Rich Don’t Pay Fair Share, or Government Incompetence?
The age old argument that the left continues to embolden. Hillary and Bernie both have based their campaign on income inequality and argue that the rich do not pay their fair share. Protesters recently blocked the Citadel in Chicago targeting Ken Griffin, CEO, richest man in Illinois, demanding the rich pay their fair share. But is this rhetoric the real reason the economy is failing and the middle and working class are worse off than they were 10 years ago?
Let’s look at the FACTS. Currently, the top half of income earners in the United States, a.k.a. “the rich,” paid over 97% of ALL TAXES in 2012. Over 50% of Americans currently pay NO TAXES. The one question that Bernie Sanders supporters can’t answer is, “How much is enough?”
“Barack Obama told the nation that "improvements” in Medicare and hiking taxes on the wealthy would stabilize government spending and bring deficit spending to what can charitably be described as a dull roar. The Wall Street Journal does some fact checking on these claims and finds them entirely false.“ —Wall Street Journal
So how much will be enough? Based on 2008 figures, the national debt was approximately $8 trillion. What does the math say?
"So, if you outright took every single dime from the individuals and families who had an AGI of more than $1,000,000 — those rich bastards — how many days? How many days could we run the federal government? 111 days!”
“Let’s say we confiscate every single dime from individuals and families who made more than $200,000. How many days could we run the federal government? 253 days!”
So Economics 101 tells us that taxing the rich or confiscating ALL their money will do nothing to stop the uptick of our national debt or government spending. So, what is the solution to our money problems? Currently the United States is almost $19 trillion in debt, which does not include unfunded liabilities, like social security owed, which our government recklessly spent, Medicare and Medicaid and subsides promised through Obamacare among other wasteful programs. When you add in this money owed, the real national debt that the government doesn’t want you to know is well over $120 trillion.
The problem is government spending. In 1994 total government spending was $2.143 billion dollars. In 2004: $2.792 billion. In 2008: $3.253 billion. In 2014: $3.504 billion. Are you now understanding the problem? Government is growing bigger and bigger means spending will continue to grow every year. Adding insult to injury, the government is not fiscally responsible nor does it take immediate action in controlling fraud. The Government Accountability Office confirmed that Medicaid and Medicare fraud are spinning out of control.
In fiscal 2014 alone, 22 agencies approved improper Medicare, Medicaid and Earned Income Tax Credit payments totaling an astounding $124.7 billion — an increase of $18.9 billion or 15 percent from the previous year, according to a new report. Those overpayments accounted for over 75 percent of the estimated government-wide overpayments or improper payments. Fraudulent welfare payments totaled over $59.6 billion in 2014 alone. In 2014, under Hillary Clinton, the State Department misplaced and lost over $6 billion due to improper filing of contracts. The federal government actually spent over $294 billion on expired government programs in 2015.
These figures don’t include wasteful spending such as
$387,000 to study the effects of Swedish massages on rabbits.
$200,000 to determine how and why Wikipedia is sexist.
$371,026 to fund a study to see if mothers love dogs as much as their kids.
$804,254 for the development of a smartphone game called Kiddo: Food Fight.
$856,000 to teach mountain lions to walk on treadmills.
$25 billion annually on vacant federal properties.
$123 billion annually on federal programs that have no positive impact on the populations they serve.
$2.6 million training Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.
Have you heard enough yet? The examples above are only a small portion of the hard earned tax dollars that working Americans pay and government wastes every year. So what is the real problem in the United States today? It most certainly is NOT the rhetoric that Hillary and Bernie are feeding our young on college campuses and in states around the country. The real problem is government itself. So to all you protestors out there…..head over to the White House!
