Despite all the talk of “austerity,” little has been done to stem the tide of the United States’ ever growing debt. The little that has been cut is in area that needs it most: defense. The Budget Control Act’s sequestration hits defense disproportionately and essentially ignores entitlement spending, the leading driver of U.S. debt. President Obama has warned that he would “veto any effort to get rid of those automatic spending cuts.” This stance is irresponsible and unwise for several reasons. First, in an increasingly dangerous world with a rising … More
No Comments »
“Provide for common defense” is a core constitutional obligation of the federal government. Yet entitlement spending is putting unsustainable pressure on the defense budget. In 1965, Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security constituted 2.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) while defense made up 7.4 percent. The Office of Management and Budget estimates that entitlement spending will reach 9.7 percent of GDP in 2012 while defense will shrink to 4.5 percent—even after the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are included. (article continued below chart) The defense budget is further threatened from … More
No Comments »
If you told recovering alcoholic and drug addict Hermon Blount a year ago that he’d soon be getting up 3 or 4 days a week at 5:30 a.m. to run, he may not have believed you. That was before he decided to quit drinking and using drugs in exchange for something better. Part of Blount’s ongoing recovery process can be attributed to the early morning workouts he does with a national, nonprofit organization called Back On My Feet (BoMF). BoMF exists to promote self-sufficiency for formerly homeless and often drug-addicted … More
No Comments »
Did you know that President Obama’s “Yes, We Can” Administration has been funding a research project to invent a composite index that measures happiness? Yes, you read right—an aggregate index that aims to compute your happiness, mine, and our nation’s. Everybody wants to be happy, and it might be nice to know just how happy we are, but there are plenty of pitfalls in the government’s pursuit of a happiness index. One of the stated purposes of the project is to explore ways of constructing a measurement that could be … More
No Comments »
The House of Representatives is poised to pass a budget reconciliation measure that would tackle increased spending in the food stamps program (or, as it’s currently known, the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program). It would do this by eliminating “categorical eligibility” in the program, which ignores income and asset limitations in granting food stamps to people receiving cash welfare assistance. It also accelerates the sunset date for a temporary food stamp benefit increase provided by the 2009 stimulus bill. Since President Obama came to office, spending on food stamps has doubled, … More
No Comments »
The Administration for Children and Families, a division of the Department of Health and Human Services, is investigating whether, and how, federal welfare funds have been used at liquor stores, casinos, and strip clubs – all prohibited under federal law. Under legislation that extended a payroll tax holiday, passed by Congress and signed into law earlier this year, states are directed to prevent recipients of funds under the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program from using their benefits at “any liquor store; any casino, gambling casino, or gaming establishment; … More
No Comments »
The number of Americans on food stamps (or, as it is now called, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) is higher than ever before, according to a new Congressional Budget Office report. Since 2007, rolls have grown by 70 percent. And participation rates are expected to increase over the next two years. While some of the growth can be attributed to the recession, participation rates were steadily climbing prior to the recession. Since 2000, the number of Americans on food stamps has jumped by roughly 260 percent, from 17.2 … More
No Comments »
Multiple reports of welfare abuse have hit the headlines in recent weeks, from a million-dollar lottery winner receiving food stamps to a Massachusetts drug dealer attempting to use welfare cash to post bail and an Alabama nightclub advertising a “Food Stamp Friday” party. These examples highlight the need to reform a welfare system that is contributing to a culture of entitlement. A crucial element of reform is tackling the ballooning costs of the welfare state, which has become the fastest growing part of government spending. In a hearing on Tuesday … More
No Comments »
Welfare cash may have been used to get a Massachusetts drug dealer “out of jail free.” The Boston Herald reports: Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges—again—when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to “get my EBT [Electronic Benefit Transfer] card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,”’ according to a Boston police report. The EBT system provides benefits—including food stamps and cash … More
No Comments »
A new report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture states that the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps) helps “alleviate” poverty. Essentially, the report says that by including the dollar amount of food stamps as part of a family’s income, fewer families are considered poor—or at least not as poor. No surprises here. Not even the federal government can spend over $70 billion on food stamps annually and have no impact on a family’s bottom line. (Of course, federal poverty calculations don’t include the value … More
No Comments »