Paul Krugman has the answer here and it ain't pretty.
Here’s what the numbers say about percentage gains in after-tax income from 2003 to 2005:
Bottom quintile: 2%
Next quintile: 2.4%
Middle quintile: 3.9%
Fourth quintile: 3.7%
Top quintile: 16%
Top 10%: 20.9%
Top 5%: 27.7%
Top 1%: 43.5% [!!!!!--Emphasis by J. Miller]
It was a boom, all right — but only for a few people.
Disgusting, but not surprising. Who in their right minds has ever thought that the people in the Bush Administration give a damn about anybody other than people like themselves? This is just sad confirmation of what most of us already knew. But it's good to be reminded.
3 comments:
To the victor goes the spoils. I went to school, have college loans, earned a good job, rose above my social standing, and now I should be punished because I did a good job of creating a great life for myself. Well screw you!!! I earned it and I will share it the way I want it to be shared with people who need it. I support local charities that help my community. I do not feel that I should support welfare. I got out of welfare on my own. I had a dream and have achieved it. Now I share on my own. If the government stopped enabling the poor, we would be a better country of people who are trying, not a country of people waiting for the free handout. Stop being a pompous ass and preaching your garbage. Get off your island and help the innercity people and save the government money. You were a teacher, help tutor the poor after school. Mentor young men so they can see a role model. You rant, you rave, but what are you doing to make this country better?
Anonymous--(and get a Google account so I can call you by your proper name): First of all, you don't need to argue with me by way of personal abuse. I haven't done anything to merit it. Second, I also rose above my social standing. Thirdly, I spent 33 years contributing to a community, affecting the lives of thousands of young people in a positive way, and being a mentor and role model to many, many young men. Have you? What has been your contribution? What exactly have you done along these lines?
NO ONE--repeat, NO ONE--has risen by his or her own efforts. You say you were once on welfare. Any gratitude for the people that helped you while you were? Any gratitude for the silent network of other people who helped build the physical infrastructure of American society (with tax money) that makes your economic success feasible? Moreover, do you feel no sense of moral obligation beyond your own community? This is a NATION we live in, not a town.
A thousand accidents or random events could have stolen your dreams from you. Have some humility and stop patting yourself on the back about your righteousness. A lot of life is just luck. Some people have had less than you.
Take a look here:
http://www.apa.org/pi/wpo/myths.html
It will dispose of your arguments about welfare pretty handily.
Oh, and one last thing: welfare costs amount to about 1% of the federal budget, and 2% of state budgets.
Get a grip and try educating yourself for a change--instead of parading your ignorance and disguising it as virtue.
Dear anonymous,
My father was born into a blue-collar home in a Canadian auto-manufacturing town. His father was stricken with Multiple Sclerosis, paralyzed from the chest down and unable to work outside of the home. His mother worked as an Avon Representative earning less than US$3000 yearly in one of the few job opportunities open to women at the time. Beginning at age 18, my father worked full time to pay his way through college. He was the first in his family ever to attend. When he was 25, he moved to the United States. He found a job, and worked extremely hard. Within fifteen years he would be the CEO of a publicly traded company with over $1.7B in market capital.
My father is the embodiment of the capitalist American Dream. Shouldn't it be our duty then, as the ones who fate has favored, to share our "spoils" with the citizens of the very nation which allowed this to happen? Privatizing the process, as you suggest, alienates many who otherwise need the assistance. We are all in this life together, and we can't take these material goods past our deaths.
Many will disagree on tax and welfare laws, but the following is something we all can agree on. Your ad hominem attacks against Joe Miller are disgusting. He was a friend, confidante, and father figure to countless students over his tenure. He was a public servant for decades, and now he has chosen to retire quietly with his wife. Keep posting here, please do, but refrain from assaulting his character in your responses.
Kisses!
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