Free Republic

Obama: Not redistributing wealth (CBS News) In a "60 Minutes" interview with Steve Kroft, President Obama disputes the notion he is trying to redistribute wealth with his plans to treat the country's economic ills. He tells Kroft he's just attempting to deliver the "American Deal" of a strong middle class "where everybody is able to do their part and everybody's able to succeed." Kroft spoke to the president yesterday at the White House and Tuesday in Osawatomie, Kan., for a "60 Minutes" interview to be broadcast Sunday, Dec. 11 at 7:00 p.m. ET/PT. In the interview, Kroft points out that...

According to data just released by the U.S. Census this morning, in 2010, the median income earned by an individual American was $26,197, or rather, 50% of Americans earned more than that amount and 50% earned less than that amount. The average (or mean) income was $38,337. We've presented the cumulative distribution of the total money income earned by individuals in the United States in the chart below: So what percentile does your income place you on that chart? Well, wonder no more! Our latest tool will tell you exactly where you rank among all Americans, or rather, the 211,492,000...

Pop quiz. What's the biggest single job the federal government undertakes? National defense? Nope. Homeland security? Wrong. Transportation? Not even close. Law enforcement? No way. Education? Getting colder. Foreign aid? Are you kidding? Nope, the biggest single thing the federal government does these days is ... cut checks. Lots and lots and lots and lots of checks that go to individual citizens -- $2.3 trillion worth last year alone. In fact, according to a table buried deep inside the little-noticed Historical Tables volume of the White House's 2012 budget, these "direct payments to individuals" accounted for more than two-thirds...

It hasn't attracted much notice, but recently some prominent advocates of Obamacare have spoken more frankly than ever before about why they supported a national health care makeover. It wasn't just about making insurance more affordable. It wasn't just about bending the cost curve. It wasn't just about cutting the federal deficit. It was about redistributing wealth. Health reform is "an income shift," Democratic Sen. Max Baucus said on March 25. "It is a shift, a leveling, to help lower income, middle income Americans."