Wtf?? No - Really --- Wtf??? . . .

The Gadfly is curious as to how you, dear reader, would react if The Gadfly were to tell you that in the year of our Noodly Appendage 2012, that your federal government gave out $240 billion in housing aid.  And of that $240 billion in taxpayer subsidies, over half of it went to households who had a reported annual income of more than $100,000 (that's one hundred thousand dollars per year), and $34 billion of that amount went to households with a reported annual income of more than $200,000 (that's two hundred thousand dollars per year).

If your reaction was something along the lines of this . . .





. . . The Gadfly welcomes you to the proverbial fucking club.

The Center for Budget Policy Priorities released a number of charts today that shows how much the federal government favors high-income households over low-income ones in housing benefits.

This largely results from the fact that homeowners receive significantly more aid than renters and high-income Americans are much more likely to be homeowners.

In 2012, the federal government gave out $240 billion in housing aid. Income data is not available for all of it, but of what is available, more than half went to those with incomes greater than $100,000 ($81.6 billion). Only $40 billion went to those with incomes less than $50,000.

Overall, high income households receive four times as much in housing aid as low-income ones.

The main reason for this is the majority of federal housing aid flows to homeowners, not renters. The mortgage interest deduction is the most well-known program that subsidizes homeownership. That deduction alone is larger than all federal rental aid combined.

http://www.businessinsider.com/the-government-is-quietly-giving-way-more-housing-aid-to-rich-people-than-poor-people-2013-12


Now, just so that it is clearly understood, The Gadfly was so stunned by this article that before he allowed his hackles to be raised and his fingertips to dance manically across his keyboard in conveying utter contempt for such a travesty, The Gadfly did go to Business Insider's source, the CBPP (Center on Budget and Policy Priorities) to confirm the data.

Is The Gadfly somehow off his rocker when he states with all due sincerity, that up until now, whenever he heard the words "federal housing aid" used in the context of discussions surrounding the national budget, that it was just natural to assume that "aid" of that type was flowing exclusively to those at the bottom of the income ladder and those most desperately in need?  The Gadfly is being serious here dear readers.  Please help him reconcile in his dirty old hippie mind the circumstances of how it is that someone with an annual income of over $200,000 is not only in need of government assistance to keep a roof over their heads, but is actually granted it?

Perhaps The Gadfly's ire would be much more tempered if it weren't for the fact that a great many of these $200K a year earners are the same fucking people who love to point fingers and divide our society in to the simplistic economic categories of "makers" and "takers."  The takers in their view comprise basically anyone accepting federal tax dollars under the umbrella of the social welfare contract, up to and including food stamps, housing aid, unemployment insurance, child care subsidies, healthcare, etc....

So obviously this study begs the question -- just who are the real "takers" in our society?  The Gadfly thinks it would be a dandy idea to have a robust national debate on this issue --- let us get this class warfare discussion out in to the open sunlight and let's get EVERYTHING on the table, such as studies like this one from the CBPP.  Let us have a transparent, honest and adult conversation on this very important topic.

If you dear reader are of the belief that The Gadfly is pulling your leg with that exhortation of holding a comprehensive, open and serious civic dialogue on this subject, you wouldn't be too wrong.  While The Gadfly would welcome such a legitimate and refreshing bout of reality-based deliberations on this "makers and takers" quarrel, The Gadfly is not so much the fool to believe that the elites in this country would ever, ever allow such a seminal occasion to occur. Because to do so would be akin to turning on a bright light in the darkened kitchen of an abandoned slum dwelling and seeing the cockroaches dart off in to all of the murky corners.  And if you haven't figured it out yet, the cockroaches are the elites themselves and the murky corners are where they perform their unceasing business of constantly plotting how to take more and more out of the national treasury for themselves and leaving fewer and fewer crumbs for the rest of society.

As stated in many a previous post dear readers, The Gadfly can only bring this information to your undivided attention.  What you as a citizen decide to do, or not to do with it is entirely up to you -- just know that the consequences of inaction bode far worse for the future outcome of your children and grandchildren's quality of life than deciding to stand up and have your voice be heard.

And that is about all that The Gadfly has to say about this disheartening matter.



----TFG