The latest IRS statistics tell the story. The richest one out of 100 Americans now pay more in federal income taxes than the bottom 95 out of 100. There is almost no country in the world that relies on the top 1% to pay a larger share of the tax burden than the United States. Notice that the tax share of the top 1% went UP after the Trump tax cuts.
The Heritage Foundation has just issued its indispensable international Index of Economic Freedom for 2023. This chart shows the powerful correlation between freedom and growth.
Countries that are mostly free are 10 times richer per person than the most socialistic nations and three times richer than nations with average freedom. Economic freedom had been trending upward over the last two decades, but since COVID hit, freedom has fallen – and so has economic growth.
For the last 50 years real income per person in the United States has grown at a rate of about 2.3% per year. If that 2.3% growth rate continues, then in fewer than 400 years, your descendants will earn about $1 million per day on the average — a little less than Bill Gates’ current income, but at least in the ballpark.
What about poverty? If we roughly define the poverty level as a family with 50% of the average income, then the level for the great-grandchildren of today’s poor will be $200,000. In other words, if tomorrow’s poor have a poverty-level income, they’ll be rich. And, of course, 400 years from now they’ll be fabulously wealthy. More
It’s been 15 years since John McCain ran for president with a plan to completely revamp our healthcare system. In the interim, Republicans have attempted a nip here or a tuck there, but nothing really big. Fortunately, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) and his colleagues have come to the rescue with a reform plan that is a pro-patient, pro-family, pro-free enterprise alternative. It is based on three fundamental values. More
We have never really had a genuine universal basic income experiment in the US.
One of the most prominent experiments took place in Stockton, California, in February 2019. The program gave 125 of the city’s residents $500 per month. The results were seen as positive, with the control group experiencing 1.5 times more income volatility than those who received the funds. The share of participants with full-time employment rose from 28% at the start of the program to 40% a year later. Meanwhile, the control group only saw a 5% increase in full-time employment over the same period.
From 1940 to 2019, Americans’ life expectancy rose by almost 16 years, while the share of the U.S. population 65 and older grew from 9.8% to 16.7%. The elderly have progressively more healthy years to work. Most important, increased life spans have meant that older Americans’ wealth portfolios have been able to compound for longer.
Source: Richard McKenzie, Americans are Living Longer and Prospering, Wall Street Journal.
Proponents of reparations cite past housing discrimination as a primary driver of today’s racial wealth gap.
The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) was established in 1934 to provide federal insurance for home loans and it led to a huge increase in home ownership in the US. In determining which residences to insure, the agency instructed underwriters to consider, among other things, a community’s “economic stability” and its “protection from adverse influences.” This resulted in a practice known as “redlining.”
See Ta-Nehisi Coates, “The Case for Reparations.”
Yet, between 1940 and 1980, homeownership among blacks rose faster than it did among whites. (37% v. 34%)
National test scores plummeted for 13-year-olds, according to new data that shows the single largest drop in math in 50 years and no signs of academic recovery following the disruptions of the pandemic.
Source: Washington Post
Unlike the Official Poverty Measure, we include both cash and in-kind programs designed to fight poverty, including the market value of food stamps (now the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP), the school lunch program, housing assistance, and health insurance.
VALUATING THE SUCCESS OF PRESIDENT JOHNSON’S WAR ON POVERTY: REVISITING THE HISTORICAL RECORD USING AN ABSOLUTE FULL-INCOME POVERTY MEASURE by Richard V. Burkhauser, Kevin Corinth. James Elwell and Jeff Larrimore