"It’s because government’s now telling them, stop dreaming, stop striving, we’ll take care of you. We’re turning into a paternalistic entitlement society. That will not just bankrupt us financially, it will bankrupt us morally," Christie told Bush, Henry Kissinger and an assortment of Republican governors in a theater at the New York Historical Society.
There's something really offensive about a wealthy white governor denigrating poor and working class Americans to a room full of wealthy white men.
Especially seeing how Governor Christie got it very, very wrong as to just who the "entitled" class are in this country. Let's enumerate for you, Governor Christie:
- $74 million in unemployment checks for people with $1,000,000+ AGIs.
- $21 billion in subsidies for gambling losses.
- $9 billion in Social Security Retirement Benefits to millionaires and billionaires who don't need it to survive.
- $316 million in farm subsidies.
- $89 million for preservation of ranches and estates.
- $75.6 million in residential energy tax credits enacted so low-income families could afford to pay their electric bills.
- $18.15 million in child care tax credits for millionaires and billionaires who can afford full-time nannies to raise their children for them.
- And the grossly unfair 15 percent tax rate on non-labor Capital Gains income, costing the country over $12 billion a year.
The government safety net has been cast far and wide, with almost half of all American households now receiving some form of government assistance. But most taxpayers will be asking why when they learn who is receiving what.
From tax write-offs for gambling losses, vacation homes, and luxury yachts to subsidies for their ranches and estates, the government is subsidizing the lifestyles of the rich and famous. Multimillionaires are even receiving government checks for not working. This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations.
This is not an accidental loophole in the law. To the contrary, this reverse Robin Hood style of wealth redistribution is an intentional effort to get all Americans bought into a system where everyone appears to benefit. ...
We should never demonize those who are successful. [aside: that is not what Occupy or the 99% are doing. G-d love the rich; more power to 'em. But ...] Nor should we pamper them with unnecessary welfare to create an appearance everyone is benefiting from federal programs. ...
The government’s social safety net, which has long existed to catch those who are down and help them get back up, is now being used as a hammock by some millionaires, some who are paying less taxes than average middle class families. Comprehensive information on the full range of government benefits enjoyed by millionaires has never been collected previously. This report provides the first such compilation. What it reveals is sheer Washington stupidity with government policies pampering the wealthy costing taxpayers billions of dollars every year.
"This welfare for the well-off – costing billions of dollars a year – is being paid for with the taxes of the less fortunate, many who are working two jobs just to make ends meet, and IOUs to be paid off by future generations." You've got a lot of nerve, Governor.
"A 4 percent solution, a 4 percent growth is not gonna be achieved if we don’t deal with Medicare," Christie said. "A 4 percent growth is not gonna be achieved if we don’t deal with Medicaid. A 4 percent growth is not gonna be achieved if we don’t deal with Social Security."
And yes, let's do "deal with" Medicare. Let's institute a national health care policy that is more efficiently-run than private insurance, and then let's go after the for-profit insurance industry for the economic hardships they cause to working families who have the bad fortune of getting sick in this country!
Now, if you'd like to talk about which party is really turning this into a "Paternalistic" society, Governor Christie, I'm up for that conversation.
Republicans have spent the last 10 years legislating Daddy State policies all across this country.
Republicans are using their state legislatures to reach into every aspect of our lives; from restricting our access to basic health care; giving our employers the right to pry into our personal medical needs and refuse us insurance coverage they "morally" object to; and forcing women to endure invasive and unnecessary medical procedures against their wills. Republicans are legislating government control of women's health care all across this nation. And Democrats see this as a gross violation of the freedoms and liberties that we love about living in America.
The Republican Party would love nothing more than to turn this great country into a Daddy State, where "the man of the family" not only gets to set the rules, but they get to punish us when we're "bad" in their eyes.
You want to tell us what kind of sex we can have (lest we make the mistake of believing we have "a license to do things in a sexual realm that is counter to how things are supposed to be.") You want to tell us who we can marry (as if we were still teenagers "living under your roof"). You want to force us to listen to sounds from an invasive probe inserted into our vaginas, for having the temerity to figuratively stick our fingers in our ears and yell, "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU!" when you crank up the volume on calling us baby murderers. You'll show us, right, Governor? You'll just take the door off the hinges so we can't slam it in your faces anymore!
It's that "Strict Father" mindset that all you radical conservative regressives use in your own families, and now want to rule all of the America with, by implementing The Santorum Strategy over our lives.
Well we've got news for you and your ilk, Governor Christie: You aren't our Daddies and we aren't going to let you act like it anymore.
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