Year after year, our culture of dependence grows
The best explanation for the tea party phenomenon is the overwhelming sense among so many Americans that our relationship between government and the governed has gotten out of whack.
But it has been easy for critics to pick at the movement because this sense, this feeling, has as many origins as the tea party has leaders. Just as there is no front man for the tea party, there has been no single fact or figure that tea partiers could point to and say, See this? This is what we’re talking about.
But the Heritage Foundation may have come close with the release last week, at an event in Buckhead, of its 2010 Index of Dependence on Government.
Heritage has compiled federal data on public spending dating back to 1962 on housing, health and welfare, retirement, education, and rural and agricultural services. The stalwart conservative institution then indexed them through the 2009 fiscal year.
The not-so-surprising result: Americans’ dependence on government is higher than ever.
One in five Americans — 64.3 million people — relies on government handouts to fulfill basic needs for housing, food and/or health care. That’s double the proportion before Lyndon B. Johnson’s “Great Society,” and it doesn’t even include corporate welfare. Add the number of public workers, and almost three in 10 of us get our livelihood from government.
At the same time, two in five Americans in 2008 — 132.5 million people — did not pay federal income taxes and were not claimed as dependents by anyone who did. The percentage of nontaxpayers has nearly tripled since 1984.
The nontaxpayer figure has been kicked around in the press a fair amount, with detractors complaining that most of those millions do pay state and local taxes, including sales taxes. That’s true enough, although the federal figure is most vital since it’s at that level that most taxing, spending and public borrowing take place.
But the number of government dependents gets less discussion. That’s a mistake.
First, it’s a fiscal problem to have fewer than three taxpayers providing for each effective ward of the state, plus themselves and their own families.
The Social Security system alone says 2.9 workers are needed to sustain each retiree — a ratio that we’ve dipped below temporarily during the recession. We’re expected to fall permanently short of it by 2015. Multiply that gap by all government entitlements, and you see how precarious our situation is.
(An aside to those who bristle when I call Social Security an “entitlement”: Of course I know you paid payroll taxes, as I do now. I also know that these taxes won’t cover the benefits you and I are slated to receive.)
But perhaps more important, and just as animating to the tea party, is the effect the culture of dependence has on our national character.
One of the left’s most insidious canards is that you only care about helping someone if you support a federal program for them. That is true only to the degree that Washington has crowded out private charity.
As the Heritage authors wrote, “In the past, a person in need depended on help from people and organizations in his or her local community. …
“However, the dependent relationship with elements of the civil society includes healthy expectations of the recipient’s future civil viability and ability to aid another person in turn. The dependent relationship with the political system has no reciprocal expectations.”
Well, the politicians do expect votes. Still, the healthier kind of relationship is under ever-greater threat.
I’m sure critics will keep smearing the tea party as having darker motives. But if they don’t understand the importance of the dependence issue, they’ll still wonder what happened after the wave hits them.
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243 comments Add your comment
AmVet
October 21st, 2010
1:52 pm
Just because one does not pay income tax, that person must be a corporation.
In any given year many/most don’t.
As for the delusional Hope & Change in 12 days, let’s review, shall we?
The Republic just endured eight years of unmitigated disasters and serial debacles at the hands of the worst administration in modern history, as enabled by the worst Republican leaders in the history of the party. Bush and Cheney should never have been allowed to serve out their terms. How they were not impeached for serial violations of US law is a travesty and testament to the craven and spineless Democrats.
Documented train wreck after train wreck. Deadly and incompetent. Morally bankrupt with record numbers of scandals and corruption.
And if I understand correctly, in the ensuing two years they had some sort of stunning epiphany?
They showed sincere remorse for screwing up the nation horrifically? Economically, environmentally, in terms of domestic policy and especially in foreign policy?
NO.
From what I have seen they have not made one substantive improvement whatsoever. Nothing. The Party of No.
If anything they are even more intransigent and irrational then ever. Witness the advent of the lunatic fringe’s lunatic fringe, aka the Tea Party. Hopeless misguided hyper-reactionaries.
And anybody who believes the bumbling neo-cons have changed stripes is just delusional.
More of the same from the grand advocates of the failed status quo…
JKL2
October 21st, 2010
1:52 pm
John- While the Koch brothers — each worth over $21.5 billion — have certainly underwritten much of the right, their hidden coordination with other big business money has gone largely unnoticed.
George Soros says “What?” At least the Kochs are American. Dems don’t seem to have any problem being run by foreign interests.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
1:58 pm
JKL2, good one. as opposed to the “foreign interests” that ran the Bush-Cheney administration (hint: they wear robes and have the word Saud somewhere in their names). last time I checked, I didn’t see Obama or any democrats holding hands with or kissing George Soros.
John
October 21st, 2010
2:01 pm
@JKL2
George Soros says “What?” At least the Kochs are American.
George Soros is not American?
John
October 21st, 2010
2:02 pm
@JKL2…what is George Soros if he’s not American?
RambleOn84
October 21st, 2010
2:12 pm
Please quit all the “Democrat” and “Republican” finger-pointing…
Both parties are owned by the same people.
You really think the super-elite would put all their golden eggs in one basket?
THEY may disagree on certain aspects, but THEY all agree on one thing: THEY want to keep their money, and take even more from US.
Ever wonder why Democrats speak out against war when they’re in the minority but then keep it going once they’re in office?
Or why Republicans preach “small government” during election season, then do everything they can to keep the system bloated once they’re in office?
They’re following the same gameplan, but they have different advertising strategies.
This way they can play us against each other while we ignore how they are flushing this country down the toilet.
John
October 21st, 2010
2:13 pm
@JKL2…you’ve been listening to Rush Limbaugh too much, it’s got your brains fried. George Soros is American…just as American as Rupert Murdoch. Both immigrated here and are naturalized citizens.
George Soros announced today that he was making his first-ever contribution to Media Matters, in the amount of $1 million. Rush Limbaugh denounced this as “foreign money in American politics” and called Soros “a foreigner.” Right-wing bloggers echoed this claim (”Foreign Money in Politics: Soros Donates $1 Million to Media Matters”), and the comment section of right-wing blogs discussing this donation are filled with accusations that this constitutes “foreign money in politics.”
George Soros, however, is an American citizen, with the full panoply of rights citizenship bestows (including the right to vote or run for office). He’s been an American citizen for almost 50 years, since the age of 31 (Business Week: “George Soros became a naturalized American citizen in New York on Dec. 18, 1961, according to the Immigration & Naturalization Service”). He was born in Hungary in 1930, survived German occupation even as numerous Jews died, fled to London after the war to escape Communism, and then began working in New York in 1956. He lived and worked in the U.S. for many years and has given away many millions of dollars in philanthropy to American organizations.
What is it about Soros exactly that leads right-wing commentators — including their long-time leader, Rush Limbaugh — to falsely brand this American citizen a “foreigner”? The answer to that question provides substantial insight into the American Right and how they think about many things.
mike
October 21st, 2010
2:15 pm
Lets see. Blame the economy on the poor and the working poor. Blame it on an administration that has been in office two years. Blame the Democrats, of course. Blame everyone else except those folks who orchestrated this thing in the first place. I waiting for these morons to vote the present group of idiots into office. You think you got problems now, just wait until this next group of high intellectual people get in office. Maybe the lady who thinks she is a witch can make a spell to help the economy.
Cheese whiz and sardine sandwich
October 21st, 2010
2:17 pm
Agreed Ramble, hence, the T Party is definitely needed and ripe to make inroads. I look forward to the day when GA reps, Chambliss and Isakson and others are booted from offce via TP!
OH HAPPY DAY!
Cheese whiz and sardine sandwich
October 21st, 2010
2:19 pm
“she is a witch”
Talking point negates your entire post. You Lose!
RambleOn84
October 21st, 2010
2:21 pm
mike,
Please read my post above…the problems in this country have been brewing since long before Obama or Bush (or even Bush Sr.).
Kennedy was assassinated when he threatened the system…Eisenhower warned us about what was coming…it was around then, too.
It all started in earnest in 1913, but there were probably things brewing even before then.
The problem is MONEY, and it always has been. Those who have it want to keep it, and they don’t want you breathing their precious air.
They also own our government.
Who runs the Federal Reserve?
There’s your culprit…the Republicans and Democrats are just a smoke screen.
DawgDad
October 21st, 2010
2:31 pm
“we all can’t win unless you really believe in santa claus”
Therein lies the fallacy of the left. “Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus.”
Our Founding Fathers understood this, and I for one got the message from my forefathers, teachers, and mentors. Everybody does not hope for, earn, or receive the same identical “presents under the tree”. We strive continually for a BETTER future for our family and our nation. We strive to uplift EVERYBODY, not just the politically or socially favored. We uplift whenever possible by providing opportunity and enabling growth. The benefits do trickle down, and we look last to government and others to satisfy our needs.
joe
October 21st, 2010
2:34 pm
To trim the amount spend by our govt, one of the first things that needs cutting is any taxpayer funds going to NPR. They lost their objectivity a long time ago and now they fire one of their best simply for offering his opinion, which he is paid to do. Cut them off now!
Real Athens
October 21st, 2010
2:38 pm
Someone wrote on here earlier:
“@J-The tea party movement started once BO started passing quazi-socialist policies on healhcare, bailouts, etc. These policies weren’t born of ANY other administration in the past, republican nor democrat.”
You are entitled to your opinion, but facts are facts:
“The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 (Division A of Pub.L. 110-343, enacted October 3, 2008), commonly referred to as a bailout of the U.S. financial system, is a law enacted in response to the subprime mortgage crisis authorizing the United States Secretary of the Treasury to spend up to US$700 billion to purchase distressed assets, especially mortgage-backed securities, and make capital injections into banks. Both foreign and domestic banks are included in the program. The Federal Reserve also extended help to American Express, whose bank-holding application it recently approved. The Act was proposed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson during the global financial crisis of 2008.
The original proposal was submitted to the United States House of Representatives, with the purpose of purchasing bad assets, reducing uncertainty regarding the worth of the remaining assets, and restoring confidence in the credit markets. The bill was then expanded and put forth as an amendment to H.R. 3997. The amendment was rejected via a vote of the House of Representatives on September 29, 2008, voting 205-228.
On October 1, 2008, the Senate debated and voted on an amendment to H.R. 1424, which substituted a newly revised version of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 for the language of H.R. 1424. The Senate accepted the amendment and passed the entire amended bill, voting 74-25. Additional unrelated provisions added an estimated $150 billion to the cost of the package and increased the length of the bill to 451 pages. The amended version of H.R. 1424 was sent to the House for consideration, and on October 3, the House voted 263-171 to enact the bill into law.
President George W. Bush signed the bill into law within hours of its congressional enactment, creating the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to purchase failing bank assets.
The Troubled Asset Relief Program, commonly referred to as TARP, is a program of the United States government to purchase assets and equity from financial institutions to strengthen its financial sector which was signed into law by U.S. President George W. Bush on October 3, 2008. It is the largest component of the government’s measures in 2008 to address the subprime mortgage crisis.”
“…As of February 9, 2009, $388 billion had been allotted, and $296 billion spent, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Among the money committed, includes:
$250 billion to purchase bank equity shares through the Capital Purchase Program ($195 billion spent);
$40 billion to purchase preferred shares of American International Group (AIG), then among the top 10 US companies, through the program for Systemically Significant Failing Institutions ($40 billion spent);
$20 billion to back any losses that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York might incur under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (none spent);
$40 billion in stock purchases of Citigroup and Bank of America ($20 billion each) through the Targeted Investment Program ($40 billion spent)
$12.5 billion in loan guarantees for Citigroup ($5 billion) and Bank of America ($7.5 billion) through the Asset Guarantee Program (none spent);
$25 billion in loans to automakers and their financing arms through the Automotive Industry Financing Program ($21 billion spent)
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
2:39 pm
RambleOn84, you’ve done your homework. here’s thr $14 trillion question; who “owns” money? I think you might answer “the Fed(eral Reserve Bank) – they ultimate “central authority/socialist instrument, presented as an icon of capitalism. The Fed establishes the “value” of the dollar via interest rates (and the dollar has lost 90% of its actual value since 1913). the Fed creates housing bubbles by pumping cheap money on the street (which inflates housing values via debt-fueled appreciation, which leads to “speculation” – that is housing as an “investment” as opposed to a living expense). The owners of the Fed realized they could become the ultimate “gamers” of the system. The Fed has literally perfected the art of turning air (debt) into wealth (theirs, we the People get the I.O.U.). yep, it all comes down to Ben Franklin’s “money is the root of all evil”. when money is a currency; a means of exchange for the purcase or sale of goods or services, it is benign, but when the pursuit of wealth (money) leads to card tricks, sleight of hand financial instruments, and other forms of paper shuffling in lieu of productive work, as I said, eventually the music stops, and somebody is without a chair.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
2:43 pm
DawgDad, did you just use the words “trickle down” in earnest?
RambleOn84
October 21st, 2010
2:46 pm
Unfortunately, paleo-neo-Carlinist, we are the ones left without a chair.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
2:56 pm
RambleOn84, do you mean we The People, or we as in you and? not to worry, I hear the Federal Reserve is going to infuse more cash into the system, so the folks who make chairs are very happy, and in about 6 months, “securitized chairs” will sold on the NYSE, and this is just a hunch (would use the word speculation, but think better), when the “chair bubble bursts in 2012, the liberals will blame the conservative evil chair manufacturers, and the conservatives will blame all the people (especially the gays, Mexicans, and the low income blacks and whites) who “bought more chair then they could afford”. the banks will foreclose on the undervalued chairs, reclaim and re-sell them at a profit, and they will ask to be bailed out in order to cover the losses from the chairs which are “upside down” or “underwater.” I think the best “hedge” (another bad word) against this would be to buy stock in the Federal Reserve; check mate.
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
2:56 pm
excuse me, in 6 months, securitized chair mortgages and default swaps will be sold on the NYSE
joe suggs
October 21st, 2010
3:04 pm
Anyone on welfare should be forced to work 40 hours per week community service !!!
B
October 21st, 2010
3:04 pm
Thank you, Real Athens. One last comment about the tea party and the poor: how will the tea party tell who is ‘upstanding’ enough to receive help? I have enough evidence to believe the primary rejection criteria would be ones skin color. Please feel free to read between the lines.
Cheese whiz and sardine sandwich
October 21st, 2010
3:07 pm
“I have enough evidence to believe the primary rejection criteria would be ones skin color.”
Present your evidence please.
Swede Atlanta
October 21st, 2010
3:09 pm
If we are going to talk about dependence we need to look across the board and some of the reasons for that dependence.
1. Corporate Welfare
* Tax policy – many conservatives charge that the corporate tax rate needs to be lowered to be competitive. If businesses actually paid based on tax table rates, I would agree. But they don’t. There are myriads of tax credits and deductions. Many, many businesses pay no taxes despite making healthy profits.
* Direct subsidies – many industries including agra-business, the energy sector, etc. enjoy direct subsidies from the taxpayer.
* No Bid Business – Halliburton, among others got juicy “no bid”awards to provide services (including some that killed our soldiers)
* Defense appropriations out of control – the military-industrial complex is in full swing with members of Congress voting to keep alive weapons systems and bases and even the military say they don’t need.
2. Offshoring
We have adopted tax and other policies that encourage businesses to offshore jobs. So it should not be a surprise to anyone that when $60K manufacturing and tech jobs are replaced with $20K jobs at McDonalds, people don’t have sufficient income to feed, clothe and house their families, let alone afford health insurance.
DawgDad
October 21st, 2010
3:09 pm
DawgDad, did you just use the words “trickle down” in earnest?
Yes, very much so.
RambleOn84
October 21st, 2010
3:10 pm
paleo-neo-Carlinist,
That’s the funniest, saddest, and truest analysis of the whole mess I’ve ever read.
Swede Atlanta
October 21st, 2010
3:20 pm
Joe Suggs
You must love welfare. If you require anyone receiving public benefits to work 40 hours a week you immediately exclude them from ever getting education or training or even being able to search and interview for jobs.
Any works program needs to be focused on getting people off of welfare. Just having them collect garbage for 40 hours a week will not achieve that goal and they will remain on welfare.
Further, when the jobs that are available don’t pay any better than welfare, they may well just want to stay on welfare even if they have to do community service type work.
Gershom
October 21st, 2010
3:23 pm
Here’s a wonderful example of dependency. And, GASP, it’s Obama’s auntie….
http://wbztv.com/local/obama.aunt.Zeituni.2.1924422.html
You can also check this out on YouTube.
Tychus Findlay
October 21st, 2010
3:26 pm
BS Swede
I work 50+ hours a week at a salaried job and still find time to do other things.
j
October 21st, 2010
3:27 pm
DawgDad
October 21st, 2010
2:31 pm
“we all can’t win unless you really believe in santa claus”
Therein lies the fallacy of the left. “Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus.”
Our Founding Fathers understood this, and I for one got the message from my forefathers, teachers, and mentors. Everybody does not hope for, earn, or receive the same identical “presents under the tree”. We strive continually for a BETTER future for our family and our nation. We strive to uplift EVERYBODY, not just the politically or socially favored. We uplift whenever possible by providing opportunity and enabling growth. The benefits do trickle down, and we look last to government and others to satisfy our needs.
Link Report this comment
—-
with a handle like yours it’s no surprise you struggle with comprehension as well as logic.
When the stocks of MCI, Enron, CIT and Bear Stearns crashed everyone came out a winner right?
Typical jawjah bulldog fan.
Cheese whiz and sardine sandwich
October 21st, 2010
3:27 pm
Gershom
October 21st, 2010
3:23 pm
Wonder which of Obamas God awful govt entitlement bum relatives will next crawl out from under a rock?
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
3:28 pm
RambleOn84, kinda makes you recalll Mortimer and Randolph Duke from “Trading Places” doesn’t it? seriously, one more thought; also makes you think about Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity (among others, there are probably some liberals doing the same) hawking “gold”. As if people will be able to eat gold or throw gold bricks at the bands of cannibals who will be roaming America when the real bubble bursts. you ever read Jim Jubak? in the midst of the melt down he was advocating disciplined buying in lieu or gold or taking money out of the market, or simply buying bullets because bullets will be worth more than gold if we ever reach the point where gold is worth anything – rock, paper, scissors… another birthday party game.
Cheese whiz and sardine sandwich
October 21st, 2010
3:29 pm
*AHEM* “Present your evidence please.”
B!! We are still waiting….
paleo-neo-Carlinist
October 21st, 2010
3:31 pm
j., my point exactly, it isn’t “wealth” that trickles down when the bubble bursts.
Jefferson
October 21st, 2010
3:32 pm
It appears our great state gov’t is dependent on Washington DC to balance its budget, as the GOP leaders here can’t seem to do it on their own, then they complain about the stimulas that bails their butt out.
Swede Atlanta
October 21st, 2010
3:33 pm
Tychus- BS on You!!!
If you are going to get people off of welfare their primary focus needs to be on getting the skills needed for today’s job market, networking and looking for a job.
I know people that are highly educated with excelled work pedigrees that in this current market spend 50+ hours a week searching for a job. This was their full-time job for months on end. Two of my friends have been successful in finding jobs but at about a 30% pay and benefits reduction. The other is still searching after 8 months.
So don’t underestimate what it takes to get a job when you sit in the comfort of your salaried position.
j
October 21st, 2010
3:37 pm
John
October 21st, 2010
2:01 pm
@JKL2
George Soros says “What?” At least the Kochs are American.
George Soros is not American?
Link Report this comment
—-
yes he is. you have access to the web use it.
Henry Kissinger was an American although he spoke with an accent.
JKL2
October 21st, 2010
3:40 pm
john- George Soros announced today that he was making his first-ever contribution to Media Matters, in the amount of $1 million.
Just the first time he contributed directly. As opposed to going thru his Open Society Foundation, The Tides Foundation, Appolo Aliance, MoveOn.org, etc… You know how these rich people like to move things thru there shill corporations. Not that he would ever be considered evil because he gives money to the Democrats.
He is now an American, just not a good one.
Algonquin j. Calhoun
October 21st, 2010
3:43 pm
joe suggs
October 21st, 2010
3:04 pm
Anyone on welfare should be forced to work 40 hours per week community service !!!
Does that include all the young children? Does it include all the white people who comprise the majority of welfare recipients? Does it include the elderly and infirm? People on welfare are subsisting, they are not living lives of luxury. The majority of benefits go to children. You oppose abortion but once here you want them to support themselves and pay as they go. They’re children in need! They need help and we, as their fellow citizen and human being, need to help them be clothed and fed and educated. That is what Christ, whom you probably know nothing about but whom you probably make a show of worshipping, told us to do. We are the keeper of our brothers and sisters who can not rise to an appropriate economic level to help their children!
j
October 21st, 2010
3:43 pm
Henry is still an American, apparently the guy is still alive.
B
October 21st, 2010
3:45 pm
To cheeze whiz on a sardine or something:
Google “racist tea party signs”. There are 133,000 of them. My personal favorite is “Youth in Asia will Kill Your Grandmother”. And the spelling mistakes are just priceless.
Richard Hamilton
October 21st, 2010
3:47 pm
The problem is you now have generations of Americans that grew up on welfare. I have absolutely no problem with families getting plenty of help back onto their feet, but at some point they have to learn to fly again and that isn’t happening. You can’t continue to support people who don’t want to work and don’t want to improve their situation.
There are a lot of people who really need the help and eventually get on with their lives and then there are those who live off the system and have no intention of getting on with their lives. One only needs to look at Greece and now France to see that this type of system doesn’t work because eventually the people living off the system outnumber the people who actually work to pay for that system.
Single moms with no income pumping out children is an absolute abuse to the system. My grandmother had 4 children and a brand new house when my grandfather dropped dead in the living room floor at 41 yrs old. With all 4 children under the age of 10 she had no option but to get a job. When the first job wasn’t enough to feed the kids and pay the mortgage, she got a second job. When the second job wasn’t enough, she got a third job, which did the trick.
The entitlement system in this country isn’t designed to help people anymore, it’s designed to keep them there and our country is now going broke because of it. Add in the 50+ million abortions since Roe vs Wade and you have a huge gap of people coming into the workforce to support the system that is in place.
RambleOn84
October 21st, 2010
3:48 pm
paleo-neo-Carlinist,
Guns, bullets, clothes, and food are the only things worth buying right now.
Richard Hamilton
October 21st, 2010
3:58 pm
Algonquin j. Calhoun
We should absolutely love our brothers and sisters, but part of the reason they cannot rise to an appropriate economic level is because many women are too busy sleeping around and getting knocked up. The men take off because they got what they wanted and the child is left to suffer the consequences of these actions. I don’t think any children should suffer, but you cannot continue to reward people who don’t care about how their actions affect themselves, their children, and Americans in general.
I assure you there are a lot of people who gladly choose poverty when faced with the reality of punching a clock every day.
Ayn Rant
October 21st, 2010
4:01 pm
The rising dependence of people on government is caused by the failure of our economic system to provide good jobs with sufficient pay to support families and to save for the future. Government is not the cause of the economic decline of the nation, but government assistance does ease the deprivation and suffering of millions of American.
Why don’t “fed up” people rail against the big corporations who subvert the free market by buying out, merging, and destroying upstarts and competitors? Why don’t we protest the big banks and insurance companies that caused the economic disaster of 2007-2009? Why don’t we picket the companies that have shut down their American factories in favor of marketing foreign-made products. Why do we allow favorable tax rates on gains from non-equity financial instruments that deprive American industry and commerce of the capital needed to create jobs? Why do we treat the outrageous salaries, bonuses, and golden parachutes paid to non-performing CEOs as tax-deductible business expenses?
The rage of Americans has been cleverly deflected from the cause of our economic problems to the victims of economic failure, those who depend on government assistance, and to the government itself, as a scapegoat!
If you believe government is the problem then you have been brainwashed by the steady barrage of industry-sponsored lies and propaganda. Plug your ears, clear your brain, open your eyes, and face reality!
John
October 21st, 2010
4:03 pm
@JKL2
I just said George Soros is American after you claimed he is not. You’re just another example of how the right wing media works. They make up their own story and say it often enough via Rush and Fox News that it becomes fact in the minds of conservatives. Rush says George Soros is a foreigner and is pumping money into the campaign…so it becomes fact. They’ve been talking about Socialist Obama and his bailout and in the minds of conservatives that becomes fact…never mind that TARP and the bailouts was signed by President Bush or that Boehner cried on the House floor urging it’s passage.
Brian
October 21st, 2010
4:04 pm
jt, I agree with your assertion, however, you look ignorant. Next time google USSR before you send such a comment.
Black Saint
October 21st, 2010
4:09 pm
The loony left wing of the Democrat party must be the only species on the face of the earth that cannot or will not learn from experience, even Animals and Babies learn from experience!
The Socialist countries in Europe , Britain, France, Germany, Greece etc. have finally recognized Socialism and the Welfare State with unlimited immigration of uneducated third world parasites flooding in to get on the public dole does not work and are cutting back government, including numbers, wages, & benefits in order to survive as a Nation and returning to capitalism.
While here in the USA Obama and the Democrats are hell bent on taking the us to a welfare socialist paradise in spite of proof all over the world and in the failed Blue States here that it does not work.
Illinois, Calif, New York, New Jersey, all Blue States that have been controlled by Democrat Majorities for years and long enough to try there taxing, spending and vote buying of public union members by giving wages and benefits that is bankrupting the government while pandering to illegal Aliens, and welfare leeches are now seeing the results, all are bordering on bankruptcy.
Now Obama is following the same blueprint on a vastly bigger scale for the rest of American using 100,s of billion of the simulate money to reward Democrat supporters and to keep the under worked and overpaid public union in jobs and buy Workfare & Welfare votes!
The same multi-trillion dollar con job Obama is attempting, by giving Amnesty to the invading horde of Criminals & Uneducated Prolific breeding third world parasites & with chain immigration all the ones still left in Mexico to buy 10,s of millions of welfare votes for the Democrat party with money borrowed from China while bankrupting this Nation.
With the future & further goal of turning the USA into a Spanish speaking Third World Slum modeled on Mexico but controlled Lock, Stock & Barrel by the Socialist/Democrat party Dictatorship of the United Sates of Mexico!
George W
October 21st, 2010
4:09 pm
KYLE – By far one of the most fair and balanced stories I have seen on the AJC in a while. Thank you…good job.
Ryan
October 21st, 2010
4:12 pm
When I first read your headline I thought you were talking about corporations like Google who avoid paying billions in taxes by shuttling their cash off shore… But I see you are just bashing regular Americans who are trying to feed their families…
B
October 21st, 2010
4:13 pm
You go, Ann Rant! I have never understood why the tea people are upset with the poor. Not the wars or all the usual suspects you name above. They are literally marching to their doom. Cool, huh.
Anyway, well done poster!