” The USDA does confirm, however, that an average of 1.37 million people received food stamps in Puerto Rico each month in fiscal year 2012. The island, which is a U.S. territory, has a population of 3.7 million, which means that 37% of Puerto Ricans get food stamps from Uncle Sam. Though the figure of 47.7 million in the U.S. shatters records, it still marks only 15.2% of the nation’s population of 313 million.”
–
” There has been no shortage of dire warnings about the mounting US national debt, but President Obama is now offering a different assessment: no big deal.
“We don’t have an immediate crisis in terms of debt,” President Obama said in an exclusive interview with George Stephanopoulos for “Good Morning America.” “In fact, for the next 10 years, it’s gonna be in a sustainable place.”
It’s an assessment that will throw cold water on the latest attempt to achieve a so-called grand bargain to reduce the deficit. After all, a grand bargain would require excruciatingly difficult decisions for both sides – for Republicans, it would mean raising taxes, and for Democrats, cutting future spending on cherished programs like Social Security and Medicare. If there is no crisis, why would either side do it?
So, what happens if this latest effort to reach a deficit agreement falls through? Once again, the president’s answer was, essentially, no big deal.
“Ultimately, it may be that the differences are just too wide” to get a deal, President Obama said. “That won’t create a crisis. It just means that we will have missed an opportunity.”
—-
Do You Live In A Death Spiral State
” Don’t buy a house in a state where private sector workers are outnumbered by folks dependent on government.
Thinking about buying a house? Or a municipal bond? Be careful where you put your capital. Don’t put it in a state at high risk of a fiscal tailspin.
Eleven states make our list of danger spots for investors. They can look forward to a rising tax burden, deteriorating state finances and an exodus of employers. The list includes California, New York, Illinois and Ohio, along with some smaller states like New Mexico and Hawaii.”
If your career takes you to Los Angeles or Chicago, don’t buy a house. Rent.
” This story is about a municipality in Sweden, but it could be about any number of countries in Europe, and for that matter it could also be about the United States.
Muslim immigration leads to high costs in violence and welfare, and the elderly end up suffering as all the money goes to pay for integration course for violent Muslim teens and their father and his four wives and their nineteen kids.
The money has to go somewhere and the social safety net paid into by the natives is embezzled, hijacked and looted to pay for the medical and criminal expenses of the Islamic colonists and settlers.”
” A prominent Muslim cleric in the United Kingdom reportedly urged a group of fellow Muslims to collect government benefits as a “jihad seeker’s allowance,” saying non-Muslims who work 9-5 jobs will end up “committing suicide” at the end of their lives when they realize it wasn’t worth anything.
Sun News secretly filmed the man’s remarks at three different meetings where he said, among other things, that it is natural for Muslims to take money from the kuffar (derogatory term for non-believer), that Prime Minister Cameron and President Obama are the devil, and that Islam is taking over Europe.
He explained the benefits of not working (all subsequent emphasis added):
“You find people are busy working the whole of their life. They wake up at 7 o’clock. They go to work at 9 o’clock. They work for eight, nine hours a day. They come home at 7 o’clock, watch EastEnders, sleep, and they do that for 40 years of their life. That is called slavery.
“And at the end of their life they realize their pension isn’t going to pay out anything, the mortgage isn’t going to pay out anything. Basically they are going to lose everything, commit suicide. What kind of a life is that, honestly? That is the life of kuffar (non-believer)…”
” What’s that Liberals? You don’t want to let some Republican politician tell you how bad the budget looks? Okay, then let the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office Director tell you.”
” The legal prohibition on new immigrants becoming primarily reliant on government assistance for subsistence — or public charges — is never enforced, Chris Crane, an ICE agent and president of the ICE agent’s union told reporters on a conference call Thursday afternoon.
“It is certainly part of what we are supposed to be doing, it is definitely a federal statute within the [Immigration and Nationality Act],” he said when asked about the enforcement of the century-old public charge restriction. “However I will say this: that in my career, I have never seen or heard of the charge being applied in any case to anyone.”
Crane — whose union is in the midst of a lawsuit against Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, ICE Director John Morton, and U.S. Customs and Immigration Services Director Alejandro Mayorkas over the administration’s changes to immigration policy — noted that even officers who have been in the agency longer than his ten years have told him they have never seen or heard it employed.”
” Young people overwhelmingly supported President Obama in both his elections in the hope that he might make their lives better.
But over at BuzzFeed, Ben Smith has written an insightful piece, “Obama prepares to screw his base,” explaining how young people will bear a disproportionate share of the costs of ObamaCare.
My major quibble with Smith’s piece? Obama isn’t preparing to screw young people. He and other politicians have been doing it for years.
Obamacare is an obvious example. A central tenet of the plan and the purpose of the individual mandate is to shift costs from older, sicker people to younger, healthier people. Unsurprisingly, Health Care costs are projected to nearly triple under Obamacare for Americans under the age of 27.
It’s also no surprise that AARP, which Smith called the “implacable lobby for retired people,” has been “energetically making the case that young people should pay up.” “
Illustration By David Horsey
” The U.S. government ( Taxpayers ) spent about $2.2 billion last year to provide phones to low-income Americans, but a Wall Street Journal review of the program shows that a large number of those who received the phones haven’t proved they are eligible to receive them.
The Lifeline program—begun in 1984 to ensure that poor people aren’t cut off from jobs, families and emergency services—is funded by charges that appear on the monthly bills of every landline and wireless-phone customer. Payouts under the program have shot up from $819 million in 2008, as more wireless carriers have persuaded regulators to let them offer the service.
A review of five top recipients of Lifeline support conducted by the FCC for the Journal showed that 41% of their more than six million subscribers either couldn’t demonstrate their eligibility or didn’t respond to requests for certification.
Suspecting that many of the new subscribers were ineligible, the Federal Communications Commission tightened the rules last year and required carriers to verify that existing subscribers were eligible. The agency estimated 15% of users would be weeded out, but far more were dropped.
The carriers—AT&T T +0.62% Inc.; Telrite Corp.; Tag Mobile USA; Verizon Communications VZ -0.05% Inc.; and the Virgin Mobile USA unit of Sprint Nextel Corp. S +1.04% —accounted for 34% of total Lifeline subscribers last May. Two of the other largest providers, TracFone Wireless Inc. and Nexus Communications Inc., asked the FCC to keep their counts confidential. Results for the full program weren’t available.
The program is open to people who meet federal poverty guidelines or are on food stamps, Medicaid or other assistance programs, and only one Lifeline subscriber is allowed per household.
The program, which is administered by the nonprofit Universal Service Administrative Co., has grown rapidly as wireless carriers persuaded regulators to let people use the program for cellphone service. It pays carriers $9.25 a customer per month toward free or discounted wireless service.
Americans pay an average of $2.50 a month per household to fund a number of subsidized communications programs, including Lifeline.”
The aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN-69) USS George H.W. Bush (CVN-77), USS Enterprise (CVN-65), USS Harry S. Truman (CVN-75), and USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) are in port at Naval Station Norfolk, Va. US Navy Photo
” The U.S. Navy will delay the refueling of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN-72) for an unknown period because of the uncertain fiscal environment due to the ongoing legislative struggle, the service told Congress in a Friday message obtained by USNI News.
Lincoln was scheduled to be moved to Huntington Ingalls Industries’ (HII) Newport News Shipyard later this month to begin the 4-year refueling and complex overhaul (RCOH) of the ship.
“This delay is due to uncertainty in the Fiscal Year 2013 appropriations bill, both in the timing and funding level available for the first full year of the contract,” the message said.
“CVN-72 will remain at Norfolk Naval Base where the ships force personnel will continue to conduct routine maintenance until sufficient funding is received for the initial execution of the RCOH.” “
” The United States could lose its top credit rating for the second time from a leading credit agency if there’s a delay in raising the country’s debt ceiling, Fitch Ratings warned Tuesday.
Congress has to increase the country’s debt limit, which effectively rules how much debt the U.S. can have, by March 1 or face a potential default. There are fears that the debate will deteriorate into the squabbling and political brinkmanship that marked the last effort to raise the ceiling in the summer of 2011. The U.S. Treasury Department warned then that it had nearly reached a point where it would be unable “to meet our commitments securely.”
If Fitch does move to downgrade the US, it will join Standard & Poor’s, which was so concerned by the dysfunctional 2011 debate that it stripped the U.S. of its triple A rating for the first time in the country’s history. Another major ratings agency, Moody’s, also has a negative view on the U.S. outlook.”
But we don’t have a spending problem
” As President Obama begins his second term, it seems he intends to make good on campaign promises to reform American immigration policy. The New York Times reports today that the president and his fellow Democrats in the Senate are seeking to create a giant omnibus bill that would remake the entire system.
Mr. Obama and Senate Democrats will propose the changes in one comprehensive bill, the officials said, resisting efforts by some Republicans to break the overhaul into smaller pieces — separately addressing young illegal immigrants, migrant farmworkers or highly skilled foreigners — which might be easier for reluctant members of their party to accept. [...]
Mr. Obama is expected to lay out his plan in the coming weeks, perhaps in his State of the Union address early next month, administration officials said. The White House will argue that its solution for illegal immigrants is not an amnesty, as many critics insist, because it would include fines, the payment of back taxes and other hurdles for illegal immigrants who would obtain legal status, the officials said.
The president’s plan would also impose nationwide verification of legal status for all newly hired workers; add visas to relieve backlogs and allow highly skilled immigrants to stay; and create some form of guest-worker program to bring in low-wage immigrants in the future. “
… “We Don’t Have a Spending Problem”
” The truth hurts, especially when you’re coming awfully close to being crowned Captain Six Trillion. Steve Moore’s exclusive sit-down with House Speaker John Boehner reveals that the president is indeep ideological denial, and can get a bit testy when confronted with the facts: “
” It is a unambiguous fact that the federal government has a spending problem. Mitch McConnell, Boehner, Pat Toomey and others are right to declare the revenues debate “resolved.” Obama got his soak-the-rich tax wish, with no new spending restraint in return. And for the record, even if Uncle Sam brings in every penny of projected revenue, it’ll only amount to about $600 billion over ten years. The newly-discovered Social Security math error works out to $800 billion. So 3/4 of that additional shortfall could be satisfied via this tax hike…if it hasn’t already been exhausted on brand new expenditures. I’ll leave you with four pieces of empirical data. (1) The brutal numbers, via two members of President Clinton’s bipartisan commission on entitlement reform: “
“4) This verbatim statement, via President Barack H. Obama:
By the end of this decade, the interest we owe on our debt could rise to nearly $1 trillion. Just the interest payments. Then, as the Baby Boomers start to retire and health care costs continue to rise, the situation will get even worse. By 2025, the amount of taxes we currently pay will only be enough to finance our health care programs, Social Security, and the interest we owe on our debt. That’s it. Every other national priority – education, transportation, even national security – will have to be paid for with borrowed money.
If the president can survey this array of data and make his ‘no spending problem’ claim with a straight face, then I’m afraid he has a reality problem. But if he’s willing to acknowledge the basic arithmetic, then what’s his meaningful solution to eliminating — or even significantly reducing — that debt, as illustrated in item three? ”
” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) won’t allow a vote on the president’s proposal to resolve the “fiscal cliff.” Senate Democrats are mortified that someone might ask their opinion, even ask them to cast a vote (mercy me!), on the biggest domestic issue we face.
If you are getting the sense there is no one with sense inside the Beltway, you’re getting warm. The reason everyone is spinning and spinning out of control is that the country can’t be governed without an executive who is both adept at and motivated to lead. No matter how responsible or irresponsible the Congress is, in a complex set of negotiations with almost infinite permutations of a deal, competing interests and inflamed partisans, there is only one person with the stature to force both sides to a deal. But this president seems unwilling to ask anything of his side and determined to set up a series of no-win situations for his opponents, whom he treats not as political rivals to be bargained with but enemies to be vanquished.
Chance of going over the fiscal cliff? On a scale of zero to 10, 10 being certainty that we are all going to take the plunge, I think we’re at 9. And maybe this is for the best.”
Illustration By John Darkow
“Welfare facts:
- For every 1.65 employed persons in the private sector, 1 person receives welfare assistance
- For every 1.25 employed persons in the private sector, 1 person receives welfare assistance or works for the government.”
” In the recent past we noted the somewhat startling reality that “the single mom is better off earning gross income of $29,000 with $57,327 in net income & benefits than to earn gross income of $69,000 with net income and benefits of $57,045.” While mathematics is our tool – as opposed to the mathemagics of some of the more politically biased media who did not like our message – the painful reality in America is that: for increasingly more Americans it is now more lucrative – in the form of actual disposable income – to sit, do nothing, and collect various welfare entitlements, than to work. This is such an important topic that we felt it necessary to warrant a second look. The graphic below quite clearly, and very painfully, confirms that there is an earnings vacuum of around $40k in which US workers are perfectly ambivalent toward inputting more effort since it does not result in any additional incremental disposable income. With the ongoing ‘fiscal cliff’ battles over taxes and entitlements, this is a problematic finding, since – as a result – it is the US government that will have to keep funding indirectly this lost productivity and worker output (via wealth redistribution).”
“Famed Washington Post journalist and political pundit Charles Krauthammer was a guest on Fox News’ Special Report on Thursday and he offered some pretty bold, but sage advice regarding the fiscal cliff.
Krauthammer claimed,
“It’s not just a bad deal, this is really an insulting deal. What Geithner offered, what you showed on the screen, Robert E. Lee was offered easier terms at Appomattox, and he lost the Civil War. The Democrats won by three percent of the vote, and they did not hold the House. Republicans won the House. So this is not exactly unconditional surrender, but that is what the administration is asking of the Republicans.
This idea – there are not only no cuts in this, there’s an increase in spending with a new stimulus. I mean, this is almost unheard of. I mean, what do they expect? They obviously expect the Republicans will cave on everything. I think the Republicans ought to simply walk away. The president is the president. He’s the leader. They are demanding that the Republicans explain all the cuts that they want to make.” “
Illustration By Glenn Foden
” As the clock ticks and we watch the various players move their pieces into place, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that Republicans are in a no-win situation. They’re ether going to have to cave and agree to a tax increase without meaningful spending cuts or take the blame for going over the fiscal cliff. Here are five reasons why going over the cliff is by far the best option.
1. It’s a Trap!
Though House Speaker John Boehner foolishly helped to manufacture this trap by making tax increases the primary issue in the fiscal cliff negotiations, there’s still time to extricate himself and his party. “
” It’s true that the “good old days” weren’t always good, but we should also remember that our belief that we’re completely superior to previous generations of Americans doesn’t even remotely square with reality. It’s fine to pat ourselves on the back for being wealthier, more educated and considerably less racist than we used to be, but we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that those less educated, backward people in their antiquated clothes were head and shoulders better than we are in a myriad of other ways. We should remember that the real problem isn’t having a problem; it’s having a problem and not even realizing that we have a problem. We have a problem and most Americans don’t realize it.
1) Dependency: Our ancestors were some of the most independent people on earth. They spent months traveling across an unforgiving landscape, fought off Indians, built their own houses, ate the food they grew and carved out a life for themselves. Today, a large number of Americans are claiming that they’re incapable of paying for their own birth control. There are 47 million Americans on food stamps, which is an all-time high. That’s more than 1 out of every 7 Americans. Since 2008 more Americans have gone onto Social Security disability than the net number of jobs that have been created in that same time period. Within the living memory of some Americans there was no Social Security or Medicare in this country; yet we’ve gone from 16 workers for each retiree in 1950 to 3.3 today to an estimated 2 workers per retiree in 2025.”
