Digging deep into the political punditry-well this morning we unearth the cultural and economic musings of Charles Barkley. The NBA star and TNT Sports analyst isn’t impressed with how politicians treat the Black community. Democrats included.
Articles tagged as
Welfare
One Solar Bill Gets Governor’s Nod, The Other Gets Vetoed.
Stop me if you’ve heard this one. New Hampshire just passed a law that uses solar to help offset the high cost of electricity for low and moderate-income residents. I’m not even sure I can articulate how stupid that is, but I will try.
Data Point – 5.8 million off the Government SNAP welfare program
The best form of welfare is a job (reformatted, emphasis mine): Over 5.8 million individuals have discontinued their participation in America’s food stamp program since President Donald Trump’s first full month in office, according to the latest U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) data. The most recent USDA data shows that 5,829,890 people discontinued their participation in food … Read more
Educaid
Over time we’ve developed a method for dealing with situations where (1) we don’t want poor people to be denied access to something essential, (2) we don’t want tax money to be wasted on substandard products or services, and (3) we don’t want poorer people to subsidize richer people.
That method works like this. Poor people demonstrate that they can’t afford to pay for X. We let them choose a private provider of X, who meets basic standards, and we give them money that can be spent only on X.
If X is medical care, we call that Medicaid. If it’s heating oil, we call it LIHEAP (the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program). If it’s food, we call it SNAP (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or Food Stamps, or EBT cards). If it’s housing, we call it Section 8 (the Housing Choice Voucher Program). And so on.
We Could Also Pay for The Wall If We Stopped Shoveling ‘Welfare’ at Illegal Aliens
On the odd chance that El Chapo’s billions don’t make an appearance at The Wall funding cotillion, there is another way. An unfortunate majority of illegal crossers end up milking US taxpayers for billions in services annually. Money that would be saved by the bushel if even a fraction of the invaders were deterred. Savings that would more than cover the cost of a border ‘wall.’
Notable Quote: Tyler Cowan
Our strongest obligations are to contribute to sustainable economic growth and to support the general spread of civilization, rather than to engage in massive charitable redistribution in the narrower sense. In the longer run, greater economic growth and a more stable civilization will help the poor most of all. -Tyler Cowan ( Stubborn Attachments) The highest … Read more
NH Number One In Child Welfare But That’s Just Not Good Enough
So, about your children?
New Hampshire is the highest-ranked state for children’s well-being, according to a national survey released on Wednesday.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count report, based on data from 2016, ranks New Hampshire first overall and second in economic well-being, with drops in the number of children living in households with high cost burdens and children living in poverty.
Maine’s Embrace of Broad Based Taxes vs. New Hampshire NOT Doing That.
Our good friend Michael Graham, writing at NH Journal, has an article titled “Study: Maine Vs. N.H. Shows “More Government Means More Poverty.”
The annual Family Prosperity Index is out and, while New Hampshire didn’t make the Top 10 (it’s ranked #16), the study’s authors did use the Granite State to make their case for more economic liberty vs. reliance on government. They used the case study of New Hampshire and its neighbor, Maine (FPI ranking: #39).
The result of Maine’s dancing with the tax devil in the “blue” moon light? More government, a shrinking private sector, and one of the highest dependency cultures in the nation.
Quick Thought: Feds Approve NH Medicaid Expansion ‘Work Requirement’
Steve beat me to the punch on the announcement that the able-bodied recipients will have to work or be bettering themselves in order to continue to get free healthcare. The Hill added this:
The waiver program will also require co-pays for Medicaid recipients who make more than 100 percent of the poverty level.
“Work requirements help lift able-bodied individuals out of poverty by empowering them with the dignity of work and self-reliability while also allowing states to control the costs of their Medicaid programs. They help people gain the skills necessary for long-term independence and success,” New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R) said in a statement.
People don’t always value “free” when other people are paying for that “free” thing on an institutional things. I’ve seen it up close when running our daycare. When one has to put their own skinny into the picture,
The NH Legislature’s Latest Protection Racket
You’ve seen movies where a couple of Goodfellas in suits show up at a business and the proprietor, looking uncomfortable, hands them a bag of cash. New Hampshire has this too. Some nicely dressed guys (and girls) are using the state legislature to force a business to extract protection money from you. (Again.)
This time around it’s your electric rates (Again?). The Senate passed changes that would turn electricity providers into enforcers for a protection racket that takes money from you to line other people’s pockets.
Maine Added Work Provision for Food Stamps – Guess What Happened?
(Daily Signal) In response to the growth in food stamp dependence, Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, recently established work requirements on recipients who are without dependents and able-bodied. In Maine, all able-bodied adults without dependents in the food stamp program are now required to take a job, participate in training, or perform community service. Job openings … Read more
Maine Is Making NH State Senate Republicans Look Like Leftist Patsies
First, Maine passes a new law that told its able-bodied citizens that if they wanted to continue to receive food stamps, WORK! Second, NH decided, thanks to some NH State Senate Republicans, that if our able-bodied citizens wanted to keep receiving Medicaid paid for by NH taxpayers (who are also Federal Taxpayers), well, you can … Read more
One of many projects to destroy America…
This from Judicial Watch: “For decades the U.S. government has knowingly given illegal immigrants food stamps, according to a former certification case worker who denounced the costly practice back in the 1980s but was essentially ordered to keep a lid on it.” Meanwhile, “the nation’s food stamp program has exploded under President Obama.” Read the … Read more
On the dole: “A hand up or a hammock?” Let’s get back to basics
Welfare, that is. Used to be called “charity” from private sources, and sometimes, folks stayed at the county “poor house”. Nowadays, the dole (heck, even “welfare”) is dressed up in smooth bureaucratise so as not to “cause undue stigmatism towards those that need assistance”. Payments go directly from Government “dole-er outers” to those that supply the services or goods like Section 8 housing or EBT cards.
Ah yes, EBT cards – groceries, drug stores,….vacation hot spots, casinos, and strip clubs! Money is money and fungible if you are a well-flushed non-profit (Planned Parenthood moving abortion money as well as any crafty hedge fund operator), well-connected politician, or welfare “client”. From an efficiency standpoint, an EBT card is just as easy as technology can make it inexpensive for Government to allocate taxpayer monies – and for those on the dole to purchase a lot of things that they normally can’t. Oh, not necessarily directly with the card, but how often have you been behind someone in the grocery store buying groceries that are sometimes more expensive than what you can afford – even as you are dinged for higher taxes for these “most vulnerable”? Well, it has been my mindset that while a safety-net does need to be provided, why does it have to purchase filet mignon (and yes, I did see that purchased with an EBT card)? It shouldn’t – and given technology, it should easily be possible, using a longer term benefit / cost ratio, to limit EBT transactions to less variety and less costly food products (and locations).
One California legislature is willing to make a first swipes:
The money California taxpayers pay that funds CalFresh, the food stamps program, may be earmarked so that the recipients of government largesse cannot use the food stamps to buy sugary sodas and other beverages that have more than 10 calories per cup.
Cause and Effect
If exposure to violence in movies or video games is a catalyst for youth violence, is exposure to welfare and other government handouts a catalyst to generational dependency? The answer to the former is that exposure to the latter is more likely to result in youth violence as they look for the only ways left … Read more
Data Points – various sundry stats
Welfare (via Heritage): Over half of the US thinks we spend too much for welfare Over half thinks Govt spends too much on poverty programs Only 22% believe that poverty programs reduce poverty 84% believe work should be mandatory to receive welfare Jobs according to ADP: Revised last month’s job advance – from 162, 000 … Read more
Guest Post: Mike Johnson – “New Hampshire, Tear Down This Firewall”
New Hampshire, Tear Down This Firewall
Mike Johnson
mnosnhoj@comcast.net
10/21/12
You have a choice, New Hampshire, an important choice, a life-style choice.
Like our motto says, you can “Live Free or Die,” a free self-reliant citizen of New Hampshire, proud of yourself and proud of your state and your country. Or you can “Live Dependent and Die,” withering away as a slave of the Nanny State, subject to the government and an apologist for yourself, your state, and your country.
It is your option, but recognize that it may be your last choice. The United States of America is dangerously close to the point where a majority of the voters are vassals of the state, reduced to relying on the largesse of the government for their livelihood, and economically forced to vote for the continuance of the Nanny State. As Mark Steyn puts it, “This election represents the last exit ramp before the death spiral.”
Disagree? Consider Obama’s record:
Quotes worthy of note: Government dependency…
“Volumes of research have shown that Great Society welfare policies—such as public housing and aid to families with dependent children—fuel family dissolution, community fragmentation, generational joblessness, and government dependency….The Obama administration [is] more adroit at excuse-making and blame-shifting that creating opportunity, and seems ideologically incapable of pursuing the policies that fulfill the moral promise of … Read more
Parliment of Whores Update – ‘Fore’ More Years
The lefts parliament of whores has convened in Charlotte and two important things happened. First, Charlotte’s collective IQ dropped 70 points. Second, they want four more years. Of what? Adding another six trillion to the national debt? Another 48 months of unemployment over 8%? Median income dropping another $4,000.00? 47 million people on food stamps? … Read more