Gifts from the Taxpayer
24/01/12 15:09
The railroad companies were granted free tracts of land every half mile or so on alternating sides of the railroad tracks as an inducement to build the cross country railroad lines in the Nineteenth Century.
Examples of "corporate" welfare to promote economic development are countless and extend into the Twenty-First Century. The most recent example, of course, is the trillions and trillions of dollars of new debt and of grants, of loans, and of various other stimulants that were put in place at the end of 2008, in 2009, and since then to rescue the owners of the American financial establishment and to save other huge American enterprises from having to undergo a dramatic collapse of their financial positions.
Giving taxpayer money from all to benefit a group in the minority is nothing new in American history.
Before mocking the American worker collecting social security as just another deadbeat looking for a handout, one should keep these points of recent United States history in view:
Now it is time to start redeeming that Treasury Debt (issued since the 1980s) to get cash to pay for social benefits. But wait ! Eight out of every hundred workers are unemployed; those still working are over-extended, tapped out on their credit lines, and many underwater on their mortgages. It seems like the American Dream has come up a little short now that the debt induced party is over and the “baby-boomers” old enough to retire. The so-called “one percent” and other wealth holders do not want to raise their taxes to redeem the notes. Instead, the plan is to dramatically reduce or eliminate future benefits while continuing to collect payroll taxes at the same or a higher rate. This accomplishes the following wonders:
The rallying cry, of course, will be: "Don't raise taxes on job creators!"
Examples of "corporate" welfare to promote economic development are countless and extend into the Twenty-First Century. The most recent example, of course, is the trillions and trillions of dollars of new debt and of grants, of loans, and of various other stimulants that were put in place at the end of 2008, in 2009, and since then to rescue the owners of the American financial establishment and to save other huge American enterprises from having to undergo a dramatic collapse of their financial positions.
Giving taxpayer money from all to benefit a group in the minority is nothing new in American history.
Before mocking the American worker collecting social security as just another deadbeat looking for a handout, one should keep these points of recent United States history in view:
- About 2.7 Trillion dollars of the 15 Trillion Federal debt is excess money that was collected from worker's wages and used to buy Treasury Notes to be redeemed to pay for Social Security when the "baby boomers" retired.
- All of that 2.7 Trillion dollars was in fact used by government to pay for current expenses thereby not having to raise taxes to pay for those expenses.
- The remaining 12.3 Trillion of Federal debt is money that the Federal government borrowed to spend. This is a perfect method to get tax-payer guaranteed income into the hands of bond holders while allowing the government to carry on without having to raise the income tax. This is the kind of welfare that anyone would enjoy who has enough cash to buy the bonds and notes of the United States.
Now it is time to start redeeming that Treasury Debt (issued since the 1980s) to get cash to pay for social benefits. But wait ! Eight out of every hundred workers are unemployed; those still working are over-extended, tapped out on their credit lines, and many underwater on their mortgages. It seems like the American Dream has come up a little short now that the debt induced party is over and the “baby-boomers” old enough to retire. The so-called “one percent” and other wealth holders do not want to raise their taxes to redeem the notes. Instead, the plan is to dramatically reduce or eliminate future benefits while continuing to collect payroll taxes at the same or a higher rate. This accomplishes the following wonders:
- The Highest Marginal Income Tax Rates may stay the same or be reduced.
- Older workers will continue to get current benefits.
- Younger workers will pay the same or more payroll taxes while getting lower benefits.
- The trade off for even lower marginal tax rates will be the extension of the lowest tax rates to lower paid workers who pay no tax now and the reduction of itemized deductions so that those who remain in the middle class will, in fact, have their income taxes increased.
The rallying cry, of course, will be: "Don't raise taxes on job creators!"