Technically, the 47% is correct in the sense that those people do not send in an income tax, regardless of how they are receiving the money, either honorably through retirement or disability, or through welfare means. I do see your point, though in that we can't put everyone in the 47% in the same DUmpmonkey blanket. I certainly bregrudge NONE of the heroes at Walter Reed, for instance, whom are technically off the active duty payroll but receiving richly deserved health care at our expense. They may be part of the 47%, but they are part of the REAL top 1%: Heroes in American society.
Um, we have now gone from:
Quote from: SGT Snuggle Bunny on Today at 06:15:38 am
And what will the 47% on gov't assistance give us for the security, opportunity and welfare we've given them?
to your statement above.
Not paying taxes is one thing, receiving government assistance is another, and, drawing a military or civil service pension yet another. The problem is lumping all the numbers together to form something they are not individually.
As a civilian employee I worked with many hard working outstanding people and an equal number of mind numbed slugs who but for their union steward would have been out on their ear. Generalizing with aggregate numbers is setting oneself up for failure, like saying 'all the cows are laying down' only to notice one standing up.
I might add that I found similar people in both the Army and Navy when I served
and in private industries which I worked. Private industry slugs were often relatives or friends of the owner although they were easier to get rid of.
ETA the following related links:
Nearly Half of U.S. Lives in Household Receiving Government Benefit.
By Sara Murray
Families were more dependent on government programs than ever last year.
Nearly half, 48.5%, of the population lived in a household that received some type of government benefit in the first quarter of 2010, according to Census data. Those numbers have risen since the middle of the recession when 44.4% lived households receiving benefits in the third quarter of 2008.
{snip}
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/10/05/nearly-half-of-households-receive-some-government-benefit/
Yes, 47% of Households Owe No Taxes. Look Closer.
By DAVID LEONHARDT
Published: April 13, 2010
Forty-seven percent.
That’s the portion of American households that owe no income tax for 2009. The number is up from 38 percent in 2007, and it has become a popular talking point on cable television and talk radio. With Tax Day coming on Thursday, 47 percent has become shorthand for the notion that the wealthy face a much higher tax burden than they once did while growing numbers of Americans are effectively on the dole.
{snip}
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/14/business/economy/14leonhardt.html
Kind of like the Double Mint Twins?
