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Ryan: 30 Percent Want to Live Off “Welfare State”

HeadlineOct 03, 2012

New video has surfaced of Paul Ryan making a class-based assessment of the American population similar to Mitt Romney’s infamous “47 percent” comments that emerged last month. In a speech delivered last November, Ryan said 30 percent of Americans want to live off of the government.

Rep. Paul Ryan: “Today, 70 percent of Americans get more benefits from the federal government in dollar value than they pay back in taxes. 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.”

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