The linked article gives some interesting facts that we don't see in the news much -- you can go look at them and it is worth it, but I'll summarize here.
- Nearly a third of Americans are not working -- lowest participation since 1977
- The US is the ONLY nation in the top 8 developed nations where this is happening -- even Japan, where the aging demographics problem is worse than here is not seeing it.
- Productivity is ALSO dropping -- at worst levels since '93.
I'll give you my theory.
First, the personal case -- no doubt shared by a few million people that many would call "lucky". Add a pension to wife's income and realize that any supplementing to that is taxed at roughly 50% counting Federal and State. I can pull money out of what was saved over 34 years and if very careful, hold the tax rate to "low 40%" -- MN 10% tax on top of Feds (no FICA). 60% of your savings is a lot lower number ... it gives one a LOT of "pause".
As long as I was working and the massive taxes were being pulled out all the time, it was "just numbers". I was a VERY good tax bossie cow for the government. Had I not been fired, I would have no doubt continued to work 60+ hours a week, pour money into the TDSP tax trap, and pay out gigantic tax payments in the same stupid boiling frog manner as I did for 34 years. We have a few millions of people in this boat -- in what counts for a country these days, this is the "Happy Boat" -- but also the "patsy boat". (if you go to a poker game and don't know who the patsy is, it's you!)
Then there is the starting out, struggling, broken (homes, addiction, criminal record, etc), low education / capability, boat. The $15 an hour minimum wage and under set -- $15 x 40 x 52 = $31,200 a year. Here is that bastion of conservatism, WaPO on welfare benefits for a single mom with two kids. Going through the whole article is a strain, but they end up giving a REPUBLICAN only 2 Pinocchios on their rating which is incredible -- they usually give the words of Jesus 3, and only Karl Marx is completely truthful from their POV!
It’s correct that a single parent can receive $35,000 in benefits, if he or she lives in one of the 10 states listed in the Cato report, or Washington, D.C. But the median welfare package, which would have been the relevant number to use, is about $28,800 — lower than Grothman’s figure.If you go look at the Cato report, you have to get to the 41st from the top least state in benefits to dip below $20K ... Maine and $19,871. My belief is that people at the bottom of the income ladder react to incentives and disincentives exactly like those at the middle and the top. They aren't "lazy", nor are they stupid -- they are rational!
As a single mother with two kids, you can either:
(A). Stay at home and get from $20 - $35K a year
(B). Go to work 40 hours every week with no vacations and take in MAYBE $31,200.
Does this strike you as a "tough choice"?
Stay at home and you can maybe take in a few other kids for cash daycare. If there is a guy that isn't a total deadbeat and doesn't beat your kids, he can shack up and hopefully add at least some part-time work to the kitty. Hell, if you can find a stand up guy that actually brings in that $31Kish number and you can manage to move to one of the over $30K welfare states ... say #14, Minnesota at $31,603, you are looking at $62K a year "family" income with one parent working! A hard working trucker in the US pulls down something in the $50K range.
So it isn't hard to understand at all why the bottom of the ladder isn't that into working anymore -- incentives to NOT work, DISincentives to work. Stupid is as stupid does!
In between we have a hodge podge -- the median income and most families are clustered around $50K a year, so it is easy to see that welfare type disbursements have a HUGE effect on OVER HALF of the "families" in the US. In fact, 40% of Americans get over half their income from the government!
Destruction of morality and families is critical to the "progressive" agenda to destroy America. Gay "marriage" is important since it further reduces any latent sense of morality, but heterosexual marriage and ESPECIALLY the idea that men flitting in and out of a mother's bed is somehow "immoral / wrong / socially bad / etc" is CRITICAL. Once the figure of God has been removed, the earthy embodiment in a human "Father" being removed is the next important step to destroy culture. For over half of the children in the US, we are already there.
The definition of "family" used to be mom taking care of kids and dad working. Now there is no definition of family -- but for roughly half of the "families" with children in the nation, the "economic father" is the government, and whoever happens to be in mom's bed is "some guy". He may or may not work -- if she is a "good and discerning woman" (by modern standards), he may work quite a bit and even hang around for awhile. The "family" may even be quite comfortable ... lots of "stuff", entertainment, etc. Isn't that what the "progressive family" is all about?
We have been doing this for a generation and we now find that a lot less people are working and those that are are less productive.
Oh, and "nobody knows why"!
'via Blog this'
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