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The Safety Net is 12 % of federal spending, $398 Billion in 2013. ( SS is 24% and growing, Medicare/ Medicaid is 22% and Defense is 19%). This includes some sacred cows like SSI, low income housing and SNAP for seniors and disabled that is not likely to be cut no matter who sits the oval or holds the majority. Then there is the value of EITC, UI, low income housing and SNAP, CHIP and other federal programs for the able bodied and children and all associated expenses including the cost of subsidizing employment for TANF recipients.
When the largest US employer, Walmart, felt it necessary to use their annual report to communicate the impact of reduced federal benefits on their bottom line says something about corporate profit dependence on Federal Programs.
After much noise about Walgreens becoming a Swiss corporation to avoid paying taxes, they decided to forgetaboutit. Guess the Walgreens board realized what percentage of their income was from Medicare/ Medicaid.
Cut/ eliminate SNAP and PepsiCo , Kraft Foods and many others are impacted and heads will roll.
Right now is the culmination of 30 + years of phony prosperity due to unfunded tax cuts and increased government spending. It does not matter who sat the oval or held the majority.
You know the Ponzi scheme would eventually come to an pleasant end.
When it was need in the USA only high quality strap was melted down.......now, everything is in the mix.
China is the largest producer of steel, followed by the EU, Japan , then the US. All of these states are highly capable of producing any quality steel.
The term " planned obsolescence" was introduced in the 50's- an artificial and intentional limited useful life.
Stuff designed to last forever is not good for repeat sales.
Stuff designed to last forever costs more than stuff designed for a limited lifespan.
Welfare spending was $1 trillion back in 2011 if you redefine what most people think of when they hear welfare. Most people wouldn't think of education, job training, tax clinics, adoption assistance, foster care, legal services, AIDS and cancer programs, Indian programs, SS disability, homeless housing, and other public services as welfare, but if you include those and other programs you can get close to $1 trillion.
Welfare spending was $1 trillion back in 2011 if you redefine what most people think of when they hear welfare. Most people wouldn't think of education, job training, tax clinics, adoption assistance, foster care, legal services, AIDS and cancer programs, Indian programs, SS disability, homeless housing, and other public services as welfare, but if you include those and other programs you can get close to $1 trillion.
83 means tested programs cost about $800 million in Fed dollars and $200 million in state dollars.
Those will not be cut or ended. If anything they will go up.
We turned from a producer nation to a consumer nation full of low paying service level jobs.
The "people" can't keep the government coffers full anymore because they aren't earning big bucks anymore.
And more are falling far enough behind that they need government to subsidize their lifestyles.
So who is left with the money to keep the game going ?
Being the "producer" depended on other states being incapable of competing, a blip in time. We thought we were "all that" and exceptional. Politicians have been elected for 60 years by pandering to this false sense of entitlement.
The global situation after WW2 , government and organized labor combined to create a temporary sense of prosperity, unlikely to be repeated, again.
Despite that relative prosperity of those times, there were recessions in the 50's and 20 % of the US people lived in dire poverty, likely unaware the Great Depression ended.
People were more likely to do without and live within their means. It is no accident that as the global situation became more competitive and less reliant on human labor, people began to live beyond their means and consume more. Self esteem increasingly was / is based on the stuff one acquires, regardless of debt.
We import illegal labor because we don't want to pay more when immigrants will work for less. We suck the paper equity out of our homes to live beyond our means. And when all else fails, we blame government.
Being the "producer" depended on other states being incapable of competing, a blip in time. We thought we were "all that" and exceptional. Politicians have been elected for 60 years by pandering to this false sense of entitlement.
The global situation after WW2 , government and organized labor combined to create a temporary sense of prosperity, unlikely to be repeated, again.
Despite that relative prosperity of those times, there were recessions in the 50's and 20 % of the US people lived in dire poverty, likely unaware the Great Depression ended.
People were more likely to do without and live within their means. It is no accident that as the global situation became more competitive and less reliant on human labor, people began to live beyond their means and consume more. Self esteem increasingly was / is based on the stuff one acquires, regardless of debt.
We import illegal labor because we don't want to pay more when immigrants will work for less. We suck the paper equity out of our homes to live beyond our means. And when all else fails, we blame government.
Yeah, we are "all that" and more.
It was more because Europe was devastated and couldn't produce.
We were pretty much the only guys on the block.
We got fat and happy while our competition rebuilt and the third world countries got educated.
Now they have surpassed us.
So let's demand that what's left here (service) pay "living wages" to make up for it.
We're swirling around the drain and don't even know it.
83 means tested programs cost about $800 million in Fed dollars and $200 million in state dollars.
Those will not be cut or ended. If anything they will go up.
Let's not kid ourselves into thinking that these are actually welfare programs or that we don't all benefit. The guy that asked for the study made his own definition and added state funding to the mix.
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