Ending Poverty in America

[GenSeneca]

The average income for individual wage earners in America is $52,000. The poverty line for individuals is $10,000 and change....

Since America is the richest nation in the world, and we have the resources to correct this inequity, we could set it so that at age 18, every individual earning less than $52k began collecting a government stipend, based on their earnings, so that the lowest income earner would make at least $52,000 a year.

We could also peg this amount to inflation and completely remove the lower class, making the middle class the lowest possible bracket. This would end all poverty in the US and greatly boost the economy, growing wealth from the ground up instead of the failed policy of trickle down economics.

Now for those who would ask how this would be paid for, its simple. We use our graduated tax structure to subsidize the lower income workers on those who earn more than $52,000;

New Tax Brackets:

@ $52 = 0 <--You pay no income tax
$52 - $75k = 25%
$76 - $100k = 50%
$101 - $200k = 75%
$200k - $1mil = 90%
Above $1 mil = 95%
No more poverty, the rich are finally paying their fair share, the economy is booming and everyone is happy!

 

[bododie]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

What on earth makes you think that wealthy people don't pay their share? What you are complaining about is what is left after they pay their share, that they aren't giving to you. Is there some reason why I should pay for your life?

 

[TruthAboveAll]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

There goes my coffee all over my keyboard again... Thanks a lot GenSen!

 

[PLC1]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

There goes my coffee all over my keyboard again... Thanks a lot GenSen!

That'll teach you to drink coffee while reading a post like that! Just be glad it wasn't CocaCola and that it didn't come out your nose. That stings.

I like it! Just bring everyone up to average, and no one will be below average!

It's a little bit like No Child Left Behind, or .... What was the name of that place where all of the children were above average? Does anyone remember?

 

[TruthAboveAll]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

That'll teach you to drink coffee while reading a post like that! Just be glad it wasn't CocaCola and that it didn't come out your nose. That stings.

I like it! Just bring everyone up to average, and no one will be below average!

It's a little bit like No Child Left Behind, or .... What was the name of that place where all of the children were above average? Does anyone remember?

LOL! True, true!

NCLB - evidence yet again that doing something, even with the best of intentions, is subject to the rule of unintended consequences. And that taking action to improve a situation will be met with nothing but ridicule if it is less than 100% successful.

 

[PLC1]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

LOL! True, true!

NCLB - evidence yet again that doing something, even with the best of intentions, is subject to the rule of unintended consequences. And that taking action to improve a situation will be met with nothing but ridicule if it is less than 100% successful.

Or, even if it is 10% successful, but even more so if it spends a lot of money while making the situation worse, as so many government ideas seem to do.

 

[Pandora]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

The average income for individual wage earners in America is $52,000. The poverty line for individuals is $10,000 and change....

Since America is the richest nation in the world, and we have the resources to correct this inequity, we could set it so that at age 18, every individual earning less than $52k began collecting a government stipend, based on their earnings, so that the lowest income earner would make at least $52,000 a year.

We could also peg this amount to inflation and completely remove the lower class, making the middle class the lowest possible bracket. This would end all poverty in the US and greatly boost the economy, growing wealth from the ground up instead of the failed policy of trickle down economics.

Now for those who would ask how this would be paid for, its simple. We use our graduated tax structure to subsidize the lower income workers on those who earn more than $52,000;

New Tax Brackets:

@ $52 = 0 <--You pay no income tax
$52 - $75k = 25%
$76 - $100k = 50%
$101 - $200k = 75%
$200k - $1mil = 90%
Above $1 mil = 95%
No more poverty, the rich are finally paying their fair share, the economy is booming and everyone is happy!

OH JOY we can all be the same. the best part about it is I can do absolutly nothing and be doing as well as the hardest working guy in my city

now that is the american dream right

 

[dahermit]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

The average income for individual wage earners in America is $52,000.

Average mean income = 52,000
Average median income = ?
Average mode income = ?

Average mean income is the least descriptive of what level a person is really living at. Toss in the income of a few billionaires with a few hundred people at or below government poverty levels and you come up with a mean average income of 52,000 a year. When in reality, none of the subjects included make anywhere near that amount and the billionaires are living in opulent luxury.

5,000 annual income x 10 people = 50,000 Add that to one billionaire, 1,000,000,000 =1,000,050,000 divided by 11 people and the mean income is 90,000,000!
The average mode income per year is the real indication of how well off the workers of the U.S. are not.

 

[BigRob]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

OH JOY we can all be the same. the best part about it is I can do absolutly nothing and be doing as well as the hardest working guy in my city

now that is the american dream right

And then of course no one wants to work, the government prints more money to make up the difference, we get hit with massive inflation, and we are all sitting at the poverty line.

To get us out of that, we then have to start letting people keep what they earn to get them working again, and we are back where we started. Only problem is we lost out on many years of sitting at the poverty level because we all felt we had the "right" to a decent standard of living.

 

[BigRob]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

Average mean income = 52,000
Average median income = ?
Average mode income = ?

Average mean income is the least descriptive of what level a person is really living at. Toss in the income of a few billionaires with a few hundred people at or below government poverty levels and you come up with a mean average income of 52,000 a year. When in reality, none of the subjects included make anywhere near that amount and the billionaires are living in opulent luxury.

5,000 annual income x 10 people = 50,000 Add that to one billionaire, 1,000,000,000 =1,000,050,000 divided by 11 people and the mean income is 90,000,000!
The average mode income per year is the real indication of how well off the workers of the U.S. are not.

I would argue that your purchasing power parity is the better definition.

 

[4Truth]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

* The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
* The fifth would pay $1.
* The sixth would pay $3.
* The seventh $7.
* The eighth $12.
* The ninth $18.
* The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.

"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20."

So, now dinner for the ten only cost $80. The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes.

So, the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free.

But what about the other six, the paying customers? How could they divvy up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his 'fair share'?

The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody's share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being 'PAID' to eat their meal.

So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.

And so:

* The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

* The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).
* The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).
* The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).
* The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).
* The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.


"I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man. He pointed to the tenth man "but he got $10!"

"Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the fifth man. "I only saved a dollar, too.
It's unfair that he got ten times more than me!"

"That's true!!" shouted the seventh man. "Why should he get $10 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!"

"Wait a minute," yelled the first four men in unison. "We didn't get anything at all.. The system exploits the poor!"

The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn't have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore. There are lots of good restaurants in Europe and the Caribbean.

 

[foggedinn]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

It's a little bit like No Child Left Behind, or .... What was the name of that place where all of the children were above average? Does anyone remember?

Read an article in the local Mississippi Press Registar a few years back. Over 90% of the Highschools in the state scored in the top 50% of schools in the state scholasticaly.

 

[GenSeneca]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

5,000 annual income x 10 people = 50,000 Add that to one billionaire, 1,000,000,000 =1,000,050,000 divided by 11 people and the mean income is 90,000,000!
The average mode income per year is the real indication of how well off the workers of the U.S. are not.

You make a salient point. I had forgotten about all the individuals with a yearly income of one BILLION dollars. After a quick reworking of the charts, here's what I've come up with:

Everyone in America, from 18 till death, can have a yearly income of $250,000!!! This will not only knock out poverty but we can all live in upper middle class comfort... it also makes the chart much simpler:

$250,000 = No taxes
$250,001 - Infinity = 100% taxation

If you can live on $50k a year, in 5 years you will be a millionaire!

With such a system, we can totally eliminate the so called "Social Welfare" programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Welfare and the rest, dramatically slashing our national budget and freeing up tons of tax money... that alone should placate the KKKonservatives and get them on board since all Americans can now afford to exercise the personal responsibility they cry so much about.

After spreading the wealth around and making things fair, our budget would still have around 3 Trillion dollars a year... we spend about a half trillion on Defense leaving 2.5 trillion... We have never spent that much on Foreign Aid but we could now! After 8 years of the failed Bush policies, that would go a long way to repairing our damaged reputation in the world.

So we've still got 2 trillion... We've never spent 500 billion on Education, but we can now! That should be enough to provide free college for everyone who wants to go as well as building and maintaining new schools across the US... leaving us with 1.5 trillion.

We can also now spend 500 billion on Infrastructure for the first time ever, creating a new generation of Green energy, transportation, Eco&Animal-friendly road systems and more!

The remaining trillion, can be split up among the remaining federal government expenditures and we can also begin substantially paying down the debt.

Surely this was the America Dream our founders had always hoped would one day come to fruition.

 

[PLC1]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

Read an article in the local Mississippi Press Registar a few years back. Over 90% of the Highschools in the state scored in the top 50% of schools in the state scholasticaly.

90% scored in the top 50%?

That makes one wonder about their math program, if people believe such a statistic.

 

[BigRob]

Re: Endind Poverty in America

90% scored in the top 50%?

That makes one wonder about their math program, if people believe such a statistic.

I think he is talking about all the schools in the state, included middle and grammar and whatnot as opposed to only high schools.

So 90% of the high school could have scored in the top 50% of all the schools in the state. Of course it makes one wonder why 10% of the lower level schools scored higher than the high schools...