Oh snap Pragmatic is being pragmatic.

The logic, it burns!

Newt Gingrich, the greatest living practitioner of THE BIG LIE. Say it long enough and the uninformed will begin to believe it and promote it as gospel. That's the secret to Limbaugh's success. His uninformed ditto-heads lap up the lies as fast as Limbaugh can dole them out.

I watched about 15 minutes of the debate last night and during that 15 minutes I watched Newt Gingrich completely re-write history. His 84 ethics counts were all a big democrat conspiracy and he didn't resign in disgrace and pay a big fine, he resigned to pursue other career opportunities and he offered to pay for the expenses of the investigation that exonerated him out of his boundless generosity.

Yeah, a democrat conspiracy, that must be why so many Republicans who served when Gingrich was speaker are voicing opposition to his candidacy and why the darling of the GOP, Chris Christie, is speaking out against him. They're all part of a democrat conspiracy.

I can't believe this guy is getting away with this, where is the News Media?

Obama/Biden 2012

I just can't get over how someone who has taken so much money from the government can sit there and say others should have nothing from it, especially the needy.

Pragmatic-3918582,

"I think you missed the boat", which isn't very pragmatic of you. Anotherwards, you're missing the point. Politically, in this era, it becomes suicidal for any Politician to attack those on food stamps, whose majority are within the White demographic biasedly stereotyped as African Americans because our economic catastrophe was brought upon us by the 2008 Wall Street Market crash which happened on George Bush's (GOP) watch. During the Reagan years, economic strife brought on by any Administration's policies was much more subtle, and the lines were "blurred". This time, it won't work. The majority of America understands Republican policies (Coporate tax cuts, Wall Street fraud, and unfunded wars) effectively spurred increased food stamp enrollment, instead econommic growth, as promised by Republicans in 2001.

That's a typical Republican response. Let the poor get poorer and the rich get richer. They wonder why Democrats beat them. Congress is just like Ginrich and Romney, they don't have a clue.

Since most benefitting from food stamps are children, are you really saying that we should deny food benefits for kids so they aren't "trained" to rely on the government?? It's not like anyone is eating caviar on food stamps.

So, you'd rather they starve to death than be dependent on the govt?

If the fancy rich on Wall Street hadn't cause this mess, there wouldn't have been such a rush on food stamps.

Please, Amazing...stop spewing the "Conservatives give more money to charity" bit. They give to their churches. Only in a warped mind does that automatically mean "charity." Since helping the poor is the last thing on conservative churches' minds, "charity" is the WRONG word.

So if our neighbors and friends are to take care of us when we have hard times, are you rushing out to help those in the inner city? Didn't think so.

As for more whites being on government assistance, no, it is not well known. In fact, when the statistics were mentioned on TV after Gingrich's statement, it surprised most people. The Republican party has always relied on making people believe that those on welfare were black. During the welfare reform debates from Reagan to Clinton, the Repubs would trot out their image of the "welfare mom"--a black woman with many children--which is far from the welfare norm. One of the reasons we don't have a single payer healthcare system is people don't want to be giving their money to help "those" people. Santorum even specifically mentioned "Blacks" and welfare.

No, the stats are not well known, and the Repubs depend on that.

The whites are just more spread out the blacks are more confined to big cities in closer proximity. I live in one The big D.

Newt is so out of touch with the middle class.

Incidiary comments like this are generally targeted. Just wante to reiterate that blanket assumptions are dangerous and not representative of reality.

Since the year 2000, the annual total has only declined once, in 2007. The spike in May 2011 was due to a surge in Alabama after an historic onslaught of giant tornadoes devastated the state. According to the USDA’s report, about 1 million disaster victims from several states were added to the rolls.

The decline in June 2011 was the first monthly decline since February 2008

Food Stamp Rolls by Race

White 35.7%

African American 22%

Hispanic 10%

Native American 3.7%

Asian 2.4%

Unknown 18.9%

Thanks Bart for showing that statements like this are purposefully INTENDED and UNDERSTOOD as being racist slurs designed to inflame a racist base, regardless of the twsting and turning rightwingers try to engage in by "denying" the plain truth.

Bart:

Dining on cavier? Maybe not (not that anyone would know for sure, including me or you). But close ... http://stfuconservatives.net/post/8535007713

Some see hints of racism in Gingrich's words, which the former U.S. House of Representatives speaker disputes.

Oh PLEASE! we all know that is the one of the main reasons that he won in South Carolina. He knew how to work a bigoted, ignorant crowd of nasty Republicans. Most people in South Carolina and North Carolina think that the Confedeare Flag should be the falg of the US. They say "heritage" but the rest of the country knows the real reason.

The Controversy continues in South Carolina, after the NAACP finally won the battle to take the flag out of the Senate, and put it in the grounds. Still, it has a "special" place in there, and in the heart and the minds of the bigots of South Carolina.

18.9% unkown. No wonder this country has the problems it is facing.

"Unknown 18.9%" how many of those people are White? I lived in 'liberal' Northern California I worked a full time had a job house car paid for, but somehow it never failed it always took some low brow hillbilly type usually a middle aged white male to merely 'suggest' that I was on some type of government assistance simply because the jerk was behind me in the safeway line. If I paid by my Debit card they always thought that was 'food stamps' always making a nasty comment.

But what was really quite surprising what the amount of 'white' folks I saw paying for food with WIC checks which in safeway was annoying because it took forever and everyone in the store knew, they were often humiliated.

90 percent of white folks have had some sort of financial help from the government they just don't want to admit it. And the republicants seem to think they have a 'good thing' going if they can continue to trick people into believing that welfare supports 'blacks and illegals' rather than folks like Flip Robme or Newt hillbilly Gingrich by allowing the rich to benefit off their tax dollars

Colbert demonstrated the issue of hunger best on one of his programs. It was when a study came out that as high as 12% of children in this country go to bed hungry each night because their family can not afford enough food. The Heritage Foundation, a right wing organization, called that a liberal lie, and stated that at most it was 2%. Colbert responded, "2% hungry. That's the perfect amount. There's about 150 of us in this room. If three of us were hungry children, I think we'd feel pretty good about that."

That says it all about the "compassion" of conservatives.

Newt Gingrich has proven that the GOP would rather see the poor starve and die than lift a finger to help them.

The Democratic Party is the party of Kennedy, LBJ and the war against poverty. The modern Republican Party is the Party of Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and W. Mitt Romney and the war against the poor.

Wonder if Newt has ever stood outside a Food Bank and watched people in nice clothes, driving good vehicles, standing in line to get food because they have lost their job, so that the owner can increase his/her income? Has he talked to people in California who used to be in the 1% that are now unemployed and living in their cars, but acting like everything is just fine? It was nice of Newt to admit that Romney would pay NO INCOME TAX under Newt's plan. That will really make the 99% happy.

I'm a life-long Republican and I am shaking my head about my party - I just don't understand it - sure I'm mad too, but Newt is such a hate-monger that spews lies, that I can't believe that I might have to sit out a presidential election for the first time if that idiot is our candidate. I'm 52, a life long Republican and have voted in every election - but this guy is crazy and the people who support him are crazy!! His own party censored him and wanted him out (not the great Democratic conspiracy), he has cheated on all of his wives (probably this one too), and then tries to say he was a "historian" for Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae. I am ashamed of the Republican party. They just love shoving the hate and getting people worked up Sad actually!!!

There are so many brainwashed and tunnelvisioned comments here. More people have ended up needing foodstamps during this administration than ever before. I don't give a rodent's backside what percentage of what group gets foodstamps--completely irrelevant except to those who relish the race card. The article itself notes that "one in seven Americans now rely on food stamps, which give low-income people - a family of four with an annual gross income of less than $29,064, for example - help to buy groceries." Is anyone out there actually happy that the number of people needing foodstamps has risen so dramatically?

irespon, I live in South Carolina and am throughly disgusted by your comments. I live in the county with the largest percentage of Blacks, of which those I know (and I know a lot) work and work hard, or are in busines for themselves. I'm white in case you wonder. I'm on food stamps due to the fact that I live on a tad over $1000 from Social Security, which I paid into and is not an entitlement, and VA disability, from Vietnam era.

Have you tried to live on that amount today? Could you? The greatest amount of people I see when I have to go to the Department of Social Services are white. I imagine you probably think they're blacks dressed in White Face.

Take your bigoted comments and shove them where the sun never shines.

Pragmatic-3918582

Clearly you don't see the genius that is Newt Gingrich. If we train them not to be moochers in childhood, they won't be moochers if they survive to adulthood!

Pragmatic ..... perhaps you can explain to me why you consider a child whose parents receive food stamps are moochers. I didn't think so.

In addition to being unnecessarily vindictive towards anyone who finds it necessary to apply for food stamps, NEWT GINGRICH IS WRONG. MORE PEOPLE BECAME FOOD STAMP RECIPIENTS UNDER GEORGE W. BUSH THAN DURING THE OBAMA ADMINISTRATION.

I was a food stamp recipient approximately 35 years ago. That situation was temporary, as it should have been, and since that time I have paid income tax on solidly middle class income which sometimes topped $125K. My tax rate has been consistently higher than that which Mitt Romney pays. My short tenure on food stamps was during a short period of unemployment, which is exactly the situation that most current food stamp recipients are experiencing. The extended period of time that some people collect food stamps and other assistance in the current environment is largely due to the lack of cooperation by the GOP's to solve the economic problems.

The US is recovering from the recession slowly, but faster than many of the European countries that decided that austerity programs would solve the economic woes (similar to the Hoover plan during the Great Depression). Austerity is not working for those countries, yet the GOP keeps ranting about spending cuts. Those GOPs and the people who support them at the ballot box are fools.

Those of you who allow your Republican candidates to continue to demonize all social programs and to convince you that when the rich have more money the economy will improve are being duped. The failed "trickle down economics" pushed by the idiot Reagan and worshiped ever since by the Republican establishment is destroying the middle class, which purchases the vast majority of goods and services in this country. The economy works best when income is more evenly distributed and the Republicans have led the charge to devalue the wages of hard working people as they fight for still more tax breaks for themselves and their contributors.

Mr Amazing: you and Newt pretend that people on food stamps have never worked a day in their lives.

As the article clearly says, most of these people are recently unemployed; they know how to work, they just want a job. Newt has specifically singled out 'blacks', saying their children have no experience with a work ethic. The truth is that their children see their parents working several jobs and still not getting by.

The real issue is that under Republican policies, hard work no longer pays off. Does not matter how hard you work when Newt and other influence peddlers are rigging the game against working Americans in favor of Americans that do not work for a living. If you live on 'investments' you are not working for a living, you are not creating jobs, and you steal from this country when you pay less in taxes than your secretary.

"War against the poor". How quaint !

About 20% of government spending goes to help the poor in one way or another...from medical care, to housing subsidies, for food, heat, even money for cell phone use...and then add in the costs of an urban crime wave and the costs of dealing with that.

And we pretty much ask nothing from the poor, even down to the most basic of responsibilities. And the costs keep rising and rising.

If that's a "war on the poor", then it is a war we are both losing and paying the bills for in one contiuous loop.

It goes without saying that there are those that will find a way to abuse the system.

Do you know that Costco takes WIC? I never think of WIC recipients having a membership at Costco!

In this case I have to say I agree with Gingrich.

Steve...

In the "Newsweek" I read yesterday, it stated that 70% of African American babies are born to single women. How do you claim that Mr. Gingrich's comment on 'work ethic' is wrong because, as you state, those babies grow up to "see their parents working several jobs and still not getting by".

70% are seeing their "parent"...and that's part of the problem within the black community. Unfortunately in this nation, the problem cannot be rationally discussed without the "racist" arrows starting to fly.

And "hard work no longer pays off" ??? Really ??? I work hard and it has paid off for me despite any of the "rigging the game" that you blame for all the problems in the nation.

What is your point, Auzziegirl? Do you think that WIC recipients should be so destitute that they can't afford $35 per year for a Costco membership? Do you not think that they are saving money and acting responsibly by shopping at Costco? Did you even think about it before you decided to post your comment? What DOES a Costco membership have to do with "abusing the system"?

Ah! The philandering GAS BAG GINGRICH is at it again. "Whiskey for ME and wine for my friends!"

"Down with the 'down trodden' and "F---'em feed 'em beans!" Isn't that right Newt?

With Mitt's Millions protruding from every one of his orifices, while gallantly trying to hide his avarice, and act like the working man and woman's friend, Newt outright attacks the hungry, out of work father of three who just returned from Iraq and Afghanistan while putting his life on the line for the Ex P.T. Barnum of Capitol Hill and the darling of the far Right. Shoot those poor souls who lost everything in those myriad of tornadoes last year Newt. They're worthless if they ain't producing. Ain't that right Newt?

What kind of human being would even consider putting their stamp of approval on this Gas Bag?

Newt, and many conservatives, are big on teaching a man or woman how to fish. We believe in helping others. This is one reason why Conservatives give more money to charity (even accounting for income differences) than do liberals. The studies show that it is not so much that liberals are stingy, but they simply believe government should take care of everything. Whereas conservatives believe it is up to us to care for our family, and our neighbors.

You can spend your entire life learning how to fish, you can learn all the tricks, all the signals, and all the best bait, but if there are no fish in that lake, you will starve, buddy. All the fish have been either shipped to China, or hoarded by the top 1%.

@auzziegirl, is COSCO the new Tiffany's? That statement takes the cake!

@don97524, You are right on the money!

When was that Costco membership bought? When times were good? And shouldn't you be happy that the purchaser is really stretching the food stamp dollar by buying in bulk?

Food stamp recipients are not thrilled with receiving benefits. At least let them retain what dignity they have left and don't judge.

I think he referred to Obama as the "food stamp president". This is an indictment of Obama and his failed economic policies (that provide no jobs), not an indictment of those on food stamps. His next sentence is, "I want to be the paycheck president", meaning that he wants to put policies in place that will help get people off of food stamps and into the working class. Obama loves putting people on food stamps, because as soon as your food comes from the government, you will always vote to keep those who supply the food in power. Pavlov figured that one out quite a long time ago.

don97524

I pay $110 for a one-year Executive Membership at Costo.

Other memberships are available for $55 and they are for one year also.

You are probably a member of Sam's Club!

@ Auzziegirl you must not have children. If you did you would know that formula and diapers are much, much less expensive at club stores like Sam's and Costco. Sounds like the people you are referring to have sense enough to get the most bang for their buck.

davenaly

I have two children; 27 and 13.

You are probably right about formula being less expensive; I nursed both my children so I wouldn't know. I do know that diapers are less expensive.

Can you buy diapers and formula with WIC?

Jo-An-4354969

In a way, Costco IS the new Tiffany's! It's THE high-end warehouse store, just like Tiffany's is THE high-end jeweler!

Getting WIC does not mean flat out broke. It means needing assistance to provide the basics. Flat out broke means not being able to afford anything at all. There's a big difference.

I've been a member of Costco and Sam's in the past. For a large family, you can save a bundle at these places, much more than the membership costs. I would view membership in these clubs as a wise choice for optimizing your buying power, not as an abuse of the system.

If it were up to the republicans, they would have let the auto industry fail, result, more people out of work. They would have let the banks fail, result, more people out of work. Don't give out food stamps, result, let people including children starve. Do we really want a republican in the white house?

@auzziegirl not diapers, just formula. Diapers are so much cheaper there though it pays for the membership in 2 trips. We have Sam's here and their diaper brand is amazing. Not to mention many of the things we need regularly like cheese, and eggs are way less. Unfortunately, Sam's doesn't accept WIC at least not here.

I would argue that, in fact, critical thinking and fact checking can not be one sided. The droning drumbeat from the supply sidders was "Lower taxes create JOBS!" Sweet mother of God we have the answer to all of our employment problems. The 'experiment' has run on for decades while our friends in Congress, not only lowered taxes for the likes of Mitt Romney (reported today to be 13.9 %) but also to PAY companies through tax incentives to ship jobs to foreign countries. Your Pavlov analogy forgets the OTHER things Pavlov did to his dogs in the name of science. It seems Newt Gingrich would continue the Republican 'false science' of tax breaks for the rich through infinity, as long as it helps his rich BILLIONAIRE friends like Sheldon Adelson's single FIVE MILLION DOLLAR donation to Newt's coffers.

.....and oh, by the way, Mr. Adelson's wife just added another FIVE MILLION on top of her husband's. Now THAT'S a good deal for Newt!

http://www.forbes.com/profile/sheldon-adelson/

Bruce - Did you not read the article Bush put more people on food stamps than Obama. Facts are facts but the GOP refuses to admit them.

And, for anyone who would vote for the filth that is Newt Gingrich, it says everything about your lack of morals, ethics, integrity and intelligence. He is the lowest garbage around. Mitt isn't much better. How pathetic the GOP has become. This is the best you can do?

WIC is designed to help the nutritional well being of the mother and child that may find themselves in Less than "desirable" situations during their pregnancy and resulting birth!
The same indignant SOB's that frown upon a woman's "choice" will BEAT the crap out of her for receiving WIC benefits!
WTF is wrong with this???

Gingrich apparantly has never heard of the "working" poor. When did judging a man by the size of his wallet get to be the American ideal? How pathetic the strategy worked in this extremist wing of the Republican Party in S. Carolina...but even Gingrich can't believe it's going to sell outside his bigoted and ignorant base...

Take your bigoted comments and shove them where the sun never shines

...And if you are from South Carolina..The sun never shines right there at the Capitol, where your great Senator De Mintt and NIkki Haley have ttheir offices. -The magnolia trees don't let the sun ever shine- so...right back at you

Where you all people from the "Palmeto State" live so proudly......

Do you know that Costco takes WIC? I never think of WIC recipients having a membership at Costco!

Do you know they might have been added to a friend's account? (you get 2 cards and can give one to a friend - I've done it before). If you teapubs think bashing the poor is a good thing you will be sorely disappointed. People don't believe the old spin anymore, and most Americans know how this economy is affecting everybody.

South carolina has a very large(compared to nationall average) black comunity. Newt won by an overwhelming majority. Ever read "Old man and the sea"? It talks about perserverance. You fish long enough, and you will catch something. When I was in middle school I helped the janitors clean up the cafiteria. I volentered. I would work in the school to help pay my family. I agree that it instills a good work ethic.

Excuse me, but if you think that comments aimed at food stamps are racist. Then you are the racist one. Many of my black friends would agree.

Do you remember who cut funding for food stamps by 29 billion dollars?

So the money could be given to the states to "save of create jobs?

It was Obama.

As far as racism goes, cut it out. Let's look at these numbers. The article states that 22 percent of the people on food stamps are black. It also states that blacks make up 12% of the total population.

Population = 311 million

12% = 37,320,000 or 37.32 million

Now, if there are 47 million on foodstamps total, as the article states, and 22% are black, that means that 10,340,000, or 10.34 million are on foodstamps.

So one in 7 "americans" are on foodstamps, but more than 1 in 4 blacks are on foodstamps.

Now why did I put the word "americans" in quotation marks?

Because ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS are LEGALLY ENTITLED TO COLLECT FOODSTAMPS. And at least on paper, even the ones who are well off look poor, because they are all off the books and pay no taxes.

I would love to see what percentage of the 1 in 7 "americans" are actually citizens. I suspect probably 1 in 10 American Citizens are on foodstamps, while I suspect non-citizens use of foodstamps would make the use by blacks look like a drop in the bucket.

Sadly, the government will never make such information available.

Gingrich stinks, I can't believe a guy with his baggage is still in the conversation. Obama and Romney are the Goldman Sachs boys, two sides of the same coin.

Only Ron Paul is different and he is the only one, including our President, who isn't lying his baseballs off.

Auzziegirl

I pay $110 for a one-year Executive Membership at Costo.

Other memberships are available for $55 and they are for one year also.

Does the fact that I stated an out of date Costco membership rate alter the point that you somehow believe that someone who both collects WIC benefits and has a Costco membership is somehow gaming the system? Go back and re-read my #1.30 and see if substituting $55 for $35 materially affects my comment. I admit my error, but my point is still valid.

Excuse me, but if you think that comments aimed at food stamps are racist. Then you are the racist one. Many of my black friends would agree

Sure! As if we can't hear what he is saying. I would like to see how many white janitors are going to join his program for children "That do not know how to appreciate work"

Only 12% of the population in South Carolina are black. That is a quote directly from the Office of the Census Bureau. African Americans do not like the state of South Carolina because it is too racist. They prefer to live in a more relaxed state, such as Georgia.

Get your fact straight.

@ OldSchoolLatinTeacher and all the rest that sound like you. Perhaps the article was Greek to you, but it clearly states there were more people getting food stamps when Bush was president. Period. A higher number. So Bush would be the Food Stamp President before Obama would be. I hope since you named yourself "old" that you aren't too old to recall and comprehend that this economic mess started before Obama ever won the election, so it can't be blamed on him.

The fact is that people who are on food stamps are not "lazy" or having no work ethic. Most of the people who get food stamps are people who work at low wage jobs that leave them having more month than money or are unemployed because they can't find work. They can't stretch the meager salaries to cover all the expenses of living. I have known so many who are in that boat and with the economic downturn that happened (started in 2008) made circumstances much worse for many people and they need help. I have had the need in the past and we received food help for two months and I don't know what we would have done without it. We were down to nothing with no money and hadn't been able to find work yet. Had help not been available we truly would have had nothing to eat. To hear people like Gingrich and all the people on here that are disparaging the poor and working poor is not only sickening but also makes me so angry. Most of the working poor work harder than Newt ever thought of working and they get so little for it, while those that own the companies and sit at the top of corporations that pay the wages have made billions on the poors back. They have cut wages, hours and benefits just so they can enrich themselves with no thought of those who do the really hard work and still qualify for food stamps. All of us who are taxpayers should be angry that the 1% is getting richer and we are having to subsidize their employees because they don't pay a living wage that makes it possible for their employees to make it on what they get.

Seeking...

You call another human being "filth" and "garbage" in writing...then criticize other people for "a lack of morals".

Where did you store your morals while you were writing that ?

"This is the best you can do? ???

Oh man so now the liberals are pulling out the starving children card along with the race card....puke...u guyz are just so full of urselves....conservatives i.e. church missions are feeding alot of the hungry today and believe there are alot more hungry out of work people now...since Obama wanna has taken charge....yes three yrs. so he owns this one...So the conservative's are soooooo bad for feeding the po....get real....call urselves out!

Mishka, whoever you are. Don't insult the readers andn writers of this thread by using that stupid slang. We are not on Facebook here,nor are we texting while driving, though the way you write looks like you belong to the post-literate generation. You lose any credibility you might have had by such ignorant antics. H ave some respect for your readers, and for yourself and get a grip.

For those who don't know; the WIC program stands for Women, Infants and Children and is a supplemental program for pregnant women, their infants and children up to 6 years old. There are specific foods that they can purchase with the WIC coupons and the stores and those receiving the coupons have a list of what is acceptable. It helps provide milk, cheese, eggs, iron fortified cereals, 100% juices and peanut butter. I may be forgetting some things, but the list is specific on what, what size and what brands sometimes too. Infant formula is generally a specific kind too. It is in no way anything other than a supplement to help pregnant women, infants and children healthy by helping them get the healthy food they need. Children that have received nutritious food are ready to learn and hungry ones aren't. The following link takes you to the federal WIC pages for anyone that is interested. I do not try to claim I have all the foods, regulations or exceptions of the WIC program- just a general overview. Do look for yourself.

Newt is a pig. None of these people running for president can't stand the fact that a black man is in the White House.

Go to Hell Prickwich, and take Santorum, Romney, Bachmann, Boehner, and Perry along with you.

our Judea-christian values requires that no person in need of food or shelter be denied; the problem we have fostered is several generations of the same family's, using the system as their job and ultimate goal. the more illegitimate children the more government welfare, food, clothing, housing, utility's living expenses, education, medical care, all being given for free, with no responsibility or encouragement to better themselves; a unmarried , never married mother with 4 children has a larger disposal income than a working family with the same 4 children, this must stop, or we will collapse as a nation.

OldSchoolLatinTeacher- read the article. The record food stamp applications was set during the BUSH administration. Just ignore the facts and lie when it suits you!

So this Administration, lead by President Obama, helps people and minorities in need, so they don't starve.

And Gingritch and his Neocon Conservatives that created the Great Recession, want to claim that showing compassion to others less fortunate is somehow a bad thing?

If that's bad, then what's good for them? Fat and happy, well-fed rich people like Newt himself?

The Myth of the Welfare Queen and the Welfare Cadillac

This unsettlingly common view of cash assistance recipients in the U.S. dates back to the 1976 presidential campaign, when Ronald Reagan popularized a hyperbolic framework for female welfare recipients known as the “welfare queen.” The stereotype is sexist, racist, and belittles the legitimacy of cash assistance programs, criminalizing and disparaging those in need.

While the infamous star of the “welfare queen” narrative, cruising around in her “welfare Cadillac” was nowhere to be found by the national media, the fictional picture of lower class minority women abusing the system that gives them monthly “hand-outs” continues to shape the way Americans think about welfare recipients. Moreover, this misconception adversely affects the largest demographic benefitting from cash assistance – children.

womenslawproject.wordpress.com/2010/11/02/debunking-the-myth-of-the-%E2%80%9Cwelfare-queen%E2%80%9D-who-actually-receives-tanf-benefits/

I worked as a cashier at a Kroger, and as far as WIC goes, the sizes of the items are very limited. A pound of cheese, two gallons of milk (or a certain formula, or goats milk), a pound of carrots, only certain cereals, no less than a minimum size, six cans of formula, one dozen eggs, store brand. If there's a buy-one, get one coupon, then it certainly can be used. We as cashiers had to follow exactly the limits, brand names and exact items (i.e. cheese--cheddar, but no sharp cheddar, etc.), or face disciplinary action from the store, up to and including being fired. The only thing that a WIC voucher could buy at Costco would be two gallons of milk. Everything else is too small for a Costco purchase. If a voucher has more items on it, tough. The voucher cannot be divided between purchases, let alone stores. The only people who can sign the voucher are the two people whose signatures are on the WIC card.

WHY Costco decided to sign up for the program is beyond me. That the sign is on the door doesn't mean that people are buying there. It's probably some vice-president's idea of "community relations" that someone can get two gallons of WIC milk while buying diapers in bulk, or that there's some tax-break for signing up with WIC.

Youre right Montana. WIC is something completely different from foodstamps. Because it is so specific, I don't think it is generally valid at the warehouse stores. (Except possibly for formula)

As for the initial topic. My problem with food stamps is the recipients who get them, among other government help, and have never held a job. Who spend their food stamps on over the top items. Not considering a house hold budget. Who use their food stamps to pay for services, favors, cash. I worked as a cashier at Walmart. I saw the low end of the food stamp use. I don't begrudge anyones needs. It actually gives me a little relief to see an elderly couple come through and timidly swipe their card for their weekly items. To see a family shop with intent to cook meals as a family.

Has anyone taken a look at section 8 housing. Did you know the government pays around 90% of the rent on government housing (the projects) along with approved houses and rental properties. That makes it around $25- $200 a month which the government pays through welfare on top of food stamps. So thats 100% All available on a nice little debit card. Thats just in Tennessee that I know of. I heard they pay around $1200- $1600 thats 90% or so in Northern states. Weather its by state or at the federal level. It's complete hand holding. And you can't denie there are people raising their kids to do the same thing.

I could go on and on. And I would be complaining about things I have seen first hand. Not even trying to blame a single person. It's a problem that has been here for generations. Those people are the problem with food stamps not the people who have recently fallen on hard times, people who need a supplement for their low wage jobs. I thank the people who are working hard to make a life in this country. Keep up the hard work. We are the people!!!!!!!!!!

Funny thing. When I saw the quote about Welfare Cadillacs the first thing I thought of was Errol Morris's Vernon, Florida. Be careful rradiko. People don't like to hear or read truths that conflict with their preconceptions. It's easier to be judgemental than to be informed.

Also funny is that conservative christians don't seem to notice that the @!$%#e coming out of their mouths these days doesn't seem to match up with the words that came out of their saviors' mouth. I'm totally sure that Jesus would have been at the front of the Republican debates cheering and applauding about the amount of people Texas has put to death with a big foam finger on his hand and and American flag trucker hat on his head...

Hey, Azziegirl: is the implication that only "rich" people have Costco memberships?!

I know numerous people who have FREE Costco memberships because their JOBS offer it as a benefit, so the folks using WIC at Costco (if your claim that they accept it is even true...I'm heading to Costco later today & I plan to ask) may well have a membership as a job bonus, or a benefit through a family member (as a present). It could actually show that the person was potentially budgeting better than average because buying in bulk saves money and allows you to feed your family healthier foods (bulk oatmeal, bulk rice, etc.) for less money than what you'd spend at a grocery store. Your comment makes no sense.

What must the rest of the world think of us?

That we're fat, adulterous, greedy, and corrupt human beings.

Pretty much describes Gingrich.

Actually saying Newt is fat, adulterous, greedy, and corrupt is too mild an assessment. He's much worse.

Actually saying Newt is fat, adulterous, greedy, and corrupt is too mild an assessment. He's much worse.

Exactly. There has to be several million fat, adulterous, greedy, and corrupt people that I would vote for instead of newt.

Actually saying Newt is fat, adulterous, greedy, and corrupt is too mild an assessment. He's much worse.

Forgive me I didn't want to traumatize the children.

Well 2 out of 3 does accurately characterize Americans. We are typically fat and greedy.

You forgot to mention that fart-face Gringrich is also a CROOK. How any Republican can take his candidacy seriously amazes me; he is so unworthy.

Dont forget envious. Thats the only thing I can see that would bind so many people of different place's together.

Obama is +11 on Newt, so if he's the candidate the GOP has its work cut out for it.

if he's the candidate the GOP has its work cut out for it

"Work cut out" is dangerously close to "workout" which it's obvious Gingrich hasn't done for some time.

Therefore by my infallible logic Gingrich is screwed.

Now, now! We all know Obama is going to be elected to a second term. But, I must admit, it is fun to sit back and watch all the mud slinging!

newt the grinch who would starve children and then blame their parents.

Takes a lot of insight to state that anyone wants to "starve children".

This is like listening to 5th graders insulting each other. What's next...your father can take Mr. Gingrich's father ???

Obama's class envy garbage is the epitome of hate promotion!

I have no idea what you're getting at, but there is definite class envy going on. Just look at some threads on some of these articles (like the tax system one).

It's scary.

With the South Carolina vote for Gingrich, I guess we can put to rest the Republican "Family Values" motto.

Sure, we all knew it was a big lie--but that vote just laid it out in the sunshine.

It is, and always has been, Republican Fanny Values.

Spider, you're a liar. Class envy is irrelevant. Class warfare, on the other hand, had been waged continually by the wealthy since the country was founded on the principal that only white male property owners would be allowed to vote.

The problem with class warfare is that the bottom 65% is too stupid (and often too bigoted) to realize that they have been losing steadily since the 70's, and that half the democrats have become too corrupted to fight it. Someone like Bob Rubin is a great example of both the corrupted and corrupter; that a democratic president let him run the country's finances is a symptom of the overall disease. Here's just a tiny symptom of an early germ:

The 1778 Constitution of South Carolina, for example, stated that "No person shall be eligible to sit in the house of representatives unless he be of the Protestant religion."

Class warfare is more American than apple pie. It's a shame the side that's losing doesn't have the wit to fight back.

At last someone has said it and I've believed it long ago. The wealthy super rich families and the super rich corporations that pay a minimal amount if any at all in taxes, have been waging class warfare for years. Repugs have fought minimum wage increases for decades and want to make the tax cuts for the wealthy permanent.

If keeping the minimum wage and taxes for the wealthy low creates jobs-the Repugnant party's mantras, where are the jobs?!

where are the jobs?!

In China...wait, no, they're leaving for Thailand...LOL

"When the fortunes of men becomes unchained from the fortunes of their nation, patriotism becomes just another feather in their nest."

Semper...

Why should the federal government be involved in setting a national minimum wage ??? Are the costs of living the same in Ocala, Florida as they are in Selma, Alabama and the same as in New York City. Why does the federal government have to be involved in every stinking thing ?

DC takes in your $100...pockets a third for dealing with their bureaucratic messes, then send 2/3 to state and municipalities for education or other items. Why do you want the feds involved in everything when it drives up both taxes and the costs of the expenditures.

The wisest part of the Republican debates is when they discuss giving power back to the states. That sure isn't being discussed much in the White House these days.

He didn't single-handedly balance the budget. You have to credit all the other members of those Congresses, as well as the President at that time (Clinton).

Newt was only in office for 2 of those budgets.

But we did see what happenend once the GOP congress got a GOP president after Clinton left.

Bunk

From Reagan through George W. Bush the National DEBT (not deficit) quadrupled.

W. Bush single handedly doubled the National Debt.

The only Democratic president, Clinton, handed W a deficit SURPLUS.

W. and the Republicans promptly squandered it.

History and (those damned) facts show clearly the Republicans have gotten us into this financial mess.

None of you who talk about balanced budgets, no matter who was responsible, should lose track of the fact that that budget balancing took place BEFORE THE BUSH TAX CUTS and BEFORE BUSH ENTERED INTO HIS WARS OF CHOICE.

Let's go back to the old tax rates and see if our deficit situation improves, or are you still buying the BS that if we give tax cuts to the rich they will create jobs? People, rich or not, create jobs because the person they hire will make them money. Anyone who hires someone just because they have a few extra dollars in their pocket is an idiot.

Well stated, Don!!

I've seen US senators b*tching about how little they earn. They earn six figures!

Heh, you forgot all the investment advantages they get. Then there's the lifetime Grade A health-care...Oh, and speaker fees for future endeavors...

Yea, they're broke. I wish I could get 6 figures for talking about nothing all day.

And the Bushcare drug program isn't an entitlement?

Just the most expensive entitlement in decades.......Which Newt supported.

So old people deserve free durgs that the rest of the tax payers provide?

Nice hypocricy Newt.

What is Bushcare? I haven't exactly heard that term thrown around.

Common Sense, old people do not get free drugs under Medicare Part D, the Bush drug plan written by the lobbyists for the drug industry. It is the most convoluted scheme anyone could possibly imagine that does at least two things: It creates, by law, a brand new market for the private health insurers and it prohibits Medicare from negotiating bulk rates for drugs with the manufacturers.

I pay into Medicare and pay a monthly premium to a health insurance company and pay a co-pay for prescription drugs at the local pharmacy. People in Europe, Asia and Canada shake their heads in wonderment at how much we pay for a product many must have to continue to stay alive. Only in America!

...It's not easy to qualify for entitlement programs. A family of 4 has to make less than $21,000.

Sure, there may be a few a lie to get that entitlement, but you people are making it sound like people are rolling in the dough and buying cadillacs with that money. Entitlement money is peanuts.

Bart......Bart Bart, Come down to 8mile and JohnR in Detroit my home. Sit on my porch (its ok I have several weapons) and watch people driving by. Escalades......GMC's spinner wheels 20's and on your way to the corner mini market (supermarkets dont exist) you can sell your food stamps for 50% on the dollar for just about any thing you want.

Please tell me, jos1 - just how exactly do you know that the folks in their "Escalades......GMC's spinner wheels 20's" are on food stamps? It wouldn't have anything to do with skin color, would it? No, of course it doesn't - just continue to fondle your weapons and spew your uh, 'logic' at us.

When Newt offers a proposal that anyone running for the House or Senate must take a drug test before taking the oath of office AND must be subject to unannounced drug tests twice a year, I will listen to him. Other wise he is blowing smoke.

jollyoldsoul1: now I know you are lying. They don't use "food stamps" anymore, every state issues a SNAP card, similar to a debit card, which requires, like a debit card, a signature and a pin. While they could sell the use of their debit card, the buyer would only be able to buy food and risks getting caught. The seller could easily report the card lost.

Also, if you are such a fine upstanding citizen and you see people selling their food stamps, why don't you report it to the inspector general's office, the food stamp office, or heck, even the police. You might even get a reward. If you tape what's going on, you can put it up on U-tube or sell it to the Gingrich campaign.

Ruken, "Qualifying for entitlement programs is easy." Have you ever tried? I have. Two 8 hour days, paper work up the ying/yang. No, Ruken! It's definitely NOT "easy." The only reason I did it was because I was literally starving. With a Bachelor's Degree. And putting out on average 150-200 resumes per week. Literally.

225$ for groceries and 200$ cash per month is not enough to live on but you can just barely get by with a little help from kind relatives. Then when you do get work you have to pay that money back. How is that an entitlement. This is how it was in Cal 5 yrs ago. When I had to get on it due to medical problems.

Souinds like jolly is jealous that someone he thinks SHOULD be broke can afford an Escalade while he has to drive his ford escort. Now that's envy!

Published on ZeroHedge (http://www.zerohedge.com)

Home > In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A YearIn Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year
By Tyler Durden
Created 11/21/2010 - 23:18

[1]Submitted by Tyler Durden [1] on 11/21/2010 23:18 -0500

China [2] Federal Tax [3]

Tonight's stunning financial piece de resistance comes from Wyatt Emerich of The Cleveland Current. In what is sure to inspire some serious ire among all those who once believed Ronald Reagan that it was the USSR that was the "Evil Empire", Emmerich analyzes disposable income and economic benefits among several key income classes and comes to the stunning (and verifiable) conclusion that "a one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimum wage) has more disposable income than a family making $60,000 a year." And that excludes benefits from Supplemental Security Income disability checks. America is now a country which punishes those middle-class people who not only try to work hard, but avoid scamming the system. Not surprisingly, it is not only the richest and most audacious thieves that prosper - it is also the penny scammers at the very bottom of the economic ladder that rip off the middle class each and every day, courtesy of the world's most generous entitlement system. Perhaps if Reagan were alive today, he would wish to modify the object of his once legendary remark.
From Emmerich:

You can do as well working one week a month at minimum wage as you can working $60,000-a-year, full-time, high-stress job.
My chart tells the story. It is pretty much self-explanatory.
[4]

Stunning? Just do it yourself.

Almost all welfare programs have Web sites where you can call up "benefits calculators." Just plug in your income and family size and, presto, your benefits are automatically calculated.
The chart is quite revealing. A one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimu wage) has more disposable income than a amily making $60,000 a year.

And if that wasn't enough, here is one that will blow your mind:

If the family provider works only one week a month at minimum wage, he or she makes 92 percent as much as a provider grossing $60,000 a year.

Ever wonder why Obama was so focused on health reform? It is so those who have no interest or ability in working, make as much as representatives of America's once exalted, and now merely endangered, middle class.

First of all, working one week a month, saves big-time on child care. But the real big-ticket item is Medicaid, which has minimal deductibles and copays. By working only one week a month at a minimum wage job, a provider is able to get total medical coverage for next to nothing.
Compare this to the family provider making $60,000 a year. A typical Mississippi family coverage would cost around $12,000, adding deductibles and copays adds an additional $4,500 or so to the bill. That's a huge hit.

There is a reason why a full time worker may not be too excited to learn there is little to show for doing the "right thing."

The full-time $60,000-a-year job is going to be much more demanding than woring one week a month at minimu wage. Presumably, the low-income parent will have more energy to attend to the various stresses of managing a household.

It gets even scarier if one assumes a little dishonesty is throwin in the equation.

If the one-week-a-month worker maintains an unreported cash-only job on the side, the deal gets better than a regular $60,000-a-year job. In this scenario, you maintain a reportable, payroll deductible, low-income job for federal tax purposes. This allows you to easily establish your qualification for all these welfare programs. Then your black-market job gives you additional cash without interfering with your benefits. Some economists estimate there is one trillion in unreported income each year in the United States.
This really got me thinking. Just how much money could I get if I set out to deliberately scam the system? I soon realized that getting a low-paying minimum wage job would set the stage for far more welfare benefits than you could earn in a real job, if you were weilling to cheat. Even if you dodn't cheat, you could do almost as well working one week a month at minimum wage than busting a gut at a $60,000-a-year job.

Now where it gets plainly out of control is if one throws in Supplemental Security Income.

SSI pays $8,088 per year for each "disabled" family member. A person can be deemed "disabled" if thy are totally lacking in the cultural and educational skills needed to be employable in the workforce.
If you add $24,262 a year for three disability checks, the lowest paid welfare family would now have far more take-home income than the $60,000-a-year family.

Best of all: being on welfare does not judge you if you are stupid enough not to take drugs all day, every day to make some sense out of this Mephistophelian tragicomedy known as living in the USA:

Most private workplaces require drug testing, but there is no drug testing to get welfare checks.

Alas, on America's way to to communist welfare, it has long since surpassed such bastions of capitalism as China:

The welfare system in communist China is far stringier. Those people have to work to eat.

We have been writing for over a year, how the very top of America's social order steals from the middle class each and every day. Now we finally know that the very bottom of the entitlement food chain also makes out like a bandit compared to that idiot American who actually works and pays their taxes. One can only also hope that in addition to seeing their disposable income be eaten away by a kleptocratic entitlement state, that the disappearing middle class is also selling off its weaponry. Because if it isn't, and if it finally decides it has had enough, the outcome will not be surprising at all: it will be the same old that has occurred in virtually every revolution in the history of the world to date.

dadoftim - lies - you're just posting lies. Do you think everyone is stupid enough to believe your lies???? How sad that people like you try to lie about the misfortunes of people who are barely making enough to live. Then you have to lie about it? There is a special place in h**l for people like you and Newt. I'm sure you'll enjoy each other's company just fine!

I don't get food stamps, but if it weren't for the Pell grant and federal loan system I don't know where I'd be right now. I was working right up to 2007. The area I live in (suburban west Florida) was hit so hard by the recession, it still hasn't started to recover. My cousin is a navy veteran, worked in Iraq as a contractor, mid 30's, handsome...the PERFECT worker, and he still doesn't have a job now that hes back home with the family.

It's just sad.

Sally.... Giggle!

poor jolly...

dadoftim

Innumeracy on such a level is truly impressive.

Re SeekingSanity

dadoftim - lies - you're just posting lies. Do you think everyone is stupid enough to believe your lies???? How sad that people like you try to lie about the misfortunes of people who are barely making enough to live. Then you have to lie about it? There is a special place in h**l for people like you and Newt. I'm sure you'll enjoy each

FROM ARTICLE;

Stunning? Just do it yourself.

Almost all welfare programs have Web sites where you can call up "benefits calculators." Just plug in your income and family size and, presto, your benefits are automatically calculated.
The chart is quite revealing. A one-parent family of three making $14,500 a year (minimu wage) has more disposable income than a amily making $60,000 a year.

Don't blame me if you can't handle the truth

Gee genius, that couldn't possibly have anything to do with the fact that over a million jobs were lost between the 2008 election of Obama and the time he was sworn in in Jan 2009 as the entire economy was collapsing. Are you really that dense?

Sally,

All you have to do is read his "ditto" post to see that, yes he is that dense.

Critical thinking is not allowed for ditto heads.

Dahly-1755482

It is the defense contractors that rely on federal taxpayer largess. How about this largess going to domestic infrastructure projects? If we are going to spend money we have not got, at least put it into (say) a bridge with a service life of 80 years, rather than a piece of military hardware that the Pentagon have already said that THEY DO NOT WANT and DO NOT NEED.

Next time you have a thought, sweetie, LET IT GO.

Saul Alinsky, reread his work.

You do know that there are MILITARY families on food stamps, right? They are employed seven days a week, 365 days a year,

Alinsky has been debunked more times than I can count...and I can count well into tthe hundreds...

Alinsky did not write anything about collapsing the government. He wrote about organizing under-priveleged groups, so that together their concerns could be heard in the debate dominated by the powerful. His goal was compromise, not collapse. You people trying to trash Alinsky are simply buying into the propoganda mechanism of the right wing, where you take a name or a label that most people know nothing about, invent a lie that makes that name or label sound bad, and then repeat it enough, so that those without capacity for rational thought think it is the truth.

The only thing you right wingers accomplish when you label something "Alinsky", is prove your own ignorance.

Clearly not someone with tunnel vision that obviously has a bigoted view of all things.

Tarzan7 - ur looking at total number on food stamps by race. Look at the number on food stamps by race and as a percentage of the total population. As a % of population there are many times more blacks on food stamps

meh.......try using the government statistics to get a handle on the numbers...

Any way to twist it to fit your notion huh louis?

Most of the people who lost their jobs were white, therefore, most of the new recipients of food stamps are white, also. It's hard to find a job to feed your family if there are no jobs to find.........

That Potbelly Sandwich place down the road has been hiring for months. People either have jobs around here, or more likely would rather take the government check.

According to the USDA:

49% of participants are under 17.
15% are over 60
20% are non-elderly disabled
The average monthly GROSS household income for a food stamp household is $731. The NET is $336
35% are White
22% are Black
10% are Hispanic
19% are unknown

http://www.fns.usda.gov/ora/MENU/Published/snap/FILES/Participation/2010Characteristics.pdf

Yes, Tarzan, you wouldn't dream of believing anything that flies in the face of your innate racism, right?

19% are unknown

Oh sh*t!

For those interested in the demographics of food stamp usage, the Carsey Institute at the University of New Hampshire did an interesting study in 2005. They found that in rural areas, 53 percent of food stamp recipients were white as compared to 27 percent black. In urban areas, this breakdown was 34 percent white to 35 percent black.

NOTE: this study is using statistics from BEFORE the Great Recession, when things got a lot worse. And please remember that a large number of SNAP (food stamp) recipients are WORKING poor. They have jobs, sometimes more than one, that just don't go far enough to, you know, FEED A FAMILY.

Damned facts really mess up my bigotry!!!!!!!!!

Them "19% unknown" be the ones that keep bringin in the anchor babies from Mars.

The only color that truly matters is green. You either got it or you don't.

:The Government say's most people that are on Food stamp's are White? I don't believe that for a Damned minute.:

Typical dittohead -- anything he doesn't WANT to believe isn't true. Never, ever confuse a dittohead with facts.

Tarzan7

The Government say's most people that are on Food stamp's are White? I don't believe that for a Damned minute

...did you read the article? Here. Let me help you out.

More and more food stamp recipients are like Susie, 59, who declined to give her last name at a food stamp office in Jacksonville.

"I am a Republican and a conservative ... and I had to swallow my pride today and come in and apply for benefits for the first time because I'm losing weight," Susie said.

The blonde, blue-eyed mother of grown children looks like a typical consumer at an upscale shopping mall. She said she has suffered a triple whammy since the recession began in 2007 - losing her house, business and marriage.

Susie, who described herself as an undecided voter, said the only work she has been able to find was as a part-time cashier at a Dollar Tree discount store.

Tarzan7 - Sorry to tell you but the stats are correct. The majority of people on food stamps are WHITE!!! And, many of the people benefiting from food stamps are children. Now let that sink in for a moment.

Perhaps Tarzan should have used a sarcasm font, lol.

10% of whites - you moved a decimal. (In rough terms, it's 8.67% of whites - plus or minus)

...and the point is what? That therefore food stamps are used more by black people? Nope, they aren't.

Louis get a grip on reality you bigoted small mided peice of trash.

I think it proves that when the GOP gets an economy rolling off a cliff, it tends to hit those near the bottom hardest, and, unfortunately, blacks and hispanics continue to generally, be at the bottom of the earning and wealth spectrums.

Hard to find work when you are delirious from starvation. But hey, isn't that the GOP final solution to poverty in America.

Is there a correlation between the precentage of people who are not employed and the precentage of people on food stamps. What is the unemployment rate among the races?

Proper english, please..... And PLEASE spell his name right......

Newt has been in a rage since he got booted ( resigned) from Congress, whichever term he wants to use today.

Thomas Walsh - Since Gingrich is already taking credit for being President doesn't that make him ineligible to run???/

He was definitely the greatest cause for food stamps in history....

That is ridiculous. I work at a govt. service agency. I witness grown men perfectly capable of working who refuse to do so and they get Medicaid. Why do they get Medicaid? Because they figured out how to breed and work the system. They live with the mother of their children and Obama rewards them with free health care. I paid $8,000.00 in premiums last year. The pull into the parking lot with expensive cars, expensive clothes and a piss poor attitude of entitlement. It's sickening. In addtion, it takes benefits away from people who really need them.

Griff999 - you don't work for any govt. service agency and everything you've just written is lies. Go away! People are WAY toooo smart to believe your rants.

Griff: anyone who uses the word "breed" in describing human beings is immediately disaqualified from making any rational discussion...(speaking of piss poor attitudes of entitlement...look in the mirror).

Bush was in office for 8 years, this pressident has been in office for three..... THAT is why he is known as the food stamp pressident, he has nearly matched Bushes 8 years in 3 years......

You would never catch a politician, especially a Republican, "working the system."

Most of Gingrich's supporters also don't realize it takes the entire Congress and the President to make a budget.

Claiming sole responsibility is ludicrous.

Ruken- google the definition of narcissistic personality disorder-- and you will see that Newt is the personification of it. He's very bright but this is part of what makes him so hard for others to deal with.

Most Gingrich supporters how no idea how the government or much of anything else works at any level.

I could be in office for 6 mounths and still have a hand in balanceing the budget for 4 years. I only have to either make a plan and have congress and the pressident go along with it for 4 years or just go to those meetings and put my insight in.... That 2 year crap is looking pretty ignorant now isn't it? I believe that he did the former. The bolded one I mean...

yeah, American's need more rational dialogue from the haters of the 'let em eat cake' party...that'll solve our problems!

The latest generation has been indoctrinated to hold our hands out. There's no shame in taking handouts, in fact we're supposed to throw tantrums when we can't get what we want for free.

Hardly "handouts" Ruken, they're paid for by all our taxes. Yeah, I'm sure you don't want anybody to get anything no matter what the reason, especially not with "your" taxes. You'd think you were standing on the corner emptying out your wallet personally. Well, for now, this country is still based on "we the people" not "I got mine." There but for fortune go you or I. Perhaps if you walked a mile in those folks' shoes for while you'd grow a heart.

The latest generation? What is that? Find you local food bank location and spend an hour or so there and you will find most of those people asking for help are from the Greatest Generation, as Tom Brokaw called them.

You'd think you were standing on the corner emptying out your wallet personally.

With the number of entitlement programs I might as well be.

Did you know my state spent taxpayer money to repair low income (privately owned) housing after the tornado last summer, just because those people didn't have insurance? Then those very same people decided to b*tch at the state because those repairs weren't happening "fast enough".

We also have subsidized internet for low-income people. Tell me, how the hell can they afford computers?

I'm sorry, but this handout crap is out of control. Some people need help getting food, that's a given. But let's spend taxpayer money giving internet to the poor? That's bullsh*t.

Its nice to know that if the country hits hard times and you lose your house and your job, Newt Gingrich will be right there to cut off your food stamps and encourage your kids to go clean toilets!

And since most jobs are now advertised exclusively through the internet, we better make sure to remove any access the poor may have to getting a better job. /sarcasm off.

And since most jobs are now advertised exclusively through the internet, we better make sure to remove any access the poor may have to getting a better job. /sarcasm off.

I just heard of a remarkable new invention: it's called a library. I heard they even have computers with internet access.

Ruken won't be happy intil the poor ar living in shacks with no indoor plumbing, no electricity and no vehicles. Ruken fancies him/herself as above all the "riff-raf" and can't stand it that he's just not that special.

Ya know people -- if you cut all the food stamps and all the welfare out of the federal budget, not much would change. If you add it all up it costs less that one week in Afghanistan.

Hahahaha........ you poeple are so stupid that all you do is bash the other side. At least we come up with ideas, you lot just say how stupid we are. Ruken has a point for once.

Ever tried finding and landing a job when you and your children are starving?

Good luck in going out into the streets and begging for a bite to eat from wealthy right-wingers, so you can keep your strength up to find a job. You know what they'll condescendingly tell you, maliciously and out loud so that everyone will hear you: "GET A JOB AFTER YOU TAKE A BATH !"

Gingritch, after you've lost this election, why don't you practice what you preach. You're covered in your own dirt. May I suggest you first use a disinfectant soap.

With a full time and part time position in the family they are apparently doing better than my family with a one income wage earner and I am certain that his position pays better than mine, yet we aren't on any form of public assistance. In my younger days, I tried for assistance but was turned away and really really needed the assistance at that time, wondering where our kids next meal was coming from. As a result we will NEVER ask for any form of public assistance. We love our country but fear our federal govt. I think MORE need to do more to be self reliant and not depend on the neighbors who are footing the bill.

So in a nut shell you are pissed becuse you didn't get your "handout" therefore you want to strip it from everyone. Yea, that sounds about right. By the way, I though all those "handouts" were just so easy to get?

Sick~ While I understand your position having grown up most of my life in a single parent household. My parents were divorced, my mom was a single parent with 3 young children, and she worked full time. She too refused to be on public assistance. It was a pride thing for her I think, and we never went without the things we needed. So I get why you would choose not to go on public assistance.

What I disagree with is your assessment that the family gshaw speaks of is depending on their neighbors to foot the bill. It clearly states that the patriarch in this family has a full time job and is paying taxes. The matriarch finds work where she can, and I will conclude that she too pays taxes when she is employed. Therefore, it can be deduced that this family is paying into taxes also and are NOT living solely off their neighbors. While I understand this isn't the case for all who are on public assistance, you addressed gshaws comment and the people being spoken about are tax payers too.

So you like your benefits and you've earned them?

Really, you might vote Gingrich after he shows he has no empathy for the vulnerable, he's a washington insider/lobbyist who was one the big instigators in dividing America, that he's a hypocrite adulterer, he was on Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac's payroll when the housing market went bust...?

You would even consider voting for him??? Then I ask, what is wrong with you?

You think Gingrich helped Clinton make the government work?? What about when he closed it down just because he wanted to sit in the front of Air Force One and Clinton insisted that he sit in the back?

Or when he wasted 100 million dollars trying to impeach a sitting president who was having an affair with his staffer (while Newt was also having an affair with a staffer) so that he could be one step closer to becoming president?? Do you think months and months of that was good for the country?

With your Clinton comment, it all makes sense to me now and there is no reason to comment further.

Ideology and common sense don't often play well together, as some of the above comments reflect. What happened in 1994 was that power in DC was split and Gingrich proved that he could work with Clinton and Clinton proved that he could work with Gingrich and the result was generally beneficial to the country. Contrast that with the disaster that resulted from the Bush years 1-6, when the R's controlled both houses plus the Presidency, or with the disaster of Obama 1-2, when the D's held that monopoly. Worse, compare it to the present situation, where the divided power has yielded gridlock. I respect Gingrich for his "realpolitik" and I endorse a number of his policies. On that basis, I could vote for him. However, the whole "food stamp" comment betrays one of the doubts that dogs him, namely the doubt as to how well grounded he is in those emotions and values which I believe are necessary in a president. This is a man who was cheating on a wife who was in the hospital dying of cancer, yet who can also claim to reflect "family values". He's a man who can sneer at people on food stamps, but who made millions getting subsidies for the likes of Fannie Mae. These things give me pause. They reflect a certain elitist attitude that I believe is at the heart of many of our current problems (an elitism not monopolized by the Repubicans, let alone by Gingrich). The intellectual Gingrich is compelling. The man behind the intellectual causes a lot of doubts. In the end, I may have to make the choice offered by Grover Cleveland, with his illegitimate child, and his opponent, James G. Blaine, with his impeccable personal history, but with a history of machine politics corruption. In short, I may be obliged to send to DC the man most fit for public life, while returning the man best fit for private life home.

As to the whole Lewinsky affair, the reality is that Clinton lied under oath. That action should have been held in abeyance until the Presidency was vacated (as had been the practice in the past) and then he should have been nailed as a perjurer. Instead, the R's spend almost 4 years of his presidency discussing semen stains on a fat girl's dress. I condemned that as absurd at the time. I still do, particularly as it was during the distraction thus engendered that Al Qaeda was growing, but Clinton was afraid to do anything for fear of being accused of letting the tail wag the dog.

EXACTLY--another example of utter hypocrisy by the "small govt" Repubs.

....not a penny collected from the recipients....

THAT is where you are wrong. Medicare Part D requires Medicare recipients to be paying into Medicare Part B to be eligible for Parts C & D, which both carry large premiums, plus co-pays and deductibles. There are many seniors who ONLY have Part A, the hospitalization portion for which they do NOT pay a premium. They do however have deductibles and co-pays even with Part A. Plus there are many medical services that are NOT included under the Part A portion, even while in the hospital. Premiums for Part B alone were $96.40/month when I became eligible for Medicare two years ago. I chose to only take Part A because I really couldn't afford to have that premium for Part B deducted from my SS check. Plus, at the time I was trying to complete arrangements to move to Panama, where Medicare would be unavailable to me unless I traveled back to the US mainland for medical care. My premium for both Part B and Part D would have been well over $160/month. I have not had any medical needs for many years, so I felt I was better off just setting aside what I could into a special fund for future medical needs. I've paid into the Medicare Fund ever since Medicare was created.

Probably mostly from drug running too, right Old School??? Or maybe prostitution?? Yes there is abuse in the system and that abuse needs to be stopped, at all levels of government. When you hear such conversations, do you ever intervene and try to correct their thinking?

I. for one, do believe that we need to go back to the workfare program or the old WPA/CCC of FDR, etc. Put people to work doing even the most menial of tasks (like cleaning up the litter that is everywhere or scrubbing off the graffiti they paint on everything.) Make them "earn" those "freeloader" benefits they seek. My grandfather ended up working under either WPA or CCC (I can't remember which) when he lost his factory job. Dams were built, many of our national and state park systems were started under those programs, roads were maintained, etc. There is so much that we could be doing to give people respect and dignity while receiving the assistance, and it all starts with putting them to work on such WPA/CCC type projects.

Won't happen. The Republicans claim FDR's programs only prolonged the Depression. They haven't changed their tune on that one. It would undermine their entire philosophy.

oldSchool you just posted a bunch of my sisters neighbors boyfriends sisters hairdresser told me babble. You have no idea about the any of the people you are making all kinds of assumptions about. I just had this very discussion in sociology class. Everyone was making wild assumptions because OMG that kid on the free lunch program is wearing a pair of nike's. How the hell do you know where they came from? I adopt a family from the projects every year at Christmas. The 14 year old girl I bought for this past Christmas now wears Hollister, Abacrombie and Mudd articles of clothing. Why you ask, because I had my neice go shopping with me to give me the skinny on what a 14 year old gil wears these days. And OMG, I bought her a pair of Sketcher shoes and the nerve of me, an Ipod. I guess you would judge her because of it huh? Silly me, even know I can afford hollister and Ipods I guess I should have gone to the Goodwill store because by God we can't have the poor kids dressing in anything but rags right? People such as yourself really do make me physically ill. You want to talk about envy, you display it quite well. You are clearly seething over people having things you don't personally deem them worthy of.

What precentage of welfare abuse are we talkin about?

Thank you Sally! You explained it PERFECTLY! So many "judges" out there! Makes me ill....

Exactly. It's the abuse of benefits that infuriates people.

Mike

Sounds like a member of Congress.

Emil

So we should throw out the baby with the bathwater?

Just because there are some cheats in the system that does not mean the system should be scrapped. I like to compare it to our legal system: better that one hundred guilty people go free, than to have a single innocent person convicted.

The cheaters in the entitlement system are few (compared to total number in the system), but they receive a lot of attention, especially from the so-called "law and order" types who love an issue where they see no grey. Just because the "get off of my lawn" crowd are clamoring for the elimination of entitlements based (in part at least) on the untrue assumption that the system is overrun with fraud, doesn't mean the rest of us need to pick up a pitchfork or light a torch.

Is there abuse in entitlements? Undoubtedly. Should people starve because of it? Absolutely not.

My problem with entitlements is that we give way too many "necessities". Give food? Sure. Give subsidized housing? Sure. But...lately I've been seeing more and more subsidized houses stacked with more electronics than a computer science major's dorm room.

This begs the question: what are we doing to enforce that help is going to those that literally cannot afford to feed themselves, and instead are simply filing for entitlements because they don't want to give up their NFL Sunday Ticket?

I know one family that collects Food Stamps

WOW!!! You know one family. I'm sure that family is the same as every single family using food stamps. Now be sure to tell us the story about seeing somebody at the grocery store paying with food stamps and then driving off in a brand new Cadillac.

So Mike, please do tell. On what solid information do you base any of your claims other than what you observed then put together a story to fit your beef? have you seen their tax filings? Did you see the letters of scholarship? Why type of "cash business" does this father run that there is no trace anywhere of? If they frequently move in the middle of the night how do you know where they have gone? Are these your friends? Clearly by what you claim to know about them you keep in constant contact. Funny thing though, you have no specifics, only generalized allegations. Have you ever turned them in or is this just a fabricated story on your part so you can join in the let's see how much BS we can spew that has no basis in fact?

umm... the shiney new car should be the first thing to downgrade from in the event of a loss of income...that is a problem within itself...and a trap that most create for themselves. Get rid of the crap you dont need and realize what is really important. I for one would exhaust every effort that I could before I would go ask for help. There is huge difference between a hand up... and a hand out!

But downgrading the car would be rather difficult. The down payment money is gone for a less pricey car. The owner could very well be upside down, the credit has probably taken a hit or two in trying times and if this person doesn't have a job, how could they qualify for a new loan? And they need a car to look for work. Should that person let the car get repossessed and they buy a $500 piece of junk that will break down all the time as they still look for work?

We hear a lot of balking from the right about "envy". justanothervet just made a perfect display of it. He, along with the rest seething with rage and envy because people he does not deem worthy have decent things. Lost your job, better not wear that leather coat in public again. Oh and get rid of your car, all jewelry or anything that doesn't give the physical appearance of beggar. You are down an out. you damn well better look the part or the repubs will start squawking like school kids over it.

WOW...Just checked in on my recent posts to find this......

And no Sally.....your right...... by all means hang on to the new shiney car......that you cant pay the payments on. By all means make no attempt to curb your high dollar habits that you can no longer afford. Let me know how that works out for ya! I made no attempt at "balking from the right about envy".... I simply stated that if you can no longer afford the things that you have since you unfortunatly lost a job, you should try your best to downgrade the less important things in life that you dont NEED... in an attempt at self recovery. And yes a shiney new car with a big payment is one thing you dont need, a cheap get me by car will work great and you can probably buy the car outright for what you could make a couple payments on that new shiney one. It would be a temporary fix to a problem that could ease your burden and put food on the table and keep the lights and heat on! If sound judgement is called "balking envy" now days.... then I guess I'm guilty. By the way... there are so many people who turn down work because they believe they are above doing that type of work, There are jobs to be had out there...trouble is most of the folks are to spoiled to take them. I for one would not care if I had to shovel Sh&t with a spoon for 12 hours a day, if that is what it takes to put food on the table for my family. Its people like you that find themselves in a bad situation and refuse to do what ever it takes to get out of it, because you feel you are owed something in this life!