[Vision2020] Entitlements as Seen from the Top

Tue Aug 26 09:26:22 PDT 2014

Hi Scott,
You could have checked the full article for answers to your questions.  The
raw numbers you ask for are there and are pasted below.

Of course the last two are tax breaks and not pay outs, but what is the
difference in terms of the national budget and the bottom line?  The tax
breaks for the rich could have gone to pay down the national debt, which
hurts everyone.

The only item I don't understand is teachers' salaries.  That's really odd
to have included those.

Nick
Some Numbers for the Entitlement’ Bashers

PAUL BUCHHEIT
NATIONOFCHANGE
<http://www.nationofchange.org/some-numbers-entitlement-bashers-1408977110> /
OP-ED

Published: Monday 25 August 2014

*Americans constantly hear about the threat of "entitlements," which in the
case of Social Security and Medicare are more properly defined as "earned
benefits." The real threat is the array of entitlements demanded by the
very rich. The following annual numbers may help to put our country's
expenses and benefits in perspective.*

*$220 Billion: Teacher Salaries*

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics
<http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes_nat.htm#25-2000> there are just over
four million preschool, primary, secondary, and special education school
teachers in the U.S., earning an average of $54,740.

*$246 Billion: State and Local Pensions*

Census data <https://www.census.gov/govs/retire/> shows a total annual
(2012) payout of about $246 billion. Only about $100 billion of this came
from state and local governments, with the remainder funded by employee
contributions and investment earnings. A recent Pew study
<http://www3.sanjoseca.gov/employeeRelations/retirementbenefits/PEWTheTrillionDollarGap.pdf>
showed
a little over $100 billion in annual state contributions to pensions,
health care, and non-pension benefits.

*$398 Billion: Safety Net*

The 2013 safety net <http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=1258> (non-medical)
included the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), WIC (Women,
Infants, Children), Child Nutrition, Earned Income Tax Credit, Supplemental
Security Income, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Education &
Training, and Housing.

*$863 Billion: Social Security*

Social Security <http://www.ssa.gov/news/press/basicfact.html> is the major
source of income for most of the elderly, and it is an earned benefit. As
of 2010, according to the Urban Institute
<http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412660-Social-Security-and-Medicare-Taxes-and-Benefits-Over-a-Lifetime.pdf>,
the average two-earner couple making average wages throughout their
lifetimes receive less in Social Security benefits than they paid in.

*$2,200 Billion: Tax Avoidance*

That's $2.2 trillion
<http://www.commondreams.org/views/2013/01/07/tax-avoidance-rise-its-twice-amount-social-security-and-medicare>
 in tax expenditures, tax underpayments, tax havens, and corporate
nonpayment. It is estimated that two-thirds of tax breaks accrue to the top
quintile
<http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2012/04/13/opinion/sunday/0415web-leonhardt2.html?ref=sunday-review>
 of taxpayers.

*$5,000 Billion: Investment Wealth*

That's $5 trillion dollars a year, the annual amount gained
<https://publications.credit-suisse.com/tasks/render/file/?fileID=1949208D-E59A-F2D9-6D0361266E44A2F8>
in
U.S. wealth from the end of 2008 to the middle of 2013. Even though the
whole country continued to grow in productivity, most of the new wealth
went to the very richest people. According to Oxfam
<http://www.oxfam.org/sites/www.oxfam.org/files/bp-working-for-few-political-capture-economic-inequality-200114-summ-en.pdf>,
the wealthiest one percent captured 95 percent of post-financial crisis
growth since 2009, while the bottom 90 percent became poorer.

*Another View: Annual Per Capita Numbers*

The following are averages, which are skewed in the case of tax breaks and
investment income, as a result of the excessive takings of the .1% and the
.01%. Details of the calculations can be foundhere
<http://www.usagainstgreed.org/20140825_Analysis.txt>.

*$8,600* for each of the *Safety Net recipients*

*$14,600* for each of the *Social Security recipients*

*$27,333* for each of the *Pension recipients*

*$54,740* for each of the *Teachers*

*$200,000* for each of the *Tax Break recipients among the richest 1%*

*$500,000* for each of the *Investment Income recipients among the richest
1%*

The super-rich feel they deserve all the tax breaks and the accumulation of
wealth from the productivity of others.

This is the true threat of entitlement.

On Tue, Aug 26, 2014 at 8:56 AM, Scott Dredge <scooterd408 at hotmail.com>
wrote:

> http://www.nationofchange.org/some-numbers-entitlement-bashers-1408977110
>
> This is just a jumble of numbers that to me aren't even comparable to each
> other.
>
>    - Do the top 3 line items represent money being payed by the
>    government versus the bottom 2 being taxes not collected by the government?
>    - it would be helpful to see 'total amount of money' in the category
>    being split by 'n' number of people.
>
>
>
> What is the relevance with these numbers?  A large pool of consumers are
> each receiving less money than a vastly smaller pool of producers?
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
> Date: Mon, 25 Aug 2014 11:49:52 -0700
> From: ngier006 at gmail.com
> To: vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: [Vision2020] Entitlements as Seen from the Top
>
>
> From nationofchange.org, August 24, 2014
> The following are percapita averages, which are skewed in the case of tax
> breaks and investment income, as a result of the excessive takings of the
> .1% and the .01%.
>
> *$8,600* for each of the *Safety Net recipients*
> *$14,600* *EARNED* for each of the *Social Security recipients*
> *$27,333 EARNED * for each of the *Pension recipients*
>  *$200,000*  *UNEARNED *for each of the *Tax Break recipients among the
> richest 1%*
> *$500,000 UNEARNED * for each of the *Investment Income recipients among
> the richest 1%*
>
>
>
>
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