If we don't give the rich enough money, they'll lose the incentive to invest; as for the poor, they've lost all incentive because we've given them too much money

Give me a specific example of a corporation that received more in tax revenue than it paid in the last 10 years.

This is an entirely different topic than the one you raised. Hence we will stick to that, and ignore your attempt to move the goalposts. You stated that conservatives "believe in the free-market economy, which means you don't "give" anyone anything". Under this definition, there has never been a conservative in the history of the US. Even Reagan, touted as a free market ideologue, was extremely protectionist, legislating for huge corporate subsidies to protect American industry.

As for the wealthy, we weren't discussing who pays what in tax. We were discussing who gets what in a free market.

and I believe you will see that there are no for-profit companies that are living off of "welfare"

State directed public subsidies are a boon to high tech industry, and this goes way back to the mid-20th century, as public subsidies given via the Pentagon System helped lay the groundwork for the modern transnational corporation. Taxpayer funded subsidies on R&D, and a state guaranteed market for excess production, allowed the high tech industry to flourish in the US, and benefited corporations enormously. Deregulation of the financial industry was another boon for the wealthy to vastly increase their wealth, at the expense of ordinary working people. Large US corporations benefit enormously from relatively privileged access to global markets underpinned by US hegemony, particularly in the realm of intellectual property. Companies such as Boeing would simply not have survived without massive state subsidies (what Reagan called 'securities'). The US car industry needed to be bailed out after the 2008 crash, hence was entirely dependent on state welfare. And on it goes.

You can go much further into all of this, but this should suffice to see exactly why the idea of a 'free market' is a farce. The middle and working class suffer in terms of cuts to social security, in order to finance tax cuts for the rich. There is no difficulty in seeing the problem, if you aren't already infected with pop-free market propaganda.

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