Big Lie: The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer

[Cecilie1200]

I got this story from Thomas Sowell's latest column, and am including a link to the CBO study he cites.

Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of “the rich” is going up, while other people’s incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly.

But the government’s own Congressional Budget Office has just published a report whose statistics flatly contradict this claim. The CBO report shows that, while the average household income fell 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, the average for the lower four-fifths fell by 5 percent or less, while the average income for households in the top fifth fell 18 percent. For households in the “top one percent” that seems to fascinate so many people, income fell by 36 percent in those same years.

Why are these data so different from other data that are widely cited, showing the top brackets improving their positions more so than anyone else?

The answer is that the data cited by the Congressional Budget Office are based on Internal Revenue Service statistics for specific individuals and specific households over time. The IRS can follow individuals and households because it can identify the same people over time from their Social Security numbers.

Most other data, including census data, are based on compiling statistics in a succession of time periods, without the ability to tell if the actual people in each income bracket are the same from one time period to the next. The turnover of people is substantial in all brackets — and is huge in the top one percent. Most people in that bracket are there for only one year in a decade.

Thomas Sowell: Big lies in politics - Conservative News

CBO | The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009

Why do I think he's right, and we won't be hearing Obama present these facts?

 

[Lakhota]

Yeah, it's all a myth - according to wingnuts.

 

[hortysir]

Yeah, it's all a myth - according to wingnuts.

We are all astounded by your economic prowess

 

[Sinjorri]

Yeah, it's all a myth - according to wingnuts.

We are all astounded by your economic prowess

u have the right to ur opinion hortysir but if u dont agree with the left, u are automatically wrong.

 

[bripat9643]

Yeah, it's all a myth - according to wingnuts.

Almost everything you believe is a myth. Liberalism is a vast collection of lies.

 

[Lakhota]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

 

[hortysir]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

Go find any one of Chris' threads.

He's got (unsourced) charts up the kazoo

 

[hortysir]

Yeah, it's all a myth - according to wingnuts.

We are all astounded by your economic prowess

u have the right to ur opinion hortysir but if u dont agree with the left, u are automatically wrong.

You're right...... I'm sorry

 

[Avatar4321]

It is a myth. The poor dont get poorer. If you have nothing you cant have less than nothing.

 

[Charles_Main]

I got this story from Thomas Sowell's latest column, and am including a link to the CBO study he cites.

Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of “the rich” is going up, while other people’s incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly.

But the government’s own Congressional Budget Office has just published a report whose statistics flatly contradict this claim. The CBO report shows that, while the average household income fell 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, the average for the lower four-fifths fell by 5 percent or less, while the average income for households in the top fifth fell 18 percent. For households in the “top one percent” that seems to fascinate so many people, income fell by 36 percent in those same years.

Why are these data so different from other data that are widely cited, showing the top brackets improving their positions more so than anyone else?

The answer is that the data cited by the Congressional Budget Office are based on Internal Revenue Service statistics for specific individuals and specific households over time. The IRS can follow individuals and households because it can identify the same people over time from their Social Security numbers.

Most other data, including census data, are based on compiling statistics in a succession of time periods, without the ability to tell if the actual people in each income bracket are the same from one time period to the next. The turnover of people is substantial in all brackets — and is huge in the top one percent. Most people in that bracket are there for only one year in a decade.

Thomas Sowell: Big lies in politics - Conservative News

CBO | The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009

Why do I think he's right, and we won't be hearing Obama present these facts?

the Truth is the Rich get Richer, the Poor Move up the Ladder and get Richer as well, and new Poor Take their place.

That is what the Numbers show.

 

[hortysir]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

So you're better qualified than the author of the piece linked in the OP?

Thomas Sowell | Conservative News, Views & Books

 

[Cecilie1200]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

Yeah, that's why you gave us such an incisive, in-depth rebuttal of the OP.

 

[syrenn]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

yes, just not you.

 

[tjvh]

The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer? I can only assume two possibilities from that statement... Either the rich are getting smarter and the poor are getting dumber, OR the rich are working harder and the poor are getting more lazy. Either way... Things aren't looking very well for the work ethics of the poor.

 

[buckeye45_73]

Some of us can actually read and digest current/historical economic and financial data - such as words, charts, graphs, etc...

Now THAT is funny....especially from an Obamabot

 

[edthecynic]

I got this story from Thomas Sowell's latest column, and am including a link to the CBO study he cites.

Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of “the rich” is going up, while other people’s incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly.

But the government’s own Congressional Budget Office has just published a report whose statistics flatly contradict this claim. The CBO report shows that, while the average household income fell 12 percent between 2007 and 2009, the average for the lower four-fifths fell by 5 percent or less, while the average income for households in the top fifth fell 18 percent. For households in the “top one percent” that seems to fascinate so many people, income fell by 36 percent in those same years.

Why are these data so different from other data that are widely cited, showing the top brackets improving their positions more so than anyone else?

The answer is that the data cited by the Congressional Budget Office are based on Internal Revenue Service statistics for specific individuals and specific households over time. The IRS can follow individuals and households because it can identify the same people over time from their Social Security numbers.

Most other data, including census data, are based on compiling statistics in a succession of time periods, without the ability to tell if the actual people in each income bracket are the same from one time period to the next. The turnover of people is substantial in all brackets — and is huge in the top one percent. Most people in that bracket are there for only one year in a decade.

Thomas Sowell: Big lies in politics - Conservative News

CBO | The Distribution of Household Income and Federal Taxes, 2008 and 2009

Why do I think he's right, and we won't be hearing Obama present these facts?

As Tom points out, "It was either Adolf Hitler or his propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, who said that the people will believe any lie, if it is big enough and told often enough, loud enough. Although the Nazis were defeated in World War II, this part of their philosophy survives triumphantly to this day among politicians, and nowhere more so than during election years." And Tom is out to prove his mentor Adolf Right in this article.

Now the best way to lie is to tell just enough truth and then shut up, in this case cherry picking the 2 years 2008 and 2009, the two years that revolve around the bursting of the Bush housing bubble and the Bush stock market crash. Since the wealthy get most of their income from capital gains you would expect them to lose more in that very short and select time period. Now the stock market has gained back nearly all its losses, so if you included the data up to 2012 you would see the wealthy are doing quite well while the lower classes who have most of their in their wealth in their house only have not done quite so well.

So it is completely dishonest to use only the 2 years 2008 and 2009, but Tom couldn't be Tom if he was honest, and besides he knows his fellow travelers are gullible enough to swallow this tripe.

 

[BreezeWood]

Big Lie: The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer

Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of “the rich” is going up, while other people’s incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly.

Obama: Millionaires should pay 'fair share'

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education.

"One in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than millions of hardworking middle-class households," Obama told a group of business executives gathered at the White House.

He later added, "it's just plain wrong that middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some millionaires and billionaires."

what the Obama Administration is really saying:

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education ...


but for the Wingnuts it is class warfare (in their minds) - anything but the truth.

 

[hortysir]

Big Lie: The Rich Get Richer, The Poor Get Poorer

Perhaps the biggest lie of this election year, and the one likely to be repeated the most often, is that the income of “the rich” is going up, while other people’s incomes are going down. If you listen to Barack Obama, you are bound to hear this lie repeatedly.

Obama: Millionaires should pay 'fair share'

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education.

"One in four millionaires pays a lower tax rate than millions of hardworking middle-class households," Obama told a group of business executives gathered at the White House.

He later added, "it's just plain wrong that middle-class Americans pay a higher share of their income in taxes than some millionaires and billionaires."

what the Obama Administration is really saying:

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education ...


but for the Wingnuts it is class warfare (in their minds) - anything but the truth.

Problem is, any monies collected will NEVER go towards debt reduction.
It will, merely, be more money to spend.

 

[Sinjorri]

what the Obama Administration is really saying:

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education ...


but for the Wingnuts it is class warfare (in their minds) - anything but the truth.

Problem is, any monies collected will NEVER go towards debt reduction.
It will, merely, be more money to spend.

dont let the cat out of the bag, how will they fool their soliders.

 

[BreezeWood]

what the Obama Administration is really saying:

President Obama promoted his "Buffett Rule" again today, saying millionaires and billionaires should pay their "fair share" to help reduce the federal debt and pay for necessary government investments like education ...


but for the Wingnuts it is class warfare (in their minds) - anything but the truth.

Problem is, any monies collected will NEVER go towards debt reduction.
It will, merely, be more money to spend.

Problem is, any monies collected will NEVER go towards debt reduction.
It will, merely, be more money to spend

well as it turned out - the Democrats placed HealthCare as their top priority and called the Republicans for their bluff and to bad the Republican Propaganda lost the battle.