Mitt Romney described almost half of Americans as “dependent upon government” during a private reception with donors this year and said those voters were likely to support President Obama because they believe they are “entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name-it.”
Ouch!
請搭配下面這篇服用：
WSJ, 8/31/2012, "Are Entitlements Corrupting Us? Yes, American Character Is at Stake" By NICHOLAS EBERSTADT
裡面有張圖顯示現在拿某種形式政府補助的人數已經到達全部的一半左右。
Romney 說的很接近事實，不過在選舉的時候有些話是不能說的。這是個手機就可以照相錄影的年代，什麼東西都可以被放上網路，在很短的時間內就傳到全世界。
7 comments:
Truth Hurts??
Or
Truth Heals??
The increasing % of Americans receiving government benefits has to do with aging population and sluggish job recovery from the recession, the former being the real issue in the long term. Just wait and see what happens when most baby boomers retire and go on to live another 20-30 years. Hard to imagine that they would agree to have existing benifits taken away.
To 漫步在雲間：
I'm afraid it only hurts this time around.
To the landlord:
Thanks for bringing up the demographic problem the U.S. and the whole world are facing right now.
It is too late to preach moral hazard to soon-to-be retirees. And face it, it is not entirely their fault. Most of the baby boomers only played by the rules and they were guaranteed they'll have a decent life after retirement if they did so. Not everybody has savvy enough economic education to see through the Ponzi scheme played by the government and pension funds.
We need to boost the productivity of the younger generation and have them less dependent on the government. If we can't cut the proportion of the younger generation receiving government benefits, we'll be in big trouble soon.
Japan is setting an example, good or bad, to the whole world now.
I think the graph is kind of unfair as it groups retiree into the negative connotation of receiving government benefits. I'm curious as to week what the demographic would like without the retirees. But that being said, I don't think Romney anticipated that speech to be out in the mass public.
坐在我隔壁的大陸同事回憶起毛澤東的一句名言
階級鬥爭 一抓就靈
當然那是在沒有民主的50年前的真理, 現在這階級矛盾的幽靈會悄悄地回到台灣嗎?
suntex01-
Here's a link to a few charts that you'd be interested:
http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2012/09/18/161337343/the-47-percent-in-one-graphic
While no more than 1/4 of the 47% are elderly people, I think it's safe to assume they receive way more than 1/4 of all bebenift $$$, in the form of Medicare and MedicAid.
CCCLu said it well, Japan is setting an example for the world how to manage an aging population. In my opinion it's not doing so well. Polocies seem to favor the elderly (eg. maintaining a strong Yen to keep prices of imported goods at bay) and dempen young people's future outlook. Young people know pension funds will collapse well before they retire, so they try to avoid paying towards it every way they can. Many simply give up and leave the country (including my sister and her Japanese husband). The picture is not very pretty over there.
Post a Comment