A sad look at entitlements

[Stangkiller]

In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year | ZeroHedge
never heard of the source, I was trolling the Internet on this topic and came across this.

Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world's most generous entitlement system. Perhaps if Reagan were alive today, he would wish to modify the object of his once legendary remark.

From Emmerich:

You can do as well working one week a month at minimum wage as you can working $60,000-a-year, full-time, high-stress job.
My chart tells the story. It is pretty much self-explanatory.

Stunning? Just do it yourself.

Almost all welfare programs have Web sites where you can call up "benefits calculators." Just plug in your income and family size and, presto, your benefits are automatically calculated.
The chart is quite revealing. A one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimu wage) has more disposable income than a amily making $60,000 a year.
And if that wasn't enough, here is one that will blow your mind:

If the family provider works only one week a month at minimum wage, he or she makes 92 percent as much as a provider grossing $60,000 a year.
Ever wonder why Obama was so focused on health reform? It is so those who have no interest or ability in working, make as much as representatives of America's once exalted, and now merely endangered, middle class.

First of all, working one week a month, saves big-time on child care. But the real big-ticket item is Medicaid, which has minimal deductibles and copays. By working only one week a month at a minimum wage job, a provider is able to get total medical coverage for next to nothing.
Compare this to the family provider making $60,000 a year. A typical Mississippi family coverage would cost around $12,000, adding deductibles and copays adds an additional $4,500 or so to the bill. That's a huge hit.
There is a reason why a full time worker may not be too excited to learn there is little to show for doing the "right thing."

The full-time $60,000-a-year job is going to be much more demanding than woring one week a month at minimu wage. Presumably, the low-income parent will have more energy to attend to the various stresses of managing a household.
It gets even scarier if one assumes a little dishonesty is throwin in the equation.

If the one-week-a-month worker maintains an unreported cash-only job on the side, the deal gets better than a regular $60,000-a-year job.* In this scenario, you maintain a reportable, payroll deductible, low-income job for federal tax purposes. This allows you to easily establish your qualification for all these welfare programs. Then your black-market job gives you additional cash without interfering with your benefits. Some economists estimate there is one trillion in unreported income each year in the United States.
This really got me thinking. Just how much money could I get if I set out to deliberately scam the system? I soon realized that getting a low-paying minimum wage job would set the stage for far more welfare benefits than you could earn in a real job, if you were weilling to cheat. Even if you dodn't cheat, you could do almost as well working one week a month at minimum wage than busting a gut at a $60,000-a-year job.*
Now where it gets plainly out of control is if one throws in Supplemental Security Income.

SSI pays $8,088 per year for each "disabled" family member. A person can be deemed "disabled" if thy are totally lacking in the cultural and educational skills needed to be employable in the workforce.
If you add $24,262 a year for three disability checks, the lowest paid welfare family would now have far more take-home income than the $60,000-a-year family.
Best of all: being on welfare does not judge you if you are stupid enough not to take drugs all day, every day to make some sense out of this Mephistophelian tragicomedy known as living in the USA:

Most private workplaces require drug testing, but there is no drug testing to get welfare checks.
Alas, on America's way to to communist welfare, it has long since surpassed such bastions of capitalism as China:

The welfare system in communist China is far stringier. Those people have to work to eat.
We have been writing for over a year, how the very top of America's social order steals from the middle class each and every day. Now we finally know that the very bottom of the entitlement food chain also makes out like a bandit compared to that idiot American who actually works and pays their taxes. One can only also hope that in addition to seeing their disposable income be eaten away by a kleptocratic entitlement state, that the disappearing middle class is also selling off its weaponry. Because if it isn't, and if it finally decides it has had enough, the outcome will not be surprising at all: it will be the same old that has occurred in virtually every revolution in the history of the world to date.

[RedLS1GTO]

Pathetic. Simply pathetic.

[Exotix]

I like this twisted lopsided statistic ...

SSI pays $8,088 per year for each "disabled" family member.

A person can be deemed "disabled" if thy are totally lacking in the cultural and educational skills needed to be employable in the workforce.

Yeah ? ... what's the payout statistic on this one ?

If you add $24,262 a year for three disability checks, the lowest paid welfare family would now have far more take-home income than the $60,000-a-year family.

Best of all: being on welfare does not judge you if you are stupid enough not to take drugs all day, every day to make some sense out of this Mephistophelian tragicomedy known as living in the USA ...

Let's take a look at reality ....

Can I work while receiving SSA or SSI benefits ?

Can I work while receiving SSA or SSI benefits

[ChasC5]

You can always go to Iran; I’m sure they will be more than happy to let you isolate yourself.

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by Exotix

I like this twisted lopsided statistic ...





Let's take a look at reality ....

Can I work while receiving SSA or SSI benefits ?

Can I work while receiving SSA or SSI benefits

Many welfare families I knew had gotten their kids labeled as disabled due to several issues. I know they have tightened the process up but many kids are getting SSDI checks to supplement the income of the family.

The root cause problem here is we are subsidizing failure. The "War on Poverty" was nothing more than a Dem, effort to enslave millions of Americans to the system to keep them voting Dem. It worked. Poverty rates are virtually unchanged.

Welfare does not work. Is should be ended.

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by VITE1

Many welfare families I knew had gotten their kids labeled as disabled due to several issues. I know they have tightened the process up but many kids are getting SSDI checks to supplement the income of the family.

The root cause problem here is we are subsidizing failure. The "War on Poverty" was nothing more than a Dem, effort to enslave millions of Americans to the system to keep them voting Dem. It worked. Poverty rates are virtually unchanged.

Welfare does not work. Is should be ended.

Have you notified the proper authorities of this Crime of Fraud, or has the Vette Barn been your only stop?

[Exotix]

Originally Posted by VITE1

Many welfare families I knew had gotten their kids labeled as disabled due to several issues. I know they have tightened the process up but many kids are getting SSDI checks to supplement the income of the family.

The root cause problem here is we are subsidizing failure. The "War on Poverty" was nothing more than a Dem, effort to enslave millions of Americans to the system to keep them voting Dem. It worked. Poverty rates are virtually unchanged.

Welfare does not work. Is should be ended.

How'bout millionaires who in one fell swoop when the Ryan Plan busted-out on the scene just found out they will be paying for the cost of living and healthcare for grandpa & grandma, mom & dad, kids, their kids etc. ... and where the income from their tax-cuts and loopholes and investments fall way short of these expenditures ?

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by ChasC5

Have you notified the proper authorities of this Crime of Fraud, or has the Vette Barn been your only stop?

It was not fraud. It was the law. Kids were and are allowed to collect SSDI. What you fail to relaize is the system is the probelm.

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by Exotix

How'bout millionaires who in one fell swoop when the Ryan Plan busted-out on the scene just found out they will be paying for the cost of living and healthcare for grandpa & grandma, mom & dad, kids, their kids etc. ... and where the income from their tax-cuts and loopholes and investments fall way short of these expenditures ?

Well that's different.

[VITE1]

Originally Posted by Exotix

How'bout millionaires who in one fell swoop when the Ryan Plan busted-out on the scene just found out they will be paying for the cost of living and healthcare for grandpa & grandma, mom & dad, kids, their kids etc. ... and where the income from their tax-cuts and loopholes and investments fall way short of these expenditures ?

WT are you talking about? Why is it My responsibility to pay for your failure?

Do you mean to say that all income is owned by the government and that they get to decide what you keep? Those "Loopholes" you speak about are to encourage certain behavior.

Personally I would love to see a flat tax where EVERYONE pays a fixed percentage of their income to the Fed. No deductions, No exceptions.

[Exotix]

Originally Posted by VITE1

WT are you talking about? Why is it My responsibility to pay for your failure?

Do you mean to say that all income is owned by the government and that they get to decide what you keep? Those "Loopholes" you speak about are to encourage certain behavior.

Personally I would love to see a flat tax where EVERYONE pays a fixed percentage of their income to the Fed. No deductions, No exceptions.

Then you live in a distorted reality world simply based on wacked-demogogery ... this is the GOP since Reagan as it morphs into the Tea Party ...

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by VITE1

It was not fraud. It was the law. Kids were and are allowed to collect SSDI. What you fail to relaize is the system is the probelm.

If you've identified the problem ... then fix the system ...

Simple.

[Exotix]

Originally Posted by TxAg

He's the resident Ace Ventura , talking out his azz.

That's what right-wingers do ... present them with facts and/or solutions and all they can say is WTF are you talking about ?

This is how they debate and *compromise* ...

[ChasC5]

Originally Posted by Exotix

That's what right-wingers do ... present them with facts and/or solutions and all they can say is WTF are you talking about ?

This is how they debate and *compromise* ...

When you run out of points, there are always insults and attacks to fall back on.

[RetiredSFC 97]

WTF?

how many of them are driving vettes and own their own home?

If the person making 60K lived like the one making 14,500 you may have a point. But until that happens this is BS, at least where I live.

[vetteman9368]

Originally Posted by Exotix

That's what right-wingers do ... present them with facts and/or solutions and all they can say is WTF are you talking about ?

This is how they debate and *compromise* ...

projecting again?

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by Exotix

How'bout millionaires who in one fell swoop when the Ryan Plan busted-out on the scene just found out they will be paying for the cost of living and healthcare for grandpa & grandma, mom & dad, kids, their kids etc. ... and where the income from their tax-cuts and loopholes and investments fall way short of these expenditures ?

Originally Posted by Exotix

That's what right-wingers do ... present them with facts and/or solutions and all they can say is WTF are you talking about ?

This is how they debate and *compromise* ...

Please point out the FACTS that you referenced making in your first quote. While I too am having a hard time figuring out what you're trying to say, I think you're saying Millionaires, are the ones who are paying for the health care costs of many Americans. And by that you'd be right, it's a form of Socialism, from those that have to those that don't, unfortunately this is a much greater burden on Americas Middle Class, than it is on the wealthy.

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by RetiredSFC 97

WTF?

how many of them are driving vettes and own their own home?

If the person making 60K lived like the one making 14,500 you may have a point. But until that happens this is BS, at least where I live.

Per this example, it's a family making $60k, I don't think they'll be living in/driving anything much nicer than what section 8 pays for.

[Exotix]

Originally Posted by Stangkiller

Please point out the FACTS that you referenced making in your first quote. While I too am having a hard time figuring out what you're trying to say, I think you're saying Millionaires, are the ones who are paying for the health care costs of many Americans. And by that you'd be right, it's a form of Socialism, from those that have to those that don't, unfortunately this is a much greater burden on Americas Middle Class, than it is on the wealthy.

No, my comment was quite clear ... should the GOP/Tea Party ever be able to initiate the Ryan Plan as law (the debt-ceiling bill was a compromise the Tea Party hates ... not enough cuts to entitlements) ... basically eliminating Social Security & Medicare ... Millionaires will be footing the bill for their families existence and healthcare ... non-millionaires will make the decision who in their family lives (in the street) and who dies because they can't afford even basic neccessities ... ... let alone healthcare ...


(Social Security is a direct re-investment back into the economy)


Families are already living on top of each other from unemployment and homelessness ...

So your right-wing post here is laughably-wacked at best ...

[Stangkiller]

Originally Posted by Exotix

No, my comment was quite clear ... should the GOP/Tea Party ever be able to initiate the Ryan Plan as law (the debt-ceiling bill was a compromise the Tea Party hates ... not enough cuts to entitlements) ... basically eliminating Social Security & Medicare ... Millionaires will be footing the bill for their families existence and healthcare ... non-millionaires will make the decision who in their family lives (in the street) and who dies because they can't afford even basic neccessities ... ... let alone healthcare ...


(Social Security is a direct re-investment back into the economy)


Families are already living on top of each other from unemployment and homelessness ...

So your right-wing post here is laughably-wacked at best ...

OK, your comment was hardly clear

What's ANY of this have to do with the Ryan plan anyways? 1st it didn't pass, 2nd it has little to do with these entitlements, except maybe to show that SSI and other entitlements are in desperate need of reform, perhaps a plan similar to what Ryan started.