Posted on 03/05/2011 6:41:53 AM PST by Son House
RUSH: We're gonna have to put this chart up at RushLimbaugh.com. It's from Business Insider, Henry Blodget.
"Here's The Only Chart You Need To See To Understand Why The US Is Screwed." You've seen the chart, Snerdley? This all from Saturday. "We're still working our way through Kleiner Perkins' partner Mary Meeker's excellent analysis of the financial condition of the United States. We'll be breaking out some key sections in the next few days. In the meantime, here's the one chart you need to see to understand why the US is screwed.
This is the 'income statement' of the United States in 2010. 'Revenue' is on the left. 'Expenses' are on the right. Note a few things... First, 'Revenue' is tiny relative to 'Expenses.'
Second, most of the expense is entitlement programs, not defense, education, or any of the other line items that most budget crusaders normally howl about. Third, as horrifying as these charts are, they don't even show the trends of these two pies: The 'expense' pie is growing like gangbusters, driven by the explosive growth of the entitlement programs that no one in government even has the balls to talk about. 'Revenue' is barely growing at all."
And what is obvious as well when you look at this is that there's no way to solely grow our way out of this. There's gonna have to be major spending cuts in entitlements.
So what I'm gonna do here, folks, I just turned the Dittocam off while I zoom in. I'm not gonna go through the process of having you watch me zoom in. But I'm gonna zoom in on this. All right. If you're watching on the Dittocam, here we go. As you're looking at this, the chart on the right is expenses.
The pie on the right is expenses. The pie on the left is income. Now, look at that pie on the right with the blue, orange, and red slices. Those are the entitlements: Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security. Expenses. The others are defense, education, a bunch of other stuff thrown in there.
The point being made is that the big pie is continuing to grow. These expenses are continuing to grow, grow, grow. The income on the left, pretty soon the comparison's gonna be the size of the earth to the moon, as it keeps going.
And they're right. You see this and it's all you need to see to illustrate the problem that we have and to be able to recognize that growth alone is not gonna equalize these two pies in size. It's going to require spending cuts.
Now, on the big pie, of those three, the blue, the orange, and the red, Social Security's 20%, Medicare is 22%, Medicaid, 22%, unemployment compensation, 16%. Social Security is 20%. Twenty-two percent is Medicare and Medicaid.
Unemployment compensation is -- this is striking -- three-fourths as big as Social Security. The amount of money we are paying people not to work as an entitlement on this chart, looked at as an entitlement, is three-fourths the size of Social Security. (interruption) Just like what? Just like Europe.
Just like Europe. On the income side, individual income tax rates are 41% of all income. Social Security tax, FICA, is 40%. Corporate income tax is 9%. There's 10% other varied sources of income.
So we'll link to that chart, and you'll be able to see it at RushLimbaugh.com.
In order to get on SSDI or SSI you have to convince a judge, who is also paid by the Feds by the way, that you cannot engage in full time gainful activity. You are right in that almost anyone who is on SSI or SSDI can do some type of work, but the question is how long can they do it? Most could work a few hours a day, or a couple of days a week, but the judge has to be convinced that because of their age, education and level of disability that they can’t maintain full time gainful (ie, minimum wage or better) employment.
Every now and then you see some type of scandal where, until it is found out, and it usually is when free money is involved, that one or two judges are handing it out like candy. But SS keeps tabs on judges who deviate from the norm too much and they usually get shut down. (It takes a lot longer and is much rarer for a judge who isn’t putting people on disability as much as his peers to have any type of sanction.)
Also, it can SS a long time to re-evaluate people once they get on and some of them do get better, but that is a pretty small number and in reality they probably will always have some restrictions that make it difficult for them to get work even if they are now capable a maintaining some type of full time employment. There are very few jobs out there, for example, that allow you to alternate sitting and standing at will and lift less than 10 pounds. But, if you have a back injury, and everyone agrees that you need a job like that, you don’t get on SSDI or SSI even if there are no jobs like that in your home town because they exist somewhere. And as SS likes to say, they are in the disability business. They are not an employment agency. If you can do the work, and the job exists somewhere, you don’t win. Or at least you aren’t supposed to.
“Gee ... how did the United States government EVER have enough money to function before the 16th Amendment?”
We were free, then, and a truer Republic before the 16th. Now I would call this country MORE than just socialistic, we are on the cliff’s edge of communism. Yes, communism.
From Federal Reserve Banking that destroys the savings of the thrifty, to the socialist public schools, this nation is seeped in communism, we just call it by other names.
....social security.......public schools........taxes, everybody pays taxes, right?
“so there is nothing else they can take from us,...”
I am truly sorry to say this, but that is not true. Communism and it’s pal socialism don’t just want your money, they want your life and soul. There is more for them to take.
We are approaching a coming tyranny, the Feds almost have us, they want to control everything we do, they want us as slaves.
“There are many people out there that have gotten older...payed into both of these programs and are now on the below poverty level and actually starving. I am blasted mad at what was done through these two programs.”
Not only is it these programs, it is the nature of our “money” that causes this. Fractional Reserve Banking requires inflation to work. And an expanding credit bubble. What this results in the is that the worker who tries to save does not REALLY know how MUCH to save, because the money does not have a constant value. It changes over time. What is happening today is the US dollar has been weakened. So, where your plans and those of other thrifty people become unable to do what you need your dollars to do. The dollars are worth-less and don’t go as far as they should have.
And entire generation was told that there were going to be help for them. They were lied too. AND the Powers That Be KNOW THIS.
You should be mad. It is not just you. Look at the college grads who can’t find work and have student loans they have no way to pay back. The need for debt to keep our money system going will make slaves of us all.
Truly, we are scr@wed. It is unsustainable.
Our “money” requires an expanding credit bubble to grow and have value. The growth is not there. Therefore the debt will be unsustainable. We need REAL MONEY, not this debt slavery money, that will destroy this nation. Our country was not founded on this money system. It was put in place in 1913, the leading politicians of the day knew they needed this “money” to have a welfare state. Without it, they could not have had social security and all the other vote buying lies.
This chart isn’t the only one you need to understand, in that SS and MediCare funds are specifically paid in by working people and it’s not as if those funds can be used for programs other than SS or MediCare - unless they are borrowed through government action.
Therefore, what’s the current shortfall, if any, relating to both programs?
Showing a huge portion of a chart in entitlements when in fact people are paying into those programs - specifically is deceptive.
Open borders will cure all.
Thank you for your reply....my daughter is a good example of a “government loan” for school...she took one out some many years ago..fell onto hard times...then picked up paying it again to the max...but turned out the interst had piled up so high she couldn’t keep up...has been paying a note consistently for ten years and not made a dent...she now has a terminal illness...unable to work..had to file bankruptcy and her home was foreclosed...but the DAMNED loan could not be listed in the bankruptcy. So she is still being held accountable for payment...has little means to pay it...so the interest keeps on building...pretty soon that little student loan will be as large as the national debt and she is unable to get rid of it. That is the logic of our rulers in Washington. They’re all nuts!
“These pictures say nothing about the massive entitlements of the illegals in this country and the non-working parasites.”
There are no massive entitlements of illegals.
“Politicians are afraid to cut those entitlement because they are afraid of riots.”
They can’t cut them because they aren’t there.
“Clearly the target here is social security and medicare. Old folks don’t riot.”
SS and Medicare are the targets of anyone who wants our country to be healthy. Old folks may not riot but they vote as if people who aren’t old enough to vote owe old folks something.
How about you just take care of yourself and leave the rest of us alone? Thanks.
20% across the board, entitlements included, would leave us with spending at $2.8 trillion, still 600 billion in the red. Moreover, interest payments (minimum payment on our national credit card) can’t be cut.
In 2008, 2009 and 2010 we still had the “full force of Bush tax cuts”. The fact is that tax cuts and spending increases are driving this country into the ground.
I and mine are fortunate. We can leave. I’m already looking into it and India and Australia look awfully nice. Especially Australia which has about one quarter of the debt, relatively, to the US. Canada is okay but cold. When people like me leave, a lot more people are screwed.
I’m trying to get it into as many heads as I can that the deficit needs to be eliminated or this experiment in natural rights is over. It needs to be eliminated with simple arithmetic and not economic theory.
“And what is obvious as well when you look at this is that there’s no way to solely grow our way out of this.”
Even Rush Limbaugh is admitting this. Thank God.
Roughly 80 percent of all disability services are given to the non-disabled.
I used to work (as a deaf student), with disability services. The number one disability? ‘Learning disabilities’. Why? They got extra time on tests.
There just simply aren’t enough folks with true disabilities to make up any significant portion of the student body. The harsh truth is that any who do make it that far likely don’t need assistance anyways.
I paid off every dime of my student loans. Took me 8 years and going to school every other year, but it got done.
Why should I have to pay because other people were fiscally irresponsible?
You would drop entitlement by 20%; by removing illegals, and you would improve taxes by nearly the same amount because of increased wages that would need to be paid people to work in a free market.
You really believe there are no massive entitlements being given to illegals? You are very wrong.
You really believe large welfare benefits are not there? You are very wrong.
Illegals are getting welfare, section 8 housing, WIC, food stamps, free medical care, free lunches and breakfasts, free education, the latest cell phones (with free calls to the homeland) and free taxi service to and from visits to get their free benefits. Even more benefits are out there for the welfare class who are citizens, e.g., free cars, insurance, gas cards for $4 a gallon gasoline and AAA with free towing service. It’s a wonderful country, isn’t it!
Are you aware that when someone in Iran or Mexico gets a serious illness, e.g., brain tumor, end stage kidney disease, their relatives in this country (many times here illegally) send them an airline ticket here. The sick person gets picked up at the airport and taken directly to the emergency room where they get free care. Brain surgery and dialysis isn’t cheap. We’re all paying for their care and there are millions of them.
BTW you say you’re a Navy brat. Most people associated with the Navy that I know have better manners than you. Your directive, “How about you just take care of yourself and leave the rest of us alone?” is rude, especially coming from someone as ill-informed as you.
No massive entitlements to illegals, what are you drinking, all those little sluts dropping all those babies and we pay for every damn one. We buy their food, we buy their medicine, we give them housing and we put the trash in schools and feed them. You are off your rocker.
The savings in especially three areas would be astronomical if we could take illegals out of the equation: health care, education, and the justice system. Illegals are the elephant in the room that no one wants to mention.
Correct!!!!! It is the only real way to fix the problem, but no the republicans will spend from now to the next election blowing smoke up everyone rear.
The problem is that we all know the federal government wastes billions of dollars on people and programs that they have no duty to be in business with. Food stamp fraud. Unnecessary administrative costs to dispense Social Security checks. The list is virtually endless. No one is willing to eliminate or reduce their benefits they feel they have already paid for (via FICA tax, etc.) — the pay-as-you-go notion not withstanding. Why should any legitimate US citizen agree to give up benefits/entitlements when the pittance they will give up will be donated to the UN, and spent wining and dining Red Chinese diplomats as examples. The whole cost of one year’s worth of Social Security checks for anyone would not begin to cover the cost of a POTUS trip to India. Squeeze the waste out until it hurts, and then come talk about reducing Social Security and Medicare.
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