOT being targeted!
WTF! The point is that these people are impoverished by the state,
Their is no reason for anyone in the USA to need anything from anyone,
Government policies and Wall street finaglings and Fed international banking Desires, create the circumstance of need for millions by deliberate clusterfuck agendas, so that they can remain in power.
it is that simple, wake up.
"in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit"
Does that include only welfare queens who don't have to pretend to work? (welfare)
Or also including welfare queens who have to pretend to work? (all .gov "workers")
"overlap between this 50% and the 50% of Americans that pay zero taxes."
By definition anyone on welfare can't pay any taxes, they stuff their pockets with tax money. (mega) Dittos a .gov worker cannot pay taxes because it is only stolen tax money in his pocket. Giving a small or large portion of the stolen loot back is an "accounting fiction" not paying taxes.
Of course, this is what the current Republican party candidates seeking their partiy's nomination want to put a stop to - as they keep repeating at rallies and in the debates -
Never mind that more than 1/2 their audience probably is at the receiving end of the govt. largess they decry including that doled out by the Fed.
As they move to Florida - Gingrich and Romney in particular - watch them complain about Obama creating an "entitlement" socialist state (just like France), and also blame him (when addressing the geezer population of Florida) because how Obama has already cut $500 billion from Medicare, and how they on turn will "protect" Medicare and Social Security instead. Sort of what W Bush did by giving them drug benefits that were not included in the budget as spending.
In othe words, left wing socialism is bad but right wing socialism is good for getting votes.
Food stamps are positive for the economy. Dear Leader Obama told us, so it is true. Hunger is gluttony.
Wal-Mart saves the average family $2500 a year, and I'd like to see the government do that.
Here's an example of how Uncle Sam works....
Semi-retired, a few years ago I volunteered to be a commissioned officer in the USAF, Medical Corps, for 3 years. It was great, and while I was there I had a small little mole (2 mm) taken off my cheek by a dermatology buddy because I kept nicking it shaving. Then I just forgot about it. But during the exit process on the way back to civilian life, everybody had to go through countless interviews and medical debriefings to rack up disability points, which is SOP.
But during the exit interviews I told them I was fine but the mole removal was, of course, on my record and they insisted that it be included as "Facial disfigurement," worth $250 month disability... from then on. WTF? I was flabbergasted but you simply could not tell these people "NO".
Dear Dr. Krugman,
If we blew up the current fiat system today do you know what we would find? Why the true price of everything, ergo the true value of everything.
You sir, would have very little value.
too bad that so many of those "man in the mirror" people are the innocent ones, the salt-of-the earth citizens who were DUPED by the government & Wall St.
DUPED from the cradle.
thus the noose tightens
This is the kind of tripe spread by the "1" percent and their fellow unindicted co-conspirators. The 2.5 trillion dollars includes Social Security payments which for most recipients are a return of their own funds with a very poor return on those assets that were accumulated over a lifetime of taking 15 percent of their wages while their supposed trust fund was looted by the select and priviledged few in this country. Quit working for the "1" percent and start posting the truth about who really benefits from these government programs. Hint: It isn't the direct beneficiaries of these programs. Its those that are allowed to loot them.
That stack of jack is mostly fucking IOU's. System is on life support now. 2-5 years then DOA...
You do realize that the average SS benefit reciever gets WAY more money back than they ever pay in... right? I won't even go into medicare.
Time to slaughter the welfare pig. The only problem is all rats on govt. cheese will go apeshit with out their freebies. Let the churches and charities hand out the freebies to those deserving. Time to halve our pig of a govt. The only problem with that is killing 1.5 million workers making 75k-200k a year plus freaking govt. ass kisser prime health insurance for their govt. butt buddies aint going to boost up our bogus GDP numbers much. Social Security and Medicare are also in their last 3-5 years. All the suckers like myself will get the shaft, but I know that and will game the system by acquiring shiny round items and lead projectiles.
Well than I better get a move on it and jump on this bandwagon before it goes over 50 %
Dr. Krugman,
Perhaps we should all stop debating and give into your new central planning mechanism. LOL.. NOT!!!
http://www.thevenusproject.com/
Wow, look at all this neat shit someone can build and refer to it as a new society.. Who the fuck will pay for this???
You think SOPA is bad?
http://investmentwatchblog.com/threatening-new-bill-worse-than-sopapipa-...
H.R. 1981: Protecting Children From Internet Pornographers Act of 2011
That name is what brought the anecdote back to me. A better name for the child pornography bill would be The Encouragement of Blackmail by Law Enforcement Act. At issue is how to catch child pornographers. It’s too hard now, say the bill’s backers, and I can sympathize. It’s their solution that appalls me: under language approved 19 to 10 by a House committee, the firm that sells you Internet access would be required to track all of your Internet activity and save it for 18 months, along with your name, the address where you live, your bank account numbers, your credit card numbers, and IP addresses you’ve been assigned.
Tracking the private daily behavior of everyone in order to help catch a small number of child criminals is itself the noxious practice of police states. Said an attorney for the Electronic Frontier Foundation: “The data retention mandate in this bill would treat every Internet user like a criminal and threaten the online privacy and free speech rights of every American.” Even more troubling is what the government would need to do in order to access this trove of private information: ask for it.
I kid you not — that’s it.
As written, The Protecting Children from Internet Pornographers Act of 2011 doesn’t require that someone be under investigation on child pornography charges in order for police to access their Internet history — being suspected of any crime is enough. (It may even be made available in civil matters like divorce trials or child custody battles.) Nor do police need probable cause to search this information. As Rep. James Sensenbrenner says, (R-Wisc.) “It poses numerous risks that well outweigh any benefits, and I’m not convinced it will contribute in a significant way to protecting children.”
Let's cut to the chase..Hand over your DNA. Between you and James Sensenbrenner, we can determine if your fit for society. DNA never lies.
They already have your DNA. They have been taken it at birth for 40 years.
There are lots of PNP's (pro nuke pimps) out there talking complete garbage such as Solar PV costs 70 cents per kWH.
The Real Cost to Implement PV Solar Electric has dropped to 2.94 Cents per KWH !!!
The world has changed underneath their feet, they don't want to have to learn a new livelihood even they are killing us slowly and sometimes more quickly. More quickly if you unfortunate enough to have inhaled some of the plutonium hot particles that were launched in the jet stream when reactor 3 blew sky-high. Information on that is here:
http://nukepimp.blogspot.com/p/uranium-aerosolized-into-atmosphere.html
In link below, here is the proof, an real life cost proposal, savings chart properly de-rated, and a long term savings chart.
Solar Electric is now 2.94 Cents per KWH.
http://nukepimp.blogspot.com/2012/01/solar-electric-photovoltaic-cost-pe...
I wish, but that isnt accurate. It assumes a massive tax credit from a particular state which is not the case elsewhere, and also assumes that a tax credit is the same as spending less money on the system (and thereby having that lower cost) which it is not.
http://www.sunelec.com/solar-panels-c-5.html
Two problems with the data sources for the graph: WSJ, Heritage Foundation.
Thinks Tanks are setting the agenda.
Who owns the think tanks?
Data is not the only problem.
The poor are really living it up! No! Living in barricaded cadboard houses in Compton listening to their itunes. Robber barons must be squealing with jealousy.
It's even worse than that. The data for the 50% includes SS and Medicare. But the headline and the chart speak of "welfare". So you can see why most of the commentors here mistakenly assume that 50% of Americans are receiving welfare.
It's the same when you hear that 50% don't pay taxes. The actual number if 50% don't pay FEDERAL INCOME taxes. Everybody pays SS taxes at an effective rate of 15% on the first dollar of earnings and every dollar thereafter up to about $108k. That's why Romney pays 15% (capital gains but no SS because little of his income is ordinary income) while his secretary pays 15% SS and most likely about 23% effective Federal Income taxes.
Hmm lets see if i remember how to get my 450 a week here in CA... no, no, yes, no, no, no sign here please and thank you!! I had a friend living in Peru while his mom filled out his edd forms and deposited the checks in his account.. So I find out my buddy slept his older bro who is my better friends GF and gets her pregnant and flees to peru. So i email the EDD fraud team..nothing happens said friend is bragging and laughs all the way to the bank..Hmmm maybe i should just call them then...So to actually speak to a person you will be stuck calling the english line for hours to no avail..as a seasonal worker i have learned well just call the spanish line..that bitch gets picked up instantly,, i say hola habla ingles?? haha works every time..anyways i explain to three different folks what my buddy is doing and why i am calling to tell them he is in Peru and collecting.. of course nothing happens to him and he is able to get two extensions.... Such a scam..... kinda a hypocrite collecting and benefitting from a policy i know is just wrong... i pay into this sucker and risk my life all summer and get paid shit so dont worry i dont feel that bad..
Honesty and hard work are qualities we used to admire in America. It's sad that you are an exception in our modern culture. I for one thank you for your attempt to keep the dishonest cheaters in line. We need people like you in financial regulation roles and government.
+1000
It begins:
TOKYO, Jan 23 - According to a Reuters poll, some 65% of Japanese manufacturers polled are bracing for a breakup of the EuroZone on the back of the two-year debt crisis. 31% said they were changing business plans on the back of this expectation. Of these, some 90% said they could scale back operations or have already done so. According to the article, Japanese manufacturers are also looking to pare down operations in North America and China in favor of other Asian countries.
And yet some people out there still think these people, long since indoctrinated to do little but mooch off the welfare state (which will continue subsidizing its existence so long as debt rates are so low that the government can issue trillions each year without fears of consequences) will halt their iTunes purchases, will voluntarily stop subsisting on the government's teat, or will rebel against a government which is their only source of income?- Tyler
This "moocher off the government teat", 100% disabled war veteran whom no one will hire, beyond the occasional volunteer gig at 2 or 3 hours a month is asking; What is it you think I'm doing if not directly rebelling, refusing to purchase Iwhateverthefuck and living simply? Tyler, perhaps it's time you asked the same question of those that occupy the professions the same question as I ask myself for ever being so stupid as choosing a career in uniform and later the public service. Hell, ask it of every member of society since everyone is suckling at the teat in some way.
Damn straight. Reports like this always leave out the top end subsistence receivers... like corporate tax loopholes (they aren't there by accident), middle class home ownership subsidization through tax breaks, OIL subsidies, corporate bailouts (how much has been spent on banks++ vs private sector welfare). It is 100% participation in some way.
I wonder if those low class moochers would prefer to be working for an honest wage (I think so), if jobs weren't scattered to the four corners of the world... and perhaps if they received some fucking respect, instead of being treated like "enemies" of the company.
I guess the next one is, why don't you just start you're own business... Well, that requires capital formation, which requires saving, which requires wages (assuming there are some to be had) that beat inflation, which requires corporate CEO types to take a little less of the pie. Oh, I know, just get a loan... and feed more money into the banking empire and then have everything taken from you at the first downturn. It also requires a decent education, and we all know how america is doing in that bracket.
The fact that every outlet of "indoctrination" has told the citizens of america to NOT SAVE and to SPEND SPEND SPEND, on credit no less... I think one has to wonder what indoctrination is really at work keeping people on the welfare system. I'll never forget my econ teacher trying to explain how I was "wealthier" after buying a hamburger...
Thank you, you've clearly also been in small business ... I can tell.
Respect for wisdom.
God that puts a crimp in my fucking style, that is for sure.
If we used your services to really defend the country and not protect upper class financial interests, every thing would be so much clearer, wouldn't it? '
I don't want it to be true that you did the stuff you did on dollars I paid into the system.
I want you taken care of but for really different reasons.
All you soldiers who are being hosed should get together and sue all of us for allowing our legeislators and president to run these on going military operations for the almost exclusive benefit of the elite. When an 18 year old young man or woman joins up, they don't know they are going under false pretenses, most of them come to really believe in the mission. The fact that you sign a contract and must commit to a number of years is the tell. This is coercive. Draft is coercive. Once one knows what is up, most would want to leave, that is why they make you sign that contract before giving you the job. If you were really defending the country, it would be hard to learn what you learn, but it would also feel wholesome and satisfying. If I believed that back in the day, I might have signed up.
A wholesome instinct (to protect) is taken advantage of an exploited. It is a lie. You did not get to do what you signed on to do. Instead you were Ponzi scheme enforcers. I do think you are owed for jumping out of too many planes and getting permanently disabled for doing so. We owe you because you were lied to.
If the system was honest, you protected us, and in turn, it would be natural for us to want to protect you and care for you in return. The system is not honest. The rest becomes unclear for many. Not me.
Thanks for your service. Love ya dude. Fuck them.
I know this was not entirely your point (we are all Ponzi participants now), but I needed to say it.
When an 18 year old young man or woman joins up, they don't know they are going under false pretenses, most of them come to really believe in the mission.
/////////////////////////////////////////////////////
Sure, sure.
Actually, the quick succession and length of wars waged by the US has made it possible for an elder brother to hand down pieces of advice to the younger brother who comes to join the military knowing that:
-the 'enemy' is easy (killing is fun)
-the money is good (great kickstart in life)
-excellent for resumes (big gang of military veterans, powerful lobby and all)
etc...
So the misled poor white US kids who would have no other opportunities but to live off blood money...
Cheaper by the day propaganda.
But there is a more constructive alternative, just get a job with Lockheed Martin.
That is a growing high-tech private sector job with a real future it ain't dependent of Govt welfare, nor on taxpayers.
oh .... wait ... ... never mind
Well put, as an engineer I viewed working for a defense contractor with the same level of distaste as working for a slaughter house, it is all about efficiency kill rate...... very bad karma..........
MsCreant: One of your best! Smedley Butler would be proud...
" My plan is to provide productive tools to the economy"
LOL, So more debt in a debt saturated economy? Please!
Bankers loaded down the youth with thousands (more like $100K) for 4 years of college.
Foxconn pays it's workers .32/hour, overseas labor (Science disciplines, disapengineering) has caused massive wage arbitration.
Already you have countries such as China, India,Russia and South Amermembers ready to leave the dollar because of Bernanke and the Fed's dollar debasing. Really, Benanke and the Federal Reserve need to be taught a nasty lession in printing from the rest of the world.
Mr Krugman how do solve these issues?
"Ready to leave"? Already leaving the Dollar. Lots of recent announcements about settling inter-country trade (oil) in national currencies. China, India, Russia, Iran....
Pretty hot in the comments section tonight!
I don't want to step inadvertently into the line of fire, believe me! But I would like to point out the obvious fact that "government" has no resources that are not taken from its subjects in taxes directly or in printing which is a different form of taxation most aren't really aware of. What it takes from others it redistributes and not at random but to further its goals, which are never publicly articulated. Even those who are living completely off of so called government handouts are still being taxed by rising prices and comcommitant lower quality in all consumer goods. The quality of life of all in this society is going down, well, almost all. There is a "tightening" syndrome felt by most which is cumulative and has been going on since the 1970's. And the worst problem currently is that there are NO JOBS for those young people graduating from high school and college or those who have lost jobs in the last several years and are over 50. And we are ALL TO BLAME. The present outcome has to be the result of the inaction and action of the entire public as a whole over a long timespan. How could it be otherwise? Many have been on a down economic escalator for years. GDP and unemployment statistics released by the BLS and other agencies are largely fictitious, conning the public, but most of all deceiving the various markets and positioning folks on the wrong side of trades the insiders wish to make. One could go on and on but let's not fall for the divide and conquer media technique of disinformation and misinformation which is continually streamed to keep the plebes at each others throats, so to speak: race against race, gay against hetero, economic class against economic class and all the rest. The anger level is rising but there is no concensus public perception as to what actually is happening, to whom, by whom for whom, etc. Most puzzling is the fact that Congress has a public approval rating of around 19 percent, but the voting public returns 98 percent of incumbent politicians to office, gain and again! That's us, is it not?
very good post.
and this:
"But I would like to point out the obvious fact that "government" has no resources that are not taken from its subjects in taxes directly or in printing which is a different form of taxation most aren't really aware of."
...is key.
Our young Keynsian president is turning the US into.... wait for it.... Keynsia. :)
Do you mean Kenya?
Let's get the facts straight. Fifty % of Americans get measly 15% of GDP? Who gets the rest 85%? I suppose no American making up that 50% has ever paid a nickel into Social Security either!
And how about those 1% who own the pharma, food and health care racket. Who exactly gets to keep 100% of the government cheese that ZH so ignorantly reports goes to 50% of Americans.
ZH is not part of ANY solution, it's a pro status quo rag no different than MSM.
How long will it take you guys to figure it out?
I always get a chuckle when I see someone put up that "50% pay no taxes" story. Because it never defines taxes. In fact, it leads one to assume that if a person makes poverty level wages, when they buy gas or food, the taxes are "waived". Because that is really the only way that statement could be true.
If they wanted to be accurate, they would say that 50% pay no additional income tax when filing their returns. To which the only logical question would be: If a person is making 25,000 per year...how much would you like them to pay in taxes?
Ironically enough, the other day when there were multiple posts about the Keystone pipeline deal falling through...there was no mention whatsoever in the story that the deal, as proposed, would have allowed Keystone to pay zero tax on the oil they piped across the country and shipped to the gulf refineries to export out of the US. But I guess big oil companies not paying taxes is ok...but if those fuckin minimum wage breeders don't pony up a check at the end of the year...well...that's a disgrace.
Bingo. The 50% number is pure urban myth perpectuated by the Cato Institute, Rush Limbaugh and the Republiican Party. 50% don't pay federal income taxes. These people (and I am not one of them) still pay state income taxes (6% in CA), state sales taxes (9.25% in CA), SS payroll taxes (15%) and, of course, all of the "fees" that have replace taxes, such as state tuition, park entrance fees, bridge tolls and parking tickets that raise funds that used to be collected through taxes.
Umm.. Earned Income Tax Credit. You can get it even if you paid nothing in.
Does that compensate for the other taxes?
From the IRS:
Why productive people are moving out of California....
Interesting.... I have left the USA, not because of my tax rate (I still pay taxes, and will until and if I renounce my US citizenship) but because of the political instablity I see coming in the not so distant future.
The USA is ever so gradually becoming a police state, and yes the "welfare" support will come to an end in the not so distant future.
Earth | Time Lapse View from Space, Fly Over | NASA, ISS from Michael König on Vimeo.
Is that other "generation's" money or should it be other "nations" money ?
Still, I guess any indebted country - no matter the size - is now watching the Greek situation, and then the Portuguese situation with interest. Surely every indebted country is quietly and very non-publicly cheering the haircut Greece can achieve - after all, isn't that the marker in the sand when the chickens come home to roost ?
No wonder there is so little attempt to rein in spending, and in a world of austerity the USA stands out like a sore thumb in actually increasing debt limits rather than trying to curb them. Yes, the lack of real effort is because the politicians are totally aware that, you know what, we'll never have to pay it all back anyway because we'll get "let off".
Wow. I am stunned at the amount of welfare queens on Zero Hedge. I actually believed it was full of people who believed in working for a living and providing for themselves. I see I was wrong. They are no different than agent Smith protecting the system. Wow ! Are you all in for a surprise.
Woah there, hold your horses. I don't fall into that category. I'm one of those 50% who pays taxes and receives no government aid. But I'm not in for a surprise. I realize that American socialism is just as unsustainable as Soviet socialism and will eventually collapse. That's why I hedge against such an eventuality ... because I anticipate it.
It's not people like you I'm talking about. Are you reading some of these posts ?
Yeah, I read a good cross-section of them. I get the feeling that alot of them are posts coming from Europe, so it's not really surprising. But even here in the US, most people have been brainwashed to think this kind of thing is necessary or some sort of God-given right. It isn't, and this attitude is unsustainable. That's why I prepare for it to collapse. When the economy collapses, the government will no longer be able to provide this level of assistance. And all the people who are living an illusion (with everyone else funding their living habits) will turn violent.
As one who grew up in a medical family and is married to a doc, I will NOT participate in the conventional medical model. It is simply "disease management" for the benefit of big pharma. Catastrophic care, yes, but disease care, no. More Americans need to wake up and realize that they are fighting over/for medical care that is dysfunctional and enslaving at its core!
The debate seems to be this: Free market types want to pay for the dangerous drugs themselves, while socialists want the government to provide the poison FOR them.
Don't tell me I don't know what I'm talking about. I see it from the INSIDE, and have, every day of my life!
And it was meant to go down this way, the people feeling they can rightfully live on Rothschild's Bankster loans on the public account, it was the whole point in creating the necessary subjugation process, that has now quite obviously begun in earnest:
--
--
But of course, this documnt is just a fake ... /sarc
--
Why does that process sound so familiar to a reader of zh? ... but it is even more familiar ...
--
--
And we all know none of that is happening today ... /sarc
GROAN........
If you want to read the real story, not a cheap plagiarized forgery which The Protocols are...... try reading " Dialogue in Hell Between Machiavelli and Montesquieu" written by Maurice Jolly.
It's about Napoleon III and the main charter is NOT Jewish but Machiavelli.......
"Those that fail to learn from history, are doomed to repeat it"
Or, is it the other way around?
i.e. a pre-existing prior version of the Protocols was plagiarised into a political novel, as a cover against their public exposure.
Which appears the more likely situation, given their respective contents, and the only limited degree of similarities, within a few of the sections.
The Protocols are a cohesive and relentlessly focused and concisely detailed document in the format of a long-term multi-generation doctrinal plan with AIMS to actions.
Whereas the Dialogues In Hell is not written like that, it is simply a verbose novel that appears to contain some allusions to the Protocols, in a couple of parts of a few sections.
One is certainly not a copy of the other.
But writing a novel like that is however a great cover to deflect from the Protocols arguable authenticity if they were ever made known to the public.
Right?
And yes, the authors were more than clever enough to have thought of doing that as an indispensable precaution, because deniability for such a document would be essential (a matter of life and death).
What better way to cover their ass?
People can read and decide for themselves:
http://www.notbored.org/dialogue-in-hell.html
http://iamthewitness.com/audiobooks/archive.php?dir=the+protocols+of+the...
You Americans really don't know the first thing about what a welfare state is. The clue is in the name. In a functioning welfare system, the idea is that the citizens should fare well. They shouldn't be deprived of every means of supporting themselves by a predatory and unrestrained financial system, and then only given a grudging pittance back to keep them from outright starvation. (How are these alleged iTunes moochers supposed to support themselves when there are no jobs to be had? Surely you don't still live in the fantasy world where everyone who makes an effort can get a job?)
I love ZeroHedge, I really do; but every once in a while, you sound like the worst kind of mainstream Republican politician.
That's what confidence tricksters do. You are being played.
"I love ZeroHedge, I really do; but every once in a while, you sound like the worst kind of mainstream Republican politician."
+1000
this is DEFINITELY one of those times.
And you sound like one of those mainstream " lay on the couch and get every penny I can from my neighbor. " Let them pay for my lazy ass people.
Are you implying that if people don't believe in the neo-con/republican pov that they therefore must be lazy and unethical (casue you want to get every penny from your neighbor)?
Sometimes it is important to consider the source of the data used in the article, in this case The Heritage Foundation,
"Heritage Foundation is also a part of the Koch Foundation Associate Program."
Hmmm, the Koch Brothers............ (talk about wanting to get every penny from your neighbor) it would be very interesting to look at the "hard data" that was used to generate these charts.
I find it interesting that we just accept these numbers as "accurate"... and a representation of "the truth".
(Have to coin a new name for neocon sheeple......)
Yes...Koch and Heritage....yuck!
But the bickering back and forth is really a non sequitir built on a fasle premise.
The real issue to be debated is NOT "should there be assistance", but BY WHOM should the assistance be administered?
Local administration IS the most efficient AND humane anwer.
Case in point: As for healthcare, my 84 yr old dad (retired surgeon) said that when he was young, healthcare for the needy was provided by the COUNTY HOSPITAL. He said it worked very well. See my point?
You're not getting the dry humor. We're a welfare state? ie - we take a lot from the government in the form of payments. And we have Itunes? If we got rid of the the government payments to people those that have Itunes would be in the street marching for their rights to free music. Its supposed to be humorous.
I presume you are referring to European nations. European socialism has a different flavor than American socialism ... basically there's more cheese, government cheese, being thrown to the rats. And what do you know ... Europe is where the first dominoes are going to fall. Big surprise there.
However, the fallacy is to believe that America's welfare state is sustainable. It isn't. It's just as unsustainable as Europe's.
I'm for cutting BOTH the welfare state AND the warfare state! That would solve lots of our problems!!
And the best model for public assistance, should it be had, is to make it a LOCAL program. That is how our country was founded. Local communities took care of each other. Now, since the advent of govt assistant, it seems that communities are disconnected as everyone just assumes, "Oh, the govt will take care of them." Local efforts allow for a more humane, compassionate, and customized approach. Local communities know best what works for their citizens. "One size fits all" is a recipe for disaster....as evidence by our current mess!
When they talk about food stamps, or assistance etc, it's code for black people. Right now, lack of opportunity is pretty much color blind. It won't be long before all those student loan debt infected kids, older Americans who have been laid off, and people whose wages have been stagnant almost forever, will know what lack of opportunity means. Our assistance programs, much like our tax system, has an honor code built in. Some will abuse the system, that's who you go after. Shift the conversation to priorties for a moment, and ask why on earth we don't put more emphasis on the 700 billion dollars a year to fund an already bloated MIC. Or the Trillions to prop up banks, or subsidies to giant corporations.
I googled John Lohman, still don't know who this asshole is. I wonder how come you have thousands of "moochers" show up at job fairs for a paltry couple of hundred minimum wage jobs. We've got far far bigger problems right now than this trifling neocon propaganda, crafted to present us an enemy other than the true villains who created this mess we're in.
"when they talk about food stamps or assistance its code for black people."
I'm sorry - what generation are you? How old are you? These are YOUR prejudices. I don't have this. I don't hear this. Black people make up about 15%-18% of the population. Food stamps or assistance help from government sources go to the MASSES which means the 82% who are white/hispanic/asian.
Many more white people than black people are on food stamps than black people merely because the country is made up of this cohort in larger numbers.
If you're talking about WITHIN the black community - those that receive food stamps within the 18% of the entire race within the country might be a higher percentage than those of other specific races but only because your not holding the percentage constant to make a fair comparison.
here's MY problem. I'm an owner of a multi-specialty doctor practice. NO equipment. We just talk to the patients, manage their care, send them to test facilities and we don't see them in hospitals - those are HOSPITALISTS (ie - different type of doctors although maybe in the same speciality and once you leave the hospital you'll follow up with us your regular doctor if the HOSPITALIST hasnt poached you for their group - yes this happens all the time).
We see MEDICARE - which means people who receive money for their care are coming to us in the form of payments. I have TRIED - I did a survey of the Medicare patients that said - if we were to drop medicare would you be willing to pay $80 cash out of your own pocket for a return visit which means the government can't limit us telling you what your choices are regarding what can and can't be done for you - like it is now? 90% of them said NO.
There you have it....democracy in action. I could and would stop taking medicare patients if the government chopped my payments by 30% as they are threatening to do. This would force that great mob of seniors into an ever smaller tube as more doctors dropped out of the system. Longer wait times would mean their healthcare issues would not be properly maintained on a 3-5 month basis as it is now. Prescription drugs could not be written for due to legal issues - you're not eyeballing the patient so you cannot write for the patient - they have to go to a doctor to get their Rx's who SEE them. Hello County ER's. Grandma, Grandpa, Mom and Dad - meet the telephone answering tree from HELL.
At this point? My price to see me and my doctors has just gone from $80 to $120 because I know that they need to be seen. They need their Rx's. They cannot wait. I'm sitting in a LEASED space with employees that I need to make payroll. So, my price went up because my population of patients went down overall and we're now offering a Cadillac product.
This is the future. Welcome to it.
#1 - Medicare is not free. The current monthly premium for most people is @$110.00/month (for part B) and does NOT include Rx. That's an additional $25-$100/mo. depending on a number of circumstances. And they pay 20% of the bill under basic Medicare. Part A that covers hospital care is free for people that worked and paid the taxes for "x" period of time but still subject to a deductible (which I don't know what it is currently). Of course, there are "supplement plans" that only cost another $250-?/month. And, I've listened to countless people literally cry with joy at how "cheap" it is relative to what they paid for health insurance before they retired.
My husband is a vascular surgeon employed by a local healthcare system. (He LOVES hospitalists...best thing since sliced bread!) The system is completely broken and will only result in wailing and gnashing of teeth by a populace who has depended upon and benefitted royally from the medical-ponzi that is American "healthcare". The house of cards will fall SOON. All doctors better get their affairs in order and have a Plan B. If it were not for our unsellable house, we would seriously consider setting up a "medivation" practice in another country. It's becoming quite the rage. But then again, I don't really want to leave...it may be a screwed up country, but it's MY country.
For those of you who hate doctors and their nice "compensations", don't worry....you will be able to gleefully watch the implosion from an armchair very soon. Better think about adopting alternative health practices BEFORE things go to hell. After that, good luck with a very DMV-esque "healthcare" experience.
Flatch, my father was an old-school general surgeon. Things were great in those days. If a patient truly couldn't pay, then he wrote it off. Worked just fine.
The other thing that is wrong with healthcare is that it is NOT "healthcare"....it is used as a backstop for licensious living. It is "disease management", which naturally is just dandy for big pharma. Doctors really should accept part of the blame for allowing themselves to promote a model of care that depends so heavily on drugs and devices, while at the same time not educating themselves about preventative and nutritional methods of maintaining health. They are brainwashed in training to go along with the "disease management" model. Trust me....I should know! I come from a long line of doctors and nurses, and married one.
Nonetheless, good luck to you, and just know that you are not alone in facing this implosion. It certainly will be interesting!
I know it's hard to accept that YOU are part of the problem but you will get used to it. I don't worry about it. I participate in our health care system as little as possible and it has taken me years to get my mother out of the grips of the U.S. healthcare system, the effects of which have significantly diminished her quality of life.
You all can bitch all you want but the facts are staring you in the face. This country spends 18% of it's GDP on healthcare which is 50% higher than the next nearest nation (Socialist healthcare system England at 12%GDP). We pay 50% more and get worse outcomes. You all are parasites on the system.
What is this?
--------
The spin machine is calling it "the recovery." I call it the depression. I guess it depends on your perspective, eh?
"in 2011 nearly half of the population lived in a household that receives some form of government benefit"
thats what you get when everybody is in the army killing people all over the world for the rich, suckers!
40% of US govt budget is for warfare plain and simple, you pay taxes so the govt has the manpower and equipment to steal other countries resources in order to keep your current standard of living.
Without the last few wars the average american citizen's standard of living would be half of what it is now.
Most americans cant even spell "asymmetrical warfare" or "cognitive dissonance" let alone understand the concepts.
If you had spent money educating your people instead of spending it to keep them ignorant maybe you would of had a chance.
American exceptionihlism at its worst.
Boobies for the win :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWMIpnoxXJo
Someone once said (I think it was either Rand or Misies, and I can't find the original quote):
Once greater than 50% of a society receives welfare, that society is doomed.
I tend to agree.
The funny thing about these welfare queens and supporters is : not a one of them will go down to the homeless shelters and volunteer , nor will they work in the soup kitchens. But they will gladly extract money from the producers of this world so they feel better about themselves. Hypocrites every one of them. I know because I deal with them all the time. Go ahead and junk me. You know deep down I'm right.
You do know, don't you doctor, that "these welfare queens" include Social Security recipients? Given the misleading headline and data charts, I don't blame you for mistakenly believing that 50% of our nation is on welfare. But do try to think for yourself next time.
I consider SSI recipients welfare people. Especially when you look what they paid into the system VS what they take out. Quite frankly I know a number of people who are currently on SSI who can't believe their return on investment. Unfortunatly , thanks to longer lifespans and fewer workers the system won't support itself.
...But they will gladly extract money from the producers of this world so they feel better about themselves. Hypocrites every one of them. I know because I deal with them all the time. Go ahead and junk me. You know deep down I'm right.
Dr Engali,
Who are the producers of the world, Goldman, JP Morgan...or the trillion dollar plus wars that were fought with your social security money?
Deep down you have issues, deal with them.
Asshole, with all due respect of course.
G
The article exhibits sentiment for what it lacks in integrity.
The title uses the word "welfare" and even contains a chart breaking down all the sub-categories of this welfare. But the cited 50% of households includes any household receiving social security or medicare, which few would consider "welfare" and which is not a sub-category in the chart.
Shame on you, Tyler. Our financial condition is bad enough without misleading data or hyperbole. Oh, and those 50% who don't pay taxes? Again, completely false. The correct statement is that about 50% don't pay federal income taxes. Everybody who works pays 15% payroll taxes -- which, by the way, is about what Romney paid last year. Because I am self-employed, I paid 15% self-employment taxes AND about 23% federal income taxes. So forgive me, Tyler, if I find this particlar entry an exception to your usual high standards.
Everyone holding dollars pay taxes to the US of A. Taxes or tribute.
Victimhood is high among US citizens and self indiction not possible.
Your reminder is sound but misplaced.
Ah, at my workplace,my boss does not want his employees to read misplaced comments. It is a FIRE cause if you are caught.
Please mind yourself or I'll be forced to report you so that you get censored and I can read in here.
Because you paid into social security does not mean you are not taking more out(welfare!!!!!!!!!!). Medicare? Again moron if you can promise me that you will not take more from medicare than you paid in then I wont consider it welfare. Give me and everyone else a break. YOU ARE THE PROBLEM.
Two problems (among many): we're on next-gen welfare (and have been since before the "financial crisis" of '08). There are now too many teens, twenties, and thirty-somethings that were born and raised on welfare and were schooled on how to maximize benefits. It's all they know. If you're a chick, have babies asap 'cause you'll get a bigger check and, while you're at it (guys and gals alike) get diagnosed with some mental disorder that will get you a disability check if possible. If all the meds getting prescribed for ADD, ADHD, on and on and on, don't make someone capable enough to be a clerk at the kwik shop, what's the fucking point. Most truly disabled people I've ever met actually want to work, and do.
Problem #2 is meth. It's beyond epidemic and has been for some time. Not getting covered nearly like the crack problem was and it's everywhere.That shit does brain damage that I don't think can be undone. Really wrong thinking produced there.
Don't junk me too hard - I believe there should be safety nets. Life is scary without them and I've known too many old-schoolers that needed help and never thought to ask for it and didn't have friends/family/neighbors who cared enough to be checking in. Our resources are being wasted. This is a very sad time.
The best thing is to administer a safety net at the state or local level. Get the feds out of the equation entirey!
Wooooo... That is quite a big number.
But the article is incomplete. Will have to expect the followup.
So half of the US population gets a government subzidized demand. That is quite an increase in demand superficy.
Most of these people are captive customers, issuing local demand.
The followup shall indicate how much of this government subsizided demand drips toward the rest of the US population, how many jobs in the rest of the US population service that demand.
It is no news that in the US, the private sector derives its revenues from the public sector.
We have the direct, lets get the indirect: how many of the rest of the US population lives off those government subsidized vectors of demand.
'or will rebel against a government which is their only source of income? Why?'
Because if they don't do it now when food inflation hits 45% they will be too weak. Right now the economy has been pillaged by the bankers and poiticians so the opportunities for those going to college, getting food stamps while they work at minimum wage without medical benefits are truely looking for meaning and a sense of purpose. Rebellions when they start taste a lot better than what they are getting from Gov't teets.
Land of the broke, Home of the indebteted.
I would love to see an article here that discloses how much $$ the too-big-to-fail MF'rs get from .gov for "administration" of .gov bennies (SNAP and UE). All the virtual welfare dollars are "loaded" these days.
Hmm, when will US run out of money?
I guess never cause they can print as much as they want and nobody tries to stop them.
"Especially since something tells us that there will be a peculiar overlap between this 50% and the 50% of Americans that pay zero taxes."
and where they do not quite overlap, it is a matter of the right hand "giving" back what the left hand has taken in taxes.
Keeps public servants employed.
Now that banks are granted to increase money supply to $24 trillion we can all expect increased prices of food and inflation everywhere.
Smart money is investing in gold - more precisely into physical gold.
Money Supply To Hit $24 Trillion, Higher Gold
Forget paper gold and Comex cause you may end up empty handed.
"the 50% of Americans that pay zero taxes."
This figure has been proven totally misleading so many times. What about payroll taxes? Gas taxes (albeit pitifully low but that's another story)? Many others.
And if any of those people do not have significant mortgage debt or rent, they are paying a private individual (the seller or the landlord) for government services. How much would the landlord or seller get for their property if the US army and police force disappeared and the roads went to seed? There is at least a small contribution made via property taxes (which believe it or not we don't have here in the UK) but by and large government created land value gets collected privately by people who do not build the roads, protect the borders, man the police the neighbourhoods, etc. Now that's a transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich.
federal taxes....as for the rest of your "we deserve everything from you slaves", it makes me angrier. we pay for the first of your taxes and the second and the third and i am not in the top 30% of buffet rent seekers. i dont get to rent seek at all...time for a revolution you want...but you won't like it.
thank you king putt for what you are about to give us
50% pay no federal tax. People ignore the federal part. The government taxes damn near every product and service directly or indirectly, and assets that are easy to track (homes and vehicles) are taxed annually - because hey, what are you gonna do about it?
Rich or poor - if you spend money you pay taxes one way or the other.
Well, then, we've got a long way to go to catch up with the Norkoms.....100% of their "citizens" receive government assistance ! Monedas 2012 North Korea...just perhaps the most realized Socialist Paradise east of Zimbabwe ! UPDATE: Government assistance rates in Syria are soaring !
It is simple return on work invested. I can get money for nothing from the government. Working harder now pays no dividend, because in an 85% service economy that has stalled, there is only payoff if there is more work to be had. And there isn't. So people stop working as hard. Then they get close to the threshhold where unemployment looks attractive, because working 60 hours a week for a little, gets beat by working zero hours for just a little less. It's all getting quite dodgy. Last year was awful - worse than 2008 - this year already shaping up to be worse. And yet I keep reading of economic improvements... where? If government benefits go away - and they must eventually - then the masses riot and it all comes unwound.
Who needs Keynesian clowns when we have private bank cartel and Federal Reserve clowns? How many bankers received government welfare in the form of sending their lobbyists to Washington? 100% of them did.
What are you talking about? Bernanke saved us. Bloomberg, his college buddy and a person he worked with to complete a study even said so
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-01-23/fed-inflation-unemployment-mandate-shows-bernanke-s-model-better-in-crisis.html
lol
"While politicians may debate whether or not America is the most socialist welfare state in the history of mankind."
Tyler, Only your politicians would call obama a "socialist" the rest of the world calls him what he is, a right wing politician leading a right wing party. only in america is obama called a socialist.
Is ZH going to do a "drudge" when the 2012 election happens ?
Obama is a corporatist plain and simple. Obama pontificates about helping the poor and the sick, but his actions are to protect the bankers and CEOs at all costs. In fairness to Obama, I don't think he went into office to be a stooge for TPTB...if he had his way, maybe he would a socialist president -but in the end, after all the pretty speeches he does what the 1% tell him to do.
Back in the 1990's, when I worked in consumer products, we faced a dilemma. We had a cost of goods issue. The issue was actually both costs and timing for a new product, specifically the cap for a new product.
We'd received a cost estimate (domestic US) of $.18 for caps, plus $280,000 for tooling and a 26 week lead time (injected molded tool). We struggled to bring the costs down and reduce the lead times. The best we could do was bring the lead time down by 2 to 3 weeks. THEN the engineer suggested something that kind of shocked us: Go to China. China? (we all kind of gasped). The China scenario was $.06 per cap, the Chinese vendor would pay for tooling and could complete the tooling in 12 weeks (start delivery of caps in 15 weeks). We all said that this was impossible. If it didn't work we would miss our launch date. We went ahead with it and the parts were delivered on time and the quality was good, too. This was the beginning of China sourced plastic parts for our company. Let me say that there wasn't a great fondness for abandoning our domestic vendors, but the advantages in both costs and timing were "impossible" to ignore. I have since watched many, many domestic plastics manufacturers to out of business. You can get an idea by looking here:
http://www.bing.com/search?q=plastics+plant+closed&qs=AS&sk=AS1&pq=plast...
I don't know how to conclude this comment, except to say that we are on the road to nowhere.
Yes, and Chinese workers are infinitely more exploitable. If they don't make quota, they don't get paid. So when you cut your COGS by 2/3 did you lower your price to consumers (some now unemployed) by 2/3's or did you keep that savings as profits?
Where's the direct federal payments charts and graphs to the 1% predator class?
Hmmm???
Really, Tyler...Divide and conquer?
All I can say is this: The poor are now qualified to receive a FREE cellphone with 200+ free minutes on it per month. But I guess that is a necessity in the event of a mass alert directing people to their closest FEMA camp. See how this works?
Yes I am on the US government dole....I spent 30 years putting the money into the SS account and I am getting it back...Stop being such an asshole and publish this crap because a lot of us did play by the rules.....
Additionally, if you were a small business owner since the Reagan years, you paid DOUBLE SS and Medicare tax plus matched each employee’s contribution.
How the hell any of us made any net earnings is a sobering thought!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pc0mxOXbWIU&ob=av3e
Cee Lo Green
.
one more time
When America was started by our Founding Fathers there was a Poll Tax. If you owned property you did not pay a Poll Tax to Vote, but if you wanted to Vote and did not own Property you would have to pay a Poll Tax.
The Poll Tax was to keep the people that did not have a Vested interest in how the Tax Money was spent Voting themselves Benefits from the people who Owned Property and paid the Taxes.
The downfall was probably when they got rid of the Poll Tax.
monsanto gets the food stamp (of approval)
exxon gets the utility assistance
jpmorgan struts down maiden lane I, II, III, IV, V, MXMCLLIVVVIIIII....
boeing gets a transportation voucher
and of course,
the supreme court gets cash assistance.
Cash assistance in the graph above has to be Social Security payments and medical assistance has to be medicare. To be quite frank though it looks like they took the old social security check and divided it up into what they though people spent on food and called that "nutitional assistance" what they spent on the house and called that "housing assistance" and so on. It's a bad graph and a blatant propaganda piece but not so any of you dolts owuld notice.
The U.S. government is going broke. The official debt ceiling of $16 trillion-plus is 107% of GDP. What this means is that more and more people are being forced into a safety net which is going away very soon. Only the slowest campers will find any comfort in this. In the meantime, more and more people are going "System D" as more realistic survival tool. -- Michael C. Ruppert
http://www.collapsenet.com/154.html
Many in the US coment negatively about other countries for their socialist public sector funding not understanding that it used to try and underpin innovation and industrial performance - government and the rest of society and not mutually exclusive. The question is how to best direct public expenditure that that the private sector thrives.
Public expenditure in the US appears to be a runaway train and there are a number worrying aspects to this. Firstly, much of the increase in public spending is 'distressed' expenditure made in response to the loss of prosperity formerly guaranteed by 'real' jobs and full time employment and secondly, public expenditure is hopelessly skewed to maintaining things that add very little to support future productivity and economic efficiency.
The outcome is that increases public expenditures are not being underpinned by new tax revenues and current commitments are not being utilised to underpin prosperity through re-skilling, support for wide scale non military research and innovation and investments in public goods - improved transport infrastructure, upgrades to increase broadband capabilities, etc. Too much of the 'wrong type' of public expenditure is being used as a band aid to paper over the serious structural problems that are emerging across the US economy.
The welfare is there (in such numbers) because the imperial monetarist banksters took away the jobs, the direction, the progress, and the hope of America. Americans went from discovering and building to paper pushing. Half the people pay no taxes, because there aren't enough jobs, and those that do, get paid shit.
Another meaningless statistic is the 50 percent number.
Take the 50 percent that don't pay taxes and start subtracting....
The real unemployed (20-25 percent)...this means of that '50' percent, 25 percent (1/2 actually) of it is unemployed.
So 25 percent left.......
Subtract the elderly....13 percent are over 65. Now, some 65+ work, so to be fair lets just unscientifically lob off 2 percent of that. So 25-11 = 14 percent.
Now how many people are under 15, are mentally disabled, physically disabled, or work for crap imperial monetarist service jobs, or so many other jobs that pay shit, thus not enabling them to make enough to pass the tax threshold?
My guess?? Takes the rest of it up...more or less. Except for the one welfare queen per state that every idiot claims is half the population.
Another meaningless statistic. 50 percent don't pay taxes. Sounds about right when monetarism rules the roost. Any flavor. Keynesian, Austrian. Doesn't matter. None of them are real economics. Because monetarism, isn't economics. It's bs masking as a legitimate economic system so the theives can steal, while the rest think it's legitimate.
Welfare, Social Security, etc....isn't killing us.
Monetarism (and all under that umbrella of sophistry) is. (and part of this is the opportunity cost of where we'd be if we actually focus on PROGRESS instead of SOPHISTRY)
Because under MONETARISM, you get what we get. Monetarism is all about taking untruths, and passing them off as truths. You want to know how to go down a suboptimal path? Believe in any form of monetarism, and have that belief be the economic structure of a nation, or hell, world.
Most people, anywhere in the world, want to be productive. It's monetarism that is keeping that from happening. When it can't happen. You have 'statistics' like the above.
50 percent of people not able to pay taxes? Keep letting monetarism, corporations, and their sophistry be in charge, and they'll gladly get that to 99 percent. Won't take long.
My guess is under that scenario, we'd have 99 percent of households receiving gov't benefits and not paying taxes. Another round of printing or three probably does it. Will we still blame social security and after school programs for that?
It's the fraudulent nature of our system that is causing the inflation. You CAN increase the amount of money there is, and not have inflation. It's when you increase the amount of money when there is no growth in wealth to match it, that results in inflation. In our case it was frauds, scam ideologies, and a lack of focus on wealth creation that gives us inflation.
We need to build wealth to get out of this mess. (after ditching the mess). We need an economic system that can create credit when wealth creating opportunities are presented. Wealth creation projects are abound, but it never makes sense under the terms of monetarism. Because monetarism isn't about wealth creation. It's about wealth preservation. Either printing to preserve the wealth of the fraudsters. Or doing nothing to preserve the 'money' value of accumulated 'money'.
Unless we have a system that fosters wealth creation, we aren't going anywhere. The best mechanism for this, is one which allows this to happen. Rarely does under Keynesianism...while it steals through its scams. Austrian ideology won't allow for it at all. Only accumulated wealth can invest in something...after finding the idea....until that is exhausted or the terms get to great. Thus these two ideologies have serious bottlenecks to actual wealth creation. Because they aren't about creating wealth.
NAWAPA, fusion, mag lev, Space, so on and so forth. This is how you build wealth (among many other examples). Because wealth isn't gold or fiat, it's useful shit. The ability to create what we need, when we need it...that's wealth. The capacity to do this. Not Greek Bonds, or Gold.
Remember. Wealth creation and Wealth preservation are two different things. Gold is good for wealth preservation during times of monetary insanity. But it does NOTHING for creating wealth.
Money is a tool, not wealth. It should be respected, with a gold standard. It shouldn't be held to god status like some monetary idiots think. It also shouldn't be treated like a whore, Keynesian style....print to pay off fraud by the person (legally) known as Goldman Sachs and all their like 'people' friends.
Ditch the banksters, and all their forms of sophistry through monetarism. (and how many times do I have to say that monetarism is root bullshit, so ANY theory that is based off monetarism, shares the same bs keeping it from being viable).
Austrian and Keynesian are both bankster ideologies. It's just easier to be a Keynesian bankster in today's world, so most of them are. But you can just as easily have bankster greed under Austrian rule.
This article takes things and looks at it bass ackwards, and basically is nothing more than treating a symptom and saying it is a problem.
We're here because of monetarist folly, not welfare. That's just a conveniant excuse. No amount of welfare will stop the people from eventually revolting against the folly of monetarism. But in the meantime, before everything pops off, and even after everything is 'fixed', a social safety net is needed.
Even if it is used currently as a mechanism for monetarists to maintain control so they can screw more up on the back end, the alternative of letting people rot, not only is wrong, the monetarists would just steal more, as people who used to be able to live, starve to death on the streets, as people uncaringly walked by. People forget that before the social safety net, how bad the 'streets' and ghettos were (and becoming again), and how it was ignored.
You can run a system much better than monetarism, have a safety net, and not face what we face with mountains of fraudulent debt.
We can also run monetarism with no safety net, and still face what we face.
Monetarism has stolen the soul of America.
Statistics has become the bar to judge from. Might as well say we base our decisions on tarot card reading, and what their idiot interpreters say they mean.
Impeach Obama
Glass-Steagall
American Credit (NOT MONETARY) System
Issue Credit, Create Jobs that build weatlh, and focus on that. Stop being fooled by statistics. Monetarism is a lie.
Over time, such a system will create wealth, have a safety net, and if there was a reason to look at these statistics again, you'd find the number to be quite lower....but also realize that old people, disabled, crazies, children, and whatever real unemployment will all add up to a number that is pretty hefty. Thus where you have this + the rammifications of monetarism...this number can easily be 50 percent....and can just as easily go much, much higher.
Monetarism does not create opportunity. Monetarism creates the need for elevated numberes of welfare or other aid.
The people who need to rage against the supposed welfare queen downloading something for a buck or so....because they shouldn't...since they are on welfare...and if you are on welfare...you need to be a unic robot hermit who stays at their gov't sponsored place and stare at a wall or else it's unfair has a backwards view of things. A fricking ipod doesn't cause people to not want to work. Buying a song with gov't money (since every dollar spent on these things has to be gov't money if they receive only 1 dollar from the gov't and bought 1 song, then that dollar was the dollar that went to buy the song) is infintesimal compared to the daily clearing of monetarism's effects upon America.
The ipod if anything, merely slightly dulls a person who in reality has no opportunity to be anything other than a service worker in monetary land before the monetarists finish their conquest of bankrupting everybody but themselves, and in the process, bankrupt everybody and themselves. Or if lucky, they have a better paying job, which really has no benefit towards the progress of mankind.
Psychology = Bullshit. People that think of economics through psychology, statistics, and their monetarist ideological cultivators, still do not understand what a real economy is. Once again it always goes back to 'money'. Is it wealth or a tool? It's a tool.
When money is viewed and treated as a tool for actual wealth creation, it sets a very easy standard to copy and adhere to. Is this money being created for actual wealth creation? Will it actually provide a benefit by creating or increasing supply of something? More power, water, technology? It's not hard to keep the credit creation on task when the basis for the credit creation is based in REALITY, instead of monetary SOPHISTRY. When sophistry enters the equation, credit creation can easily be turned into fraud. Keynesian is sophistry. Thus you get bullshit reasons for expanding the money supply...the most recent few years have been expansion for outright fraud. But that's because the sophistry of monetary Keynesianism is believed. But saying you can't create credit because it effects the 'value' of money, because money is viewed as weatlh, well that TOO is SOPHISTRY.
Reality says you can create credit for projects that create wealth. Monetarism, and it's useless metrics get in the way of wealth creation one way (Keynesian) or another (Austrian). So don't use a monetary system. Base it off the physical economy, scientific principles, and real metrics. Our misallocation comes from monetarism, not welfare.