"Keep Working...

[American Patriot]

Cool. How can I get those benefits anyway? Where do I apply?

I'd like to buy beer with mine

[Ryan Ruck]

Maine: Welfare Recipients Outnumber Taxpayers

I do not usually post much about Charleston Daily Mail editorials because our philosophy is to offer readers mainly local editorials which they cannot find elsewhere. But this one editorial pointed out something that is happening in Maine, and as we all know from grade-school history, so goes Maine, so goes the country.

The number of people who pay state income taxes in Maine now outnumbers the number of people who receive means-tested benefits from the state. Either we are overdoing entitlements, or else we are in Charles dickens England.

The editorial, reprinted with permission:

Paul LePage, the Republican governor of Maine, mentioned an uncomfortable truth in a radio address this month: Maine has more welfare recipients than income tax payers.

Democrats challenged the accuracy of this assertion.

The Bangor Daily News fact-checked LePage and discovered that 445,074 Mainers paid state income tax, while 453,194 received some sort of state aid.

In Maine, Medicaid, welfare, food stamps and subsidies for education have a combined enrollment of 660,000.

Adjusting for overlap reduces the number to 453,194 – or 8,120 more people on state assistance than there are state income taxpayers in Maine.

What is situation in West Virginia?

Nationally, only 53 percent of the nation lives in a household that pays federal income tax.

While just about every worker has taxes withheld, many people have the entire amount refunded at tax time. With child tax credits and earned income tax credits, some people get more money from filing a return than they paid in.

But 30 percent of Americans live in households that receive some sort of public assistance that is means tested, meaning a person must have an income low enough to qualify for the aid.

The data is from the U.S. Census Bureau for 2009. Some programs have expanded since then as the economy is growing very slowly.

That means 92 million people are on public assistance in one or more of its forms. That includes 33 million children – or 45 percent of all the people under 18.

Medicaid is the top government program, covering 74 million people. That is nearly one in four Americans.

The next most used public assistance program is food stamps, which covers 34 million Americans or one in nine people.

Almost 20 million people live on cash welfare and 11 million live in public housing.

Some policymakers have encouraged dependence on government programs and discouraged job creation.

Producing more dependents than taxpayers is a formula for disaster.

[Ryan Ruck]

Florida trying to get more welfare reforms passed.

Of course, even though Michelle Obama decries junk food as the bane of America, keeping EBT users from buying junk food is somehow a bad thing.

Bill: No Snacks For Food Stamp Users

Video at the above link

Mae Walker uses food stamps to buy what she needs at her neighborhood market.

She likes the freedom of choosing her favorite snacks and is frustrated lawmakers might limit her options.

"Cupcakes, soda, candy -- that's food, so why should they do something like that?" Walker said.

Lawmakers are considering a bill to prevent poorer people from purchasing unhealthy foods with government assistance. As a result, snack foods may be stripped from the list of groceries people on food stamps can buy at the store.

The bill has already passed through a House subcommittee.

Its goal is to promote health and well-being. But store owners who sell the items say it's unfair to control what shoppers can buy.

"By it being unhealthy or healthy, that's up to the people to decide," store manager Tony Khazal said. "I don't think it's up to the government."

In Florida, food stamps are distributed by the Department of Children and Families, which said the program is already designed strictly to help needy families.

"Right now in Duval County, one out of every three children are being helped by food stamps," DCF spokesman John Harrell said. "We're talking about the necessities of life here. If not for this program, then children and families might go hungry."

According to DCF, the number of food stamp recipients has dramatically increased in Duval County over the last five years.

In 2006, just more than 100,000 people were receiving benefits. Now, that number has more than doubled to about 230,000 people.

There have always been restrictions on certain items that are not considered food, such as tobacco, alcohol or vitamins.

Those like Walker say it's unfair to take junk foods off the table, too.

If the bill passes, it's up to the federal government to decide whether or not to allow the state to put the restrictions in place.

Among the items some lawmakers would like to ban are soda, chips and sweets. For example, a cupcake is 180 calories, contains 7 grams of fat, 29 grams of carbohydrates and 240 milligrams of sodium. Its main ingredients are sugar, high fructose corn syrup and chocolate.

[American Patriot]

They wanna outlaw sugar now, did you know that? You will have to have a prescription from a doctor for it soon.

[Ryan Ruck]

'It's Okay Because I'm Not Working: Woman, 24, Who Just Won $1 MILLION Lottery And Bought A New Home All Cash Is STILL Collecting Welfare

March 6, 2012


Government assisted: Amanda Clayton, 24, still claims $200 a month in food stamps despite winning $1 million on a state lottery last year

A young woman who won $1m on a state lottery has sparked outrage after she admitted to still claiming benefits.

Amanda Clayton of Lincoln Park, Michigan still claims $200 a month in food stamps and despite paying cash for a new home and car said, 'I'm still struggling.'

The 24-year-old added that she is entitled to the welfare handout as she has two homes to run.

'I feel that it's okay because I mean, I have no income and I have bills to pay,' she said. 'I have two houses.'

Clayton won the $1 million in October after paying $10 for a series of tickets in the Michigan State Lottery.

She posed proudly with a giant check for the six figure sum and told friends the jackpot would change her life.

But after a tip off that she was still claiming benefits a local TV station followed her around and filmed her with a secret camera.


Expectations: She expected her food stamp eligibility would be cut off but it wasn't because she's still unemployed and after paying taxes and deciding on a lump sum she has been left with just over $500,000

Clayton was filmed going into a store and paying for goods using her Bridge card to pay for her items.

When confronted about continuing to claim welfare Clayton said she wasn't doing anything wrong.

'I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn't, I thought maybe it was okay because I'm not working,' she told WDIV in Detroit.

Clayton said after paying taxes and deciding on a lump sum she was left with just over $500,000.


Caught: A local TV station followed the woman around, catching her using her card for groceries and hiring a U-Haul to move items from one house to the now second

She was filmed outside her Lincoln Park home where a U-Haul van was waiting to take her possessions to a new home she had bought with cash. Clayton also had a new car.

Local politicians are pushing for a change in the law that prevents lottery winners from still being able to claim state benefits.

Republican Dale Zorn, who is sponsoring a bill to ban lottery winners from getting food stamps, said: 'Public assistance should be given to those in need of public assistance, not those that have found riches.

The bill has already passed the House, and Zorn is hoping it will pass the Senate soon.


Laws: Local politicians are pushing for a change in the law that prevents lottery winners from still being able to claim state benefits but until then, what Clayton is doing is legal


Deserving: Standing outside her new house, pictured, Clayton said she will keep using her Bridge card until the state cuts her off, saying she deserves it and is also struggling being without a job and having now two houses

'We need to have the lottery commission notify the state so that state can cross check those who are on assistance,' Zorn said.

There are two different bills—one in the House, another in the Senate that have each passed which would require lottery winners of prizes of $1,000 or more to have their names cross checked with the Department of Human Services.

Clayton said she will keep using her Bridge card until the state cuts her off and said she deserves it.

'It's just hard, you know. I'm struggling,' she said.

[American Patriot]

"I'm struggling"... fucking bitch. wait. No I might have to apologize or something. Fuck it, she's a fucking bitch.

I am struggling, I don't make 100 grand a year, I'm about to have to sell all my shit to buy a boat. I think I need to go on welfare to help make ends meet. I mean you know, I have a house, three vehicles and a boat to maintain. I've got BILLS God Damn it....

Fucking bitch.

[Malsua]

What a miserable twat.

[American Patriot]

This "Keep Working...." idea is certainly there on the Left. I mean I've heard the maggots from Occupy actually yell things like "Get back to work and pay your taxes!" and "Go back to work so you can support us!"

These people know what they are doing. They are doing it deliberately. They are trying to completely destroy capitalism.

[MinutemanCO]

I'm disgusted with our people. Plain and simple. We've reaped what we've sown and we've sown to our own destruction. The only thing left for us, barring a major shift in public thinking, is to purge the bad, the lazy, the entitled from the hard working, subsisting, striving, surviving Americans. The method? It remains to be seen.

[American Patriot]

Well... I plan to join the "Not working" crowd soon enough.

Does that help any?

[Ryan Ruck]

I'm disgusted with our people. Plain and simple. We've reaped what we've sown and we've sown to our own destruction. The only thing left for us, barring a major shift in public thinking, is to purge the bad, the lazy, the entitled from the hard working, subsisting, striving, surviving Americans. The method? It remains to be seen.

Stock up and keep your powder dry.

[Malsua]

Heck with just keeping the powder dry. Keep the cartridges dry in US military ammo cans.

[vector7]

Untouchable Pensions May Be Tested in California


Jim Wilson/The New York Times
The Stockton Arena in Stockton, Calif. The city is in mediation with creditors that will determine whether it will file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy.

By MARY WILLIAMS WALSH

Published: March 16, 2012

When the city manager of troubled Stockton, Calif., had to tell city council members why it was on track to become the biggest American city yet to go bankrupt, it took hours to get through the list.

David Paul Morris/Bloomberg News

Stockton, Calif., which must pay $30 million in annual pension costs, which it is told it cannot cut even in bankruptcy.

There was the free health care for retirees, the unpaid parking tickets, the revenue bonds without enough revenue to pay them. On it went, a grim drumbeat of practically every fiscal malady imaginable, except an obvious one: municipal pensions. Stockton is spending some $30 million a year to pay for them, but it has less than 70 cents set aside for every dollar of benefits its workers expect.

Some public pension experts think they know why pensions were not on the city manager’s list. They see the hidden hand of California’s giant state pension system, known as Calpers, which administers hundreds of billions of dollars in retirement obligations for municipalities across the state.

Calpers does not want cities like Stockton going back on their promises, and it argues that the state Constitution bars any reduction in pensions — and not just for people who have already retired. State law also forbids cuts in the pensions that today’s public workers expect to earn in the future, Calpers says, even in cases of severe fiscal distress. Workers at companies have no comparable protection.

Stockton is in the midst of a mediation process with its creditors that will determine by the end of June whether it will file for Chapter 9 bankruptcy, which would allow the city to negotiate reductions in its debt in court.

For Calpers, the prospect of a California city in Federal Bankruptcy Court portends a potential test of the constitutional mandate that federal law trumps state laws — in particular, the state laws that protect public workers’ pensions in California. Such a challenge could blow a hole in what experts consider the most airtight pension protections anywhere.

“Obviously, what Calpers wants is that it doesn’t come up in the process, which I think is ridiculous,” said David A. Skeel Jr., a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who writes frequently on bankruptcy. “My view is that even the California Constitution is subsidiary to federal bankruptcy law.”

As the United States population ages and more and more public workers qualify for retirement, the cost of their pensions is growing fast, turning into a major drag on many local governments’ finances. The pension contributions that cities must make every year are rising, but their revenue, which often depends on property taxes, is not keeping up. Taxed-out residents, many of whom have lost their own pensions in the private sector, are unwilling to pay more. In tax-averse California in particular, where every tax increase must be put to a vote, officials are running out of options and some are considering bankruptcy.

Bankruptcy in America is a collective process, where creditors of a distressed company or municipality come together under court oversight and negotiate a plan to share the losses equitably, for the sake of the greater good. Some creditors may stand more toward the front of the line and others at the back, but there isn’t generally one big creditor that gets paid in full without having to get in line at all.

Yet that’s what Calpers appears to be doing.

“They will probably say it’s a statutory right and it can’t be changed by a bankruptcy court,” said James E. Spiotto, a Chapter 9 specialist with the firm of Chapman & Cutler. “I think it’s still subject to some question.”

A spokeswoman for Stockton’s city manager, Connie Cochran, said she could not discuss the city’s dealings with Calpers, citing the confidential mediation process.

When a company with a pension plan goes bankrupt in Chapter 11, it typically stops making most of its required pension contributions, just as it can stop paying many other bills. Some companies, like Northwest Airlines, even declare bankruptcy the day before a pension contribution is due, to save the cash.

Chapter 11 also permits companies to shed their pension obligations completely, if they can convince the bankruptcy judge that’s the only way they can restructure. The federal government, which insures traditional company pensions, then takes over the defunct plan and pays retirees their benefits, up to statutory limits.

[vector7]

Recovery In Action: Nearly $300 Billion Student Debt In Default

Tim Cavanaugh | March 25, 2012

You may want to hold off on that home purchase/new business start/auto purchase/flat-screen TV/evening out/vente cup of coffee.
You keep hearing that economic recovery is gathering strength. (Which in practice translates into record numbers of people on food stamps, fewer people working for a living, and a drop in both new and existing home sales.) But here’s a big D-Minus that could bring down the whole economy’s GPA:
According to the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, outstanding student loan debt now tops $1 trillion. And more than a quarter of that debt is delinquent. Student loan ombudsman Rohit Chopra claims the CFPB is addressing the problem by issuing work sheets, “providing tools,” and even centralizing control:

At the CFPB, we are attacking the problem on multiple fronts. Working with the Department of Education, we launched a Know Before You Owe project to solicit input on a “financial aid shopping sheet.” The sheet should help students understand the debt implications of their college choice. We are supervising private student loan providers to ensure they comply with Federal consumer financial protection laws. We are providing tools for borrowers to help them navigate their student loan repayment options. And we set up a student loan complaint system to help ensure that private student lenders and servicers are responsive to potential mistakes and problems that borrowers encounter.

Before we opened our doors, these duties were spread across a myriad of federal agencies. Bringing these functions under one roof means we can better ensure that financial institutions operating outside of the traditional banking system are subject to the same rules of the road as all of you.

At The New American, Brian Koenig suggests all that bureaucratic shuffling won’t actually solve the problem:

The student debt debacle, which some experts are labeling the "next debt bomb," involves a coterie of malefactors. On the surface, the culprits entail a stale economy, rising interest rates, and persistently high unemployment. Moreover, CFPB officials contend that such debt is rising because young Americans are returning to college simply to avoid the anemic labor market. These seem to be the logical — and more politically safe — explanations.

But despite what Washington’s entitlement-touting bureaucrats attest, that’s not the end of the story. It encompasses a much more complex plotline.
Predictably, government deserves much of the blame, as its intervention in the higher-education market has spawned a seemingly irreversible distortion that has led to increased tuition costs, and consequently, a monumental rise in student loan debt.

Liberal professors and Occupy Wall Street protesters neglect to realize that their entitlement-based ideology — which affirms that "every American is entitled to a Harvard degree" — is the transgressor.

Meanwhile, a bankruptcy attorneys group says the pile of debt for worthless diplomas will suck up spending in other parts of the economy. And Fitch suggests about $270 billion in student loans are delinquent by a month or more:

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently reported that as many as 27% of all student loan borrowers are more than 30 days past due. Recent estimates mark outstanding student loans at $900 billion- $1 trillion. Fitch believes that the recent increase in past-due and defaulted student loans presents a risk to investors in private student loan ABS, but not those in ABS trusts backed by FFELP loans.

Reason has been watching the student debt bubble for a while. John Stossel and I have said a diploma isn't really worth the money. Mike Riggs asks who will think of the unemployed puppeteers? And here are three reasons not to bail out college deadbeats:

[vector7]

Obama On Older Workers' Unemployment: Start your own Business

The Huffington Post | By Arthur Delaney
Posted: 05/24/2012 1:45 pm Updated: 05/24/2012 1:45 pm



President Barack Obama acknowledged in an interview published Thursday that older workers who lose their jobs have a harder time getting back to work than their younger counterparts do.

"When you lose your job in your 50s, it's a lot tougher, because a lot of employers say to themselves, 'Well, I might have to pay those people more.

I may have to retrain them. I may not keep them as long. Their health care costs may be higher,'" Obama said in an interview with AARP The Magazine.

Obama continued, "So what we've tried to do is to make sure that retraining is linked to jobs that we know are going to be in high demand."

In his most recent State of the Union, President Obama touted his administration's efforts to improve and simplify the government's job training efforts. In that speech, he also acknowledged the difficulty older workers face when they lose their jobs.

While the unemployment rate for people 55 and older is much lower than the overall national average, workers older than 55 are much more likely to be out of work for longer. The average jobless spell for an unemployed older worker was 60 weeks in April, compared with 38.5 weeks for people younger than 55, according to AARP’s Public Policy Institute. Many older jobless blame age discrimination for their predicament.

HuffPost readers: Out of work and in a tough spot? Tell us about it -- email arthur@huffingtonpost.com. Please include your phone number if you're willing to do an interview.

Obama also suggested older unemployed workers might try launching their own businesses if they can't get hired.

"Last week I was at Lorain County Community College in Ohio," he said.

"What they've been able to do is to take older workers who have a lot of skills and training, but maybe for jobs that no longer exist, and specifically shape their training experience to an industry or a job that is hiring now.

The other thing is that for workers over 50 who've got a wealth of experience, some may want to start their own business. And we've actually put more financing through the Small Business Administration."

[Ryan Ruck]

Here's a thought. How about not killing jobs in the first place douche nozzle!

[Ryan Ruck]

Make no mistake these "tax credits" are nothing more than welfare via the tax code.

Sen. Reid Blocks Ban on $4 Billion Illegal Immigrant Tax Credit Loophole

May 24, 2012

A bill that would close an IRS tax credit loophole that allows the IRS to funnel over $4 billion to illegal immigrants is being held up by Sen. Harry Reid (D-NV).

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), a senior member of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Ranking Member of the Senate Budget Committee, has been vocal in his disdain for the blatant misuse of taxpayer monies:

I’m disappointed that the Majority Leader objected to our effort today to prevent billions in tax credits from being wrongly sent to illegal immigrants claiming they have dependents, many of whom do not live in the US. This should not be a partisan issue: it is wrong for the government to use Americans’ tax dollars to directly subsidize illegality, especially at a time when our nation is spending so much money we don’t have.

The $4 billion wasted on the illegal immigrant tax credit loophole is “roughly the same amount the President proposes to raise annually by instituting the new Warren Buffett Tax,” says Sen. Sessions. The Alabama senator also notes that it's the amount needed to fund the shortfall in the highway bill and nearly all of the student loan bill.

[Ryan Ruck]

Peterborough, New Hampshire Clerk Says She Was Fired Over EBT Cards

Clerk wouldn't accept EBT cards to pay for cigarettes

June 26, 2012

Jackie Whiton, a six-year employee of the Big Apple, said she was fired after a dispute with her boss over accepting EBT cards as payment for cigarettes.

"I gave two weeks' notice and tried to bow out gracefully," said Whiton, of Antrim. "But the next day, I was fired."

Whiton said she declined to accept an EBT card as payment for a package of cigarettes. The Electronic Benefit Transfer cards are used by state benefits departments to issue cash to recipients, and they can be used like debit cards.

Whiton said her boss told her she can't refuse to sell beer and cigarettes to customers, because, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, EBT or state assistance money can be used to purchase tobacco products.

DHHS said 14,000 households received monthly cash benefits from the state in the past year, compared to more than 56,000 households that received food stamp assistance, which is restricted by federal law from being used on items such as cigarettes.

"No such law was ever imposed on cash benefits, and therefore we don't have the authority to restrict how people use it," said Terry Smith of DHHS. "It is a moot point in that anybody can go to an ATM, withdraw cash and spend it invisibly anyway."

The state has distributed more than $36 million in cash benefits this year. Smith said the EBT system saved the state millions of dollars in the first year it was enacted. Previously, recipients were issued checks, which could also be cashed and spent on anything.

"I just feel the taxpayer should be aware of where their money is going," Whiton said.

New Hampshire officials said no state in the country has restrictions on how cash benefits can be spent. They said enforcing restrictions would require an expensive infrastructure to be created.

There is non-embedable video at the link.

[Ryan Ruck]

USDA Suggests Food Stamp Parties, Games To Increase Participation

June 27, 2012

While spending on the food stamp program has increased 100 percent under President Barack Obama, the government continues to push more Americans to enroll in the welfare program.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has embraced entire promotional campaigns designed to encourage eligible Americans to participate in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps.

A pamphlet currently posted at the USDA website encourages local SNAP offices to throw parties as one way to get potentially eligible seniors to enroll in the program.

“Throw a Great Party. Host social events where people mix and mingle,” the agency advises. “Make it fun by having activities, games, food, and entertainment, and provide information about SNAP. Putting SNAP information in a game format like BINGO, crossword puzzles, or even a ‘true/false’ quiz is fun and helps get your message across in a memorable way.”

The agency’s most recent outreach effort targets California, Texas, North Carolina, South Carolina, Ohio and the New York metro area with radio ads.

The ads have been running since March and are scheduled to continue through the end of June — at a cost of $2.5 million — $3 million, CNN Money reported Monday.

CNN Money further noted that the USDA began running paid radio ads in 2004, under President George W. Bush, who oversaw a 63 percent increase in average food stamp participation.

In the 1970s, one out of every 50 Americans was on food stamps. Today one our of every seven receive the benefit. After the recession, the ratio is expected to hover around one out of every nine, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Despite the high rate of food stamp participation, the USDA has numerous blueprints posted on their website aimed at getting more people to enroll in SNAP. A 2009 State Outreach Plan Guidance explains why the agency believes states should adopt strategies to get more people on the rolls:

Outreach Can Help Increase Participation in SNAP Resulting in Multiple Benefits for Participants, States, and Communities: SNAP is the cornerstone of the nation’s nutrition safety net and an investment in our future. SNAP offers the opportunity for improved nutrition and progress toward economic self-sufficiency for participants who become stronger members of the community. However, too many low income people, especially seniors, working people, and legal immigrants, who are eligible for SNAP do not participate and thus forego assistance that could stretch their food dollars and help improve their nutrition.

According to the USDA, greater food stamp usage can be an economic plus for states and communities.

“Every $5 in new SNAP benefits generates $9.20 in an additional community spending,” the USDA contends in their outreach guidance. “If the national participation rate rose five percentage points, 1.9 million more low-income people would have an additional $1.3 billion in benefits per year to use to purchase healthy food and $2.5 billion total in new economic activity would be generated nationwide.”

During debate on the 2012 farm bill earlier this month, Senate Republicans pushed for amendments aimed at reducing the cost and participation in the food stamp program.

The Democratically controlled Senate voted down Republican efforts — denying amendments targeting the swelling rolls that were introduced by Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul, and others from Alabama Republican Sen. Jeff Sessions — arguing they could reduce access to those in need.

[American Patriot]

People already go out and use those cards to buy a shitload of groceries, or other things, then turn around and hand that stuff over to people for CASH. That way, they can get the benefit of using the cash to buy their fucking drugs.

It's a well known money laundering scheme and no one does SHIT to stop it.