government spends $7, $7 on an elderly person for every one dollar it spends on a child. $7 for $1. you know the first person who would say that is kind of an outrage, my grandmother, can you imagine your grandmother hoarding the cookies, seven for them, one for the children? but it is true, america spends more money on the generation that built its past than the generation that will build it future. the nearly 80 million kids in america get 10%. here is the federal budget in a chart. 41% on adults through entitlement programs like medicaid and medicare, and social security. 20% going to other government functions, 10% to kids, and 6% to interest on the debt. and by the way, in five years it is projected that we ll be
be adjusted. there could be a cap and trade program, limiting the carbon admission miemission emissions, the tax cuts, infrastructure, schools, much, much more. taxes would be higher on the wealthy, by the way, and guns would be a lot harder to come by. and undocumented immigrants would have a path to citizenship. america would be a remarkably different country after this agenda, feeling different, looking different. now whether much of it would pass, that is an open question. but just going on the policies and ideals, make no mistake about it. this is going to be a big second term. joining me now is a very big thinker who just wrote a small book, a kindle single, called here is the deal. good to see you. thank you, good to be here, ezra. so tell me how you see the pieces fit together, when you heard the sort of breath of the
but it is not integrated into the other state pre-school program. right, i totally agree on head start. one big question is the way they want to fund it. one way they will do it is the way the states match, the way medicaid is today. that worries me because states have been pretty strapped recently. i mean, do you think it will be enough to get states to move forward with it? i think we have to think about this very carefully. because as you say, states are mostly in trouble anyway. they have had they have suffered in the recession, and some of the revenue sources are not growing. so they may not be able to come up with the matching money. this is a problem for medicaid, as well. alice rivlin, great to see you as always. great to see you. senator elizabeth warren s first at bat, she hit it out of the park, next. you know who is here tonight? very exciting. the science guy is here tonight. i am not even kidding.
worse since the recession ended. a study done last month by the university of california berkeley, says the top 1% captured 121% of the income gains in the recovery. the top 1% captured 121% of the income gains in the first two years of the recovery. now, how did the 1% get 121% of the income gains? because the 99% of the other incomes fell, they fell even as the economy was recovering, the country was growing again. even as corporate profits were hitting record highs. the people who lost the most power in the economy are the folks at the very bottom of the economic ladder, the folks making minimum wage, the folks without many skills. and that is what the federal government is trying to correct when it raises the minimum wage. it is doing for the least powerful workers what they don t have to power to do for themselves, demand a raise and get it. minimum way increases are not perfect policy. they don t have a big effect on employment in either direction, but if they have any effect it
some small businesses really can t afford to raise wages, some big businesses, if they have to pay more money, they may install more automated jobs. paul krugman says it is better to raise the tax increases than the wages, saying to respond to the profits, tax the rich and use that revenue. use it to send a check to americans working for low wages. not just minimum wage, but low wages all across the board. that way you don t hit small businesses who can t afford it and do get a contribution from big mega-profitable businesses that don t hire minimum wage workers. and that is what the obama white house believed, textbook you notice they didn t push a minimum wage increase in the first term. they tried to use the tax code, the making way tax cut, part of the stimulus that gave a refundable tax cut, for individuals and married