America: By The Numbers

Here we are in the midst of campaign season.  All kinds of bovine manure is being flung about.  We thought we’d introduce a few FACTS about the current state of America and what’s really at stake in November and beyond:

• Taxes:  Forget all of that nonsense about the 1% benefiting from the labor of the 99%.   The top 20 percent of earners in America pay EIGHTY-FOUR PERCENT of all income taxes.    FORTY-FIVE PERCENT of American households pay NO INCOME TAXES. 
• Welfare:  Roughly 35% of Americans receive payments from means-tested federal welfare programs.  If you add in Social Security and Medicare, roughly HALF of all Americans are dependent on the federal government for part or all of their subsistence.
• Crime:  Approximately TEN PERCENT of Americans over 12 are addicted to drugs and /or alcohol.  A 2010 Princeton University study found that 8.6 percent of the US population has been convicted of a felony.  Broken down, that translates to 25% of adult blacks and 6.5% of adult non-blacks.
• Immigration:  According to the federal DHS, about 5000,000 foreign visitors overstayed their visas in 2015.  Pew Research estimated that, in 2014, roughly 3.5% of the US population was in illegal status. 

Think about this stuff the next time you get lectured about paying your “fair share” to the tax man or — gosh darn it — being more sensitive.