Wealthy recieve more subsidies than the poor

[dajoki]

Subsidies: Not Just for the Poor
by Megan Cottrell April 06, 2010 01:17 PM (PT)
http://uspoverty.change.org/blog/view/subsidies_not_just_for_the_poor

"My tax dollars are supporting lazy people who don't even want to work for a living."
"I'm paying for some unemployed bum's big screen TV and bags of chips while I can barely afford to send my kids to college."
"I don't want to pay more of my hard-earned income to help people who can't even help themselves."

I swear, if I hear the phrase "my tax dollars" one more time out of the lips of someone complaining about programs for the poor, I may lose my mind.

Just a heads up, my friends: we're all being subsidized. Whether or not you realize it, the government subsidizes the lifestyles of middle class and rich people all the time. So much so, we don't even think of it as a subsidy, but it is.

Anytime the government pays for something that the market should produce, but doesn't, that's a subsidy. Think you're living off your own hard-earned dollars? Think again. Here are some of the biggest subsidies going to the rich and middle class:

1) Subsidized Homes

<<snip>>

2) Subsidized Cars

<<snip>>

3) Cheap Food

<<snip>>

4) Higher Education

<<snip>>

5) Corporate welfare

Large corporations get government money all the time. Take my city of Chicago. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange and the Chicago Board of Trade got $40 million from the city of Chicago. The website Career Builder got $2.9 million. Republic Windows and Doors, which may have illegally laid off its employees so it could open another plant in another state, got $10.4 million, according to a local group, Sweet Home Chicago.

That's just Chicago. Businesses around the nation get state and federal tax dollars all the time.

<<snip>>

Then again, we're also subsidizing someone's ski-lodge second home, giving money to corporations that pay huge bonuses to people who are terrible at their jobs, paying for a public education system that sometimes fails to teach people to read and subsidizing a culture that may be melting our planet. Oops.

The moral is: everyone is subsidized, and subsidies aren't perfect.

[Dappleganger]

1. Not to mention farm subsidies, K&R. nt

[dajoki]

5. It speaks of farm subsidies...

under the heading "Cheap Food".

[pscot]

17. So Michele Bachmann has gotten $250,000

in subsidies over the last 10 years because she provides us with cheap food? Cheap laughs I can believe, but not $250000 worth.

[Hello_Kitty]

2. K and R. eom

[Mari333]

3. soooprise soooprise soooprise.

[SpiralHawk]

4. "Smirk." - Republicon Fat Cats (R)

"Too bad about you noisy, hungry, sick, and homeless American proles. Bwaaa ha ha ha ha."

- Republicon Fat Cats

[Captain Hilts]

6. The Home Mortgage deduction is a HUGE help to middle/upper classes. nt

[dajoki]

10. Yes, and just check out...

how much is put toward affordable housing for the poor and homeless, its a disgrace.

[Captain Hilts]

15. Canada and Britain have no such thing, and folks manage to own houses. nt

[pinboy3niner]

7. The civil court system is a huge subsidy to business

[dajoki]

8. Absolutely n/t

[troubledamerican]

9. Military welfare, defense contractors

[newtothegame]

11. To be fair, I'm paying for the same subsidies that I'm getting...

My money is basically going to the government in the form of taxes, then coming back to me in the form of the subsidies you mentioned.

But if you don't work and pay taxes, you're not paying for your subsidies, but you're still getting them. So yes, there probably are some people not working that are buying big screen TV's and chips, and getting subsidies.

I don't agree with the Neocon's argument, but I think you're misconstruing it.

[Greyhound]

13. That 'whooshing' sound you heard was the point flying right over your head. n/t

[newtothegame]

19. Thanks sweetheart. I love you.

Warm hugs and kisses,
newtothegame

[divvy]

12. Oh now you've done it....

Telling the truth will not go unpunished young man.

[dajoki]

23. I wish I was still a young man!! n/t

[marmar]

14. Today's "water is wet" bulletin.

[GreenTea]

16. K&R!

[Cleita]

18. K&R

Time to change that. I wish I knew how.

[nxylas]

24. Sadly, myths don't die easily

Horatio Alger has a lot to answer for.

[donheld]

20. Figures

[ProfessorPlum]

21. This is excellent, but just the tip of the iceberg

The government makes sure that airlines are safe to travel on. poor people who can't afford airline travel never benefit.

the government insures savings accounts up to $100,000 or whatever the limit is these days. obviously, the more $$ you have in savings, the more you benefit from that.

The government is (supposed to) make sure that people aren't being swindled in the stock market. Don't own any stocks? You don't get that benefit.

I could go on and on.

[bridgit]

22. Its self perpetuating; money instruments are setup for people with money...

Some kind of money. Allot of entry level mutual fund stuff and the like require $2,500 just to play. Its hard for people with $1 to bet the table and try to generate .20Cts return, and that's a hindrance to Wall Street investing that is narrowed down to people with money or property or both - I see that as a subsidy

[SoCalDem]

25. Tax deductions for 2nd homes should go bye-bye

If you don't LIVE in it full time, you should not be able to write off the interest. Of course super-rich may not even finance them, so maybe they don;t take a write off on interest, but I'll bet they figure out a way to deduct them somehow..

Rich people stay rich by using OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY, and by having people GIVE them freebies..:grr: