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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHow 14 People Made More Money Than the Entire Food Stamp Budget for 50,000,000 People
http://www.alternet.org/economy/it-happened-again-how-14-people-made-more-money-entire-food-stamp-budget-50000000-peopleFor the second year in a row, America's richest 14 individuals made more from their annual investments than the $80 billion provided for people in need of food. Nearly half of the food-deprived are children. Perversely, the food stamp program was CUT because of a lack of federal funding.
In a testament to the inability -- or unwillingness -- of Congress to do anything about the incessant upward re-distribution of America's wealth, the richest 14 Americans increased their wealth from $507 billion to $589 billion in ONE YEAR from their investment earnings. As stated by Forbes, "All together the 400 wealthiest Americans are worth a staggering $2.29 trillion, up $270 billion from a year ago."
The Richest 14 Made Enough Money to Hire Two Million Pre-School Teachers or Emergency Medical Technicians
Billions of dollars of wealth, derived from years of American productivity, have been transferred to a few financially savvy and well-connected individuals who have spent a generation shaping trading rules and tax laws to their own advantage. It's so inexplicably one-sided that the 2013 investment earnings of the richest 1% of Americans ($1.8 trillion) was more than the entire budget for Social Security ($860 billion), Medicare ($524 billion), and Medicaid ($304 billion).
Why Does So Little of Our National Wealth Go to Feed People or Provide Jobs?
The fruits of American productivity go to the richest Americans, who can afford to hold onto their fortunes, defer taxes indefinitely, and then pay a smaller capital gains rate when they eventually decide to cash in. Worse yet, they can stash their winnings overseas, tax-free. It is estimated that $7.6 trillion of personal wealth is hidden in tax havens. That means, stunningly, that $1 of every $12 of worldwide wealth is hidden in a haven.
marym625
(17,997 posts)No longer surprising but always disgusting.
K&R!
brewens
(13,618 posts)they paid in taxes. I'd be willing to bet they are way in the black tax wise.
GeoWilliam750
(2,522 posts)Although I have a funny feeling that it would still be beyond the needs of some small towns.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)...they'll never be confronted. The older I get, the more convinced I become that democracy and unfettered capitalism are fatally incompatible.
Calista241
(5,586 posts)In 2000, we spent $18b on food stamp programs. In 2012 we spent $85b.
wilt the stilt
(4,528 posts)in 2000 we were in an incredible boom. In 2012 we were in the most significant economic collapse since the great depression. When was the last time we had seen an actual decline in property values nationwide which is never taken in consideration when we talk about the economic collapse. it was the great depression.
Also inflation has to be factored in. Please don't give us this crappy "numbers".
Calista241
(5,586 posts)If it comes up, we better have an answer why spending is 3x what it was 15 years ago.
If it's not enough, then we better have a reason why it's not enough.
denvine
(802 posts)It is up because wages have not kept up with inflation. We have people working who cannot support a family, therefore they need food stamps to supplement their earnings. The top percentage earners fight minimum wage hikes with all their power. Their greed is keeping many people from getting off of food stamps. Since most of the economic gains have gone to the top 10% on the backs of the lower 90%, it has put more people in the ranks of people who need food stamps to survive. As the wealth goes to fewer and fewer people, the ranks of the poor get larger and larger, hence the increase in food stamps. We now have veterans needing food stamps because there has been such a squeeze on all services, including veterans benefits.
riderinthestorm
(23,272 posts)And the super rich have literally tens of TRILLIONS (yes, TRILLIONS) parked around the world doing absolutely nothing. Time for torches, pitchforks and tumbrels.
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)without any explanation, that conservatives use to justify calls for safety net cutbacks. I absolutely agree with the conservative meme that we need to get spending under control. But if you aren't willing to start with cutting the defense budget, then we are thru talking.
LanternWaste
(37,748 posts)Should not one look at the per capita in addition to the absolute (presuming the absolute is taking COLA and other factors into account)?
rhett o rick
(55,981 posts)move jobs overseas, more and more of the lower classes are going to foodbanks and soup kitchens and using foodstamps. Ironically I think your use of statistics was intended to disparage those on foodstamps but it really points our the growing wealth gap.
Buddha2B
(116 posts)Right Wing "Libertarianism" seems to be a by-product of deliberate propagandizing.
Ayn Rand and all other idiots who have invented fiction to justify their selfishness.
But their real amazing feat has been getting a whole bunch of Republican poor cheering them on.
daleanime
(17,796 posts)I'm beyond words, this is just too disgusting.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)That old trickle down, supply side. It has proven to be destructive to our democracy.
dogcatdog
(8 posts)All taxes to support America are the albatross of the middle class. The rich get off tax free. That's America
BrainDrain
(244 posts)burned their castles and executed them yet?!
Scuba
(53,475 posts)Yavin4
(35,445 posts)then you get this huge transfer of wealth from labor and savers to the uber wealthy. American labor has little to no political or economic power. They cannot raise their wages in accordance to the loose monetary policy. This allows for inflation without hyper inflation.
Loose monetary policy is going to largely benefit the top 1% because it makes their assets grow exponentially.
whereisjustice
(2,941 posts)berni_mccoy
(23,018 posts)and not get thrown out.
J_J_
(1,213 posts)It will never be enough, they will never be happy.
Why are we enabling junkies?
We must stop them from stealing from the rest of us,
put them in rehab
then perhaps probation and years of therapy
But we cannot allow these junkies to continue to harm millions of people because of their dishonorable sociopathic habit
MisterP
(23,730 posts)the party that'll cut food stamps all the way and coddle the rich way harder will get in!
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)The right-wing of our party gets its funding from some of the same people who fund the obstructionist party that cuts food stamps.
We have to decide whether we are for or against higher taxes for the rich. And we need candidates who will run on promises to raise taxes on the rich. We cannot afford compromise on this issue.
JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)Dustlawyer
(10,497 posts)them.