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from the better-than-growing-up-to-be-a-sink dept.
Scientists at Kings College London performed a longitudinal study to test the 'Pareto principle' and found that adults who were greater users of public services were most likely to have had a low score on the intelligence and impulsivity test administered at age three.
"About 20 per cent of population is using the lion's share of a wide array of public services," said Prof Terrie Moffitt, of King's College and Duke University in North Carolina. "The same people use most of the NHS, the criminal courts, insurance claims, for disabling injury, pharmaceutical prescriptions and special welfare benefits.
"If we stopped there it might be fair to think these are lazy bums who are freeloading off the taxpayer and exploiting the public purse.
"But we also went further back into their childhood and found that 20 per cent begin their lives with mild problems with brain function and brain health when they were very small children.
"Looking at health examinations really changed the whole picture. It gives you a feeling of compassion for these people as opposed to a feeling of blame.
"Being able to predict which children will struggle is an opportunity to intervene in their lives very early to attempt to change their trajectories, for everyone's benefit and could bring big returns on investment for government."
Full Paper: Childhood forecasting of a small segment of the population with large economic burden DOI: 10.1038/s41562-016-0005
(Score: 3, Informative) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday December 15 2016, @08:35PM
No, we could not. We currently spend ~3/4 of what we take in in taxes on entitlements. We already have very little room for anything else without continuing down the road to utter insolvency.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:11PM
Not true. Most of that budget is social security and medicare, neither are entitlement programs, they're funded by the same folks that use them.
Our budget problems are entirely from not taxing the wealthy, absurd amounts of military spending and economic policies that encourage wealth concentration.
As I said, we have ample money to pay, we're just too shortsighted. We spend a huge amount of money to workaround the problem.
(Score: 3, Informative) by lgw on Thursday December 15 2016, @10:41PM
they're funded by the same folks that use them.
Only in the sense that they're funded by the American taxpayers, and used by Americans (many of whom still pay taxes).
Our budget problems are entirely from not taxing the wealthy, absurd amounts of military spending
Did you want to start taxing wealth, or did you mean taxing people with high income. The highest 1% of income already accounts for 1/3rd of income tax revenue.
"Absurd" is subjective, but 15% of the budget doesn't sound absurd to me for military spending. Compare to the 52% we spend on Social Security and Medicare, plus 8% on various forms of welfare and 7% on federal pensions.
Not worth debating definitions of "entitlement", but 2/3ds of the budget is "mailing checks to people". After defense and interest on the debt, that leaves only 11% for what the government should focus on: building roads, keeping order, etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @10:54PM
Social security is paid for by the taxpayers, using that as some sort of welfare example is just disingenuous at best. Wealth should be figured into taxation, unless somehow an income tax can bring the wealth disparity back in check. When the tax brackets on the rich were way higher we magically didn't have these problems, even after a major depression and then war.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by lgw on Friday December 16 2016, @12:09AM
Social security isn't paid for by the people receiving it. It's a transfer of income from the young to the old, so on average from the less wealthy to more wealthy. I think there are better ways to help people retire, but regardless we should be honest about the current system.
Taxing wealth leads very quickly to capital flight and the destruction of the economy.
Note that "when the tax brackets on the rich were way higher", the rich paid a smaller share of taxes, as loopholes abounded.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 16 2016, @04:36PM
"When the tax brackets on the rich were way higher we magically didn't have these problems"
Yes, we did have those problems. Some of those problems were just swept under the rug - that is, without huge government agencies to keep tabs on everything, hungry children weren't seen. Some of those problems were addressed by charity, then, but less so now. The poor just weren't seen or heard from. Pride prevented many from even asking for help, or reporting their true situation. Starvation was never common in the US, but malnutrition was, most notably in Appalachia.
Society has changed since those days. Today, few if any are to prideful to accept a government check. Hell, the richest sumbitches in the nation have their hands out, why not me? An ever growing government, coupled with activist groups, pry into everyone's lives, to ensure there are no starving children. The poor are easy to find, if you bother to look for them. 100 and more years ago, almost no one looked for them.
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Friday December 16 2016, @02:06AM
How, precisely, do you figure Medicare is anything but an entitlement?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1) by Francis on Friday December 16 2016, @07:55PM
People pay into it, then they get to use it. The people who aren't paying for it are a minority. It's disingenuous to suggest otherwise. Every pay stub I get has lines for both medicare and social security.
Those alone cover most of the "welfare" spending. It's a lie to suggest that 3/4 government is welfare when the defense budget is larger than the total of all welfare programs combined
(Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Saturday December 17 2016, @03:35AM
You're in fact wrong. Medicare money pulled from your check does not go to a fund like SS. It is simply a tax and goes to generic government coffers.
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:11PM
Facts and figures matter little in these types of discussions. In ALL instances, the response is to tax the rich more.
Except the rich always have the option to leave, to which the burden falls upon the middle class, and liberals are left wondering why they are despised by large segments of the country.
http://money.cnn.com/2016/04/01/news/millionaires-fleeing-france/ [cnn.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Francis on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:19PM
There's no evidence that they would leave. They didn't leave when taxes were above 70%, so why would they leave now.
Additionally, you make it sound like other people with money would be uninterested in investing here. Again, no evidence for that. Lastly, with their parasite class gone, we could focus on actually fixing our problems and there would be incentive to work as working would lead to actual prosperity for the worker.
That also ignores the fact that moving isn't always desirable. You lose friends and most areas that are cheap are also undesirable to live in.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:30PM
Every corporation that leaves the US due to taxes isn't proof? Do you know how many companies have their corporate headquarters in Ireland?
THEY ALREADY LEFT.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/05/ireland-attracts-soaring-level-of-us-investment [theguardian.com]
And you are mistaken about entitlements.
http://www.mlive.com/opinion/kalamazoo/index.ssf/2012/09/are_social_security_and_medica.html [mlive.com]
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday December 15 2016, @09:40PM
And yet they still do business in the U.S.
It's almost as if you're deliberately missing the point. Of they want to do business in the U.S., they should be taxed. If they don't want to be taxed here, they should exit the market. There's plenty of smaller businesses ready to take their place.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday December 16 2016, @04:48PM
That is the corruption that people are bitching about. In effect, Ireland tells corporations, "If you want to cheat on your taxes legally, pay us a pittance, and we'll give you a semi-legal loophole to jump through."
The world is beginning to close some of those loopholes. The EU, and the US are leading that little parade. If you do $100 billion in business in $country, then you should pay taxes on that $100 billion to $country.