You sure you're pissed at the right people?

[Scuba]

[Jackpine Radical]

1. "You sure you're pissed at the right people?"

Yes.

[rhett o rick]

4. Yes

[Enthusiast]

16. That makes a few of us.

[iemitsu]

2. This list verifies that I have been pissed at the right folk,

those who take the subsidies are the target of my rage.

[grahamhgreen]

3. Yup. And I paid a lot more than that.

[n2doc]

5. This doesn't make sense

Defense is 600 billion, more than 10% of the total budget (not including wars and off the books crap). Does the subsidies include state and local as well?

[Scuba]

8. Yes, as I understand it, it includes state/local subsidides to business.

[MADem]

30. Well, not all of our country's wealth comes from personal income taxes.

They make up less than half of the "take" per this site.

[fasttense]

42. Payroll taxes are the same as income taxes to most people.

Last edited Wed Apr 2, 2014, 09:38 AM - Edit history (1)

It's taken right out of your paycheck. It's rarely returned and the rich don't have to pay as much of it. So, you can honestly say that 80% of this country is funded by the taxes on workers' wages.

[MADem]

48. Most people never see or touch those payroll taxes.

They know what their take home pay is when they get their check or see what was put in their bank account. Income taxes, though, hurt more or less depending on withholding.

[tularetom]

6. I'm pissed off at everybody, so yup

[DinahMoeHum]

7. "If you make under $100K and vote GOP, you're a dumbass."

"If you make over $100K and vote GOP, you're a prick"

The above is my take on the old saying from Winston Churchill: ". . .If you're not a liberal at 20 you have no heart, if you're not a conservative at 40 you have no brain.”

[1StrongBlackMan]

11. Actually ...

If you are a W-2 wage earner as the primary source of your income ... at whatever salary level ... and vote gop, you're a dumba$$.

[pscot]

14. truth

[AAO]

18. Let's keep it simple: If you vote GOP, you're a DUMBA$$!

[csziggy]

20. Either a DUMBA$$ or an A$$hole

Either way a loser.

[AAO]

24. You mean lo$er, right?

[csziggy]

26. Of course!

[Scootaloo]

37. No reason to be a splitter; "Dumbasshole" covers it all.

[DFW]

13. That would mean that anyone voting GOP is either a dumbass or a prick

Hmmm, come to think of it, I can't find much fault with that argument......

[MADem]

31. That's clever! nt

[IrishAyes]

35. Considering all the effort Winnie put out to keep Ireland subjected,

I don't quote him.

But I'll quote you.

[Rex]

9. The MIC and Wall Street.

Big Biz, any republican PAC, yep that is why I was so for OWS. People can deflect from the true culprits all they want to...won't stop me from talking about the Plutocracy. It is a system that destroys the middle class wholesale.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

10. Could also note it's for international corporations that outsource.

[2banon]

12. This is an excellent piece to go viral..

[Enthusiast]

15. I'm glad you made this an OP. K&R!

[Javaman]

17. I wish I made 50K a year. nt

[SunSeeker]

19. K & R

[erronis]

21. And this is based on Income, not Wealth

The wealthiest pay a much lesser portion of their fair share since they are either hiding behind tax breaks, corporate shells, or stashing unreported money transfers in safe havens.

If you're upset about paying $4,000 out of $50,000 for the corporate subsidies (8% rate), imagine if the top 1% had to also pay 8% (wealth tax) for the subsidies of which they are the beneficiaries.

[hfojvt]

22. I don't see a line there

for the people who don't embrace the term "rape culture".

Aren't THOSE the ones I am supposed to be pissed at?

[7962]

36. Oh man, I cant believe you didnt get slammed for that one!

[Demo_Chris]

23. The numbers aren't close to correct. Corporate subsidies would be pennies at best. nt

[fbc]

29. yeah, I'd like to see the math on this one.

[I hate liars]

46. The war in Iraq was nothing but a corporate subsidy...

Likewise our bases around the world and most of our navy.

[joeybee12]

25. I'm pissed off at everyone, so yeah, I'm sure I'm pissed off at the right people...

uh-oh, and probably some I shouldn't be!

[spanone]

27. k&r...

[chompers]

28. What about the rest of it?

[blkmusclmachine]

32. Faux Nooz sez ...

[TrollBuster9090]

33. Damn, my only regret is that they only post ONE 'pick of the day' around here. THIS deserves

to be pick of the day, too!

Maybe re-post it tomorrow in response to Ryan's 'budget.'

[ConservativeDemocrat]

34. Bogus numbers don't help much

So I went to the commondreams.org link. It quoted a "study" by the Libertarian CATO institute, which came up with this absurd number of "corporate subsidies". Here's a quote:

The federal government will spend almost $100 billion on corporate welfare in fiscal 2012. That includes direct and indirect subsidies to small businesses, large corporations, and industry organizations. These subsidies are handed out from programs in many departments, including the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Energy, and Housing and Urban Development.

So, when HUD gives money to poor and middle class people for housing assistance, the CATO institute calls that "Corporate Welfare". When it pays for R&D and University Grants - "Corporate Welfare", the Minority Business Development agency? Corporate Welfare, the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program? Corporate Welfare. High Speed Rail? Corporate Welfare. Community Development Block Grants? Corporate Welfare.

Not even going into the fact that most of this "welfare" are actually just loans, and that the vast majority of that money will be (or already was) paid back, a lot of this so-called "corporate welfare" like the Rural Utilities Service isn't even spent on non-governmental services. Yes, according to CATO, building hydroelectric dams in the west is "corporate welfare".

This only goes to prove that Scuba, like so many of the hard anti-Democratic left around here, are so extremist that they make common cause with the extreme right. The fact that they're siding in their graphics with CATO and Romney, wanting the Detroit auto industry to go bankrupt and whining about Solyndra, speaks volumes. I find it all downright disgusting.

- C.D. Proud Member of the Reality Based Community

[Scuba]

39. You're grossly misrepresenting what the report says ...

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2013/09/23

The Cato Institute estimates that the U.S. federal government spends $100 billion a year on corporate welfare. That's an average of $870 for each one of America's 115 million families. Cato notes that this includes "cash payments to farmers and research funds to high-tech companies, as well as indirect subsidies, such as funding for overseas promotion of specific U.S. products and industries...It does not include tax preferences or trade restrictions."

It does include payments to 374 individuals on the plush Upper East Side of New York City, and others who own farms, including Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Ted Turner. Wealthy heir Mark Rockefeller received $342,000 to NOT farm, to allow his Idaho land to return to its natural state.

It also includes fossil fuel subsidies, which could be anywhere from $10 billion to $41 billion per year for research and development. Yet this may be substantially underestimated. The IMF reports U.S. fossil fuel subsidies of $502 billion, which would be almost $4,400 per U.S. family by taking into account "the effects of energy consumption on global warming [and] on public health through the adverse effects on local pollution." According to Grist, even this is an underestimate.

Oh, and the Common Dreams article says nothing about "when HUD gives money to poor and middle class people for housing assistance". You just made that up, totally destroying any shred of credibility you may have had.


The "Reality Based Community" line is a hoot though, almost as funny as "hard anti-Democratic left". Thanks for the laughs.

[bobduca]

43. its gotta be satire

No? is anyone actually buying that poster's schtick?

[Scuba]

44. Hey, it take some cojones to come on DU and defend corporate welfare. Give him credit for that.

"Conservative Democrat" is my least favorite kind.

[JackInGreen]

38. Quite sure

and I'll stay that way until it's fixed, thanks.

[obxhead]

40. we don't pay for defense.

When your military is used for wars of choice its not defense.

[stonecutter357]

41. libertarians strike me as very odd.

And i am not pissed are mad and i don't need to educate myself

[Gore1FL]

45. I wish someone would make this graphic, but be consistent and accurate.

The numbers are arbitrarily categorized to the point where it is meaningless. For example, I am pretty sure defense is more than 5.3% of the national budget.

It is also odd that $4000 rounds so neatly, while everything else has 2 decimal place precision.

[awoke_in_2003]

47. And nowhere near enough

on education.