Romney's Tax Hike for the Middle Class

[d-ray657]

Originally Posted by BlueStreak

My pet peeve is the assertion that over 50% off all Americans are "....on some sort of public assistance." I don't know what the figure is, but, that just sounds unrealistically high.

Anybody have the numbers?

Dave

It is inaccurate to state it that way. If you believe the WSJ, however, in 2010, 49% of Americans lived in a household in which someone received some sort of assistance. One has to read that carefully, if one person in a household containing four people receives a government check, or medicaid or food stamps, that household counts. Saying that half the people receive government assistance overstates the number. Moreover, that number includes anyone who receives Medicare or Social Security - those folks who are collecting benefits toward which they contributed during their working lives. It includes folks who receive Medicaid, which includes the working poor, as is the case with food stamps. It also included households in which one member received unemployment benefits, a transitional payment. Moreover, the numbers are swelled because of the lingering effects of the Great Recession.

I would agree with a statement that the numbers are too high. It is absolutely a shame that the stratification of our incomes is so severe that folks who work for a living are so poor that they must have assistance to put food on the table. There is no excuse that capital is so highly valued over labor that those who labor are not paid enough to eat.

Regards,

D-Ray