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| Harkin: 'Is It a Spending Problem? No ... It's a Misallocation of Wealth' | |
| 2013-02-16 | |
| [CNSNEWS] Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said on Thursday that U.S. government does not have a spending problem, but America suffers from "a misallocation of wealth." "I look at it this way," Harkin said at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Budget Control Act of 2011 (the law that includes the automatic spending cuts referred to as "sequestration"). "We're the richest nation in the history of the world. That kind of begs the question doesn't it? If we're so rich, why are we so broke?" "Is it a spending problem? Harkin said. "No, it's because we have a misallocation of capital, a misallocation of wealth." "All of this wealth that's been built up by hard-working Americans has been accumulated into fewer and fewer and fewer hands all the time," Harkin said.
"I tell you we've got to get back to a better, rationale system of revenues and spending in this country and back to our obligations," Harkin said. "I just feel very strongly, that it's not just appropriations that's causing this problem. "It's the lack of the revenue that we should be taking in to meet our obligations as a country," Harkin said. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #20 The idea a society can consume wealth is the worst kind of economic illiteracy. The only way it can be done is to sell productive assets to foreigners, effectively exchanging them for consumables from that country. |
| Posted by: phil_b 2013-02-16 20:18 |
| #19 Yet Facebook - Obama's buddy - gets a tax refund of some +400M+. Half a Billion dollars folks. |
| Posted by: CrazyFool 2013-02-16 19:24 |
| #18 Misallocation of wealth. I call it trough addiction. When is Tax Freedom Day this year? |
| Posted by: JohnQC 2013-02-16 19:05 |
| #17 What did the Government do FOR facebook that would justify them paying any (direct) tax? That's an awfully considerate thought to have about a corporation that did so much to help this government retain power. Simply put, Facebook Corp. and its owners and mangement deserve to suffer because they've been acting to keep the Asshole in power and making _me_ suffer. |
| Posted by: Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-02-16 13:49 |
| #16 Thing is.... What did the Government do FOR facebook that would justify them paying any (direct) tax? |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-02-16 13:46 |
| #15 Congress rigs the tax code for their cronies. Look in the mirror Mr. Hawkin. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-02-16 13:26 |
| #14 Then get rid of the sixteenth amendment. For once, I agree. |
| Posted by: Pappy 2013-02-16 13:06 |
| #13 If you "misallocation" had been by hmm, hmm design, Obama would be there for you. |
| Posted by: Shineger Schwarzeneggar2970 2013-02-16 12:06 |
| #12 I have a "Misallocation" of Capital, I don't have any, why won't Obama help me. (Whine, whine.) |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2013-02-16 11:46 |
| #11 The good senator himself is estimated (by the Wapo) to be worth $16 mil, despite (or because of) having been a public servant for the last 30 years, so I think we can safely assume that he's talking about reallocating OPM. The federal gummint spent something like $3.8 trillion last year as near as anyone can tell. If that's not a spending problem, what would a spending problem look like? $38 trillion? |
| Posted by: Matt 2013-02-16 11:39 |
| #10 Rent-seeking i.e. making use of under-charged for things the state actually does, or being a beneficiary of government extortion is the sole cause of asset mis-allocations. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-02-16 11:02 |
| #9 "Due to Government interference in the economy?" Due to the gummint But what you said too. |
| Posted by: Barbara 2013-02-16 10:34 |
| #8 It's a Misallocation of Wealth Due to Government interference in the economy? |
| Posted by: g(r)omgoru 2013-02-16 09:53 |
| #7 Thou shall not covet |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2013-02-16 08:17 |
| #6 Then get rid of the sixteenth amendment. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles 2013-02-16 06:41 |
| #5 "It's the lack of the revenue that we should be taking in to meet our obligations as a country," Harkin said. Leave Facebook out of it. Dontya know he's the Champs buddy. |
| Posted by: tipper 2013-02-16 04:15 |
| #4 In other news: Kerry goes to State. Warren Buffet pays $23B for Heinz; illegal options trading suspected in advance of tender. Temps drop as cold front invades South. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-02-16 03:02 |
| #3 But some friends of Champs [and his IRS] do pretty well. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2013-02-16 02:42 |
| #2 Do lefties get taught that wealth obeys the First Law of Thermodynamics, or does the notion just come inherently? Or is it just a way to rationalise their all-consuming jealousy? |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2013-02-16 02:22 |
| #1 Massive increases in spending by the Federal government is the misallocation of capital. |
| Posted by: Raj 2013-02-16 01:16 |