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On Charles Ponzi Day We Celebrate Another All Time Record In Food Stamp Usage
Bernanke's plan to recreate Libya in our own back yard is continuing to work magnificently. It is no surprise that on Charles Ponzi day, the update to food stamp usage indicates that in December those receiving an average of $134 per month has just hit 44.1 million people. These lucky people will soon be able to buy an inflation adjusted 2.3 crumbs of notional bread with this generous handout from the Chairsatan. In other words, America is now the land of the free, home of the brave, of whom 14.3% can't afford to eat, even with all the new jobs created by both the old QE1, Lite and 2, and soon to be 3. Don't forget that according to the Bernank, QE2 has already created 250,000 new jobs... all at the a modest cost of $1.3 million per job.
h/t John Lohman
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The only graph that really matters at the end of the day. Rally on!
(and hedge accordingly)
you got it...the stock market is up, up, up, so as Ben told us all the other day, you may be hungry, whatever, you're delusional...
everything is going great.
^^ Bread & Circuses: http://www.apple.com/ipad/
Pretty standard formula for a burning Rome....
Heck, if they did what Bullard said ("They make their own investment decisions") than they'd have enough stock market gains to buy food. Stupid peasants!
/sic
you got it...the stock market is up, up, up, so as Ben told us all the other day, you may be hungry, whatever, you're delusional...
everything is going great.
It's truly amazing to me to see such supposed hard-core, gun wielding libertarians complaining about the society in which they live. Whether it's food stamps, plutocrats, ponzi economies, bailouts or manipulated financial markets, there seems to be no end to the disgust that libertarians have toward this country. Yet, at the same time, no one wants to leave the cozy confines of their middle class lifestyle to do anything about it. I'm beginning to think that the cornerstone of libertarianism is simply just cynicism - all anger and bitterness with no action. And by the way, buying a few silver coins because a cartoon told you it would crash a bank is not action.
Meanwhile, look at the courage displayed by many other oppressed middle/lower classes around the world. ZeroHedge prominently displays all the rioting around the world on a weekly basis - thousands of oppressed people marching through their streets protesting governments and dictatorships that are not so different from ours. They are the ones with courage - not us. We just rant on an internet forum, hoping that our cynicism will change something without having to put forth much effort.
You can complain all you want, yet this is the "free" society that you have allowed to happen. When all you do is rant on an internet forum, then you are equally complicit in the demise of our country. What is the real difference between the ignorant masses who are sedated with American Idol and a bunch of cynical libertarians who know it all, yet do nothing about it?
The answer: nothing.
When you truly want your freedom (that is, not just ranting on the internet), you will stand up and stop allowing yourself to be treated like a slave. Until then, that is all you are: a slave to the plutocrats who take the wealth of your labor and do whatever they want with it.
It's simple, uncomplicated social darwinism playing out. The plutocrats bought your representatives, stole most of the wealth of your labor and devalued the little they allowed you to keep; that is the end result of a free society, and, ironically, the end result of libertarianism: the strong oppress and manipulate the weak. Our big government which is owned by the plutocrats is simply the best vehicle to keep this charade going.
So, how does this relate to food stamps? Government subsidies are just more lubrication to keep the charade well oiled. The plutocrats will make you work a little harder (which you will because you always do), so you can pay a little more in taxes (which you will because - again - you always do), so the plutocrats can take more of your labor (which they will because they...) and feed it to the poor and lazy, keeping them just complacent enough not to revolt, loot and disrupt this fantastic wealth sucking paradigm that the plutocrats have crafted. Keeping the poor complacent is just another cog in the wheel.
We deserve this fate, because we do nothing about it.
Cut your consumption in half.. buy local.. ride a bike.. go to a farmers market to get real food...
Done, done, and done (in fact, just sold soybeans to China). However, the comment is noteworthy in the fact that we do have "zombie" masses. I make it a point to know my neighbors and how they are getting along. Everybody should.
Don't do business with TBTF banks or other corrupt corporate behemoths.
Well said. The backseat driving we are currently involved in is no different than getting into a car with a drunk driver behind the wheel.
The car wreck is going to happen and we all know it.
Sitting in the back seat and complaining about it leaves you no less dead or injured.
We need to take the keys away from the drunk to avoid the accident in the first place.
This act of intervention not only saves us but our posterity.
The founders would have expected no less.
Dont forget the POMO graph
Deeply disturbing chart, which should be the headline chart of the week on every national and international newspaper. I hope someone in the UK runs this data in a newspaper and overlays this chart with the one of Wall Street compensation. Guess what? They look similar.
The more people on food stamps, the higher the total compensation for Wall Street...
going the way of the weinmar republic with fewer places to hide.
http://covert2.wordpress.com
that graph is troubling
yep, and even more troubling it'll peak in 2017 depending if the US Govt remains solvent!
It used to be social security and medicare/medicaid that had that graph....this will be a new permanent addition to this group....until this drops we are still in a recession/depression.....whatever
"that graph is troubling"
What Tyler won't tell you; Who is 2% of the population and out of that total, 76% are welfare recipients?
jews.
Shopping at their kosher stores secretly paying for their goods with the plastic food scooter card.
Who invented running 2 sets of books?
Disgraceful!
I don't care if the EBT card holders are Martians:
"I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which
granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents." - James Madison
"Charity is no part of the legislative duty of the government." - James Madison
who cares...just buy more equities denominated n the debt coupon dollar...
dont u c the Dow is up, and the only 2 forms or real money r being manipulated once again off record highs????
ok, im sorry...
I recently read an article that stated the J P MORG profits off the food stamp program
how can they do that? are they printing food now?
jpm manages the food stamp program and some unemployment benefits via a pre paid credit card like financial product
and ther are making 5.7 billion/yr on just the foodstamp end
fees galore on these cards
Do you have a link to that data?
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/ebt/ebt_status_report.htm
You'll see that most are run by JPMo EFS
I googled "jp morgan food" and found a plethora of articles on this subject.
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/Economy/story?id=7452561
Michele Brown has seen Americans' struggles with jobs first hand. She lives in hard-hit Florida, spent 20 years in the real estate business and recently had her days as a nanny cut back after her boss had his own hours reduced.
But nothing prepared her for what happened one day when she called a toll-free line to inquire about her food stamps.
"The woman who answered the phone -- it's not like she wasn't nice or anything -- but it was kind of evident that she wasn't in the States," Brown said.
It turns out the woman was at a JP Morgan Chase call center in India.
JP Morgue runs most of the state EBT programs, including Cali, Florida and NY.
if you want to know where food inflation comes from look no further than food stamps... it's exactly the same Govt intervention (market perverting process) as sub-prime... you pump the lower end and create a 'floor' for prices. This ratchets up all prices above precisely as happened in US property and healthcare
All Govt mangling has unforseen consequences: food stamps are creating food inflation
I get what you are saying, and I agree with it, although I think you are technically incorrect.
Food stamps cannot in and of themselves cause inflation - that responsibility alone rests with the Federal Reserve's policy of expanding the supply of money and credit.
But you are correct that food stamps will create a floor for prices. I can't dispute that.
McPants
"technically" i am correct because technically that is precisely what happened in US property (and UK) and healthcare. US Govt intervention designed to improve matters for the poor with social housing sent property prices soaring right up the scale to the point even $1m income households were paying 15-30 years to afford their own property.
Food stamps are creating a floor and creating food inflation. Period
I understand your passion, which I'll leave alone here, but don't you think you're committing a bit of exaggeration here? Think about it: 44M people buying an average of $134 per month worth of finished retail food products are the dominant force behind global commodity price inflation?
He didn't say it was the "dominant force behind global commodity price inflation."
Bob
I'd say the dominant force in stocks, commodity and food inflation is investment money flows. Remember property is a huge sector in the Western world and when that bubble burst nobody wanted to throw money at that sector anymore. So alot of new free capital wanted a home to park and is now sloshing about in stocks, commods and food stuffs.
None of their demand curves has changed, even oil, so the only explanation is investors just piling in to a 'safe' and stable investment classes.
But Govt food stamps (food subsidies in effect) are definitely contributing just as the US Govts subsidy of corn ethanol has sent corn prices rocketing. All Govt intervention and subsidy is a perversion of free markets working, usually making prices more expensive and denying to all the benefits of deflationary forces.
Ha!! Charles Ponzi day.
what's wrong with dumpster diving?
These figures are just downright disturbing
Even more disturbing is JP Morgan profiting off it. Hidden bail out money. http://goldsilver.com/video/food-stamps-profits-how-jp-morgan-gets-rich-with-increased-poverty/
Yes JP Morgan gets paid to completely fail to manage the food stamp program.
I know several people who have had their benefits calculated incorrectly and then had money retroactively withheld or withdrawn.
When MK is finally deposed in Libya (which will not be long) the DOW will scream up another 250 points instantly; oil and precious metals will dive.
I am not saying it's right; just saying what is.
Now is not the time to short the SPY or buy PM paper trades; wait for the news.
I agree, hold the physical, short the paper and oil (for now anyway).
I would agree, UNLESS MK manages to take out his oil infrastructure on the way out the door. What happens in Saudi also plays a role.
How could MK screw that one up? How many guys would it take for a sour grapes dictator to make the world sorry for messing with the good thing he had going for so long?
"I would agree, UNLESS MK manages to take out his oil infrastructure on the way out the door. What happens in Saudi also plays a role."
MK is dead in his tracks if he does that. I think our hardware is floating over there to get his ass out in return for not torching the fields. MK has plenty of money with which to enjoy the good life in exile. I would doubt he will throw that away.
Nothing is 100% or this would be easy. I am not buying this PM dip or shorting SPY until the news comes out.
If I get the reaction in the market that I am expecting, I am 90% more likely to buy the PM dive than go short, as shorting has not been good to me in this mad cow market.
I'm not arguing with your premise as it makes perfect sense, just think this is more of a crap shoot than a coin toss.
I think that will be true for 1 or 2 days, but after that the fundamentals (by that I mean effects of money printing, commodity speculation, etc.) will resume.
looks like the chart for the S&P since March 09...but without the dips. Coincidence?
The recovery is still alive and well. Even this stat provides the evidence for the FED to continue with their policies.
Blue shoots!
The rich keep getting richer and that's all that really matters. I blame a corrupt CONgreff.
there goes JP Morgan slamming the metals on the close n London again...
fucking balatant bullshit.......
That was quick!
Makes me happy. I've been using my once a month mileage re-imbursement check to go buy physical in small quantities, and I got that check this morning. I hope she hits it one more time trying to paint the chart before I head downtown.
Who cares? On March 11th the world will see just how bad the US is doing when they storm Apple stores to buy an Ipad. Im guilty. I ordered mine. Rally on.
I think we're getting more comfortable with Ponzi economics at the national and now global level. We're getting un-hung-up! I pretend you're rich, you pretend I'm loaded. I pay you in IOUs, you accept them with a smile and pass 'em on. We're closer to utopia then you think! Even the poor are better off than before the crisis. So we can forgive our upper classes for stealing from the Treasury and retirement accounts. Hey, they stole pre-crisis dollars! The joke will be on them!
Youhou it's St Ponzi's Day!
A loophole in Ohio's public assistance plan allows wealthy people to collect food stamps.
CNN video
(KMOV) – Those who rely on the SNAP (food stamps) program to put food on the table say criminals are making them look bad.
After Thursday night’s story on food stamp fraud, News 4 Investigative Reporter Chris Nagus says he received multiple calls and emails from viewers revealing more fraud instances. One person was willing to turn in members of her own family.
Rosetta Pratt drives from Washington Park, Illinois to Belleville to dry her clothes at a Laundromat because the dryers are free.
Because she’s on disability, her Illinois Link card is only loaded with $16 each month – money she needs for food.
“The food stamps I get, I need,” she says.
So what happened just down the block from the Laundromat makes her mad.
Rami Mohammad managed the Quik Stop for years. Officials say he bilked taxpayers out of $1.5 million by ringing up non-existent groceries. According to court documents, he would hand customers half the amount in cash and keep the rest for himself.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Those-who-rely-on-food-stamps-say-fraud-m...
Right, so it's the TOP 14.3% applying for food stamps.
Christ, if you won't process all this bad data, or don't want to believe it, just stop coming here.
Who sends these people out to fuel the stupid passions of haters?
No, it's also the scum workers making up phony sales and taking the cash ...
So what's the true numbers with all the fraud in the low rent grocery stores bilking the system for gain. It's rampant in Chicago.
Who said it was the top 14% , dope. Don't put words in my mouth or post. Who asked your candy ass who can post on ZH dip shit. Post more disinformation , more uneducated crap.
14.3% of Americans are now on food stamps. This is not debatable. You are trying to convince everyone that it isn't because people are poor, it is because they are rich, or some stupid shit.
Go fuck yourself.
100% of the convenience-liquor store combo's in my town's west end are in this practice.
These claims beg the question of just how do these people eat? $136 per month is sufficient of a single person to live on only if they're very frugal and cook from scratch, imo. Junk food is too expensive, even as empty calories.
If trading stamps for cash is really a pervasive problem, there have to be a whole lot of very thin people.
Is that what you see?
Can they make money in the black market ???
Many , many goods traded on the black market , millions every day in the US.
That would be just a shuffling of assets to different "accounts" for them--they would still need to buy the food.
It's well known that some people do sell their stamps--typically drug addicts--but they do so at a significant "discount" on the value of the stamps. If they are buying food anyway, why would they be doing this?
I still don't see enough skinny people to make this proposition fly.
Well they could buy drugs and sell chop um' up then in smaller quantities and charge more. Or they steal , or they are scammers.
Or 7 people live in a small place, saving on rent , more money for food ?
High Fructose Corn syrup and refined carbohydrates are cheap. These make you FAT.
Thank's Larry.
So we can what, wipe 40% off this chart ?
JHC. Just when I was starting to feel sorry for you.
Why do people see you as a troll, I wonder?
So how do we measure the fraud I posted about.... It's been going on for 20 years in Chicago, my arab buddy owns 5 liquor store. I have heard about the issue before with him. The link cards ect ....
What if I never post the info. This thread would be 300 deep saying ... look , look !!!
And even look at my original post , Tmosley rushes in and attacks looking to discredit the • facts. Sigh ..... Look at all the junks because I bring a different viewpoint then most posters. And I'm a dick because most others are fucking clowns with all the follow up post always tossing in insults.
But when I cut • paste facts that gets hammered also. Should I just post one liners and the readers say " what the fuck is he talking about ", I tried this, so now I post links.
Spalding. Think about this. This shit HAS been going on for decades. Before it was the SNAP cards that were supposed to fix this problem (and end stigma), you bought a can of soup with a 20 dollar food stamp and got $19 back in change that they could spend on anything they chose to. That is the baseline. It has been that way since the program started, and will be until it ends.
What you need to look at is the increase of usage. Most of the NEW users are NEWLY unemployed, freshly fucked US citizens trying to put some generic Mac-N-Cheese on the table for their kids.
I'm sure some statistician could figure a way to factor in the "increased level of abuse" and add it to the baseline. I personally believe (and feel for) the new to the system people, and am not going to downplay their plight by accusing them of fraud. The fraudsters have been doing this since before you were born.
Thanks for you input. Your one of the best on ZH... !!!
Another thing, I will stop all the name calling, dip shit stuff, on my end. No more Mr. Prick. Just my view point.
We will see over the coming months how the other posters respond to my thoughts.
I have told you before, and I will say it again, you aren't a troll, and you offer a valid opinion, and valid "info" (keep in mind that "fact" is in the eye of the reader). Also keep in mind that you tend to post volumes instead of bits and a lot of guys can't because of time, or don't want to because of its sheer enormity, try to absorb, or sort through and source it all.
When you post most of your stuff, you have an uphill battle, because you are a contrarian to the financial/geo-political position of the average ZH'er. Don't go postal and people will read your shit. Or not. You believe in it, so try not to get so wrapped up in what everybody thinks. I post a lot of shit, sometimes on dead threads, I know when I'm writing it down that nobody's gonna read it. Sometimes just sorting through it helps keep a guy on track.
Keep posting Spalding. I will keep arguing with you.
Nice work SS. How to Start a Revolution by Just Say Thanks
How to Say Thank you: Over 3million New Yorkers on Food Stamps
% by Population in Each NYC Borrough
Queens 11% .......................... 253,000
Bronx 29% ............................ 386,000
Staten Island 10% ................. 49,000
Manhattan 14% .......................228,000
Brooklyn 22% .........................564,000
1,480,000 Hungry Folks for lunch
How about one million take a half hour subway ride and meet for a "BYOL" between Trinity Church & NYSE next Friday 1:00PM
we can all walk over to JPMorgan Chase and thank 'em for running such a great SNAP program.
Last year it was worth $4.2 billion to the JPMorgan Chase.
but you can't eat stamps!
Where do you get 44.1? I see 43.5.
http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/29SNAPcurrPP.htm
The table shows Dec 2009 so you can compare YoY changes... the 2nd column is Nov 2010 which shows 43,585,821 and the 3rd column shows Dec 2010 with 44,082,324.
read the local crime blotter or take a stroll down the aisles of your local Walmart and it may become apparent that this country has some serious challenges
Where's Lazlo Birinyi's ruler?
I borrowed it for my wife to use; linear extrapolation of manhood is too good a concept to pass on.
The cost per job says everything that needs to be said about government, an incredibly concise summary: inefficient, wasteful, and corrupt.
This is a little disturbing.
However, is there a demographic basis for this? IE, many children on food stamps who by definition are not part of the work force?
The majority of recipients are dependent children.
The children don't get the food stamps, the parents do. Correct me if I 'm wrong. It has been discussed here before that the 43 million are parents, therefore feeding children who aren't really counted. The 43 million figure looks better than it really is. Sad.
Does anyone have the actual demographic breakdown of foodstamp recipients?
I believe it can be found here:
http://www.google.com/finance?q=GEN&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offic...
Yes, 14.3% of the population is made up of orphaned children. All is well, unless you are a parent, in which case you are currently vanishing mysteriously without a whisper in the media or anywhere else.
Conspiracy theorist!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program
51% of recipients are children... more than half of the 44mm.
You posted Wiki as a source?? LOL! No wonder your stock picks suck so much ass.
You must not read well, stick to math.
"
The number of Americans receiving food stamps reached 43 million in November 2010, the highest number since the SNAP program began in 1939. In Washington, D.C., and Mississippi, more than one-fifth of residents receive food stamps.[4] As of June 2009, the average monthly benefit was $133.12 per person.[5] As of late November 2009, one in eight Americans and one in four children[6] are using food stamps and the program rate is growing at 20,000 people a day.[7] Recipients must have at least near-poverty incomes to qualify for benefits.[8]
One in eight AMERICAN (hence 43 million) and ONE IN FOUR CHILDREN (extrapolate 2 children per adult?) are using food stamps....
Where did you get half from?
It's further down: based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2003. LOL!
Guess I shouldn't have stopped reading at the most current "data" that he sourced. :)
based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2003, thats alittle old there dude! Geez I think we had a little crash between then and now, don't you??
http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/faqs.htm
49 percent of all participants are children (18 or younger), and 61 percent of them live in single-parent households.
9 percent of all participants are elderly (age 60 or over).
Based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2006. Your getting warmer there! Hey, how much did participation increase since 2006, do you think?? Really dude, that was almost 5 years ago.Hey, why not find something more recent?
so, 51% in 2003, 49% in 2006, do you see a trend here? See any little pattern?
LOL! GEN sucks!
23. What are some characteristics of SNAP households?
Based on a study of data gathered in Fiscal Year 2006:
49 percent of all participants are children (18 or younger), and 61 percent of them live in single-parent households.
Hey wasn't there like some big events in 2008?? I seem to remember something...
If you're going to knock my number, than at least make an effort to find the correct number.
The quesion is: Why is the number of food stamp participants significantly higher than the unemployment rate?
Either, A, the unemployment rate is totally jacked, or B, a bunch of people who can't get jobs (because they are too you or old) receive food stamps.
(or maybe a little of both)
The availible jobs are paying way less and most are temp. or part time. What kind of new jobs are we creating? 12/hr and your still poor. Take a peek at the "employment" section of your local newspaper and exprapolate.
American Sentiment:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-eJ-t_XzOE
Even when unemployment was below 5%, participation was close to 10%.
I shall investigate this claim.
99ers have fallen off of the unemployment rolls, but still receive food assistance.
What's a little disturbing is that GEN price action today! Whew!! What a shittpot!
I work with these types one day a week.
About half the adults on food stamps prefer the foodstamp lifestyle because they dont want to work the available jobs. The other half would like to work but due to various legitimate issues are not employable.
We go too easy on the lazy in this country.
Perhaps you are right troll. When you say "this country" what country would you point to as an ideal alternative in this regard?
[Insert third world country of choice HERE] would be a perfect example of where instead of laziness being rewarded with Spaghettio's and generic cigarettes, they get to watch flies buzz around their bloated children.
Don't nitpick his point. "Poor" people in America live like the upper fucking crust in most of the world.
I won't nitpick. The only possible point you could have is that the "poor" here should--at best--count themselves lucky they aren't in the third world. And--at worst--they should be poor like repectable third world urchins so the rest of us aren't supporting "useless eaters."
That sums it up for you and your klan.
No. That isn't what I said at all. Please see up thread where I have posted in defense and sympathized with the plight of people having a tough time. I simply failed to see the point of the above comment, and am recognizing the situation of people in the world who watch their kids starve in contrast to the US where we feed, clothe and house poor people at a level I would say (no link) rivals anywhere else in the world.
The downside to that (according to my "klannish" beliefs) is that there are an unfortunate number of people who game the system in the US.
My last post wasn't offered in an attempt to be mean spirited. It was recognizing that everything is relative, and that I believe (klan???) U.S. poor really aren't very poor in the bigger scheme of things. Sorry my opinions aren't white bread America enough for you and see outside the scope of the poor SOB's forced to eat Banquet Chicken paid for with a SNAP card while they watch cable television.
You have very valid points. I do not disagree, but removing all social safety nets would leave behind only corporate welfare. The bottom line, IMO is too few dollars chasing too much debt. We're rather proper fucked at this juncture to be sure.
100% agree with you, and have never advocated removing safety nets. We are rather proper fucked, and the majority of us living our spoiled, sassy lives in developed countries are going to be fucked rather well.
That is a great idea....send our poor to Africa to give out the USAID food to the poor.....I think a few weeks of doing this and they will get back to work....no questions asked...
Yes we do, we should be putting their bankster asses in jail.
One might say that it's a good thing that those who are fated to live on food stamps make peace with it. I would guess, however, that your insinuation is that if these parasite mother fuckers had to starve instead there would be more jobs for them to fill.
Fail.
It's your reasoning that is profoundly lazy. Not that your ethics as someone who profits off their backs in spite of your contempt for them are any more admirable.
And there goes Bob again. Can't see a fat man standing next to a thin one without thinking the fat man got that way by stealing food from the thin man's plate.
We're flaming out a little hard today, aren't we Bob?
We are actually. Time for a break, me thinks. Thanks for the nudge.
But wrt topcallingtroll, this is a guy who is anti-union yet earns at least double what he would in a free market only as a result of a highly restrictive professional association and monopoly that screws the entire population, yet has a major John Galt trip going with himself, and gets paid for working one day a week ostensibly "serving" the poor (which is almost certainly government funded) yet can't suppress his contempt for either the government or the poor.
My disgust for those guys is equal to the banksters. I've suffered their narcissism as colleagues for way too long.
Fair enough. I have also read your comments here long enough to think (or hope) that my comment was misinterpreted (misunderstood/miswritten) rather than you actually think my thoughts resemble those of klansmen.
Good luck to you.
You're right, forebearance appreciated.
It equates rather well to the situation I face at work. We have an environment where the employees are well paid, with excellent benefits and quarterly bonus checks, along with other niceties and freebees. Are they happy, well adjusted and hardworking? Nope.
We have a lot of people who coast along, underperform, have terrrible attendance, bad attitudes, scam the system for free days off, etc., etc., etc.,. If you were to talk to a manager about it, they'd tell you that there are just a certain amount of people who abuse the good intentions of the company. I don't think so. These people act like children, because their performance isn't tied to their compensation. There is no financial risk for an employee who underperforms, because they know they get their raise and bonuses no matter how many written disciplines they have on record. Also, they effectively use the HR department to their benefit by pissing and moaning everytime they are disciplined and often get it overturned.
They basically act like children. Why? Because the leadership, over the course of the company's existence, has enabled this. It's a non union shop, and I think they are so afraid of a union setting up, that they just give them whatever they want. The irony is, that a union would never get in there. What union could get a better deal than what they have going?
My point is, that the employees act the way they do, because they take the path of least resistance. They know they won't be held accountable and will get more money every year, yet the management bangs its collective head against the wall wondering why so many people are underperformers. The leadership created this mess, the enable it, and they have nobody to blame but themselves.
I believe this same dynamic plays out in larger society. True, lazy people will thrive in such a situation, but in the end it's the leaders who bear responsibility.
Your are either naive or a shill. Those employees that are not giving 110% to the company probably aren't the major cost of loss that the company is taking. When I worked for a major car maker it use to bug me when I saw other workers screwing off too until it came out that a superintendent was caught with over a million dollars worth of company property at his lake cabin. For this breach of ethics the company let him resign instead of firing him and with in a week he was a superintendent for another major company.
I'm not naive, nor a shill. I'm in management, and I'm held accountable for the performance of people who aren't held accountable for their performance.
How do you equate a criminal with productivity (or lack thereof) of employees?
Have you ever had to run a job or project within budget constraints? Have you ever noticed how productive labor makes or breaks the job? Equipment cost is generally fixed. X equipment performs X work. Easy to budget with an historical margin of error. The people who operate, maintain and support X equipment are your variable, and those people WILL make or break your bottom line.
Exactly my point. In my company, there is NO financial risk for an employee not to produce results. The Sr. Management refuses to enforce their own policies, yet come down on supervisors when those same people aren't producing, and they don't seem to see anything wrong with it!! These same managers are always going on about saving hours and other costs! Trying to hold people accountable there is an exercise in futility. It's not even a union shop!
It's a self fulfilling prophecy, because management that refuses to acknowledge reality creates an environment that breeds yes men.
This is at least a stealth entitlement program and not quite a true indicator of dire straits.
Many universities encourage and assist their students to enroll in SNAP programs.
So do many businesses that hire undocumented labor or that are paying people under the table.
If these things aren't training wheels for a lifetime of government largess I don't know what would be http://www.bc.edu/offices/id/where.html
I agree with both of you. HOWEVER, the overall trend indicates major structural flaws in the economy. If the economy was as good as the "stock markets" suggest, then the trend of this chart would be flat or declining and that is what is most disturbing.
In fact, this chart combined with the U6 unemployment data indicates social unrest... and all it will take is one natural disaster to topple the whole system.
And I actually agree with you. Both phenomena are happening at once. Many people are still pushing to roll out a wider and more comprehensive welfare state at a time when we can least afford it.
change you can believe in
the change happens to be the percent of population on food stamps, but you can pretty much believe that most of them need it
and its roughly 5%...more of total populous on the dole
reminds me of a line from "sierra madre"
"buddy, can you spare a dime?"
I don't think those numbers would make the Bernank react whatsoever... "More people on foodstamps? .... Print more foodstamp dummie, works great for us!"
All the children and adults on food stamps are like Huxley's Deltas (in Brave New World, for the uninitiated). Adults with only part time employment are gammas. The "Middle Class" are betas (up to $2M family income). You know who the Alphas are. And you know you love 'em
Defining poverty down. I use gold as a measure of the value of labor. Mining gold is simply labor. You have to suffer and grind it out of the ground, and it is surplus labor, because it produces nothing that you need.
http://www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/statcomps/supplement/2010/3e.html#table3.e8
Given that, we go from 1965 for a family of 4, poverty was set at an income of less than 70 units of labor (70 oz of gold) per year.
Today, for a family of four, poverty is set at 15 oz of gold. That makes today's family in poverty about 5 times poorer than in the 60s, and at least 5 times harder to make ends meet if earning any money, since labor is worth 5 times less.
You have to have a job that pays a lot more than minimum wage just to be poor.
Mr Printfaster, I find your comment fascinating..... do you have a source?
I assume you are using the dollar amount establised in 1965 as the poverty level for a family of 4 and dividing by the price of gold per ounce. Then using the current Federal dollar amount for the poverty level, dividing by the price of gold per ounce.
Is that your suggestion?
Bill
Ray Dalio says the Fed saves "us" from a depression.
http://pragcap.com/deep-thoughts-from-ray-dalio
a food stamp a day keeps the grim reaper at bay.
gosh blast the bernank! may he sQuEese a thousand years!
I am a ZH addict. What inspires Tyler? Where does he get these ideas? Hillarious, yet depressing.
What inspires Tyler?
I would reckon being a voice of The Truth is high on the list.
"...light in the darkness of insanity..."
Where are the fuckin jobs, Mr. President.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/146453/Gallup-Finds-Unemployment-Hitting-Febr...
Better still, were are the fucking customers? How about ending all foreign aid or at least charging substantially more for our services?
In China, baby.
Father Christmas give us your money
In the name of The Bernank, Bernie and the unholy Ponzi scheme, ahem.
We can feed them while they play their video games.
We can earn record profits in our corporations while they pay no tax.
We can lay to waste all those who have toiled for us on the cheap.
We can elect those who understand that the Bernank helps those who help themselves ...
Don't forget, we gave and continue to give trillions of dollars to those who destroyed our country trying to get their greedy little hands on the 7% of the financial wealth they didn't already own.
$134 a month wont buy you jack shit in the grocery store today.
Crazy shit, no?
134 boxes of Kraft Macaroni and cheese (for now anyway).
I just watch, add to my miners on every dip and shake my head at the weak holders dumping PMs. Like anything has changed since last night.
The 8 hour working day should be looked into!
Change it to 6 hours a day with the same pay, and you'll create millions of jobs.
Productivity is to high overall to have the entire working force at work. Lower productivity to normal levels and even beter. We automated so many jobs, but still people have to work harder then they did 50 years ago. THIS ISN'T LOGICAL!
What will we do when robotica will enter the workfloor? Predictions are 10 to 15 years.
Will we have 1 working man and 1 billion unemployed?
Ah, that's only $20 per month each of us 310 million pay ... well 310mm - 44mm
Tyler/ZHers - a point of information:
Have the Food Stamp program eligibility requirements changed at all over the last 10 years? Are they easier or tougher to get?
Thanks.
Foodstamps are the breadlines of this stealth depression.
Yes Bastiat and I would like to find an historical exploration of that depression and this one.
No breadlines but we have a resurgence in sandwich board human advertising.
I am only 50 and watched the newsreels as a child; the guys stacking apples on NYC street corners, shanytowns around the railroad switching yards . . .
Newspapers and magazines in the 1930s made little mention of conditions - they plugged on with recipes, new movies and movie stars, etc.