Cato on income inequality

[George K]

https://www.cato.org/study/myth-american-income-inequality

The Census Bureau does not count two‐​thirds of government subsidies to households (called transfer payments) as income or any taxes taken as reductions to income, so, it overstates both income inequality and poverty. Counting all subsidies and taxes shows that income inequality is far less than claimed and continuing to fall.

These overstatements have justified higher subsidies to lower‐​income households, that in turn have caused twice as many work‐​age adults in lower‐​income households to stop working.

By not counting two‐​thirds of all transfer payments as income to the recipients of the transfers and not counting taxes paid as income lost to taxpayers, government statistics dramatically overstate income inequality.

Income inequality is lower today than it was three‐​quarters of a century ago. The facts reveal a very different and better America than the one currently described in debates across much of the political spectrum.

[Mik]

This one struck me:

"Today, most people are economically as prosperous as many people in the top 20 percent were 50 years ago."

In terms of living standard, I think this is true.

[George K]

@Mik and the definition of what constitutes "poverty" has undergone a change.

[Mik]

It certainly has. It is a higher lifestyle than i lived growing up.

[Klaus]

I thought this thread would be about an inspiring quote from Cato the Elder. Preferably one that is not about the destruction of Carthago.

[Aqua Letifer]

I read this as "Canto on Income Inequality" and got excited.

️

[George K]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Cato on income inequality:

I read this as "Canto on Income Inequality" and got excited.

Fucking literature majors!

[LuFins Dad]

@Aqua-Letifer said in Cato on income inequality:

I read this as "Canto on Income Inequality" and got excited.

️

Well, now you have a challenge before you. You don’t have anything better to do, right?

[Aqua Letifer]

@LuFins-Dad said in Cato on income inequality:

@Aqua-Letifer said in Cato on income inequality:

I read this as "Canto on Income Inequality" and got excited.

️

Well, now you have a challenge before you. You don’t have anything better to do, right?

I'm already working on some Robin Hood ballad translations.

Yes, fucking really.