-Caveat Lector- -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Taking the Rich Off Welfare Date: 28 Oct 1999 13:59:02 -0000 From: "Common Courage Political Literacy Course" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: List Member <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Information about this email course appears at the bottom. Where to Get Public Assistance (If You Are Rich) Myth: We have eliminated welfare, or largely cut it back, in favor of a free-enterprise economy. Fact: Welfare is a cornerstone of the American economy: it props up our corporations. If you're tired of hearing about how poor people are forever asking for handouts, why not discuss how rich people are always asking for--and getting--much larger ones? Consider a few choice items from Mark Zepezauer and Arthur Naiman's mind-boggling compendium, "Take the Rich Off Welfare." 1. Military Waste and Fraud: $172 billion. Wait a minute: the military budget was only $265 billion a couple of years back; how can this be? Zepezauer and Naiman make the case that the budget is much higher. They cite the Center for Defense Information's figures for spending buried elsewhere--in the Department of Energy's production of fuel for nuclear weapons, in the VA, in the military portion of NASA's budget and so on to suggest that the budget for 1996 (when the book was written) was $327 billion, a figure that has escalated every year since then. The CDI then adds another $167 billion for the interest paid on past military spending, making the figure $494 billion. Of that $494 billion, they cite estimates by the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Lawrence Korb (a military planner under Reagan who is now with the Brookings Institute) and the Center for Defense Information (founded by retired generals and admirals), which average out to $155 billion a year to finance a still overwhelmingly powerful military. Subtracting that from the $327 billion and leaving out interest for past budgets, leaves military waste and fraud of $172 billion per year. Fraud is so prevalent that "most military suppliers are--plain and simple--criminals" according to the authors. Among examples cited: *Grumman paid the government $20 million to escape criminal liability for coercing subcontractors into making political contributions. *Northrop was fined $17 million for falsifying test data about its cruise missiles and fighter jets. *Teledyne paid $5 million in a civil settlement for false testing, plus $5 million for repairs. On the waste front, the authors reveal everything from the small instances of the $640 toilet seat Lockheed billed our government for, to large instances, such as building new Trident submarines, even though they are likely to be eliminated under the next arms control agreement, START III. 2. The authors estimate that the current means of taxation to support Social Security is so regressive that it amounts to a handout to the rich of $53 billion a year. That's because any income over $62,700 is exempt from the tax. That means that if you earned $62,700, you would pay the same amount of social security tax as Bill Gates, though not the same proportion of your assets� 3. The capital-gains-tax cut of 1993 helped shovel $37 billion a year into the hands of mostly wealthy Americans. Sure, more and more Americans own stocks and therefore benefit from this tax cut. But as Citizens for Tax Justice put it, "more than any other kind of income, capital gains are concentrated at the very top of the income scale." As Zepezauer and Naiman put it, "97% of the benefit from the 1993 capital gains tax cut went to the richest 1% of the population. But that's not enough for them � they want to pay nothing. Thus the 'flat tax' plans of Dick Armey and Steve Forbes exempt capital gains from taxation completely!" The authors point to interesting data to refute the oft-repeated claim that lower capital gains means more jobs. Capital gains tax increases correlate with greater employment and a stronger economy. The authors note that many factors influence the economy, but point out that the equation of a lower capital gains tax = a better economy just isn't supported by the data. These are but three of the more lucrative ways to transfer money to the rich. Others include the S&L bailout ($32 billion every year for 30 years), homeowners' tax breaks for the rich ($26 billion), agribusiness subsidies ($18 billion a year) and on and on. What's the lesson here? Welfare is fine and plentiful--if you are rich. To learn more about how to get your hands on all this money, click on http://www.commoncouragepress.com/rich.html TOMORROW: Joanna Cagan and Neil deMause: Mad About Sports This is the free Political Literacy Course from Common Courage Press: A backbone of facts to stand up to spineless power. Email 39, October 28 1999. Week 8: More on Corporate Crime Homepage: http://www.commoncouragepress.com To subscribe for free: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Chatroom: http://www.cartserver.com/bbs/a/3827/index.cgi Feedback/Title suggestions: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Missed any? Course archive: http://www.commoncouragepress.com/politlitarchive.html YES! This course is partly advertising for books. But it's also intended as political fertilizer: feel free to spread it around! ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. 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