The Welfare State: Permanent

There's a nice graph at the link for the (D) innumerates among my readers.

The Perfessor's theory can be addressed another way, too.  Taxation is so significant at the ~$50-$70K income range that charitable giving is virtually squeezed out.  This is one of the reasons that the larger non-profits are having some troubles in the last couple of years (the other reason being the Obozoconomy, which is either dreadful or terrible.)

Anyhoo, for the bottom quintile--and the next-to-bottom quintile--there's no good reason to seek more income, and there are LOTS of reasons to avoid it.