MORE NEEDING FOOD STAMPS MAY BE NEW NORMAL

BOSTON, Oct. 27 (UPI) -- 
Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program has more than doubled in the past decade even during times of economic growth, U.S. researchers say.
SNAP enrollment in the last 10 years more than doubled to 47 million but, for the first time, the number of Americans receiving food stamps increased even when the economy was growing.

During the 2003-07 expansion, the SNAP case load, -- in a break with historic trends -- rose 24 percent, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College reported. CRC economists Matt Rutledge and April Yanyuan Wu said one reason is a change in the longstanding correlation between poverty and the unemployment rate.

Poverty used to fall in tandem with the jobless rate, reducing the need for food stamps but the researchers found poverty did not decline as the economy grew in the mid-2000s -- and in the recovery following the Great Recession, the number of people receiving food stamps kept rising.

Via: Breitbart
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Report: U.S. Spent $3.7 Trillion on Welfare Over Last 5 Years

New research from the Republicans on the Senate Budget Committee shows that over the last 5 years, the U.S. has spent about $3.7 trillion on welfare. Here's a chart, showing that spending versus transportation, education, and NASA spending:

"We have just concluded the 5th fiscal year since President Obama took office. During those five years, the federal government has spent a total $3.7 trillion on approximately 80 different means-tested poverty and welfare programs. The common feature of means-tested assistance programs is that they are graduated based on a person’s income and, in contrast to programs like Social Security or Medicare, they are a free benefit and not paid into by the recipient," says the minority side of the Senate Budget Committee.

"The enormous sum spent on means-tested assistance is nearly five times greater than the combined amount spent on NASA, education, and all federal transportation projects over that time. ($3.7 trillion is not even the entire amount spent on federal poverty support, as states contribute more than $200 billion each year to this federal nexus—primarily in the form of free low-income health care.)

Via: Weekly Standard

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Tale of California’s Two Economies

California is an economy of regions—from the north to the south—from the inland to coastal communities—California’s regional economies are diverse.

When the recession hit in 2008, no region was exempt. Five years later, the state’s economy is improved, but not every region has bounced back in the same way. In fact, getting back to the “good old days” has been uneven.

Unemployment rates for coastal communities have dipped, many below the state’s unemployment rate of 8.9 percent. Jobs are being added and housing prices are soaring.

Yet, in many circumstances, the story is much different when you travel inland where unemployment remains in the double digits.

Fresno, in the San Joaquin Valley, is a prime example.

“The San Joaquin Valley is historically one of the most economically distressed regions in the nation.  On top of that, we experienced the double-whammy of the recession.  We were among the hardest hit by the recession and suffered significantly,” said Ashley Swearengin, Mayor and California Economic Summit Co-Chair.

“It will take us longer to come back than the coastal areas because we must overcome both the effects of the most recent recession, as well as our long-term, over-dependence on the housing industry. The San Joaquin Valley’s opportunity is to diversify its economy by building a skilled, innovative workforce that fuels business growth and generates higher income levels and lasting economic stability.”

Need more proof?  A recent study by The Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality and the Public Policy Institute of California show, in 2011, 22 percent of Californians were living in poverty. The federal poverty rate, that same year, was 16 percent.

Latinos, the state’s largest ethnic group, is much higher at 32.2 percent. Los Angeles County had a poverty rate of 26.9 percent and Orange County was at 24.3 percent.

Both studies only emphasize California’s reality of two economies. Education levels, and cost of living, especially housing, are big factors in economic well-being.

Via: California Political Review

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Huffington Post Opines: God Wants Socialism, Not Shutdowns

Over at The Huffington Post, socialist activist Jim Wallis is typically insisting that the Bible’s verses on the poor all underline that socialism is God’s demand in the current shutdown. We're not individually responsible for the poor, we must be collectively, bureaucratically responsible. 

“We're hearing lots of babble at the Capitol, but across the street, we're trying to hear the word of God -- what God says about the people, families, and children who will suffer the most because of Washington's babble,” he wrote. Don’t they know God wanted a statist “War on Poverty”?

These words aren't just directed to churches and charities about what we should do with the poor. They're about the obligations of kings, rulers, and government to protect the poor...

We plan to give out copies of The Poverty and Justice Bible, which has all 2,000 verses about the poor highlighted in orange, to each Member of Congress and their staff during the shutdown. We want the politicians who assault each other and the nation with their words every day to hear what we Christians call the Word of God, just across the street from their verbal battles... 

We're going to keep sharing God's message of good news for the poor to help our elected officials rediscover the vision of the "common good." We invite you to come down and support the Faithful Filibuster. And if you can't join us in person, tweet one of the 2,000 Bible verses on poverty with the hashtag #FaithfulFilibuster. Let's remind the politicians and pundits whose babble has dominated, that it is only the Word of God that endures forever. (Isaiah 40:8)

The HuffPost also included a link to his new book “On God's Side: What Religion Forgets and Politics Hasn't Learned about Serving the Common Good.” It quotes from Lincoln saying, "My concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God's side."'

Liberals love to use this against the Christian right. This utterly misses that Lincoln might not have been thinking of Gary Bauer.

Via: Huffington Post

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Poverty strikes more in Southland each year despite recovering economy.(California)

L.A. ECONOMY, 2008-2012

Los Angeles city unemployment, 2012: 12.2%

Los Angeles city unemployment, 2008: 7.1%

Los Angeles city median household income, 2012: $46,803

Los Angeles city median household income, 2008: $52,044

Los Angeles city poverty rate, 2012: 23.3%

Los Angeles city poverty rate, 2008: 19.5%

Source: U.S. Census

Tisha Morrison, 46, of Pacoima found herself taking refuge in the Los Angeles area after her Louisiana home was destroyed by Hurricane Ike in 2008.

Today, the single mother of eight, who lost her part-time job at a shelter in May after it closed, struggles to stretch her roughly $1,225 in welfare and food stamps that she receives each month to care for her and her five young children who live at home.

“We barely make it,” Morrison said Wednesday, noting that three of her children have developmental disabilities. “I have a retired veteran boyfriend and he helps me with my loose ends.”

While economists say the national recession officially ended in 2009, new U.S. Census data indicate that Southern Californians became increasingly impoverished at least through last year.

The state’s poverty rate climbed 3.6 percentage points from 2008 to 2012 with significant increases also in Los Angeles and San Bernardino counties in the same period, according to estimates from a U.S. Census Bureau survey released Thursday.

In Los Angeles County, the poverty rate also climbed 3.6 percentage points from 15.5 percent in 2008 to 19.1 percent in 2012. It rose 0.8 percentage points from 2011 to 2012, according to the Census Bureau’s American Communities Survey.

“Even through 2012, the L.A. County economy was struggling to recover and ... more Los Angeles County households fell below the poverty line as a result of the lingering effects of the Great Recession,” said Robert Kleinhenz, chief economist of the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp.

Via: LA Daily News

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Census Report OBLITERATES Obamanomics

Census on Obama’s 1st Term: Real Median Income Down $2,627; People in Poverty Up 6,667,000; Record 46,496,000 Now Poor


(CNSNews.com) - During the four years that marked President Barack Obama’s first term in office, the real median income of American households dropped by $2,627 and the number of people in poverty increased by approximately 6,667,000, according to data released today by the Census Bureau.

The record total of approximately 46,496,000 people in the United States who are now in poverty, according to the Census Bureau, is more than twice the population of Syria, which, according to the CIA, has 22,457,336 people.

In 2008, the year Obama was elected, real median household income in the United States was $53,644 according to the Census Bureau. In 2012, the last full year of Obama’s first term, median household income was $51,017. Thus, real median household income dropped $2,627—or 4.89 percent—from 2008 to 2012.

In fact, real median household income dropped in every year of Obama's first term. In 2008, when he was elected, it was $53,644. In 2009, the year he was inaugurated, it dropped to 53,285. In 2010, his second year in office, it dropped to $51,892. In 2011, his third year in office, it dropped to $51,100. And, in 2012, his fourth year in office, it dropped to $51,017.

At the same time the number of people living in poverty in the United States increased. In 2008, according to the Census Bureau, there were approximately 39,829,000 people living in poverty in this country. In 2012, there were 46,496,000. That is an increase of approximately 6,667,000—of 16.73 percent—from 2008 to 2012.

The number of people in poverty increased during three of the four years of Obama's first term--taking a slight dip from 2010 to 2011, but then rising again from 2011 to 2012. In 2008, there were 39,829 people in poverty in the U.S. In 2009, it climbed to 43,569. In 2010, it climbed again to 46,343. In 2011, it dipped to 46,247. And, in 2012, it climbed to an all-time high 46,496.

Via: Fox News

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ObamaCare Work Disincentives: 4 Cliffs Hit Employees

In the time of Caesar, all roads led to Rome. In the time of ObamaCare, seemingly every path heads straight for a cliff.

The health law is filled with cliffs where the returns for more work take a nose-dive.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated ObamaCare will "reduce the amount of labor used in the economy by roughly half a percent" — about 800,000 full-time jobs. It seems likely that four especially steep cliffs — including two where marginal tax rates can approach 100% or more — will factor into work and hiring decisions.

The 50th employee: For companies with 49 workers that do not offer its employees health coverage, the hiring of just one more worker would carry a penalty of $40,000.

A firm with at least 50 workers that doesn't offer coverage must pay a $2,000 fine per worker (minus the first 30 workers) if even one of its employees receives ObamaCare subsidies.

Likewise, even if a business with 50 employees offers coverage, it would still face up to a $3,000 charge for each worker who nevertheless claims Obama-Care subsidies.

The law gives workers this option when employer coverage is deemed unaffordable because it costs more than 9.5% of the worker's household income.

France has 2.4 times as many firms with 49 employees as with 50 due to labor regulations that take effect with the 50th hire, BusinessWeek has noted.

How many firms will institute a hiring freeze to avoid ObamaCare penalties is unclear, but the risk is that the U.S. will go down a similar path as France.

The low-income cliff: At 200% of the poverty level is a dividing line. Deductibles for married couples on one side may be $300 vs. $3,500 on the other, according to one estimate provided to the Kaiser Family Foundation by Towers Watson.

In addition, a family at 200% of poverty would pay $830 less for subsidized insurance than a family at 225% of poverty, The Kaiser Family Foundation's health subsidy calculator shows.

Via: IBD

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CHART: Paul Ryan Lays Out a Vision for Reforming Welfare, Fighting Poverty

In his speech today at Cleveland State University, Representative Paul Ryan (R–WI) laid out a vision for reforming the nation’s approach to poverty.

“With few exceptions, government’s approach has been to spend lots of money on centralized, bureaucratic, top-down anti-poverty programs,” Ryan stated. “The mindset behind this approach is that a nation should measure compassion by the size of the federal government and how much it spends.” This has “created and perpetuated a debilitating culture of dependency, wrecking families and communities.”

He’s right. Since the “War on Poverty” began five decades ago, the federal government hasspent nearly $20 trillion (adjusted for inflation) on what is now a welfare system consisting of over 80 programs. Total annual spending is now approaching $1 trillion. See our newly updated chart: (continues below chart)

The Foundry

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Unreal: Florida Passes Plan For Racially-Based Academic Goals, Asian Students Expected To Be Top Performers, Blacks Last…

Palm Beach, Fla. (CBS TAMPA) – The Florida State Board of Education passed a plan that sets goals for students in math and reading based upon their race.

On Tuesday, the board passed a revised strategic plan that says that by 2018, it wants 90 percent of Asian students, 88 percent of white students, 81 percent of Hispanics and 74 percent of black students to be reading at or above grade level. For math, the goals are 92 percent of Asian kids to be proficient, whites at 86 percent, Hispanics at 80 percent and blacks at 74 percent. It also measures by other groupings, such as poverty and disabilities, reported the Palm Beach Post.

The plan has infuriated many community activists in Palm Beach County and across the state.

“To expect less from one demographic and more from another is just a little off-base,” Juan Lopez, magnet coordinator at John F. Kennedy Middle School in Riviera Beach, told the Palm Beach Post.

JFK Middle has a black student population of about 88 percent.

“Our kids, although they come from different socioeconomic backgrounds, they still have the ability to learn,” Lopez said. “To dumb down the expectations for one group, that seems a little unfair.”

Others in the community agreed with Lopez’s assessment. But the Florida Department of Education said the goals recognize that not every group is starting from the same point and are meant to be ambitious but realistic.

As an example, the percentage of white students scoring at or above grade level (as measured by whether they scored a 3 or higher on the reading FCAT) was 69 percent in 2011-2012, according to the state. For black students, it was 38 percent, and for Hispanics, it was 53 percent.

In addition, State Board of Education Chairwoman Kathleen Shanahan said that setting goals for different subgroups was needed to comply with terms of a waiver that Florida and 32 other states have from some provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. These waivers were used to make the states independent from some federal regulations.

Via: CBS News

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Median income in Ohio hits 27-year low

ANOTHER EXAMPLE OF OBAMA POLICIES WORKING THEIR MAGIC.  

Ohio households were poorer last year than they’ve been in more than 25 years, and the number of people living in poverty is higher than it’s been in more than 30 years, according to a census report released yesterday.

“People are getting squeezed from every direction,” said James Newton, chief economic adviser to Commerce National Bank.

When adjusted for inflation, the 2010 annual median household income in Ohio of $46,093 was down by $543 from the previous year, and down 15.3 percent from the peak of $54,395 in 2000, according to the census’s Current Population Survey, which was released yesterday.

The inflation-adjusted figure hasn’t been lower for Ohio since officials began keeping that record in 1984, census officials said.

Ohio’s level of poverty — 15.3 percent — was worse than the nation’s, which was at 15.1 percent. Ohio’s level jumped 2 percentage points from 2009; it has never been this high since those records were first kept in 1980.

The worst year before 2010 was 1994, when 14.1 percent of Ohioans were in poverty.

Via: The Columbus Dispatch

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U.S. Poverty Rate At Record 15 Percent

U.S. Poverty Rate 15 Percent; Record Numbers Persist

WASHINGTON — The ranks of America’s poor remain stuck at a record 15 percent, the Census Bureau reported Wednesday.

Roughly 46.2 million people remained below the poverty line in 2011, unchanged from 2010. The figure is the highest in more than a half-century.

And while joblessness is 

persistently high, the gap between rich and poor increased in the last year. The top 1 percent of wage earners had a 6 percent increase in income, while income at the bottom 40 percent of earners was basically unchanged, said David Johnson, the chief of the Census Bureau’s household economics division.

“A lot of the increase is driven by changes at the very top of the distribution,” Mr. Johnson said.

The report comes less than two months before the November presidential election, and the still-weak U.S. economy is the top issue for voters deciding between the leading candidates, President Obama and Republican Mitt Romney.

Experts earlier predicted a fourth straight annual rise in the poverty rate, but dwindling unemployment benefits and modest job gains helped to keep that from happening.

“This is good news and a surprise,” said Sheldon Danziger, a University of Michigan economist who closely tracks poverty. He pointed to a continuing boost from new unemployment benefits passed in 2009 that gave workers up to 99 weeks of payments after layoffs and didn’t run out for many people until late 2011. Also, job gains in the private sector helped offset cuts in state and local government workers.

Via: The Washington Times

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