"Keep Working...

[Ryan Ruck]

Shelby Schools (Tennessee) Plans Free Lunch -- Breakfast And Dinner, Too -- For All Students In 2014-15

January 21, 2014

Next school year, lunch won’t cost a dime in Shelby County Schools, no matter how much money a kid’s parent makes, if a plan announced Tuesday receives expected final approval. Every student in every school will be able to get free breakfast, lunch and dinner, no questions asked — every single day.

The planned cash-free lunchroom would mean two things: no student is going to get a bologna sandwich, the standby when someone forgets their lunch money, and no one will ever know again the kids whose families are so poor they automatically get fed for free.

“We see kids every day that don’t go through the lunch line because they don’t want to be identified as that kid who gets a free meal. That stigma is huge. That stigma really overshadows a lot of the great things we do,” said Tony Geraci, executive direction of the school nutrition program.

“For once, we’ll be able to have a program where we can say, now it’s time to learn, now it’s time to eat; now it’s time to play. That’s huge for this district.”

The plan was announced Tuesday at the SCS board work session.

Because 80 percent of the newly configured SCS will qualify for some kind of reduced meal price, the entire district is eligible for free meals under the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010. And because of a loophole in the way USDA reimburses schools for its federal lunch program, the district will get $4.3 million bonus for going to free.

Across the district, parents collectively will save the $1.8 million they shell out in school lunch money a year. Current prices for students not in the free and reduced-price program is $2.25; breakfast already is provided free to all students. And the district has been expanding its take-home supper program.

Schools in districts nationwide have piloted the plan.

Adults in schools will still have to pay for their lunches, and some a la carte items will still be sold via online accounts.

Jamie Beers, an SCS teacher in Cordova, applauded the move through his Twitter feed: “This is a must ... Kids starving, lack of money ... told they can’t eat main food, handed bologna sandwich.”

The change will require the district to adjust how it applies for and receives federal Title I programs and other entitlements based on poverty rates. For decades, they have been distributed on the number of children receiving free or reduced meal tickets.

“We will make sure this does not in any way have an adverse affect,” said Supt. Dorsey Hopson. “We are going to make sure of that before we submit this application.”

The move has other budget parameters, including that federal law now requires that districts report how many full-price, reduced price and free meals it serves each day. SCS employs 20 people whose main job is managing the count and record-keeping. EDITOR'S NOTE: Because of a typo, an earlier of this story incorrectly reported the number of people. We regret the error.

It is not clear if they will be reassigned or let go. Hitesh Haria, the district's chief of business operations, said the issue would have budget implications.

The board also heard details of a pilot technology program the district plans to launch next fall providing every student in 16 still-to-be-named schools a laptop or tablet for their lessons. Several board members traveled to Huntsville, Ala., to see that district’s “blended learning” program.

Huntsville boasts seven point gains on state tests due to the technology. SCS is projecting 10-point gains a year, which would garner the district an ROI of roughly $135 per point.

The district is still studying whether it will buy or lease the technology. Buying would cost about $13 million; leasing would cost $6.75 million.

Cleon Franklin, head of the district’s student technology division, says devices would enhance learning outside the classroom: “What we want is a very rigorous digital curriculum that engages students and steals time from them when they are home on Facebook or outside playing tag.”

Hopson told parents last week at a school closing meeting that he would recommend putting in the pilot several of the newly-merged schools created by closings.

The district is also drilling down on ways to reduce employee health insurance premiums, including participating in pharmacy and medical management programs that eliminate duplicated tests and prescriptions for employees with several doctors. The district is looking again at the possibility of moving to state insurance plan.

By Feb. 1, it will have insurance consultant to help it identify savings that can be passed to employees.

[American Patriot]

As much bloody money as goes to the schools out of our taxes here in Colorado ought to qualify everyone for 10 meals a day.

I know they aren't using it for education.

[Ryan Ruck]

Welfare In America: A $1 Trillion Tab And Rising

February 13, 2014

Republicans in Congress are being accused of fighting a "war on the war on poverty," in part because of a tiny cut in the food stamps program last week. Democrats charge that these "cuts" will take food from the mouths of hungry children, and they claim this is an example of how Congress has shred the safety net for the poor.

Never mind that this is the food aid program that has tripled in cost and doubled in participation in just the last decade. Even during the economic recovery, the number of recipients — one in seven Americans — continues to grow.

Federal budget data confirm that rising enrollment and cost is the real untold story of almost all welfare programs in America today.

Just 18 years ago Republicans and Clinton Democrats joined together to pass landmark legislation to "end welfare as we know it." But today, welfare has been redesigned and expanded, not reformed.

The traditional cash welfare program, once known as AFDC, has shrunk — thanks in part to strict work requirements. But the new-age welfare is a conglomeration of dozens of income-support programs — some aren't even labeled welfare — as generous and costly as ever.

In 2011, the latest year for which we have complete spending data, federal outlays on all means-tested welfare programs targeted for the poor hit $746 billion, according to an analysis by the Congressional Research Service.

But this doesn't include two of the fastest-growing taxpayer-funded cash subsidies: unemployment insurance and disability, which are not based on one's income level, so are not considered anti-poverty programs. That's another $250 billion a year. All told, federal income transfer programs (not including Social Security and Medicare) have hit $1 trillion.

Adding state spending, the Senate Budget Committee found another $257 billion spent each year. The welfare state is now larger than the GDP of 175 of the 190 wealthiest countries.

Astoundingly, if all this spending were simply sent in the form of a check to every household in America living below the poverty level, we could raise each of these family's incomes not just above the poverty line, but double that level, according to Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. Every poor family of four could have a cash income of $44,000 a year — which in most countries would be princely.

Most Americans probably have no idea how expansive the welfare state is. That's because the cost is disguised by more than 80 separate means-tested programs counted by the CRS, including cash benefits, health care, social services, food, child care, training, and housing and utility subsidies. They often have overlapping and uncoordinated missions. This explains the vast duplication of effort, with at least 12 programs offering food and nutrition, 18 offering housing assistance, nine offering vocational training, and so on.

In all, just over 100 million Americans now get some form of welfare-based government benefit. This does not include Medicare or Social Security. Obama's economics team thinks the more the better, because these are programs that "stimulate" the economy.

Oh, and by the way: These numbers do not include the ObamaCare expansion of Medicaid, which could add 20 million to the rolls over time. Obama boasts of 5 million more Americans now being eligible for Medicaid under ObamaCare, as if that's an applause line.

Means-tested cash, food and housing aid are up 50% in cost in 1996, when Bill Clinton signed the reform law that was supposed to "end welfare as we know it." By 2016, according to Senate Budget Committee ranking Republican Jeff Sessions, the Obama welfare budget will rise more than 30% to $1.374 trillion.

Does this welfare net discourage work and encourage dependency? Work is required for few of the 80 benefit programs, except some cash and food aid programs and the earned income tax credit. This may explain why more than half of families in poverty don't have anyone working.

Work, job training or education should be a bare minimum federal requirement as part of the social contract for receiving most forms of government assistance. But the left opposed this in the food stamps debate.

Obama's economic legacy is an expanding welfare juggernaut that is trapping millions of Americans in poverty. If there's a "war on the poor," this is it.

[Ryan Ruck]

70% Of U.S. Spending Is Writing Checks To Individuals

March 10, 2014



Buried deep in a section of President Obama's budget, released this week, is an eye-opening fact: This year, 70% of all the money the federal government spends will be in the form of direct payments to individuals, an all-time high.

In effect, the government has become primarily a massive money-transfer machine, taking $2.6 trillion from some and handing it back out to others. These government transfers now account for 15% of GDP, another all-time high. In 1991, direct payments accounted for less than half the budget and 10% of GDP.

What's more, the cost of these direct payments is exploding. Even after adjusting for inflation, they've shot up 29% under Obama.

ObamaCare, Medicare...

Where do these checks go? The biggest chunk, 38.6%, goes to pay health bills, either through Medicare, Medicaid or ObamaCare. A third goes out in the form of Social Security checks. Only 21% goes toward poverty programs — or "income security" as it's labeled in the budget — and a mere 5% ends up in the hands of veterans.

Interestingly, despite Obama's frequent pledges to reduce income inequality, the share of direct payments going toward "income security" has dropped from 25% in 2009 to 20% in 2014. (The average share from 1980 to 2008 was 25.4%.)

Obama's Fiscal Year 2015 budget calls for this share to drop to just 17% by 2019, as his programs devote more and more federal tax money to middle-class entitlement programs such as ObamaCare.

Here's another way to look at it: If all these federal direct payments went only to the poor, every person living in poverty today would receive an annual check worth $55,900.

The 1% Handouts

Instead, a surprisingly large amount of federal money is handed out to wealthy Americans through Social Security, Medicare, farm subsidies, unemployment benefits, conservation programs, disaster payments and other programs.

An IBD analysis found that the richest 1% of Americans, in fact, receive roughly $10 billion each year in federal checks.

Outgoing Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., who exposed these vast payment programs available to the rich, said "this reverse Robin Hood-style of wealth distribution is an intentional effort to get all Americans bought into a system where everyone appears to benefit."

The White House normally releases the Historical Tables section of the budget — where these direct payment numbers are detailed — along with the rest of the budget documents. But while Obama released the main parts of his 2015 budget last week, he delayed the release of this little-noticed section until this week.

The Historical Tables also expose as false Obama's promise that ObamaCare would rein in federal health care spending.

Obama, in fact, adds a new spending category to the budget — called "health insurance assistance" — which will total $456 billion through 2019, with annual spending levels topping $100 billion in the years after that.

What's more, overall federal health spending in 2019 will be nearly twice as high as it was in 2008, and will account for 30% of all federal outlays (up from 25% in 2008).

Another overlooked item in Obama's budget: He expects immigration reform to cost hundreds of billions of dollars.

Page 170 of the Summary Tables, released last week, includes a new entitlement spending category called "allowances for immigration reform." Over the next decade, Obama puts $298 billion into this category, with annual costs hitting $56 billion a year by 2024, and rising. (This does not include possible higher tax revenue and economic growth from immigration reform.)

Budget Cuts Harder

This massive shift in federal spending toward direct payments to individuals not only balloons the size of the federal government, it makes cutting the budget all the harder, since any meaningful spending reductions will invariably mean cutting back on some of these check-writing programs.

The Congressional Budget Office figures that, by 2038, Medicare and Social Security alone will eat up 42% of the budget.

The explosive growth in these direct-payment programs is also squeezing traditional government functions, such as national defense, which Obama wants to sharply cut. His budget calls for Pentagon spending to drop from $623 billion in 2015 to $570 billion in 2017.

[Ryan Ruck]

Chicago Public School System Pushing Food Stamps

April 22, 2014

Chicago Public School parents received robocalls last week encouraging them to sign their children up for food stamps and free or low-cost health insurance.

“Currently there are 68,000 children in the Chicago Public Schools that are not enrolled in free or low-cost health insurance and SNAP also knows as food stamps,” the recording, obtained by The Daily Caller, says. “Your child may be one of them. To find out more about your eligibility call the Children and Family Benefits Unit at 773-553-KIDS.”

“Or visit your child’s school and ask the clerk for a Children and Family Benefits Unit flier,” the message added.

The Chicago Public School website explains the Children and Family Benefits Unit (CFBU) “works to ensure that CPS families receive those benefits to which they are entitled.”

Part of ensuring these families receive benefits to which they are entitled includes outreach.

Sergio Obregon, a CFBU spokesman, told TheDC that the unit primarily works to enroll CPS students in Medicaid and SNAP. He confirmed that the robocalls to parents last week came from CFBU

“It’s been very effective for us,” he said, explaining that last Tuesday the CFBU hotline received 175 calls “from families looking for assistance with respect to enrolling in Medicaid or SNAP.”

“We can send out robocalls whenever we really want to,” he said. “But the ones that they received this past week are stemmed off our report card pick up. So we have report cards go out once a year and that’s when we hit all the students in CPS. But throughout the year we send out messages… specifically to those students that we know are not enrolled in public benefits such as Medicaid. So the idea is to get those students enrolled, if they are eligible of course.”

Obregon noted that the unit also has the dates students need to renew their benefits and are sending out calls two months prior as a reminder.

He added that the unit adheres to the relevant regulations from the Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees Medicaid, and Agriculture Department, which oversees SNAP.

In recent years the number of people on food stamps has skyrocketed. In January, according to the most recent USDA data, more than 46.5 million people were enrolled in SNAP.

[American Patriot]

oh... SNAP!

[Ryan Ruck]

Food Stamp Recipients Outnumber Women Who Work Full-Time

April 14, 2014

People participating in the food stamp program outnumbered the women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States in 2012, according to data from the Department of Agriculture and the Census Bureau.

In the average month of 2012, according to the Department of Agriculture, there were 46,609,000 people participating in the food stamp program (formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). That contrasts with the 44,059,000 women who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, according to the Census Bureau’s report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States.

For each woman who worked full-time, year-round in 2012, there was slightly more than 1 other person collecting food stamps.



In 2013, the average number of people on food stamps increased to 47,636,000. The Census Bureau will not publish its report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage for 2013, which includes the data on women working full-time, until September.

The Department of Agriculture’s website lists the annual average number of food stamps participants going back to 1969. That year, there were only 2,878,000 people on food stamps. Since then, food stamps participants have increased by 44,758,000—or about 1,552 percent.

In 1969, there were 15,678,000 women who worked full-time, year-round in the United States. Through 2012, their numbers had increased by 28,381,000—or about 181 percent.

Since 1969, there have been three years when the number of Americans taking food stamps outnumbered the women who worked full time, year-round. In 1976, there were 18,549,000 food stamps participants, and only 18,372,000 women working full-time. Then, in 2011, there were 44,709,000 food stamp participants and 43,702,000 women who worked full-time. (The Census Bureau has not published data for the number of women who worked full-time, year-round in 1974.)

So far, 2011 and 2012 are the only back-to-back years on record when the number of Americans taking food stamps outnumbered the women working full-time year-round.

[Ryan Ruck]

10,996,447: Disability Beneficiaries Hit New Record

May 20, 2014

The total number of disability beneficiaries in the United States rose from 10,981,423 in March to 10,996,447 in April, setting a new all-time record, according to newly released data from the Social Security Administration.

The number of Americans receiving disability benefits continues to exceed the populations of Greece, Tunisia and Portugal, and is approaching the population of Cuba, which according to the CIA World Factbook is 11,047,251.



The 10,996,447 total disability beneficiaries includes 8,942,232 disabled workers, 153,475 spouses of disabled workers, and 1,900,740 children of disabled workers.

None of those individual categories of beneficiaries set a record in April, but the combination of all three was the highest it has ever been in the history of the disability program.

The number of disabled workers peaked at 8,942,584 in December—with 352 more workers receiving disability than in April.

[Ryan Ruck]

Feds Bust "One Of The Largest Food Stamp Frauds Ever"

June 13, 2014

With nicknames like "The Money Wizard" and "Gran Hustle," 88 people have been indicted in what the FBI calls "one of the largest federal food program frauds ever." Grocery stores were created for the express purpose of laundering WIC (Women, Infant & Children) and Food Stamp (EBT) funds from willing benefits-receivers who were given discounted cash for the "food" stamps canvassed from "low income neighborhoods" in Georgia. The government seeks the forfeiture of $20 million in bank accounts and assets, including two luxury vehicles, a 2008 Mercedes Benz and a 2008 Land Rover. Exceptional!

Via The FBI,

Georgia’s Women, Infant, and Children (WIC) program provides infant formula, juice, eggs, fresh fruits and vegetables, and other healthy foods to low-income pregnant and postpartum women and to infants and children up to age 5 who are nutritionally at risk.

The Food Stamp Program, now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), provides “food stamp” benefits to low-income families through Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, which are similar to debit cards. It is a crime to exchange WIC or Food Stamp benefits for cash.

How They Did It...

The 54-defendant indictment alleges that a number of defendants conspired to open purported grocery stores in Savannah, Macon, Atlanta, Garden City, Lithonia, LaGrange, Stone Mountain, Riverdale, and elsewhere for the purpose of buying WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash.

Once the purported stores were opened and approved as WIC and Food Stamp vendors, many of the defendants allegedly canvassed low-income neighborhoods and solicited WIC and Food Stamp participants to illegally exchange their benefits not for food but for cash.

The defendants then allegedly bought WIC and Food Stamp benefits for cash at a fraction of the amount they received from the USDA by redeeming the benefits they had purchased. The defendants also allegedly conspired to launder over $18 million in proceeds received from their fraud upon the WIC and Food Stamp programs.




And here are the 54 defendants who ran the scheme (34 others who were involved were the ones illegally trading their oh-so-critical food stamps for cash)...

• Brandon Sapp, AKA “B,” 37, Austell, Georgia
• Kimberly Sapp, AKA “Kimberly Walker,” AKA “The Money Wizard,” 34, Austell, Georgia
• Calvin Williams, AKA “Slick,” 39, Atlanta, Georgia
• Isaac Martin, AKA “Ike,” 37, Jonesboro, Georgia
• John P. Jones, AKA “JP,” 39, Ellenwood, Georgia
• Wayne Jackson, AKA “J5,” 32, Atlanta, Georgia
• Gregory Thomas, AKA “Rich Gregg,” 37, Atlanta, Georgia
• Kerry Adams, AKA “Big Skreed,” AKA “Skrump,” 38, Atlanta, Georgia
• Brian Lockhart, AKA “Lock,” 47, Atlanta, Georgia
• Henry Ward, AKA “TY,” AKA “TYE,” AKA “Grand Hustle,” 32, Savannah, Georgia
• Vincent Harper, 40, Atlanta, Georgia
• Ostrando S. Brock, AKA “Shun,” AKA “Shawn,” 32, Mableton, Georgia
• Jesse McCoy, AKA “Jay Mac,” 42, Ellenwood, Georgia
• Terence Cosby, AKA “Me Gold,” 33, Savannah, Georgia
• Raymond Hargrove, 27, Savannah, Georgia
• Jacqueline Beauchamp, AKA “Jackie,” 25, Pooler, Georgia
• Elizabeth Beauchamp, 28, Pooler, Georgia
• Gerald Patilla, AKA “PT,” 30, Savannah, Georgia
• Clayton Talley, 32, Pooler, Georgia
• Ebony Jacobs, 28, Savannah, Georgia
• Olajawon Simmons, AKA “Wan,” AKA “Won,” 27, Savannah, Georgia
• Reginald Simmons, AKA “Reggie,” 28, Savannah, Georgia
• Gary Grier, AKA “Bundee”, AKA “Dee,” 37, Atlanta, Georgia
• Magregor Warner, AKA “KB,” 40, Atlanta, Georgia
• Benjamin Tookes, AKA “B,” AKA “Ben,” 40, Atlanta, Georgia
• Carlos Davis, AKA “Lo,” 38, Atlanta, Georgia
• Raymond Hixon, AKA “Dre,” 38, Atlanta, Georgia
• Thomas Thornton, AKA “Big Bo,” 27, Atlanta, Georgia
• Branden Jordan, 32, Atlanta, Georgia
• Mark White, 38, Atlanta, Georgia
• Tobias Render, AKA “Tee,” AKA “Toby,” 33, Atlanta, Georgia
• Eric Burkes, AKA “E,” 25, Atlanta, Georgia
• Aryay Strong, 31, Atlanta, Georgia
• Marshall Sears, 38, Atlanta, Georgia
• Suleyma Arreola, 21, Marietta, Georgia
• Emory White, 32, Marietta, Georgia
• Obryan Moore, AKA “OB,” 29, Powder Springs, Georgia
• Terry Mitchell, Jr., 43, LaGrange, Georgia
• Corey Mitchell, AKA “Stick,” 39, Atlanta, Georgia
• Luquoise Clay, AKA “Qui,” 30, Atlanta, Georgia
• Jessica Cameron, AKA “Keta,” 30, Grantville, Georgia
• Joshua Dunlap, 38, Monticello, Georgia
• Maurice Fudge, AKA “Reese,” 39, Macon, Georgia
• Quinton Matthews, AKA “Q,” AKA “Chuck Matthews,” 39, Macon, Georgia
• Charles Jackson, AKA “Cooley Slim,” AKA “Corey,” 35, Lithia Springs, Georgia
• Ronnie Zachary, AKA “City,” 29, Byron, Georgia
• Porsha Drewery, AKA “Parsha,” 37, Macon, Georgia
• Taquilla Johnson, AKA “Quilla,” 35, Macon, Georgia
• Raheem Waller, 30, Atlanta, Georgia
• Travis Rich, 35, Atlanta, Georgia
• Marlon Dobbins, 29, Atlanta, Georgia
• Derrick Heard, AKA “Da Man,” AKA “Heard,” 43, Atlanta, Georgia
• Rahdriq Turner, AKA “Rah Rah,” 36, Rockmart, Georgia
• Antonio Dorsey, AKA “Bear,” 34, East Point, Georgia

The WIC and Food Stamp programs are designed to provide necessary nutrition for the most vulnerable members of our society,” said Brock D. Nicholson, Special Agent in Charge of HSI Atlanta. “HSI is proud to have assisted the U.S. Department of Agriculture and others in protecting this program from alleged fraudulent activity in the state of Georgia.”

“This investigation and prosecution should send a strong zero-tolerance message to those individuals who create businesses for the purpose of specifically defrauding the taxpayer funded WIC and SNAP programs,” said Karen Citizen-Wilcox, Special Agent in Charge, USDA-OIG-Investigations. “It should also serve as a warning to all stores, that participate in the WIC and SNAP programs as vendors, that fraud and trafficking (purchasing those benefits for cash) will be vigorously investigated and prosecuted by

Now that is exceptional.

[American Patriot]

Funny. All the street names are listed.

Wanna bet they are 99% black?

[Malsua]

Funny. All the street names are listed.

Wanna bet they are 99% black?

They don't sound like recent immigrant names. With names like Raheem and Olajawon, it seems like a safe bet.

Reminds me of that women in Mass recently who went to the hospital complaining of belly pains and found out she was pregnant with twins.

When she gave birth, she named one of them Dawon. The brother she named Anadawon.

[American Patriot]

Lmao

[Ryan Ruck]

The 35.4 Percent: 109,631,000 on Welfare

August 20, 2014

109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded "means-tested programs" — also known as welfare — as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released Tuesday by the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau has not yet reported how many were on welfare in 2013 or the first two quarters of 2014.

But the 109,631,000 living in households taking federal welfare benefits as of the end of 2012, according to the Census Bureau, equaled 35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States at that time.

When those receiving benefits from non-means-tested federal programs — such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and veterans benefits — were added to those taking welfare benefits, it turned out that 153,323,000 people were getting federal benefits of some type at the end of 2012.

Subtract the 3,297,000 who were receiving veterans' benefits from the total, and that leaves 150,026,000 people receiving non-veterans' benefits.

The 153,323,000 total benefit-takers at the end of 2012, said the Census Bureau, equaled 49.5 percent of the population. The 150,026,000 taking benefits other than veterans' benefits equaled about 48.5 percent of the population.

When America re-elected President Barack Obama in 2012, we had not quite reached the point where more than half the country was taking benefits from the federal government.

It is a reasonable bet, however, that with the implementation of Obamacare — with its provisions expanding Medicaid and providing health-insurance subsidies to people earning up to 400 percent of poverty — that if we have not already surpassed that point (not counting those getting veterans benefits) we soon will.

What did taxpayers give to the 109,631,000 — the 35.4 percent of the nation — getting welfare benefits at the end of 2012?

82,679,000 of the welfare-takers lived in households where people were on Medicaid, said the Census Bureau. 51,471,000 were in households on food stamps. 22,526,000 were in the Women, Infants and Children program. 20,355,000 were in household on Supplemental Security Income. 13,267,000 lived in public housing or got housing subsidies. 5,442,000 got Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. 4,517,000 received other forms of federal cash assistance.

How do you put in perspective the 109,631,000 people taking welfare, or the 150,026,000 getting some type of federal benefit other than veterans' benefits?

Well, the CIA World Factbook says there are 142,470,272 people in Russia. So, the 150,026,000 people getting non-veterans federal benefits in the United States at the end of 2012 outnumbered all the people in Russia.

63,742,977 people live in the United Kingdom and 44,291,413 live in the Ukraine, says the CIA. So, the combined 108,034,390 people in these two nations was about 1,596,610 less than 109,631,000 collecting welfare in the United States.

It may be more telling, however, to compare the 109,631,000 Americans taking federal welfare benefits at the end of 2012 to Americans categorized by other characteristics.

In 2012, according to the Census Bureau, there were 103,087,000 full-time year-round workers in the United States (including 16,606,000 full-time year-round government workers). Thus, the welfare-takers outnumbered full-time year-round workers by 6,544,000.

California, the nation's most-populated state, contained an estimated 38,332,521 people in 2013, says the Census Bureau. Texas had 26,448,193 people, New York had 19,651,127, and Florida had 19,552,860. But the combined 103,984,701 people in these four massive states still fell about 5,646,299 short of the 109,631,000 people on welfare.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, when President Obama was elected, there were 96,197,000 people living in households taking benefits from one or more federal welfare programs. After four years, by the fourth quarter of 2012, that had grown by 13,434,000.

Those 13,434,000 additional people on welfare outnumbered the 12,882,135 people the Census Bureau estimated lived in Obama's home state of Illinois in 2013.

[Ryan Ruck]

6-Month-Old Dies Because of Home’s Horrifically ‘Filthy Condition,’ Family Wants Public to ‘Donate New Home’



Police in Albany, Georgia have determined that the house in which a 6-month-old boy died of “natural causes” was so filthy, it was criminal.

Police have arrested Tessa Soilberry, the mother of 6-month-old Kingston, who was found dead at the home on Thursday, and charged her with five counts of reckless conduct.

The coroner ruled the 6-month-old boy’s death to be from “natural causes.” When investigators examined the home, they charged Soilberry with endangering her son’s life.

Her family has since come to her defense.

“She needs help,” said Rosetta Mitchell, the grandmother of the boy and the Soilberry’s four other children. “She don’t need to be locked up. She don’t need to be scandalized. She needs help. They just come to complain and talk about how it is.”

“She has four children,” she added. “She’s not employed. She don’t have no income.”

WALB reports that, “The family said they hope the community can donate a better home for Soilberry and her children, and help her find a job. They would also like someone to help pay her $5,000 bond, so she can get out of jail, and mourn her child’s death.”

Soilberry’s other children have been placed in the custody of her sister.

Prosecutors say they are waiting for a full autopsy before determining whether to file further charges against Soilberry.

[American Patriot]

Even the Motley Fool wants us to keep working


Social Security: 3 Things to Know Before Taking Benefits Early

By John Maxfield


Deciding when to take Social Security benefits is one of the most important decisions you'll make in retirement. Should you take them at the earliest possible moment -- that is, at the age of 62? Or should you wait until reaching full retirement at 66?



While this is a personal decision that must be tailored to your own needs and desires, there are three factors every retiree should consider before making a final decision -- and particularly if you elect to receive Social Security benefits prior to full retirement age.



1. The size of your monthly benefits depends on when you elect to receive them
As you probably know by now, there are two major factors that influence the size of your monthly Social Security benefits.



First and foremost, your benefits are a function of how much eligible income you earn during your working life.



To determine this, the Social Security Administration adds up the income subject to Social Security tax, adjusted for inflation, that you earned during your 35 highest-earning years. It then divides the total by 420 -- the number of months in 35 years. This yields your average indexed monthly earnings. The higher this is, the higher your benefits will be.



The second major factor that influences the size of your benefits is when you elect to receive them.



For workers retiring now, the full retirement age is 66. If you wait until then, you get your full benefit -- or, in Social Security lingo, 100% of your "primary insurance amount." However, if you elect to receive them early, then your monthly benefit is reduced for each month short of your 66th birthday. If you begin receiving them at 62, for example, then your benefit will be reduced by 25%.



By contrast, if you wait until turning 70, then you're entitled to delayed-retirement credits, which increase your benefits by 8% for each year of deferment, topping out at a total of 32%.

2. For the average person, it doesn't matter when you apply

Given the fact that your monthly benefits are reduced if you elect to receive them early, then it seems obvious that you shouldn't do so, right?

Not necessarily.



For the average person, it ultimately doesn't matter when you elect to receive benefits, as the Social Security Administration has designed the average retiree's lifetime payouts to equal out regardless of when they choose to receive them.



"The Social Security benefit formula adjusts monthly payments so that someone living to average life expectancy should receive about the same amount of benefits over their lifetime regardless of which age they claim," explains a recent government report on Social Security.



At the end of the day, in other words, the average retiree shouldn't suffer for the decision to get smaller checks for longer.



3. Deciding when to apply for Social Security is about quality of life
With this in mind, the question of when to apply for Social Security benefits is less about some impersonal cost-benefit analysis and more about your needs and quality of life.



If you need income now, then you should take Social Security. If you don't, then you should defer. Additionally, if taking Social Security early will facilitate an earlier retirement -- which, in turn, will improve the quality of your life -- then you should absolutely do so.



This is the reason 62 remains the most prevalent age for retirees to claim benefits. And it's the reason you shouldn't hesitate to do so yourself if you believe it's the best option.



Remember, retirement is about you. It's about comfort, leisure, and reflection. Those are the things to keep in mind when deciding whether to claim benefits early, not some breakeven analysis that experts try to impose upon you.



How to get even more income during retirementSocial Security plays a key role in your financial security, but it's not the only way to boost your retirement income. In our brand-new free report, our retirement experts give their insight on a simple strategy to take advantage of a little-known IRS rule that can help ensure a more comfortable retirement for you and your family. Click here to get your copy today.






$19 TRILLION INDUSTRY COULD DESTROY INTERNET
It's time to say "goodbye" to your Internet!

One bleeding-edge technology is about to put the World-Wide-Web to bed. And if you act right away, it could make you wildly rich. Experts are calling it the single largest business opportunity in the history of capitalism... The Economist is calling it "transformative"... But you’ll probably just call it "how I made my millions."

Big money is already on the move. Don't be too late to the party—enter your email address below for 1 stock to own when the web goes dark.

[Ryan Ruck]

Now, not only do they get your money to buy food, they get double the money to buy "healthy" food.

Two For One: Subsidies Help Food Stamp Recipients Buy Fresh Food

October 4, 2014

The U.S. Department of Agriculture just announced that $31.5 million is now available as grants to programs that help make farm-fresh fruits and vegetables more affordable for families who rely on food stamps.

The Food Insecurity Nutrition Program is modeled on the Fair Food Network's Double Up Food Bucks initiative in Michigan and Wholesome Wave's Double Value Coupon program at 350 farmers markets across the country.

Both programs boost the purchasing power of SNAP, or food stamps, at farmers markets. If a SNAP recipient uses $10 of their benefits at a farm market, they get $20 dollars worth of produce. The USDA grants, which have to be matched by private donations, will provide the $10 subsidy.

Those dollars benefit both low-income consumers and local, small-scale farmers. Backers of such programs say that's good for public health and local communities. "Helping families purchase more fresh produce is clearly good for families' health, helps contribute to lower health costs for the country, and increases local food sales for family farmers," Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said in a statement.


The USDA also announced $52 million in grants to support organic farming and local and regional "food hubs." To illustrate what this means, Vilsack paid a visit to a Virginia farm operation (and USDA grantee) called Milton's Local Harvest, which calls itself a virtual marketplace. It connects local farmers with large-scale institutional purchasers of food who'd like to buy local but aren't set up to deal with lots of small farmers.

Both pots of money were created through the 2014 Farm Bill. "These new programs will not only empower low-income Americans to provide their families with more healthy fruits and vegetables, they will also help strengthen local economies by investing in local food systems and organic agriculture," wrote Michigan Sen. Debbie Stabenow in statement. Stabenow chairs the Senate's agriculture committee, and played a big role in creating the new programs.

Sales of locally produced food have expanded a lot over the last few years, and the USDA says this has led to new jobs. A 2011 USDA study concluded that produce growers supplying local and regional markets generate 13 full-time operator jobs for each million dollars in revenue earned, for a total of 61,000 jobs in 2008.

"Consumers are increasingly demanding more local and organic options. Investing in local and regional food systems supports the livelihoods of farmers and ranchers, especially smaller operations, while strengthening economies in communities across the country, " Vilsack said.

We sat down with the founder of Wholesome Wave, Michel Nischan, to chat about what these initiatives are likely to accomplish. He thinks they'll have a huge impact. SNAP purchases, he points out, add up to close to $80 billion a year. "We think that if we can shift a good chunk of that $80 billion towards local and regional farming, it can actually change the food system."

[Ryan Ruck]

[Ryan Ruck]

30,000 Somali Settlers in Minnesota Stressing Welfare System

March 1, 2015

The plus side of Somalis in Minnesota joining Islamic terrorist groups is that at least they’re off the welfare system. Armed Jihad may be cheaper than Welfare Jihad. (via Religion of Peace)

The State Department has helped to relocate tens of thousands of refugees from the war-torn African nation of Somalia to Minnesota, where they can take advantage of some of America’s most generous welfare and charity programs.

But the effort is having the unintended consequence of creating an enclave of immigrants with high unemployment that is both stressing the state’s safety net and creating a rich pool of potential recruiting targets for Islamist terror groups.

Or both at the same time.

Welfare is just Jizya money extracted from the infidels by the followers of Allah. Gotta pay for that Jihad somehow.

Overall, more than 30,000 Somalis live in the midwestern state comprising the nation’s largest concentration of Somali immigrants, according to U.S. Census data.

Since 2008, as many as 40 men from Minneapolis have joined Islamist groups…

Overall, the number of Somalis resettled in the state has more than tripled in four years, according to State Department statistics.

Keep on increasing the number of Somali settlers and the number of Somali terrorists will increase. The two figures are linked in a way that only political correctness can deny.

[Ryan Ruck]

Move over Obamaphone, here comes Obamanet!

F.C.C. Chief Seeks Broadband Plan to Aid the Poor

May 28, 2015

For 30 years, the federal government has helped millions of low-income Americans pay their phone bills, saying that telephone service is critical to summoning medical help, seeking work and, ultimately, climbing out of poverty. Now, the nation’s top communications regulator will propose offering those same people subsidized access to broadband Internet.

On Thursday, that regulator, Tom Wheeler, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, will circulate a plan to his fellow commissioners suggesting sweeping changes to a $1.7 billion subsidy program charged with ensuring that all Americans have affordable access to advanced telecommunications services, according to senior agency officials.

The effort is the F.C.C.’s strongest recognition yet that high-speed Internet access is as essential to economic well-being as good transportation and telephone service. Mr. Wheeler will propose potentially giving recipients a choice of phone service, Internet service or a mix of both, the officials said. He will also suggest new measures to curb fraud, a source of criticism in recent years.

While the plan is likely to secure the support of the F.C.C.’s Democratic majority in a vote next month, it is almost certain to also set off fierce debate in Washington. The subsidy program, Lifeline, has faced extensive scrutiny. And many of Mr. Wheeler’s previous actions, including his successful push to regulate broadband Internet as a public utility, have drawn indignation from opponents.

More than 12 million households now participate in Lifeline, which was created in 1985 by the Reagan administration to subsidize landline telephone service. In 2008, the program was extended to cover the cost of mobile phones. Enrollment rose sharply — as did abuse, with some households receiving more than their single allowed subsidy. To qualify, a household must have an income at or below 135 percent of the federal poverty line, or must participate in a program like Medicaid or food stamps.

Gene Kimmelman, who lobbied as a consumer advocate to create Lifeline, said the program was meant to keep people from having to choose between essentials like food, electricity and phone service. Now, he said, Internet access needed to be added to the list.

“Broadband is every bit as important today as plain old phone service was 30 years ago,” said Mr. Kimmelman, a former Justice Department official who is now chief executive of Public Knowledge, a consumer advocacy group.

Mr. Wheeler’s proposal is an effort to bridge the so-called digital divide, the ever-widening economic and social inequalities of those with access to technology and those without it. In 2000, 3 percent of Americans had broadband at home, according to Pew Research. In 2013, 70 percent did. But the adoption of broadband in low-income and minority households has not kept pace.

According to Pew data from 2013, the most recent year for which numbers are available, 54 percent of those making less than $30,000 a year have broadband, compared with 88 percent of those making more than $75,000. The same survey found that 53 percent of Hispanics and 64 percent of blacks in the United States have high-speed Internet at home, compared with 74 percent of whites.

For recipients like Sharell Harmon, a 23-year-old single mother from Elkins, W.Va., the Lifeline program has made a big difference.

“Without a phone, I couldn’t connect with my job, my kids’ doctors or their schools,” said Ms. Harmon, who works full time in construction while pursuing a college degree. “You don’t realize how many people you have to talk to until you can’t.”

Under her plan, she is entitled to 250 minutes of talk time and 1,000 text messages a month, limits she says she never comes close to crossing. But, Ms. Harmon said, she also needs high-speed Internet to feel fully connected and has struggled to pay her broadband bill.

“Everything is online these days,” said Ms. Harmon, who said she supported any effort to allow the subsidy to be applied to broadband. “I take classes online, do my schoolwork. My kids play math and phonics games.”

A vote on Mr. Wheeler’s proposal is expected on June 18, according to the senior agency officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were discussing a plan that had not yet been circulated among all five commissioners. If the plan wins majority approval, as expected, the antifraud measures would take effect soon after. The commission would then discuss the specifics of incorporating broadband into the program, and write rules to govern it. A final vote on the plan could come before the end of the year.

The Lifeline program offers each household a $9.25 monthly subsidy toward the cost of service; it was not until 2008, when the benefit was extended to prepaid mobile phones, which cost less than landlines, that some phone connections became fully free for Lifeline recipients. Mr. Wheeler is proposing setting service standards, which could include a specified number of mobile minutes and minimum broadband speed. Debate over just how far a $9.25 credit can go in covering the cost of broadband is sure to arise.

The plan will almost certainly face strong criticism. Some Republicans recently expressed skepticism that the F.C.C. has fully rooted out abuse from the program. In April 2014, the Justice Department indicted three people on charges that they defrauded the agency of $32 million in false Lifeline claims from September 2009 to March 2011.

In 2012, the F.C.C. instituted stricter safeguards, including the establishment of a database that crosschecked that no household received more than one subsidy. In March, the Government Accountability Office issued a report evaluating the effect of those changes. It said that the number of participating households had fallen to about 12 million in 2014 from about 18 million in 2012, suggesting more households were being held to one subsidy.

“The reforms had some impact, but whether they’ve reduced all of the fraud, we can’t tell,” said Michael E. Clements, an acting director at the G.A.O. who helped write the report. Mr. Clements said that of the 11 primary reforms the F.C.C. had said it would make in 2012, four had yet to be completed, according to his office’s recent review.

In response to the report, Michael O’Rielly, a Republican commissioner on the F.C.C., called the Lifeline program “inefficient, costly and in serious need of review.”

Mr. Wheeler’s push for new safeguards may be partly an effort to pre-emptively answer the program’s critics. Service providers currently must verify participants’ eligibility for Lifeline, and under the new plan, they would be required to keep proof of that eligibility and make it available if audited, senior F.C.C. officials said.

There has been speculation in Washington for months about changes to the program. A Senate subcommittee hearing is already scheduled for June 2 to examine its effectiveness and ways to prevent further abuse. The office of the senator who called the hearing, Roger Wicker, Republican of Mississippi, did not respond to repeated requests for comment.

“The program has been under attack, and the F.C.C. is currently facing incredible political pressure,” said Michael Scurato, policy director of the National Hispanic Media Coalition. “It wasn’t always this contentious to make sure our neighbors in this country are connected to communications of the day.”

[Ryan Ruck]

Corner Stores Turned EBT Cards Into Cash For Drugs, Wired Profit To Yemen, Authorities Say

June 3, 2015

A couple of steaks shoplifted at a Gardendale Walmart three months ago led to the biggest food stamp fraud investigation in Jefferson County's history, and launched 11 simultaneous raids this morning at convenience stores countywide.

Led by the Jefferson County District Attorney's Office, teams of law enforcement officers met at 5 a.m. for a briefing and then fanned out across the county beginning at 6:50 a.m. The officers and agents were armed with 242 arrest warrants and plans to arrest 17 suspects.

All 17 suspects were in custody by mid-morning, and investigators already today have filed for forfeiture and condemnation of those 11 stores, which totals more than $1 million in assets.

"This is huge for us,'' said Jefferson County District Attorney Brandon Falls.

The massive probe, dubbed Operation T-bone, targeted those they say have been cheating the food stamp system to the tune of hundreds of thousands of dollars and sending at least some of the profits via wire transfer to Yemen.

The District Attorney's Office, the FBI, the Gardendale Police Department, the USDA, the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the Secret Service all worked together on the investigation. Birmingham police, the U.S. Marshals, the Internal Revenue Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Walmart Global Operations, Hoover police, Pelham police, the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office SWAT team and the Alabama Law Enforcement Agency helped with today's raid in a specially-formed task force.

At the heart of the operation are Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, a government-issued debit card that replaced food stamps. There are more than 900,000 people who get government assistance through the EBT card in Alabama each year, and they are allowed to use the cards for food, non-alcoholic beverages, and other basic needs, mostly through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).

The investigation began in February when Gardendale police arrested a man for shoplifting steaks and some other items at Walmart in that city. When they interviewed the suspect, he said he was boosting the items to give to two convenience stores, and he named the stores, authorities said.

Investigators contacted Walmart's Global Investigations Unit in an effort to let them know they would like to attempt to sell property represented to be stolen to those stores, but when they told Walmart the nature of their probe, they learned the conglomerate was already investigating those two convenience stores for EBT fraud. Simply put, they learned, the store owners and managers were using EBT cards that did not belong to them to buy goods in bulk to sell at their stores.

Falls said they learned owners of numerous convenience stores in the Birmingham area have been buying EBT cards from those who have been issued the cards for roughly 50 cents on the dollar. In other words, if someone had $150 on their EBT card, the store owners and managers would buy those cards for $75.

The government reloads money onto those EBT cards monthly. Once the store owners and managers bought the cards, they would then go to a wholesaler where they would buy goods and bring them back to their stores to sell at a further inflated price. In return, the person who sold their EBT card now had cash to buy items not allowed to be purchased under the government system, such as alcohol, tobacco and drugs.

"They're selling their cards to get those things,'' Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Raulston said.

"Part of the problem, in my opinion, is now they don't have their food stamps card so they don't have the money to take care of their families or themselves,'' Raulston said. "I think it's a huge cycle of remaining impoverished."

"One of the biggest issues is they're marking up these items in the stores and charging more than what retailers would charge and they're in the middle of food deserts with no transportation so they don't have a lot of options,'' Raulston said. "It's not only the EBT card beneficiaries, but you've got the working poor paying marked up prices. They're getting ripped off."

How big is the problem? "It is enormous. It is pervasive,'' Raulston said. "We actually had to cut off the number we were going to prosecute this round, and this will be an ongoing investigation and prosecution for our office."

"It's apparently rampant,'' she said. "If you just wander into the community and say something about a beneficiary card, someone will sell you one. It's everywhere."

Those arrested in today's raids are: Jowher Almnasoob, Abdulrahman Alqublani, Ismail Hassan Elnaham, Saleh Yahya Rowaid, Ramzi Jowher Ali Almansoob, Mujahed Jowher Ali Almansoob, Bashir Abosaleh Mohamed, Fouad Zamzami, Muneer Zindani, Sufyan Saleh, Mansoor Almansoob, Audrey Morris, Jerry Brown, Keith Lee Lucas, Travis Wayne Holmes, Murad Nooruddin and Mable Olympia Kirksey.

They were arrested on charges including public assistance fraud, fraudulent use of a credit card and theft of property, which are felonies. All of those arrested are U.S. citizens, Falls said.

The following stores were raided and now will be subject to forfeiture and condemnation: Graymont Grocery on Graymont Avenue; R&S Supermarket, 326 6th Ave. South; Nana's Supermarket, 400 1st Street South; 3rd Avenue Package, 1501 3rd Ave. West; Bessemer Market, 2931 Dartmouth Avenue; 40th Street Grocery, 1200 40th Street; Christy's Texaco, 201 6th Ave. S.W.; Uptown Grocery, 1531 12th Court North; Triple M Food Mart, 1546 FL Shuttlesworth Drive; R&F Inc. Convenience Store, 5612 1st Ave. South; and Munchies-Avondale, 4100 5th Ave. South.

Falls late in 2014 announced the formation of a new team in his office to concentrate on white-collar crime and public corruption in the Birmingham area. His motivation: a jump in thefts and fraud schemes by workers in the government and private sectors.

Today's raids were the culmination of the unit's largest investigation to date. "This is the first time since I've been district attorney,'' Falls said, "that we've been involved from the beginning in all aspects of the investigation.''

Chris Clarke, a former Gardendale detective who is now an investigator with the district attorney's office, led the investigation in this case. "This is the largest cooperative investigation I have ever been a part of,'' Clark said. "Every agency did anything they could to help and we look forward to continuing this effort into the future."