Paul Ryan: We Are the 70%

     While he called his running mate's excursions on the 47% inelegant, Ryan himself had some inelegant comments last year at a Right wing think tank:

     "Seventy percent of Americans want the American dream. They believe in the American idea. Only 30 percent want the welfare state," Ryan said. "Before too long, we could become a society where the net majority of Americans are takers, not makers." (It's not definitively clear whether Ryan said "the welfare state" or "their welfare state." HuffPost originally transcribed it as "their welfare state." Regardless, the comment was made in reference to people on government assistance.)
Ryan's comments were delivered as part of his keynote address at The American Spectator's 2011 Robert L. Bartley Gala Dinner, which the magazine posted online. A reader tipped HuffPost to Ryan's speech, given in November -- six months before Romney's videotaped remarks.

     http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/10/02/paul-ryan-30-percent-welfare-state_n_1933730.html

     Yep. I think "takers and makers" is elegant. Compare these comments with Romney's inelegant ones:

     "There are 47 percent of the people who will vote for the president no matter what," Romney said at a fundraiser in May, first reported by The Huffington Post. "All right -- there are 47 percent who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe that, that they are victims, who believe that government has the responsibility to care for them. Who believe that they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing."

     More from Ryan:

     "Today, 70 percent of Americans get more benefits from the federal government in dollar value than they pay back in taxes," Ryan said. "So you could argue that we're already past that [moral] tipping point. The good news is survey after survey, poll after poll, still shows that we are a center-right 70-30 country. Seventy percent of Americans want the American dream. They believe in the American idea. Only 30 percent want their welfare state. What that tells us is at least half of those people who are currently in that category are there not of their wish or their will."

     So I'm confused. I thought that only 30% want the welfare state and 70% are virtuous Americans who don't. Yet he says that 70% actually receive more benefits from the federal government in dollar value than they pay back in taxes? So 70% gain from this but only 30% like it?

     So is Chevron a maker? They also gain more from benefits from the federal government than they pay back in taxes-their tax rate was zero.