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7/17/2017 12:10:48 PM
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Strawman argument.
Median income ==/== standard of living across cultures.
The Swedes pour a lot of their income into taxes and social services. So although very few people are rich, everyone lives well.
Where as here in the US we've basically spent the last 49 years defunding our government and tearing up the social contract. So even though we all have more money in our pockets, very few of us actually live as well as the Swedes and Europeans.
English
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Median is just about the best measure for determining the economic status of an average person. Even then, the US median is so much higher than that in other countries that differences in distribution really don't make much of a difference, unless you're in the bottom 10% These national-level comparisons take into account taxes, and include social benefits (e.g., "welfare" and state-subsidized health care) as income.
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No they don't take those into consideration, unless they explicitly state that they do..... ..and the ones that actually do this, almost INVARIABLY find that the US has fallen behind Western Europe in terms of living standard, upward mobility and general life satisfaction of the average person.
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Edited by Der Todesengel: 7/17/2017 2:24:10 PM[quote]in the US we've basically spent the last 49 years defunding our government[/quote] Huh? - Der
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I'd like to see an overlay of inflation on that chart.
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It is adjusted for inflation. - Der
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I meant 40 years. I'm referring to the Reagan Revolution....and the effort to defund the government by cutting taxes. To similarly defund the Social Safety net and Government regulation to protect the public by cutting taxes. While the notions that tax cuts lead to economic growth has long since been debunked as an objective truth, it carries on as political ideology. In part, because its an effective mechanism by which corporations can de-fang government regulators that they don't like (e.g. Securities and Exchange Commission or the Environmental Protection Agency). But also its an effective means of tearing up the social contract that was created by the New Deal, and expanded upon by Johnson's Great Society in the 1960s. As Evidenced by the current Congress' efforts to further defund Medicaid (to the tune of more top end tax cuts) in the guise of "Health Care Reform". Not to mention the efforts to defund ("privatize") Social Security every time the GOP controls Washington. Watch THAT to go back on the table should the Congress ever get past this Healthcare situation. Bottomline: You have conservative middle-class voters who have been systematically voting themselves out of the middle-class for the last 40 years. Because they don't realize that----although they are paying less taxes-----what they are taking home in pay isn't enough to replace the value of what they are losiing in government services. Because 20 years ago----unless you made $70K + per year, you took more OUT of the government in services than you paid in in taxes. With inflation and the current flat economy, I'm sure that income threshold has only gotten higher. So the tax cuts are only helping those who need that help the least.
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Yeah. . .and most of the increases went to the military which currently takes up 54% of the government's spending. In other words, the government has increased spending, but mostly on the military instead of programs you would expect to be funded more like education, healthcare, and infrastructure.
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Total bullshit. You are foolishly looking at DISCRETIONARY SPENDING. We spend about 16% on the military overall and about 26% on "health" which includes Medicaid and medicare: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/
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Beat me to it. Interesting how there's no response after a politifact article is posted showing your point.
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That's just not true
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[quote]most of the increases went to the military which currently takes up 54% of the government's spending.[/quote] Huh? - Der
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[quote]Total bullshit. You are foolishly looking at DISCRETIONARY SPENDING. We spend about 16% on the military overall and about 26% on "health" which includes Medicaid and medicare: http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2015/aug/17/facebook-posts/pie-chart-federal-spending-circulating-internet-mi/[/quote]
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Edited by CarneAsadaMilk: 7/17/2017 4:35:16 PMSome people don't understand the difference between discretionary spending and government spending as a whole. But when someone consumes information in such a way to confirm biases, as opposed to gaining accurate knowledge, of course those mistakes are going to happen.
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Also the difference in spending that benefits the public as a whole rather than powerful (and wealthy) interest groups.
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Edited by Flee: 7/17/2017 1:34:28 PMWell put. As I said in my post, this report is deeply flawed and very misleading. It uses a very poor metric to determine richness and completely ignores things like education, health care, quality of life, life expectancy, social programs, affordability of goods, social mobility, housing, actual poverty rates and so forth just to go "higher taxes mean the median is lower so when you compare that one raw number with our adjusted and upgraded stats it must mean they're poor!!". Absolutely disgusting and misleading trashy propaganda, nothing more.
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I know right? The Germans with their ultra economy and super high taxes and free healthcare live almost TWO WHOLE YEARS longer than those fat no-healthcare-having Americans! Amazing huh?
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so what your saying is... if your German they keep you alive longer so you can pay more in taxes glad I'm American then
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Haha....yes that's [i]exactly[/i] what I meant thank you for jogging my memory.
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Live two years longer, and are generally happier too. I'd take that deal.
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You have no idea if they are happier. And if you like that country why don't you move to it?
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Because I'm American. But being American doesn't mean we're always right or we are doing things the best way. I'm old enough to remember when this country ran itself very differently both in terms of politics and government and have lived to see the serious problems that ideology has created for us.
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[quote]Live two years longer, and are generally happier too. I'd take that deal.[/quote] You just said you'd take that deal. Why don't you?
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Because I want it here in the US. And we are rich enough to do it. We just waste too much time and energy with tribal politics while the Top 0.1% strip mine the country.
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So you were lying when you said you'd take that deal. Ahhhhh the villainous .1%. If only _____ didn't have it so good then the little guy would prosper. Hey.....if Bill Gates money vanished tomorrow you'd still be in the exact same spot.
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Edited by SHDGunner: 7/17/2017 10:10:24 PMNo. You just assumed that taking the deal meant moving to Germany. Oh, and I'm just a 1%-er who is willing to talk openly about the class war that is being waged on everyone else. Because I get to hear what they say when they don't think they're being listened to. Warren Buffett is right.
