Friday, November 13, 2009
Taking it all and the permanent Democratic majority
If people on the dole give up more when they go to work than they can possibly earn on the job -- an implicit marginal tax rate of more than 100% -- they will become permanent constituents for the welfare state.
Increasingly, that seems like the plan.
3 Comments:
By 
, at
Fri Nov 13, 01:45:00 PM:
Ah, that has always been the plan.
By Brian Schmidt, at
Fri Nov 13, 03:48:00 PM:
According to the chart at the link, every dollar earned between $25k and under $45k results in net reduced economic position, except for a really tiny range in the upper 30k. The total loss in this range for someone earning $45k is the area under the curve and above the 100% line. Eyeballing it looks like averaging around 115%, so that nominal increase of $20k (from 25 to 45) results in a net decline of $3k, and a person making $45k now finds himself worse off than when he previously made half as much money.
The funny thing is, I personally went through this change in income, and instead of feeling poorer, I felt much richer.
I'm dubious.
By 
cubanbob, at
Mon Nov 16, 02:24:00 AM:
The solution is obvious. Eliminate most welfare programs scale back the remaining programs and time limit those for no more than five years.
