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AFAIK this statement is false, and not just false by a bit but way off. Source?
edit: On the main topic, while as someone on the right my instinctual reaction to people talking about income inequality is to wait with trepidation to see how they propose to screw the middle class, upper-middle class, and skilled workers in general, I am narrowly concerned by a few issues. The carried interest treatment of hedge funds is a clear hole in the tax code, that executives in a position to write their own paychecks have been increasing them more and more, and that the share of the national income going to labor has been declining are all issues of legitimate concern -- the problem is that among the politicians the Republicans broadly don't care while the Democrats have "solutions" which instead of addressing these real issues with smart, limited technical fixes aim to shovel a giant pile of ordinary working peoples' tax money into more welfare programs in the name of fixing the problems while actually doing nothing about them.
But regardless of that, corporate welfare shouldn't even exist in a genuine free market. Republicans should be taking a stand on that as they do with social welfare, or I will always view them as hypocrites.
Just as a side note, I also view most Democrats as hypocrites as well. When two parties have been in power for over a century and have allowed this country to fall to the point it is today, neither party is fit to lead.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Last1Out
Income inequality is a charge created by the lazy and useless as an excuse to reach into the wallets of the industrious and productive.
Broad generalization.
Many, myself included, are more concerned about the growing gap between highly paid executives and the decreasing amount of American labor. Too much labor is being outsourced, and no one (who is elected into office) is even pretending to care.
Obviously there are people out there who think the world owes them something, and they would be wrong. But just viewing them as lazy isn't going to change that. They likely have lived in a poor situation their entire lives, as statistically people who are born poor stay poor (same with the rich). Something needs to be done to fix that, starting with the massive income gap. I do not think just giving money away would be a solution. While some people have been on welfare a short time and managed to get back on their feet, plenty are on welfare for far too long without making any progress. We need to analyses why they aren't making progress and figure out what the necessary motivation is. Giving up is an option taken by the lazy.
My husband and I are happy with our lot in life....If anyone feels they don't have as much as we do they are welcome to work as hard as we did to attain what we have ended up with...
US is still the land of opportunity. My parents came to this country almost 40 plus years ago with (legally) with almost nothing. Successfully raised 6 young kids who all have professional degrees.
We have friends who came to this country from Eastern Europe 15 years ago with nothing and they have a thriving small business (wood flooring, carpets) even after the housing crash.
What does this tell you? It tells you opportunities are still there for people who come to this country with nothing.
Sure it takes a lot of hard work. So stop the whining. Be the solution and not the problem.
US is still the land of opportunity. My parents came to this country almost 40 plus years ago with (legally) with almost nothing. Successfully raised 6 young kids who all have professional degrees.
We have friends who came to this country from Eastern Europe 15 years ago with nothing and they have a thriving small business (wood flooring, carpets) even after the housing crash.
What does this tell you? It tells you opportunities are still there for people who come to this country with nothing.
Sure it takes a lot of hard work. So stop the whining. Be the solution and not the problem.
The first sentence on that webpage states that we spend "About $59 billion on traditional social welfare programs" when medicaid alone was $432 billion in 2012 (likely more now) and food stamps alone were $76.4 billion in 2013 (likely slightly less now). When you trace the link behind their number you get to a paper talking about how the federal government spent $33 billion on projects and rent subsidies in 2009. Those three things alone (and there are other programs too) sum up to over half a trillion dollars, versus the $59 number they are coming up with god-knows-how. I don't really have a basis for judging their quantification of corporate welfare, but it's a much lower number than that and frankly given that they were off by an order of magnitude on social welfare spending I don't exactly trust them on that either.
You need to think critically and do basic reasonableness checks when you see numbers that fit someone's political agenda but aren't sourced and smell funny when you sniff test them, and a claim that we only spend $59 billion on social welfare policies definitely qualifies.
edit: Reading the link further the website's author handwaves away medicaid and completely forgets about the existence of SNAP, LIHEAP, SSI, etc. Social welfare spending <> just TANF + rent subsidies + housing projects. Either the author has an agenda or just isn't the sharpest analytic tool in the shed (quite possibly both).
Those who claim there is no problem with EXTREME income inequality (no one is advocating exact equality, that's a disingenuous misrepresentation of the issue), and that it's just liberal bs, class envy, etc. are fools. Our economy depends on a strong middle class, and a spending working class, but we are seeing the middle class decline, and the working class are increasingly becoming the working poor. Our economy is becoming increasingly top heavy, this is a real issue.
Neither party has any offered real solutions. They are happy to see the partisan idiots be too busy fighting with each other to notice that the people who are supposed to be representing us are only concerned with their corporate sponsors, and don't really care what happens to average Americans.
Those who claim there is no problem with EXTREME income inequality (no one is advocating exact equality, that's a disingenuous misrepresentation of the issue), and that it's just liberal bs, class envy, etc. are fools. Our economy depends on a strong middle class, and a spending working class, but we are seeing the middle class decline, and the working class are increasingly becoming the working poor. Our economy is becoming increasingly top heavy, this is a real issue.
Neither party has any offered real solutions. They are happy to see the partisan idiots be too busy fighting with each other to notice that the people who are supposed to be representing us are only concerned with their corporate sponsors, and don't really care what happens to average Americans.
The extreme inequality is a problem, but only because many of those extremely wealthy people use government power to maintain their wealth. If they earned it fairly, who cares? As far as solutions, you can either stop the corrupt politicians from making deals with corrupt business people (good luck), you can get rid of regulations that give those corporations unfair advantages and keep the deck stacked in their favor (again, good luck)...but just keep in mind that the less control and influence the government has on the market, the less ability it has to help those select groups stay on top.
I advocate no government at all, but even if you aren't an extreme radical insane kook like me I hope you don't misdiagnose the problem. This could never happen in a true free market where people are free to trade as they please...and even if it did, that means those rich people are pleasing their customers and have earned their money fairly. The problem is corporatism or crony capitalism.
There's no doubt that inequality is a reality in this country. Are conservatives concerned about it?
conservatives don't give a damn about wealth or income inequality.
conservatives are very very concerned with out groups, black people, Mexicans, Muslims, gay people, single women having sex, single moms, and poor people.
conservatives are terrified of these groups of Americans and see these people as the greatest threat to America's future. They are terrified that these groups will lobby the government for help the way rich and upper class Americans lobby the government.
They are terrified that these groups with their inferior cultures, criminality, violence, immorality, and sexual irresponsibility will destroy the nation.
They are also concerned with low taxes for rich people. Few regulations for corporations.
Having lots of guns to protect themselves from all of those other Americans they hate and fear.
conservatives don't give a damn about wealth or income inequality.
conservatives are very very concerned with out groups, black people, Mexicans, Muslims, gay people, single women having sex, single moms, and poor people.
conservatives are terrified of these groups of Americans and see these people as the greatest threat to America's future. They are terrified that these groups will lobby the government for help the way rich and upper class Americans lobby the government.
They are terrified that these groups with their inferior cultures, criminality, violence, immorality, and sexual irresponsibility will destroy the nation.
They are also concerned with low taxes for rich people. Few regulations for corporations.
Having lots of guns to protect themselves from all of those other Americans they hate and fear.
wow those conservatives are a-holes
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I hope you don't misdiagnose the problem. This could never happen in a true free market where people are free to trade as they please...and even if it did, that means those rich people are pleasing their customers and have earned their money fairly. The problem is corporatism or crony capitalism.