Tuesday, September 11, 2012

All Successful National Economies are Subsidized in some ways

Even life here in the U.S. is subsidized for all people in some ways. Time Magazine has done a really great article illustrating this. What  many people who people who haven't studied this might not understand  is that often the way they want things done stopped by the time of Andrew Jackson as President. Life has been more and more subsidized by the U.S. Government ever since it's inception. All successful economies in the world have been this way at least throughout the 20th and 21st centuries so far.

To illustrate this I want to share some of the bullets of this Time Article called: "One Nation On Welfare. Living Your Life on the Dole." for those of you who either cannot afford a Time Subscription like I have or can't afford to buy one or are in another country that doesn't sell them or in a country where you cannot translate it to your language like you can with this page to translate the page into about 100 different languages instantly with "Google Translate" which is in the upper right corner of this page if you look for it. It takes me only about 4 to 10 seconds to translate my whole site into whatever language you need to read it in. However, just remember, philosophy, politics, religion and culture doesn't translate well into other languages. As long as you know this ahead of time you will be fine translating using a robot translator.
The following is from  pages 30 through 37 from the latest Time magazine dated September 17, 2012.

This is an example of what happens to a real family in Florida in regard to subsidization as Americans:

Cotton Subsidies approach 1.3 Billion dollars a year (on all cotton grown in the U.S.)
Guide Dogs are tax deductible
The author's water bills don't include the billions the Federal Government spends to keep water clean.
at least 15 billion dollars each year to farm supports
$3800 tax exemption per child and more for child care

The author says" The sun is shining on Miama Beach, and I wake up in subsidized housing. I throw on a T-Shirt made of subsidized cotton, brush my teeth with subsidized water and eat cereal made of subsidized grain."

Uncle Sam allows the author to deduct 17% of his utilities toward his home office
deductions for health care expenses cost the Federal Government $184 billion a year
energy subsidies totaled 138 billion dollars in the U.S. in 2011 defraying electricity costs for U.S. residents
Charitable tax deductions cost the Federal Government $40 Billion dollars a year
Depreciation of things like Business computers cost the Federal Government 6.7 Billion dollars in 2011
energy efficient windows lower the cost of the author's subsidized insurance
The home mortgage interest deduction cost the Federal Government $84 billion a year
Books for research are tax deductible business expenses
Federal Subsidies reduce the cost of the author's flood insurance by 66%
The Army Corps of Engineers is spending 15.75 million to preserve local beaches in the Miama, Florida Area
Subsidy free front yard. Tropical plants grow naturally in Florida

 The U.S. Government is presently taking in 2.5 Trillion dollars a year in taxes
 The U.S. Government is spending                 3.8 Trillion dollars a year in taxes

The tax money comes from: Corporate income taxes 237 Billion dollars
                                              Excise tax                        79 billion dollars
                                               Social Security receipts 841 billion dollars
                                                Other                             147 billion dollars
                                                Income taxes                  1.2 TRillion dollars

The money is spent on:          Net interest                     225 Billion
                                                Defense                          716 Billion
                                                Social Security                779 Billion
                                                 Income security              580 Billion
                                                Veterans benefits             130 Billion
                                                 Medicare                         485 Billion
                                                 Other                               743 billion
                                                 (other includes medicaid, transportation, and agriculture)
                                                 Education                         139 billion

I think the point of this blog article is for everyone to see that all nations including the United States are subsidized in many ways. For example, my son was saying in the United ARab Emirates that there is no inheritance tax. Zero

And even though there is a 45 percent inheritance tax in the U.S. FDR intended to repeal it after the Great Depression but two things happened, one World War II and two he died in office before he repealed it.

So, in reality all nations are subsidized and have been in various ways all the way back to the beginning of this nation. But as nations have become more modern they have become more into subsidizing their citizens in a variety of ways to make life go smoother for everyone. Sometimes these subsidizations are helpful and sometimes they are questionable. But one thing is certain once a subsidization is put in place getting rid of it is almost impossible because people get used to it.

So, I don't think the Republicans or the Democrats will stay in office if they try to remove subsidizations, especially if they have been in place 50 or more years since the Great Depression or longer.

All statistical facts are quoted from:  pages 30 through 37 from the latest Time magazine dated September 17, 2012.

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