46.3 million - Number of Americans without health insurance
45,000 - Number of Americans, without health insurance, who die each year due to preventable causes, according to a study by Harvard Medical School
32 million - Number of uninsured Americans who will be able to get health insurance under the new law
45.2 million - Number of older Americans enrolled in Medicare
160.6 million - Number of Americans who get their health insurance through their employer
112.2 million - Number of low and moderate income Americans who will receive subsidies to purchase health insurance
$5,761 - Per capita health care spending in the US, the highest in the world
15 - Per cent of total US GDP spent on health care, the highest in the developed world
6.8 - Infant mortality rate per 1,000 live births, highest in the developed world
77 - Life expectancy in the US, ranking fifth in the world
2.3 trillion -Amount spent by Americans on health care in 2007, the last year that statistics are available
390 billion - Amount of savings to be realized by Medicare in the next decade while protecting basic benefits
26 -The age until which children will be able to remain under their parents insurance coverage
143 billion - Amount of deficit reduction in next ten years attributed to health care reform
0 - Number of undocumented immigrants who will be able to purchase health insurance, even with their own money, from the state health care exchanges
0.9 - Per cent increase in Medicare taxes for individuals earning more than $200,000 or couples earning more than $250,000 per year
3.8 - Per cent tax on unearned income for those same high-income earners
100 - Per cent of members of Congress who will be required to purchase health insurance through the state run health exchanges beginning in 2014
1 - Number of western, industrialized countries without universal health care – the United States
0 - Number of Republicans in Congress who voted for health care reform
0 - Distance that health care reform moves the country closer to socialism
May 11, 2010
May 4, 2010
Tea Party Index
41 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe President Obama was NOT born in the United States
52 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe “too much has been made of the problems facing black people”
31 - Per cent of Americans who approve of the Tea party movement
89 - Per cent of tea Party members who are white
40 - Per cent of Tea Party members who are 45 years old or older
61 - Per cent of Tea Party members who are male
44 - Per cent of Tea Party members who identify as “born again”
$285,000 - Amount contributed to Scott Brown’s campaign by the Tea Party
$12 million - Amount Sarah Palin has earned in speaking fees since losing her bid for Vice-President
2.3 million - Number of copies of Sarah Palin’s autobiography sold to date
$1 million - Amount of three-year contract Fox News gave Sarah Palin to serve as a contributor to the news
$250,00 - Amount Sarah Palin is paid per episode for her Learning Channel reality show about Alaska
$100,00 - Amount the Tea Party paid Sarah Palin for her keynote address at their first national convention
91 - Per cent of Tea Party members who support smaller government with fewer services
95 - Per cent of all American households that received a tax cut in 2009
10 - Per cent increase in the average IRS tax refund over last year
2 - Per cent of Tea Party members that think taxes were cut last year
44 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe taxes were increased last year
86 - Per cent of Tea Party members believe that taxes are too high
57 - Per cent of Americans who believe taxes are too high
1 - Per cent of richest families that earn 24% of all income in the country
400 -Number of richest taxpayers who saw their income double in 2009 and their taxes reduced by 50%
65 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe Social security is a form of Socialism
92 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe the US is moving more towards Socialism than Capitalism
52 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe “too much has been made of the problems facing black people”
31 - Per cent of Americans who approve of the Tea party movement
89 - Per cent of tea Party members who are white
40 - Per cent of Tea Party members who are 45 years old or older
61 - Per cent of Tea Party members who are male
44 - Per cent of Tea Party members who identify as “born again”
$285,000 - Amount contributed to Scott Brown’s campaign by the Tea Party
$12 million - Amount Sarah Palin has earned in speaking fees since losing her bid for Vice-President
2.3 million - Number of copies of Sarah Palin’s autobiography sold to date
$1 million - Amount of three-year contract Fox News gave Sarah Palin to serve as a contributor to the news
$250,00 - Amount Sarah Palin is paid per episode for her Learning Channel reality show about Alaska
$100,00 - Amount the Tea Party paid Sarah Palin for her keynote address at their first national convention
91 - Per cent of Tea Party members who support smaller government with fewer services
95 - Per cent of all American households that received a tax cut in 2009
10 - Per cent increase in the average IRS tax refund over last year
2 - Per cent of Tea Party members that think taxes were cut last year
44 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe taxes were increased last year
86 - Per cent of Tea Party members believe that taxes are too high
57 - Per cent of Americans who believe taxes are too high
1 - Per cent of richest families that earn 24% of all income in the country
400 -Number of richest taxpayers who saw their income double in 2009 and their taxes reduced by 50%
65 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe Social security is a form of Socialism
92 - Per cent of Tea Party members who believe the US is moving more towards Socialism than Capitalism
May 3, 2010
Bernie Sanders on Wall Street Reform
Sanders Op-Ed: Real Wall Street Reform
By Sen. Bernie Sanders
April 23, 2010
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman and one of the architects of financial deregulation, recently testified to the effect that no one could have predicted the Wall Street collapse of 2008. Really?
As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, this is what I said on the floor of the House in 1999 as I voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bank deregulation bill: “I believe this legislation, in its current form, will do more harm than good. It will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers; increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses; diminished credit for rural America; and taxpayer exposure to potential loses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers; a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry; and further concentration of economic power in our country.”
Frankly, it didn’t take a PhD in finance to come to this conclusion. If you lock a heroin addict in a room with heroin, you shouldn’t be shocked if he overdoses. If you give unlimited license to Wall Street speculators, whose only function is to make as much money as possible, you shouldn’t be surprised when the result is greed on steroids, reckless behavior and a disaster for ordinary people.
Today, as a result of that uncontrollable greed, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, health care and homes and our country continues to struggle through a disastrous recession. Disgust at Wall Street is profound. The American people want change as to how Wall Street functions, real change. Congress must deliver.
We must be clear that real and meaningful financial reform will not come easy. When Wall Street and the financial sector successfully fought for deregulation they poured some $5 billion into lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. Now, as Congress begins to address financial reform, they’re at it again. In 2009, the major financial interests spent $300 million in lobbying and the money continues to flow like water.
In my view, the real and transformational financial reform we need must include the following elements:
Break Up Huge Banks The four major U.S. banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Well-Fargo – issue two-thirds of the credit cards in this country, write half the mortgages and collectively hold $7.4 trillion in assets, about 52 percent of the nation’s estimated total output last year. Incredibly, despite all of them being bailed out during the Wall Street meltdown because they were “too big to fail,” three of them (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) are now bigger than before the bailout. But this is an issue which goes beyond the danger of “too big to fail” and future taxpayer liability. We must break up these behemoths because of the incredible economic power they exert on the economy through their concentration of ownership and enormous competitive advantages.
Financial Institutions Must be Integrated Into the Real Economy At a time when we are in the midst of a major recession, it is insane that our largest financial institutions continue to trade trillions in esoteric financial instruments which makes Wall Street the largest gambling casino in the world. We need to create a financial system which invests in the real economy, and helps create millions of new jobs by providing small and medium businesses with the credit they desperately need. We also need investments to rebuild our manufacturing sector, transform our energy system and create modern transportation and infrastructure systems. We don’t need banks pushing home mortgages on people who can’t afford them. We don’t need huge amounts being “bet” on whether housing securities go up or down or what the price of oil will be six months from now.
National Usury Legislation Major financial institutions have, in many ways, become nothing less than loan-sharking operations. Today, millions of Americans who pay their bills on time are now forced to pay 25 or 30 percent interest rates. That is not only obscene but, according to every major religion, immoral. Banks cannot be allowed to engage in usury and charge outrageous interest rates. We must cap interest rates for private banks at the same level as we do for credit unions – 15 percent except under exceptional circumstances.
Transparency at the Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve cannot continue to operate in almost total secrecy. During the bailout, large financial institutions received trillions of dollars in zero or near-zero interest loans. Who received those loans and under what terms? The Fed isn’t telling. Did some of them turn around and, in a mammoth welfare scam, invest that Fed money in government treasury bonds at 3 percent or 4 percent interest rates? The Fed refuses to say. It’s time we had transparency at the Fed so that the American people know what our central bank is doing.
By Sen. Bernie Sanders
April 23, 2010
Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman and one of the architects of financial deregulation, recently testified to the effect that no one could have predicted the Wall Street collapse of 2008. Really?
As a member of the House Financial Services Committee, this is what I said on the floor of the House in 1999 as I voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley bank deregulation bill: “I believe this legislation, in its current form, will do more harm than good. It will lead to fewer banks and financial service providers; increased charges and fees for individual consumers and small businesses; diminished credit for rural America; and taxpayer exposure to potential loses should a financial conglomerate fail. It will lead to more mega-mergers; a small number of corporations dominating the financial service industry; and further concentration of economic power in our country.”
Frankly, it didn’t take a PhD in finance to come to this conclusion. If you lock a heroin addict in a room with heroin, you shouldn’t be shocked if he overdoses. If you give unlimited license to Wall Street speculators, whose only function is to make as much money as possible, you shouldn’t be surprised when the result is greed on steroids, reckless behavior and a disaster for ordinary people.
Today, as a result of that uncontrollable greed, millions of Americans have lost their jobs, health care and homes and our country continues to struggle through a disastrous recession. Disgust at Wall Street is profound. The American people want change as to how Wall Street functions, real change. Congress must deliver.
We must be clear that real and meaningful financial reform will not come easy. When Wall Street and the financial sector successfully fought for deregulation they poured some $5 billion into lobbying and campaign contributions over a 10-year period. Now, as Congress begins to address financial reform, they’re at it again. In 2009, the major financial interests spent $300 million in lobbying and the money continues to flow like water.
In my view, the real and transformational financial reform we need must include the following elements:
Break Up Huge Banks The four major U.S. banks – Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Well-Fargo – issue two-thirds of the credit cards in this country, write half the mortgages and collectively hold $7.4 trillion in assets, about 52 percent of the nation’s estimated total output last year. Incredibly, despite all of them being bailed out during the Wall Street meltdown because they were “too big to fail,” three of them (Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, and Wells Fargo) are now bigger than before the bailout. But this is an issue which goes beyond the danger of “too big to fail” and future taxpayer liability. We must break up these behemoths because of the incredible economic power they exert on the economy through their concentration of ownership and enormous competitive advantages.
Financial Institutions Must be Integrated Into the Real Economy At a time when we are in the midst of a major recession, it is insane that our largest financial institutions continue to trade trillions in esoteric financial instruments which makes Wall Street the largest gambling casino in the world. We need to create a financial system which invests in the real economy, and helps create millions of new jobs by providing small and medium businesses with the credit they desperately need. We also need investments to rebuild our manufacturing sector, transform our energy system and create modern transportation and infrastructure systems. We don’t need banks pushing home mortgages on people who can’t afford them. We don’t need huge amounts being “bet” on whether housing securities go up or down or what the price of oil will be six months from now.
National Usury Legislation Major financial institutions have, in many ways, become nothing less than loan-sharking operations. Today, millions of Americans who pay their bills on time are now forced to pay 25 or 30 percent interest rates. That is not only obscene but, according to every major religion, immoral. Banks cannot be allowed to engage in usury and charge outrageous interest rates. We must cap interest rates for private banks at the same level as we do for credit unions – 15 percent except under exceptional circumstances.
Transparency at the Federal Reserve The Federal Reserve cannot continue to operate in almost total secrecy. During the bailout, large financial institutions received trillions of dollars in zero or near-zero interest loans. Who received those loans and under what terms? The Fed isn’t telling. Did some of them turn around and, in a mammoth welfare scam, invest that Fed money in government treasury bonds at 3 percent or 4 percent interest rates? The Fed refuses to say. It’s time we had transparency at the Fed so that the American people know what our central bank is doing.
May 1, 2010
Bill Moyers on the New American Plutonomy
BILL MOYERS April 30, 2010
You've no doubt figured out my bias by now. I've hardly kept it a secret. In this regard, I take my cue from the late Edward R. Murrow, the Moses of broadcast news.
Ed Murrow told his generation of journalists bias is okay as long as you don't try to hide it. So here, one more time, is mine: plutocracy and democracy don't mix. Plutocracy, the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy.
Plutocracy is not an American word but it's become an American phenomenon. Back in the fall of 2005, the Wall Street giant Citigroup even coined a variation on it, plutonomy, an economic system where the privileged few make sure the rich get richer with government on their side. By the next spring, Citigroup decided the time had come to publicly "bang the drum on plutonomy."
And bang they did, with an "equity strategy" for their investors, entitled, "Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer." Here are some excerpts:
"Asset booms, a rising profit share and favorable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper...[and] take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years..."
"...the top 10%, particularly the top 1% of the US-- the plutonomists in our parlance-- have benefited disproportionately from the recent productivity surge in the US...[and] from globalization and the productivity boom, at the relative expense of labor."
"...[and they] are likely to get even wealthier in the coming years. [Because] the dynamics of plutonomy are still intact."
And so they were, before the great collapse of 2008. And so they are, today, after the fall. While millions of people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings, the plutonomists are doing just fine. In some cases, even better, thanks to our bailout of the big banks which meant record profits and record bonuses for Wall Street.
Now why is this? Because over the past 30 years the plutocrats, or plutonomists — choose your poison — have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. Remember that Citigroup reference to "market-friendly governments" on their side? It hasn't mattered which party has been in power — government has done Wall Street's bidding.
Don't blame the lobbyists, by the way; they are simply the mules of politics, delivering the drug of choice to a political class addicted to cash — what polite circles call "campaign contributions" and Tony Soprano would call "protection."
This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet. According to a study from the Pew Research Center last month, nine out of ten Americans give our national economy a negative rating. Eight out of ten report difficulty finding jobs in their communities, and seven out of ten say they experienced job-related or financial problems over the past year.
So it is that like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy.
Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs.
So along with Jim Hightower and Iowa's concerned citizens, and many of you, I am biased: democracy only works when we claim it as our own.
.
You've no doubt figured out my bias by now. I've hardly kept it a secret. In this regard, I take my cue from the late Edward R. Murrow, the Moses of broadcast news.
Ed Murrow told his generation of journalists bias is okay as long as you don't try to hide it. So here, one more time, is mine: plutocracy and democracy don't mix. Plutocracy, the rule of the rich, political power controlled by the wealthy.
Plutocracy is not an American word but it's become an American phenomenon. Back in the fall of 2005, the Wall Street giant Citigroup even coined a variation on it, plutonomy, an economic system where the privileged few make sure the rich get richer with government on their side. By the next spring, Citigroup decided the time had come to publicly "bang the drum on plutonomy."
And bang they did, with an "equity strategy" for their investors, entitled, "Revisiting Plutonomy: The Rich Getting Richer." Here are some excerpts:
"Asset booms, a rising profit share and favorable treatment by market-friendly governments have allowed the rich to prosper...[and] take an increasing share of income and wealth over the last 20 years..."
"...the top 10%, particularly the top 1% of the US-- the plutonomists in our parlance-- have benefited disproportionately from the recent productivity surge in the US...[and] from globalization and the productivity boom, at the relative expense of labor."
"...[and they] are likely to get even wealthier in the coming years. [Because] the dynamics of plutonomy are still intact."
And so they were, before the great collapse of 2008. And so they are, today, after the fall. While millions of people have lost their jobs, their homes, and their savings, the plutonomists are doing just fine. In some cases, even better, thanks to our bailout of the big banks which meant record profits and record bonuses for Wall Street.
Now why is this? Because over the past 30 years the plutocrats, or plutonomists — choose your poison — have used their vastly increased wealth to capture the flag and assure the government does their bidding. Remember that Citigroup reference to "market-friendly governments" on their side? It hasn't mattered which party has been in power — government has done Wall Street's bidding.
Don't blame the lobbyists, by the way; they are simply the mules of politics, delivering the drug of choice to a political class addicted to cash — what polite circles call "campaign contributions" and Tony Soprano would call "protection."
This marriage of money and politics has produced an America of gross inequality at the top and low social mobility at the bottom, with little but anxiety and dread in between, as middle class Americans feel the ground falling out from under their feet. According to a study from the Pew Research Center last month, nine out of ten Americans give our national economy a negative rating. Eight out of ten report difficulty finding jobs in their communities, and seven out of ten say they experienced job-related or financial problems over the past year.
So it is that like those populists of that earlier era, millions of Americans have awakened to a sobering reality: they live in a plutocracy, where they are disposable. Then, the remedy was a popular insurgency that ignited the spark of democracy.
Now we have come to another parting of the ways, and once again the fate and character of our country are up for grabs.
So along with Jim Hightower and Iowa's concerned citizens, and many of you, I am biased: democracy only works when we claim it as our own.
.
April 23, 2010
Earth Day Index
4.39 the number of pounds of trash thrown away each day by the average American
10% amount of solid waste in US that gets recycled
18 billion the number of disposable diapers thrown away each year
2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in America
4 million the number of tons of junk mail delivered in America every year
650 the average number of pounds of paper used by each American in one year
43,000 the number of tons of food thrown out in the US every day
270 million the number of tires thrown away annually in the US
2 the number of manmade structures seen from space, the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills Landfill in NYC
900 million the number of trees cut down annually for US paper and pulp mills
5% the percentage of the world’s population that lives in the US
33% the percentage of the earth’s timber and paper consumed by Americans
96% the amount of energy saved using a recycled aluminum can rather than making a can from ore
95% the amount of reduction in air pollution manufacturing an aluminum can from recycled materials rather than ore
97% the amount of reduction in water pollution manufacturing an aluminum can from recycled materials rather than ore
1 million the number of gallons of water that can be contaminated from improperly disposing of one quart of engine oil
4 million the number of tons of wrapping paper and shopping bags thrown away during the holiday season in the US
9 cubic yards the amount of landfill space saved by recycling one ton of cardboard
60 pounds the amount of air pollutants avoided by producing one ton of recycled paper
10% amount of solid waste in US that gets recycled
18 billion the number of disposable diapers thrown away each year
2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away every hour in America
4 million the number of tons of junk mail delivered in America every year
650 the average number of pounds of paper used by each American in one year
43,000 the number of tons of food thrown out in the US every day
270 million the number of tires thrown away annually in the US
2 the number of manmade structures seen from space, the Great Wall of China and the Fresh Kills Landfill in NYC
900 million the number of trees cut down annually for US paper and pulp mills
5% the percentage of the world’s population that lives in the US
33% the percentage of the earth’s timber and paper consumed by Americans
96% the amount of energy saved using a recycled aluminum can rather than making a can from ore
95% the amount of reduction in air pollution manufacturing an aluminum can from recycled materials rather than ore
97% the amount of reduction in water pollution manufacturing an aluminum can from recycled materials rather than ore
1 million the number of gallons of water that can be contaminated from improperly disposing of one quart of engine oil
4 million the number of tons of wrapping paper and shopping bags thrown away during the holiday season in the US
9 cubic yards the amount of landfill space saved by recycling one ton of cardboard
60 pounds the amount of air pollutants avoided by producing one ton of recycled paper
April 19, 2010
U.S. Inequality Index
• 81% increase in net worth enjoyed by top 5% of wealthiest US households between 1979-2005
• 1.1% decrease in net worth experienced by lowest 20% of income households during the same period
• 50% the amount that US worker productivity has increased since 1970 while average wages declined
• $20.3 billion the amount paid out in Wall Street bonuses in 2009
• 38% amount of total US income growth that went to the top .1% of Americans between 1978-2008
• 400 number of American families whose income quintupled from $16 million to $87 million from 1992-2007
• 13% the average income loss experienced by American families during that same period
• 99 the increase in new American billionaires between 2001-2007 bringing the total to 400
• 18.6% the number of American families with zero net worth
• 17 million number of US households that experienced food insecurity in 2008
• 200,000 number of US veterans who are homeless on any given night
• 1.35 million number of US children who experience homelessness in a twelve month period
• 25% reduction in public housing vouchers between 1999-2006
• $114 billion reduction in federal funding for affordable housing between 2004-2007
• 13.2 per centage of US citizens living below the official poverty level
• 14.4 million number of US children living below poverty level
• 1.1% decrease in net worth experienced by lowest 20% of income households during the same period
• 50% the amount that US worker productivity has increased since 1970 while average wages declined
• $20.3 billion the amount paid out in Wall Street bonuses in 2009
• 38% amount of total US income growth that went to the top .1% of Americans between 1978-2008
• 400 number of American families whose income quintupled from $16 million to $87 million from 1992-2007
• 13% the average income loss experienced by American families during that same period
• 99 the increase in new American billionaires between 2001-2007 bringing the total to 400
• 18.6% the number of American families with zero net worth
• 17 million number of US households that experienced food insecurity in 2008
• 200,000 number of US veterans who are homeless on any given night
• 1.35 million number of US children who experience homelessness in a twelve month period
• 25% reduction in public housing vouchers between 1999-2006
• $114 billion reduction in federal funding for affordable housing between 2004-2007
• 13.2 per centage of US citizens living below the official poverty level
• 14.4 million number of US children living below poverty level
April 18, 2010
What Do We Get For Our US Tax Dollars?
We like to think of Europeans as poor overtaxed serfs but the benefits they receive show the shortcomings of the US system
By Steven Hill
April 16, 2010 "The Guardian" -- Most Americans seem to regard 15 April – the day income tax returns are due to the Internal Revenue Service – as a recurring tragedy on the order of a biblical plague. Particularly this year, with US government deficits soaring, everyone from the Teabaggers to Senate Republicans are reviving a scary Friday the 13th scenario from the 1990s about a return to Big Government. Recently Rudy Giuliani even stated that President Obama was moving us towards – heaven forbid – European social democracy.
Europe frequently plays the punching bag role during these moments because there is a perception that the poor Europeans are overtaxed serfs. But a closer look reveals that this is a myth that prevents Americans from understanding the vast shortcomings of our own system.
A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up sharing a limousine to the theatre district with a southern US senator and his wife. This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat, asked my acquaintance about Sweden and swaggeringly commented about "all those taxes the Swedes pay". To which this American replied, "The problem with Americans and their taxes is that we get nothing for them." He then went on to tell the senator about the comprehensive level of services and benefits that Swedes receive.
"If Americans knew what Swedes receive for their taxes, we would probably riot," he told the senator. The rest of the ride to the theatre district was unsurprisingly quiet.
The fact is, in return for their taxes, Europeans are receiving a generous support system for families and individuals for which Americans must pay exorbitantly, out-of-pocket, if we are to receive it at all. That includes quality healthcare for every single person, the average cost of which is about half of what Americans pay, even as various studies show that Europeans achieve healthier results.
But that's not all. In return for their taxes, Europeans also are receiving affordable childcare, a decent retirement pension, free or inexpensive university education, job retraining, paid sick leave, paid parental leave, ample vacations, affordable housing, senior care, efficient mass transportation and more. In order to receive the same level of benefits as Europeans, most Americans fork out a ton of money in out-of-pocket payments, in addition to our taxes.
For example, while 47 million Americans don't have any health insurance at all, many who do are paying escalating premiums and deductibles. Indeed, Anthem Blue Cross announced that its premiums will increase by up to 40%.
But Europeans receive healthcare in return for a modest amount deducted from their paychecks.
Friends have told me they are saving nearly a hundred thousand dollars for their children's college education, and most young Americans graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. But many European children attend for free or nearly so (depending on the country).
Childcare in the US costs over $12,000 annually for a family with two children, but in Europe it cost about one-sixth that amount, and the quality is far superior. Millions of Americans are stuffing as much as possible into their IRAs and 401(k)s because social security provides only about half the retirement income needed. But the more generous European retirement system provides about 75-85% (depending on the country) of retirement income. Either way, you pay.
Americans' private spending on old-age care is nearly three times higher per capita than in Europe because Americans must self-finance a significant share of their own senior care. Sixty million American workers have no paid sick leave, millions more have no paid parental leave following a birth, and so must self-finance their own time off. But Europeans receive all this in exchange for their taxes.
Americans also tend to pay more in local and state taxes, as well as in property taxes. Americans also pay hidden taxes, such as $300bn annually in federal tax breaks to businesses that provide health benefits to their employees. When you sum up the total balance sheet, it turns out that Americans pay out just as much as Europeans – but we receive a lot less for our money.
Unfortunately these sorts of complexities are not calculated into simplistic analyses like Forbes' annual Tax Misery Index, a "study" which shows European nations as the most miserable and the low-tax United States as happy as a clam – right next to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
But Forbes only adds up income tax, social security, sales tax or VAT and a few other minor fees. A thorough analysis would need to create a ledger in which all the supports and services Europeans receive are listed on one side and the amount of taxes and any additional fees they pay are listed on the other; and then do a similar analysis for Americans, listing what Americans pay in taxes as well as out-of-pocket expenses for those same services.
In this economically competitive age, increasingly these kinds of services are necessary to ensure healthy, happy and productive families and workers.
Europeans have these supports, but most Americans do not unless you pay a ton out of pocket. Or unless you are a member of Congress, which of course provide European-level support for its members and their families.
That's something to keep in mind on 15 April. Happy Tax Day.
By Steven Hill
April 16, 2010 "The Guardian" -- Most Americans seem to regard 15 April – the day income tax returns are due to the Internal Revenue Service – as a recurring tragedy on the order of a biblical plague. Particularly this year, with US government deficits soaring, everyone from the Teabaggers to Senate Republicans are reviving a scary Friday the 13th scenario from the 1990s about a return to Big Government. Recently Rudy Giuliani even stated that President Obama was moving us towards – heaven forbid – European social democracy.
Europe frequently plays the punching bag role during these moments because there is a perception that the poor Europeans are overtaxed serfs. But a closer look reveals that this is a myth that prevents Americans from understanding the vast shortcomings of our own system.
A few years ago, an American acquaintance of mine who lives in Sweden told me that, quite by chance, he and his Swedish wife were in New York City and ended up sharing a limousine to the theatre district with a southern US senator and his wife. This senator, a conservative, anti-tax Democrat, asked my acquaintance about Sweden and swaggeringly commented about "all those taxes the Swedes pay". To which this American replied, "The problem with Americans and their taxes is that we get nothing for them." He then went on to tell the senator about the comprehensive level of services and benefits that Swedes receive.
"If Americans knew what Swedes receive for their taxes, we would probably riot," he told the senator. The rest of the ride to the theatre district was unsurprisingly quiet.
The fact is, in return for their taxes, Europeans are receiving a generous support system for families and individuals for which Americans must pay exorbitantly, out-of-pocket, if we are to receive it at all. That includes quality healthcare for every single person, the average cost of which is about half of what Americans pay, even as various studies show that Europeans achieve healthier results.
But that's not all. In return for their taxes, Europeans also are receiving affordable childcare, a decent retirement pension, free or inexpensive university education, job retraining, paid sick leave, paid parental leave, ample vacations, affordable housing, senior care, efficient mass transportation and more. In order to receive the same level of benefits as Europeans, most Americans fork out a ton of money in out-of-pocket payments, in addition to our taxes.
For example, while 47 million Americans don't have any health insurance at all, many who do are paying escalating premiums and deductibles. Indeed, Anthem Blue Cross announced that its premiums will increase by up to 40%.
But Europeans receive healthcare in return for a modest amount deducted from their paychecks.
Friends have told me they are saving nearly a hundred thousand dollars for their children's college education, and most young Americans graduate with tens of thousands of dollars of debt. But many European children attend for free or nearly so (depending on the country).
Childcare in the US costs over $12,000 annually for a family with two children, but in Europe it cost about one-sixth that amount, and the quality is far superior. Millions of Americans are stuffing as much as possible into their IRAs and 401(k)s because social security provides only about half the retirement income needed. But the more generous European retirement system provides about 75-85% (depending on the country) of retirement income. Either way, you pay.
Americans' private spending on old-age care is nearly three times higher per capita than in Europe because Americans must self-finance a significant share of their own senior care. Sixty million American workers have no paid sick leave, millions more have no paid parental leave following a birth, and so must self-finance their own time off. But Europeans receive all this in exchange for their taxes.
Americans also tend to pay more in local and state taxes, as well as in property taxes. Americans also pay hidden taxes, such as $300bn annually in federal tax breaks to businesses that provide health benefits to their employees. When you sum up the total balance sheet, it turns out that Americans pay out just as much as Europeans – but we receive a lot less for our money.
Unfortunately these sorts of complexities are not calculated into simplistic analyses like Forbes' annual Tax Misery Index, a "study" which shows European nations as the most miserable and the low-tax United States as happy as a clam – right next to Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines.
But Forbes only adds up income tax, social security, sales tax or VAT and a few other minor fees. A thorough analysis would need to create a ledger in which all the supports and services Europeans receive are listed on one side and the amount of taxes and any additional fees they pay are listed on the other; and then do a similar analysis for Americans, listing what Americans pay in taxes as well as out-of-pocket expenses for those same services.
In this economically competitive age, increasingly these kinds of services are necessary to ensure healthy, happy and productive families and workers.
Europeans have these supports, but most Americans do not unless you pay a ton out of pocket. Or unless you are a member of Congress, which of course provide European-level support for its members and their families.
That's something to keep in mind on 15 April. Happy Tax Day.
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