Saturday, February 1, 2014
Miscellaneous 176
1) According to PBS's special on slavery and reconstruction, the African-American literacy rate in this country went from 5% in 1850 to over 70% by the turn of the century. This represents one of the greatest accomplishments in the history of human civilization and it was done primarily without the help of government (yes, there was some public schooling for blacks but it was a pittance when compared to what whites received, predominately funded by philanthropic organizations - the Peabody Fund being one, and rarely included secondary education). How's that?............2) The African-American poverty rate in 1940 was 87%. Just 20 years later in 1960 it had fallen all the way to 47%, a 46% reduction. This huge decline took place well before the Welfare State, well before affirmative action, and well before even the Civil Rights era. Take that, government.............3) Social spending in this country has skyrocketed during the last two administrations to the point where it now comprises approximately 20% of total GDP. Any person out there who tries to tell you that the social safety net has been seriously compromised is either a bald ignoramus or a dirty, stinking, lying sack of garbage, or both. Or both.
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You might also find in their the large growth of the black middle class under Reagan.
Proof that African-Americans just need an environment of economic opportunity, and don't need affirmative-action quota policies that treat them as if they are inferior beings (damaged, in the words of that Myste guy) that can't compete on a level playing field.
According to the historical tables from the Office of Management and Budget, federal social spending has increased markedly from 2000 to 2010. Here are the respective increases (adjusted for inflation) from specific areas; Medicaid and SCHIP 87%, Veteran's benefits 107%, Welfare and other income security programs 91%, Education 155%, Health resources and regulation 69%, Unemployment compensation 559%, Medicare 81%, Housing assistance 108%, Food assistance 139%, WIC 52%, Child nutrition 47%, Child tax credit payments 2,155%, and the Earned Income Tax Credit 48%. And you know that they've gone up even more since then.
And Paul Ryan, derided as an Objectivist or social Darwinist, is one of those calling for massive increases in such spending.
Cutting the rate of increase. That's basically all that he proposed.
Using such logic, which is used a lot, any actual spending increase is called a "cut" since it is lower than an imaginary amount someone pulls from thin air.
That is, if someone proposes a 500% spending increase in something, the profligate-spending naysayer (think MMT) can make up a spending amount just a little higher, say, 501%, and then scream that the 500% spending increase is a heartless, miserly cut in government spending.
This happened in the 1990s. I heard that Newt Gingrich was proposing a cruel, slashing cut in Medicare.
I checked the actual amounts, and it turned out that Gingrich was proposing a 20% increase. However, since this 20% increase was lower than some imagined much higher percent increase, it was said he was cutting the budget.
By the way, check into MMT (Modern Monetary Theory). It is to sound budgeting policy as this is to ocean navigation.
Will said: "Any person out there who tries to tell you that the social safety net has been seriously compromised is either a bald ignoramus or a dirty, stinking, lying sack of garbage, or both. Or both. "
Not only is the social safety net not compromised, but the "hammock" (shoveling out massive amounts of welfare to the able-bodied and non-needy) is getting comfier and comfier.
They call it "baseline budgeting", I think (a cut in the increase being seen as an actual cut), and it's hugely insane.
Meanwhile, under Obama's management, these nonsensical budget strategies have resulted in a national debt of $17.3 trillion, on this very day.
Yes, it was soaring before Obama under similar practices. It only got worse under Obama is all.
It was $10 trillion when Obama took office. He increased it by 70%. It takes a hell of a lot of spin to try to put the blame on others, especially on Bush.
At his current rate, Obama will have close to doubled the entire national debt by the time he leaves office.
The projected US budget deficit for this fiscal year is $680 billion. That is about three times HIGHER than the highest budget deficit under Bush... and yet Shaw and others talk about how Obama has brought the deficit down.
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