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Saturday, July 12, 2014

Celebrating "Dependence Day" another failed Fox News Guilt Trip.

I'm still struck by how the media has avoided connecting the dots between economic policy and the rise of American dependence on government assistance. Business control of our political system destroyed the middle class in the form of the Great Recession.

Democrats for decades focused their attention on helping Americans affected by this free market agenda by instituting safety net programs. They were vilified for it by Republicans.

Which brings me to the following wonderfully ridiculous and hilarious presentation by Fox News' Eric Bolling. He wants to adopt a new holiday called “Dependence Day.” Based on one false premise after the next, it's This Modern World and The Onion combined:



Ring of Fire Radio:
Bolling: “We were once a strong and proud people built on a rock solid work ethic. Independence recently however, we've evolved for the worse. A massive 55 percent of all Americans have relied on the government for an entitlement. 46 million Americans are receiving food stamps. That’s up over 14 million since Barack Obama took office. Nine million workers are now on disability, up 20 percent under Obama ... more and more takers are in the cart and fewer and fewer makers are pulling the darned thing.”

Fact: 43 percent of Americans who don’t pay federal income taxes, about half of those did not make enough income to qualify, including those retired workers who are living on Social Security, according to the Tax Policy Center. Nearly two thirds do pay payroll taxes, meaning they are, in fact, helping to pull the metaphorical cart Bolling spoke of.

The tax breaks given to corporations cost the US government billions each year. In fact, 280 Fortune 500 companies raked in a total of $27.3 billion in just three years because of the “excess stock option” tax break, which Facebook used to eliminate it’s entire tax liability and take home a $429 million tax rebate in 2012.

Apparently Bolling only considers it “taking” when it’s the American people getting help, and not when it’s corporations exploiting tax codes, or simply hiding trillions of dollars overseas from the government. 

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