Capitalism is Socialism for the Wealthy: An open letter from a 15yr old bride.

I became pregnant at 15. Neither me nor my 17 year old sweetheart had a license or a chance at a good job. He was washing dishes until 2am for a small town diner.

I was so young that I needed a judge's approval, in addition to my mom's, to get married. We were instantly poverty stricken.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

We were clueless. Someone told us to visit the county building and sign up for healthcare. We were instantly...

approved for Medicaid. Approx cost of prenatal care, the birth, and the post natal care paid by the government: $6k (in addition, we would end up using Medicaid for at least 3 out of our 5 kids).

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

While there, I was invited to visit the local WIC nutrition program. My baby couldn’t nurse. Thanks to WIC, we were able to get formula. Approx cost of nutrition assistance paid by the government: $3k (take that number and apply to at least 4/5 of our kid’s early lives).

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

One year later, we had our second. My husband had been working construction and started to see a future through college. With only an 8th grade education, a few thousand dollars saved, and a GED in tow, we headed to a cute college town.

We only had a few construction job leads and a list of apartments to look at, but happened to stumble into a cute complex where we qualified for “Government Subsidized Housing”. I had never heard this term before. We were only required to pay 30% of our income towards rent.

Approx total of subsidized housing costs paid by the government over 1 year: $5k

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

We probably had 3 kids when we first considered food stamps. For some reason this felt like a stab to our pride.

Probably because we had heard everyone dissing on poor people who "bleed the government dry" using food stamps (funny how the previous government programs we utilized didn’t carry the same negative connotations). But trying to feed a family of 5 on $20/week & WIC vouchers was...

proving impossible. Approx total in food subsidies provided to us over 1-2 years: $12k

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

Eventually we both attended college; my husband full-time (working part-time on campus), and I attended part-time (staying home with kids).

Approx total in pell-grants and federal work study employment we received from the government: $12k.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

We both dropped out of school when I went on strict bed rest with our 4th. After trying to find a way to make money from home while...

caring for me and our 3 children, my husband started his own business. We had joined the ranks of the famed “American small business owner” and began to make a livable wage for the first time. We were slowly “kicked-off” any remaining government assistance.

The years of not getting a tax refund, and instead “owing” money came fast. We heard the term “tax bracket” for the first time.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

Like most small business owners, we would go uninsured for years with pre-existing conditions preventing an affordable option for a family of 7 (until ACA is passed).

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

Each year we learned new ways to organize our businesses better. Hiring good tax attorneys and CPA’s to maximize our deductions and minimize our tax liability. Yet we still found, and continue to find ourselves paying way more in taxes than we ever imagined being business owners.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

During our time on socialized programs, I estimate that we had “taken” around ~$60k from the government.

Every year we pay taxes on employees' wages, business taxes and personal taxes, totaling much much more than...

$60k being returned to the federal and state government over the years.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

Donald Trump, the ultra wealthy in our country, and the majority of big corporate businesses, pay little to nothing in Federal taxes most years because they know...

how to get in on the greedy schemes our system legally allows them to utilize.

Year over year, they pay less in taxes than most Americans. They move their money around so much, they end up actually receiving a refund some of the time.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.

If you don’t yet believe that capitalism is socialism for the wealthy, imagine how much tax revenue our government is not collecting because of tax laws that are lobbied for, and particularly designed to completely absolve the the ultra wealthy from paying any taxes...

on massive incomes. Expert economists report we are losing billions in lost tax revenue each year. That is a hell of a lot more than the measly $60k our little family received in life sustaining assistance from the government in our times of need.

Without the social programs...

available to us — the medical forgiveness, the free nutrition, the housing, financial and educational boosts — we wouldn’t be the proud contributing tax payers we are today.

And without the socialist-type gifting of tax free revenues to the very wealthy and the big businesses...

who tout “capitalism”; Trump, and those like him, would not be where they are today....

Freely sucking our government dry of severely needed, nation-sustaining tax dollars.

Capitalism is socialism for the wealthy.