This is a very disingenuous article. First of all Social Security and Medicare taxes (payroll taxes) do not go to running the Government. Payroll taxes are returned to the worker many times over. Workers get much more than they put into these programs. The writer fails to mention that businesses put in the same amount as the worker in both of these programs and get 0 return. Thus all payroll taxes received equally from workers and businesses are returned many times  only to the workers. One third of Government revenue may be from these taxes, but equal almost half of Government spending. Obama was right in his quote and it is not rhetoric. There are many examples of no matter where one starts in life, they can be very successful with hard work and ambition. Dr. Ben Carson as well as President Obama are both great examples of this. No mention of the huge charitable contributions and scholarships given by business. And finally, without businesses there would be only government workers.