The Ledger
Every statement that passed quotation and attribution checks. Mix any filter with any other: certainty 1/5, debate potential 5/5, or both at once.
why aren't all 21 resolved? a statement only gets an assessment when the public record can support or contradict it. opinions and what-ifs never can, and 0 checkable ones are still open, waiting for their date. predictions held up or didn't; assertions are supported or contradicted. on every card: ▮▮▮▮▮ certainty · ▮▮▮▮▮ debate potential. speakers are clickable
Gramm: Comprehensive Accounting of Taxes and Transfers Puts US Poverty at 2%
“If you count all transfer payments and taxes, only about two percent of Americans are poor, and most of those are people that have got a problem.”
Gramm: Real Top-to-Bottom Income Ratio Is 4:1, Not 16.7:1
“When you count all the transfer payments, you count all the income the census doesn't count, and you take into account taxes, the ratio of the top to bottom is four to one, not 16.7 to one.”
Phil Gramm: US Inequality Is Lower Today Than in 1947 After Transfers
“Actually, if you count all transfer payments and taxes income inequality is lower today than it was in 1947.”
Gramm: ProPublica fabricated income metric for Buffett tax calculation
“They took his actual taxes, but they didn't take his actual income. They made up an income by saying what would his income have been if he sold every asset he owned every year and paid taxes on it.”
Gramm: US Has the Most Progressive Tax System in the World
“If you look at the actual tax data based on how we define income, The tax system is very progressive, and it's the most progressive tax system in the world.”
Gramm: Confiscating All Billionaire Income Wouldn't Fund US Government for a Week
“If you took every penny of income of billionaires in America, You couldn't fund the 1920, the 2022 government for a week.”
Census Bureau Omits Two-Thirds of Transfer Payments From Household Income
“In measuring household income, the Census Bureau counts only about a third of all transfer payments as income to the recipients. It doesn't count food stamps. It doesn't count housing subsidies. It doesn't count Medicare. It doesn't count, and it doesn't take …”
Gramm: 88% of Government Benefits to the Poor Are Not Counted as Income
“So in total, for the people who are classified as being poor in America, 88% of the benefits that they get from the government are not counted as their income.”
Bottom Quintile Real Government Transfers Grew From $9.7k in 1967 to Nearly $50k in 2017
“In 1967, when the warm poverty ramped up counting all transfer payments as income received, and all taxes paid as income lost, the average family in the bottom 20% of income earners in America got 9700 dollars in real purchasing power dollars adjusted for infl…”
Gramm: Elon Musk's wealth makes regular people richer, not poorer
“Rich people make me richer. How, Elon Musk, I don't know if he's still the richest man in the world, but I'm no poorer because he's richer. I'm richer because he's richer.”
Gramm: US tax code is progressive up to $7.5 million
“But if you look at actual IRS data, the tax code is progressive up to about seven and a half million dollars a year.”
Gramm: Piketty's Inequality Data Excludes Transfers and Counts Asset Gains as Income
“All of his data is based on, when he's talking about inequality, he doesn't count any transfer payments as income, and he doesn't take into account taxes on the upper end, and he does the bait and switch on income on the upper end by saying, We should count th…”
Gramm: Prime-age poor employment fell from 68% to 36%
“When the war on poverty started, 68% of the poor people in America worked. That number is now down to, and that's prime work-age persons, ok? Now it's down to 36%.”
Gramm: Pandemic labor drop occurred because welfare reached middle class
“And in fact, the reason the labor force participation rate fell during the pandemic, even after the pandemic was over, was the benefits had spilled into the middle class.”
Gramm: Two-thirds of US households match 1967 top quintile standard
“Compared to 1967, 66.3% of all American households are now in the top Quintile of earners as compared to 1967. Two-thirds of the people.”
Gramm: Canada's higher mobility is driven by selective immigration
“Well, no, we would say he's absolutely right, but let me explain why. Canada has a very active legal immigration program. The percentage of their citizens who are immigrants is huge as compared to us, and they have a selective immigration program, so who is im…”
Phil Gramm: China Destroyed Half Its Tech Equity Value Attacking Jack Ma
“When government can't stand someone like Ma, and they attack him and destroy half the equity value of the tech industry in China, You're going to have an impact on growth.”
Gramm: The biggest US-Europe difference is allowing creative destruction
“The biggest difference between America and Europe today is we allow creative destruction. They try to impede it.”
Gramm: European firms employ twice as many workers as US counterparts
“And one of the biggest problems in Europe, in private equity business, in acquiring businesses, Is that when you're looking at a business, and you look at the number of people who work there, And often it's twice as many people as you would have doing the same…”
Gramm: US legal immigrant children get higher grades and fewer discipline issues
“You look at the profile of legal immigrants in America. Most households have both natural parents. Children tend to make much better grades in school, have fewer discipline problems, and are driven to achieve because their parents are driven to achieve.”