Americans Want Government to Spend for Jobs, Send Bill to Rich

[babylonsister]

Americans Want Government to Spend for Jobs, Send Bill to Rich

By Mike Dorning and Catherine Dodge


Dec. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Americans want their government to create jobs through spending on public works, investments in alternative energy or skills training for the jobless.

They also want the deficit to come down. And most are ready to hand the bill to the wealthy.

A Bloomberg National Poll conducted Dec. 3-7 shows two- thirds of Americans favor taxing the rich to reduce the deficit.

Even though almost 9 of 10 respondents also say they believe the middle class will have to make financial sacrifices to achieve that goal, only a little more than one-fourth support an increase in taxes on the middle class. Fewer still back cuts in entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare or a new national consumption tax.

These long-standing contradictions in voters’ attitudes toward taxes, spending and the deficit are intensified as the U.S. grapples with the most severe economic crisis in decades, says J. Ann Selzer, president of Selzer & Co., a Des Moines, Iowa-based firm that conducted the nationwide survey. The rich have become an especially inviting target as the combination of a bank bailout and big bonuses stoke resentments, she says.

“People are hurting,” Selzer says. “They want anything that can help and not hurt them more.”

more...

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=awkrRPMONDW8

[madmom]

1. What middle class?........

"almost 9 of 10 respondents also say they believe the middle class will have to make financial sacrifices"

I do believe they have already made more than their share of sacrifice.