Quote of the day, on government providing hammocks for millionaires

The government’s social safety net, which has long existed to catch those who are down and help them get back up, is now being used as a hammock by some millionaires, some who are paying less taxes than average middle class families.

After reading that, one might be tempted to think it came from one of the Occupy Wall Street people, or The Nation magazine, or any one of the left-leaning faculty.

Guess again.

It is from a report titled The Subsidies of the Rich and Famous from, get this, Senator Coburn, who has solid conservative credentials and a strong conservative voting record.  On this issue, I suppose he will be in good company with Ralph Nader, which, I would have assumed, will never ever happen :)

Americans are generous and do not want to see their fellow citizens go without basic necessities. Likewise, we expect everyone to contribute and to demonstrate personal responsibility. Government policies intended to mainstream wealth redistribution are undermining these principles. The tragic irony is the wealth in these cases is trickling up rather than down the economic ladder. The cost of this largess will thus be shared by those struggling today and the next generation who will inherit $15 trillion of debt that threatens the future of the American Dream. These consequences are the results of shortsighted spending and tax policies like those outlined in this report that should be eliminated.

When even Coburn worries that wealth is trickling up, hey, there ought to be something seriously wrong here.

A chart compares the elephant and the donkey on tax cuts

Andy Borowitz had the best line in this context: "This tax cut bullshit wouldn't be happening if we had a Democrat in the White House."
The original post here. (ht)

Graphic of the day: the rich and taxes in 1941

click on the image from the NY Times for clearer and zoomed view

The unemployed, and the millionaires, in Oregon

Unemployment in Oregon is not showing signs of coming down, even though this is the peak of the tourist season that generates a lot of employment. According to Forbes:

Oregon's unemployment rate hovered at 12.2 percent in June - essentially unchanged from the previous month but still a modern high and more than double the rate a year ago.

The latest figure also was well above the U.S. rate of 9.5 percent as Oregon's recession-bound economy shed another 7,200 jobs last month.

Contrast that with the following news item:
The Portland Business Journal reports that we have fewer millionaires than a year ago:

Oregon boasts 61,621 households with a net worth of more than $1 million, the 25th-most in the country.

About 4.12 percent of the state’s 1.495 million households have net worths of $1 million or more, Phoenix Marketing International researchers found. The top five states are Hawaii, Maryland, New Jersey, Connecticut and Virginia.

In Oregon, as in the rest of the country, the number of millionaires is declining.

In 2007, 4.88 percent of state households reported net worths of $1 million or more. That dropped to 4.5 percent last year.

An irony that the two updates were on the same date, only hours apart!