In nation's capital, the government robs from the poor and gives to the rich

American Thinker ^ | 12/18/2012 | Rick Moran

[SeekAndFind]

Reuters has begun a series of articles on income inequality in America and lo and behold, they discovered that a major culprit behind the gap is the government itself.

The initial offering in the series details what has happened in Washington, D.C. since the "War on Poverty" began:

********

In the town that launched the War on Poverty 48 years ago, the poor are getting poorer despite the government's help. And the rich are getting richer because of it. The top 5 percent of households in Washington, D.C., made more than $500,000 on average last year, while the bottom 20 percent earned less than $9,500 - a ratio of 54 to 1. That gap is up from 39 to 1 two decades ago. It's wider than in any of the 50 states and all but two major cities. This at a time when income inequality in the United States as a whole has risen to levels last seen in the years before the Great Depression.

Americans have just emerged from a close presidential election in which the government's role as a leveling force was fiercely debated. The right argued the state does too much; the left, too little. The issue is now at the center of tense negotiations over whose taxes to raise and what social programs to cut before a Jan. 1 deadline. And the government's role will be paramount again next year if Congress takes up tax reform.

The federal government does redistribute wealth down to struggling Americans. But in the years since President Lyndon Johnson took aim at poverty in his first State of the Union address, there has been an increasingly strong crosscurrent: The government is redistributing wealth up, too - especially in the nation's capital.

[sten]

when you take money from business owners...
which they would have used to create new jobs...
only to pour it into the pockets of those ‘helpful’ govt types ...
the only ones actually gaining ... are the govt types

the rich AND the poor lose out... otherwise known as the private sector

nothing new here.... move along

[EDINVA]

There is probably a good reason the ‘poor’ earn only @ $9500. There is likely a limit on how much $ one can earn before losing the food/housing/hearing, etc benefits. Did Reuters quantify the average benefits and how that would translate to income before and after taxes?

[Oldexpat]

Having done work in dozens of developing countries..I have learned that business in these banana republics is centered on who controls the economy.
So it tends to be centered on the capital and the corrupt politicians who inhabit it. As Govt gains more and more power..business’s follow the money and establish where it is handed out. It is truly bad news for the Republic.
So the call has become..not go West young man, but go East to DC if you want money and opportunity.