September 12, 2024 • 10 mins
Something EVERYONE Missed About the Debate. www.watchdogonwallstreet.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Another issue that unfortunately not brought up at the debate, debt, budgets, welfare.
Nobody wants to touch any of this stuff. They really don't.
I've written about this over the years. I had a
piece back in twenty twelve basically describing our welfare state.
(00:42):
This is almost like a drug in the United States,
government being a drug pusher. It was a very very
good piece today that was put out by Phil Graham
and Jody Arrington in the Wall Street Journal breaking down
some of the numbers now in their peace they're talking
about out the deficit and debt here in the United States,
(01:04):
and we always again we point to entitlement spending, their
social Security, medicare, the debt, obviously interest on the debt,
all of these programs that are out there, and they're
an issue. They're an issue. We talked about them here
all the time, and quite frankly in the article they
(01:27):
mentioned that the drain that they are. But their argument,
quite frankly, is means tested social welfare is worse. Here's
some of the numbers. Okay, social security, social security sixty
percent of the time has been cast surpluses. In twenty
(01:50):
twenty three it was eighty eight percent funded. You want
to take a look at Medicare payroll taxes funded fifty percent. Again,
it's not great shakes, it really isn't, and there's going
to have to be something done with that. But again,
you want to take a look at social welfare spending.
(02:12):
These numbers are astronomical. One point six trillion dollars. One
point six trillion dollars all of the unobligated general revenue,
social Security, Medicare debt, all of it outside at seventy
two point six percent of unobligated revenue goes to welfare,
(02:39):
some form of welfare. Let's go back. Let's go back
to the War on poverty. Let's go back to nineteen
sixty seven. This is adjusted for inflation. You got to
get your arms around these numbers. Here, household in the
(03:01):
bottom quintile of income recipients. Okay, they got seven three
hundred and fifty two dollars back in nineteen sixty seven.
This is adjusted for inflation. You know what it is today,
sixty four thousand, seven hundred, seven hundred and eighty percent increase,
(03:21):
seven hundred and eighty percent increase, which is nine times
the rise in income earned by the average American household.
Think about that for a second. That that's that's that's
what people are getting sixty four thousand, seven hundred dollars,
(03:42):
and they compare. You want to talk about defense spending.
Defense spending in nineteen sixty seven was sixty eight percent
of unobligated general revenue. It's now thirty seven point two percent. Okay, again,
I don't doesn't I don't think that we should be
spending that much money on defense either. But you take
(04:04):
a look at the portion of the budget and say
to yourself, say to yourself, what if we you know,
what if this money was given back to the taxpayers
in essence, you know, allowing people to go out there
and build and create. What could have happened. You'd have
increased economic output, you'd have increased wages here in the country.
(04:26):
But what do we doing now? We send more money
to government to fund welfare payments, We redistribute a larger
share of our GDP right now, it's twenty nine point
four percent than any other country in the entire world
except France. France is at thirty point one. Think about that.
(04:50):
I've said this again and again again. We are a
welfare state. Again. Take a look at France. Francis spend
nearly as much on the military as we do. Twenty
nine point four percent twenty nine point four of our
GDP on welfare welfare. After counting all transfer payments as
(05:15):
income to the recipients and the taxes is income lost
by taxpayers and adjusting for household size, the average households
in the bottom, second and middle quintiles they all roughly
have the same income. What does that mean People who
are making the least least amount of money out there are,
(05:39):
in essence, due to transfer payments, making as much money
that are in the middle quintile. Try to explain this
a different way. Okay, the portion of prime workage persons
in the bottom quintile who actually work has fallen from
(06:01):
thirty six percent from sixty eight percent. Now, think about that,
sixty eight percent of the people back in nineteen sixty
seven that were the poorest out there, we're working now
only thirty six percent of them work, and they're making
the same amount of money as the people in the
middle quintile are due to trancefer payments. And it's the
(06:25):
same across the board. And again the Census Bureau doesn't
even count any of this. They don't count this as
far as income was as concerned, because if they did,
there'd be a lot more quote end quote middle class
people out there. I want to go to the piece
that I did back in twenty twelve and actually talked
(06:51):
about FDR to start off, when he is nineteen thirty
five State of the Union message where he proposed social security,
unemployment insurance aid to dependent children. But he put a
warning in there, and he talked about how the dependence,
continued dependence on relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration
(07:16):
fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief
in this way is to administer a narcotic This is
FDR nineteen thirty five State of the Union, a subtle
destroyer of the human spirit. It is an immical to
the dictates of sound policy. It is a violation of
the traditions of America. Could you imagine a politician saying
(07:36):
that today this is and his patron saint let this
FDR saying this in nineteen thirty five State of the
Union address. You take a look, you take a look
at the culture of poverty here in the United States,
(07:58):
and the Cato Institute's done a great job with this
and putting out studies. Welfare is both a consequence and
a cause of several conditions that could be described as
social pathologies, dependency, poverty, out of wedlocked Bert's non employment, abortion,
(08:20):
violent crime. Now again you would associate all of those
things with substance abuse, correct Now, they're also associated with welfare.
So theoretically you could say that, okay, welfare is a drug.
It's a drug. People get addicted to it. We see
(08:40):
this multi generations in section eight housing. And we're at
a point in time right now where again you take
a look at the amount of people that are receiving it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Remember this quote. I had to look it up. I
forgot exactly said it, and I had to do a
little research today. It was actually a professor Alexander Tyler.
I don't Fraser Tyler. He was a professor at Edinburgh,
Scotland late seventeen eighties to the early eighteen hundreds lawyer
(09:22):
and a professor over there, and he said something that
stuck with me years ago. And then I seeing this
and I said, I'm going to pull that quote up again.
He said, a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form
of government. It can only exist until the voters discover
that they can vote themselves or jes from the public treasury.
(09:44):
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with
the result that a democracy always collapses over a loose
fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age
of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.
These nations have progressed through this sequence, from bondage to
(10:08):
spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage
to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness,
from selfishness to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence
all the way around back down to bondage again. We've
(10:33):
discussed recently on the podcast. We've got fifty percent of
the population that's not paying any taxes right now. Yeah,
we're going to be two hundred and fifty years old
in a couple years. Just saying watchdog on Wall street
(10:53):
dot com
The Watchdog on Wall Street podcast explaining the news coming
out of the complex worlds of finance, economics, and politics
and the impact it we'll have on everyday Americans. Author,
investment banker, consumer advocate, analyst, and trader Chris Markowski.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
Another issue that unfortunately not brought up at the debate, debt, budgets, welfare.
Nobody wants to touch any of this stuff. They really don't.
I've written about this over the years. I had a
piece back in twenty twelve basically describing our welfare state.
(00:42):
This is almost like a drug in the United States,
government being a drug pusher. It was a very very
good piece today that was put out by Phil Graham
and Jody Arrington in the Wall Street Journal breaking down
some of the numbers now in their peace they're talking
about out the deficit and debt here in the United States,
(01:04):
and we always again we point to entitlement spending, their
social Security, medicare, the debt, obviously interest on the debt,
all of these programs that are out there, and they're
an issue. They're an issue. We talked about them here
all the time, and quite frankly in the article they
(01:27):
mentioned that the drain that they are. But their argument,
quite frankly, is means tested social welfare is worse. Here's
some of the numbers. Okay, social security, social security sixty
percent of the time has been cast surpluses. In twenty
(01:50):
twenty three it was eighty eight percent funded. You want
to take a look at Medicare payroll taxes funded fifty percent. Again,
it's not great shakes, it really isn't, and there's going
to have to be something done with that. But again,
you want to take a look at social welfare spending.
(02:12):
These numbers are astronomical. One point six trillion dollars. One
point six trillion dollars all of the unobligated general revenue,
social Security, Medicare debt, all of it outside at seventy
two point six percent of unobligated revenue goes to welfare,
(02:39):
some form of welfare. Let's go back. Let's go back
to the War on poverty. Let's go back to nineteen
sixty seven. This is adjusted for inflation. You got to
get your arms around these numbers. Here, household in the
(03:01):
bottom quintile of income recipients. Okay, they got seven three
hundred and fifty two dollars back in nineteen sixty seven.
This is adjusted for inflation. You know what it is today,
sixty four thousand, seven hundred, seven hundred and eighty percent increase,
(03:21):
seven hundred and eighty percent increase, which is nine times
the rise in income earned by the average American household.
Think about that for a second. That that's that's that's
what people are getting sixty four thousand, seven hundred dollars,
(03:42):
and they compare. You want to talk about defense spending.
Defense spending in nineteen sixty seven was sixty eight percent
of unobligated general revenue. It's now thirty seven point two percent. Okay, again,
I don't doesn't I don't think that we should be
spending that much money on defense either. But you take
(04:04):
a look at the portion of the budget and say
to yourself, say to yourself, what if we you know,
what if this money was given back to the taxpayers
in essence, you know, allowing people to go out there
and build and create. What could have happened. You'd have
increased economic output, you'd have increased wages here in the country.
(04:26):
But what do we doing now? We send more money
to government to fund welfare payments, We redistribute a larger
share of our GDP right now, it's twenty nine point
four percent than any other country in the entire world
except France. France is at thirty point one. Think about that.
(04:50):
I've said this again and again again. We are a
welfare state. Again. Take a look at France. Francis spend
nearly as much on the military as we do. Twenty
nine point four percent twenty nine point four of our
GDP on welfare welfare. After counting all transfer payments as
(05:15):
income to the recipients and the taxes is income lost
by taxpayers and adjusting for household size, the average households
in the bottom, second and middle quintiles they all roughly
have the same income. What does that mean People who
are making the least least amount of money out there are,
(05:39):
in essence, due to transfer payments, making as much money
that are in the middle quintile. Try to explain this
a different way. Okay, the portion of prime workage persons
in the bottom quintile who actually work has fallen from
(06:01):
thirty six percent from sixty eight percent. Now, think about that,
sixty eight percent of the people back in nineteen sixty
seven that were the poorest out there, we're working now
only thirty six percent of them work, and they're making
the same amount of money as the people in the
middle quintile are due to trancefer payments. And it's the
(06:25):
same across the board. And again the Census Bureau doesn't
even count any of this. They don't count this as
far as income was as concerned, because if they did,
there'd be a lot more quote end quote middle class
people out there. I want to go to the piece
that I did back in twenty twelve and actually talked
(06:51):
about FDR to start off, when he is nineteen thirty
five State of the Union message where he proposed social security,
unemployment insurance aid to dependent children. But he put a
warning in there, and he talked about how the dependence,
continued dependence on relief induces a spiritual and moral disintegration
(07:16):
fundamentally destructive to the national fiber. To dole out relief
in this way is to administer a narcotic This is
FDR nineteen thirty five State of the Union, a subtle
destroyer of the human spirit. It is an immical to
the dictates of sound policy. It is a violation of
the traditions of America. Could you imagine a politician saying
(07:36):
that today this is and his patron saint let this
FDR saying this in nineteen thirty five State of the
Union address. You take a look, you take a look
at the culture of poverty here in the United States,
(07:58):
and the Cato Institute's done a great job with this
and putting out studies. Welfare is both a consequence and
a cause of several conditions that could be described as
social pathologies, dependency, poverty, out of wedlocked Bert's non employment, abortion,
(08:20):
violent crime. Now again you would associate all of those
things with substance abuse, correct Now, they're also associated with welfare.
So theoretically you could say that, okay, welfare is a drug.
It's a drug. People get addicted to it. We see
(08:40):
this multi generations in section eight housing. And we're at
a point in time right now where again you take
a look at the amount of people that are receiving it.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
And I.
Speaker 2 (08:56):
Remember this quote. I had to look it up. I
forgot exactly said it, and I had to do a
little research today. It was actually a professor Alexander Tyler.
I don't Fraser Tyler. He was a professor at Edinburgh,
Scotland late seventeen eighties to the early eighteen hundreds lawyer
(09:22):
and a professor over there, and he said something that
stuck with me years ago. And then I seeing this
and I said, I'm going to pull that quote up again.
He said, a democracy cannot exist as a permanent form
of government. It can only exist until the voters discover
that they can vote themselves or jes from the public treasury.
(09:44):
From that moment on, the majority always votes for the
candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with
the result that a democracy always collapses over a loose
fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age
of the world's greatest civilizations has been two hundred years.
These nations have progressed through this sequence, from bondage to
(10:08):
spiritual faith, from spiritual faith to great courage, from courage
to liberty, from liberty to abundance, from abundance to selfishness,
from selfishness to apathy, from apathy to dependence, from dependence
all the way around back down to bondage again. We've
(10:33):
discussed recently on the podcast. We've got fifty percent of
the population that's not paying any taxes right now. Yeah,
we're going to be two hundred and fifty years old
in a couple years. Just saying watchdog on Wall street
(10:53):
dot com
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