Monday, August 18, 2014

Paul Ryan op-ed: A Better Way Up From Poverty

In July 2012, our local fairground was full of families, farmers and visitors who had traveled to Janesville, Wis., for the Rock County 4-H Fair. I was shaking hands and talking with people when a man made his way over to me.
"Hey, Paul," he said, "I just need a minute. I'm from the Democrats' tent, and I just wanted to come over here and give you a piece of my mind."
He got up close and asked, "Who, exactly, are the takers?"
"Excuse me?" I replied.
"The makers and the takers," he said. "I know who the makers are, but who are the takers? Is it the person who lost a job and is on unemployment benefits? Is it the veteran who served in Iraq and gets medical care through the VA? When you talk about the takers, who exactly do you mean?"
I'd started using the phrase "makers and takers" after the Tax Foundation issued a study comparing how much families receive in government spending with how much they pay in taxes. If a family's share of government spending exceeded the amount it paid in taxes, the study deemed them "receivers." If it was less, they were described as "givers." The Tax Foundation's analysis found that 60% of American families were net "receivers," and under President Obama's policies, that number would grow to 70%.
The phrase "givers and receivers" was similar to another term making the rounds: "makers and takers." Both seemed convenient shorthand for a serious problem.
Over the years, we've slowly been adding to the number of benefits that government provides to an increasing number of our citizens. Some of those benefits are worthy, laudable commitments, but others aren't really the responsibility of government or the kind of thing we can afford.
If we keep on this way, we'll reach a tipping point where there are too many people receiving government benefits and not enough people to pay for those benefits. That's an untenable problem. The receivers cannot receive more than the givers can give.
Read the rest of Ryan's op-ed HERE.

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