A new CBO report shows that over the past thirty years, 72.5% of all income growth for the middle quintile of the population (households earning $50,000), came from increased government payments (social security, food stamps…) and reduced federal taxes. In ’79, the middle quintile paid $10,400 in taxes and received $3,100 in payments. Now they pay $7,700 and receive $10,400. While some of this is temporal, the trend is unnerving.
Tag Archives: transfer payments
Be Like Us
The core euro problem is the dramatic differences in economic performance of the 17 member countries. Germany’s a star, the PIIGS aren’t. By sharing the euro devaluation is not possible. Moreover, the Germans won’t tolerate inflation, and labor mobility is low. The ideal solution; have richer countries perpetually support the poorer countries. It’s what we do here, via transfer payments from rich states (CT) to poor states (WV) via Washington.