I heard a great line somewhere about social programs really just try to make people comfortable in their poverty, rather than try to encourage people to get out of poverty.
I'm paraphrasing, but you get the gist. As long as poor people are provided with food, shelter, and tax credits large enough to make payments on the big screen TV, they're okay with that. Here in the US and maybe in the Euro nations, more and more people are okay with that. If that benefit is taken away, then they protest and riot.
Unfortunately, the appetite for more and more comfort items is exceeding the ability of those who work for a living and pay taxes to provide.
Politicians rely on votes. There are more voters who want the comfort items, and less voters who pay taxes to provide those things. Tax rates have to increase on fewer and fewer people to keep the benefits flowing.
But that seems fair, right? That's why the rest of us go to work everyday - to make sure those who don't go to work can be comfortable in their poverty.
The Fairness Fallacy Behind the Buffett Rule
http://www.thestreet.com/story/11500342/1/the-fairness-fallacy-behind-the-buffett-rule.html
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