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The rich don't control Washington
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Contrary to popular wisdom, the rich don't control Washington. The poor and the middle-class do.
This will surprise most Americans. We've been conditioned to believe that Washington is a den of corruption, overrun by well-paid lobbyists, and lawyers who manipulate government policies to favor the rich and corporate interests. Ordinary Americans don't stand a chance against this juggernaut.
But look at what the government actually does, and a completely different picture emerges.
Ron Haskins, a scholar at the Brookings Institution, recently presented some fascinating figures on government spending. From 1980 to 2011, yearly outlays for the 10 largest programs for the poor went from $126 billion to $626 billion in inflation adjusted dollars.
Then there are the programs aimed primarily at the middle-class. The biggest, of course, are Social Security and Medicare. Put together, all these programs accounted for almost 60 percent of total federal spending in 2011.
Meanwhile, what about the rich and well-to-do? Well, they're paying for almost all of that spending. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the richest fifth of Americans pay nearly 70 percent of all federal taxes.
The point is not that the rich are victims. Their lawyers and lobbyists often do secure beneficial tax breaks, subsidies and regulatory preferences. But focusing mainly on these victories distorts our picture of government.
Our problem is not that the rich have taken over government. Our problem is that politicians, on the left and right, are doling out money to everyone -- particularly the poor and middle-class. That's why our budget deficits are so huge and so intractable.
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It looks like several people here have already made the points I logged in to make. But I'd like to add that any discussion of deficit and government spending without mention of the military is absolutely dishonest. And also that I am extremely disappointed in Marketplace. Your stories are usually quite well researched and balanced, and don't sound like straight up propaganda, bought and paid for by the one percent. To air this sort of garbage makes you look bad. You can do better.
Lord, but that 70 percent claim does burn my butt!
According to 2007 data (and rumor has it the situation has gotten worse), 70-some percent of the nation's net worth is concentrated in the top 10 percent of the population (aka, the revoltingly wealthy) ... so they are indeed contributing 70 percent of tax revenue.
I'd be only too pleased to see income distribution level out a bit, but if this is how it's going to be, the revoltingly wealthy can just continue to pony up.
"barbaric by even civilized standards?" Why should any employer promise job security. If you hire a guy to mow your lawn and he does a bad job, you hire someone else next time. Your employer owes you nothing except for the current weeks wages. Consider yourself lucky if your employer invites you back next week for work.
Mr. Samuelson is blind to or ignoring any facts or figures that point in the exact opposite direction of the rich benefiting from the government. How can he explain the vast and increasing distance between the rich and poor? How can he explain the byzantine structure of the tax code which benefits the rich and those that handle the riches of the rich? I would recommend Mr. Samuelson take his proposition and appear on the Rachel Madow Show to defend it. Good luck.
"byzantine structure of the tax code which benefits the rich and those that handle the riches of the rich?"
Get your facts straight. Check out www.irs.gov where the facts are published. The current tax structure is highly progressive and in fact does not benefit the rich at all. The top one percent pay more tax revenue than the bottom 95% combined (averaging a 27% tax rate). The bottom 47% of US households pay zero income tax (that's a zero percent tax rate if your keeping track).
Goatdude - Think a bit more deeply. The 47% of US households who pay no income tax, pay no income tax because they don't make enough money to owe any income tax. 47% of US households make $37,500 or less (2003 stats). Now, just because they don't owe federal income tax, these workers are still paying 7.65% of their gross pay for Social Security, Unemployment insurance & Medicare. If you included the 7.65% paid by the employer, then it's 15.3%. These people are paying property taxes and sales taxes and possibly state income taxes. So to state that 47% of US households contribute no money to pay for government expenditures is a flat out lie.
I'd like to see him go to the school where I teach and tell the 94% of my students that are living in poverty that they are running the government. Maybe then he can give them some tips on how they can wear the same shirt every day with nobody noticing, or how neglect is really just independence.
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