Senate Fiscal Cliff Bill Approved by House

[AGDee]

Why the assumption that just because they don't pay taxes, they benefit from entitlements? Hypo surely isn't getting any entitlements but isn't paying taxes either.

I find a big irony in calling Social Security an "entitlement" when the amount you receive is directly correlated to how much you put in. If you didn't pay it, you don't get it. It isn't welfare. People paid into that, expecting to get money back out of it. And if it survives, then 100% of the people who pay in get something back (unless they die before they reach retirement age, in which case their spouse and/or children get some of it).

[DeltaBetaBaby]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Why the assumption that just because they don't pay taxes, they benefit from entitlements? Hypo surely isn't getting any entitlements but isn't paying taxes either.

I find a big irony in calling Social Security an "entitlement" when the amount you receive is directly correlated to how much you put in. If you didn't pay it, you don't get it. It isn't welfare. People paid into that, expecting to get money back out of it. And if it survives, then 100% of the people who pay in get something back (unless they die before they reach retirement age, in which case their spouse and/or children get some of it).

Actually, it all depends on how you define "entitlements". Here's a pretty fascinating paper on the topic; I recommend skipping down to about p34 to look at the charts.

http://government.arts.cornell.edu/a...ler-022812.pdf

The point is that the "cut spending" crew has done a really good job of pretending that government social programs benefitting the wealthy are not entitlements, while those benefitting the poor are.