Do Social Safety Net Programs Shrink Gap in U.S. Economic Inequality?

From the PBS NEWS HOUR:

PAUL SOLMAN:    …You think inequality really isn’t a problem?

ROBERT LERMAN: No, I think it’s somewhat of a problem, but you way overstated it. There were no nuances to the report. You ignored a big source of wealth, which is the wealth embodied in Social Security.  ….A good part of wealth is embodied in the right to your Social Security flow of income and also to the guaranteed health insurance that you get. That’s worth hundreds of thousands of dollars to a typical person. And you multiply that by the number of persons, and you have got a lot of wealth…

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EDITOR: Good points by Lerman.  However, the right wing Republican ideologues want to reduce Social Security and Medicare, thus stripping the majority of the population of  much of the wealth they have left.

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1 Comment

  1. Right — Social Security average payment is $12,000 a year. Lots of wealth in that!

    The social safety net is in tatters. It needs a complete overhaul to strengthen, unfortunately there is no leadership in that direction.

    KZ

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