Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
...
Rising inequality and differential exposure to economic risk has caused one group to see themselves as the “makers” in society who provide for the rest and pay most of the bills, and the other group as “takers” who get all the benefits. The upper strata wonders, “Why should we pay for social insurance when we get little or none of the benefits?” and this leads to an attack on these programs.
...
Those at the bottom, on the other hand, [the upper group thinks] are essentially burning down their own houses just to collect the fire insurance, i.e. making poor choices and sponging off of social insurance programs. It’s their behavior that’s the problem, and taking away the incentive to live off of the rest of society by constraining their ability to collect social insurance is the only way to ensure they get jobs and provide for themselves.
Of course, this is a false view of how the system operates. The wealthy would not have the opportunity to make so much money if it society didn’t provide the infrastructure, educated workforce, legal protections, and other building blocks critical for their success. And we shouldn’t forget that many of the wealthy got where they are through the privilege and advantage that comes from familial wealth rather than their own merit.
Contrast that with the fact that the great majority of people receiving payments from social insurance programs are not deadbeats or takers – they are hard working individuals and families who have had a spell of bad luck through no fault of their own e.g. job loss in a recession, and need help getting through it, or who have trouble supporting a household while working at, say, a minimum wage job.
The bottom 50% pays little or no taxes. These people need to start carrying their own weight and stop relying on the rest of us to pick up the slack for them. I didn't suffer through all those years of college just so I could hand over more of my money to cover their portion of the tax revenue. I'm sick of dragging all this dead weight around.
Put em in jail or throw them out of the country....but they are dead weight...period. They bring the rest of this nation down.
I don't see how anything will change when a certain subsection of the right wing refuse to acknowledge that many who receive these handouts are gainfully employed.
Oh Please!!!! What has Obama done? Both sides are so guilty of allowing this to happen, wake the heck up!
"When are the bottom 50% going to start paying their fair share?"
When they start getting paid their fare share of the profits. That would be my guess.
Why? What did they risk in order to be entitled to a share of any resultant profit? Did they put their own money up to start or sustain a business? Or how about sweat equity... are they working 70+ hour weeks sometimes for no pay to get a business afloat?
Status:
"It Can't Rain All The Time"
(set 24 days ago)
Location: North Pacific
15,754 posts, read 7,588,006 times
Reputation: 2576
Quote:
Originally Posted by no_more_handouts
The bottom 50% pays little or no taxes. These people need to start carrying their own weight and stop relying on the rest of us to pick up the slack for them. I didn't suffer through all those years of college just so I could hand over more of my money to cover their portion of the tax revenue. I'm sick of dragging all this dead weight around.
When are the bottom 50% going to start paying their fair share?
I would prefer the bottom 90% did not pay federal income tax. Time for those most protected by our law pay for the protection.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
