In Entitlement America, The Head Of A Household Of Four Making Minimum Wage Has More Disposable Income Than A Family Making $60,000 A Year

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.

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.

h/t Nolsgrad

Comments

[FreedomGuy]

I have a family member that investigates insurance fraud of this sort. The stories are very much like the one you tell. The worst part is the legal stuff, though. Did he even make $105k/year when he was working? Not likely or only very close. The gold plated pensions and benefits are a large part of what is killing the system. The other anecdotes and stories I've seen here ring true in my observations, too. In essence, it costs the poor too much to work. They cannot replace what they get from the government. So, people at all levels actually game the public systems in different ways, rich, middle class and poor. The system will break. It is inevitable and it will be painful and we will find ourselves at each other's throats. The truth is it is our own fault for abandoning the very simple Constitution and basic principles of liberty. Good story, though.

[A Nanny Moose]

You are conflating coercion and compassion.

[StychoKiller]

Very well, YOU PROVIDE THE CARE, and STOP volunteering the Nation to join in your "CARING!"  Oh that's right, Big Brother has guns, so that makes the "Caring" feel better, dudn't it?

[zwscott33]

living in society does not nullify the responsibility of sustaining your own life. If you want to help them survive in this world then help. But who the fuck are you to tell me that I am obligated to do anything. It is your line of thinking that has run this country and the rest of the western world straight off a fucking cliff.

"Obligated to help," i would laugh if it wasn't so goddam disturbing

[HarryWanger]

Great, now I know where you would have stood when it came time to fight for our country in WWII. Not my problem, I'm sure you would have said. "I'm not obligated, so fuck all you guys". Nice attitude, clown.

[Chupacabra]

You're painfully dull Wanger.  You're basically the board retard.

[chopper read]

You're painfully dull Wanger. 

ivy league talking points.  just add mindless emotion.

[zwscott33]

Nice rebuttal, clown. Live in the past all you want but I'm sorry the glory days of America are over. We don't fight just wars anymore, just spend money we don't have trying to police the world and support the sheeple from cradle to grave. I suggest you stop the flag waving and start fighting for something worth fighting for. USA is just a name, but liberty and economic freedom are ideas that will transcend time. That is what i fight for, not some deformed a mangled shell of what was once the greatest civilization known to man

[chopper read]

+1776

Taxes and fees imposed by federal, state or local laws.:

Alternative Minimum Tax, (AMT),
U.S. capital gains tax,
Corporate income tax,
U.S. estate tax,
U.S. excise tax, (includes taxes on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages),
U.S. federal income tax,

Federal unemployment tax (FUTA),
FICA tax (includes Social Security tax and related programs),
Gasoline tax,
Generation Skipping Tax,
Gift tax,
IRS penalties,

Luxury taxes,
Property tax,
Real estate tax,
Recreational vehicle tax,
Rental car tax,
Resort tax (also known as Hotel/Motel tax, occupancy tax),
Road usage taxes (Commercial Vehicle Operators),
Sales tax and equivalent use tax,

School tax,
State income tax,
State unemployment tax (SUTA),
Tariffs,
Telephone federal excise tax,
Vehicle sales tax,
Workers compensation tax.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taxation_in_the_United_States

[RoRoTrader]

What the fuck Harry?

Your last post had it all about the lowest, dumbest common denominator for burgers, beer, the NFL and crawling the mall on a Sunday re the Irish and who gives a fuck bailout because mostly eveyone including the Irish and most Americans have subprime IQs.

Looks to me you are playing both sides of the same coin.

And, if not then that talent with the talent to get down with the 'poor' and up with 'stupid' ought to get you elected, if not already, then certainly somewhere

???

[RafterManFMJ]

Oh I know Harry. Eserybozy needs dem free da bennies. LOL. Luckily, I have some apt. buildings and accept HUD renters...so they can steal from me and I getz mine right back.

The rest o you middle class-well. Bummer. Say, shouldn't you be in bed? Work comes early!!

[RKDS]

The sad part is, when my brother was in college, a guy like that owned alot of the local apartment buildings and boy was he a slumlord.  That asshole couldn't even spell his name right on the lease, yet you get the feeling from some that he's a model capitalist for the rest of us to emulate.  It makes you wonder why you bother getting an engineering degree, or God forbid, work in the public sector, when that's all the higher they set the bar.

[DFCtomm]

According to you and people like you no one is scamming the system, when we all know there are plenty of people scamming the system. God save us from the dogooders.

[chopper read]

they've already won.  

useful idiots to the international banking cartel. 

[London Banker]

What I get from this example is that if the USA had national health insurance like every other civilised nation on the planet, then the middle class would benefit the most.  They would be able to spend all those huge health insurance premiums and co-pays on consumption and debt reduction.  Funny how that doesn't get discussed so much.

There are two British institutions that most Britons, including me, will defend to the death.  These are the National Health Service and the BBC.  Neither is free of waste and inefficiency, but both provide huge benefits to the public.  I am happier paying 40 percent income tax with the NHS and BBC than I would be paying 25 percent income tax without them.  I certainly wouldn't pay US taxes squandered on war and oil subsidies (although war probably is correctly viewed as an oil subsidy these days).

[YHWH]

Exactly.  It should be obvious from this example that every single poor person in America already has free, unlimited health insurance.  Isnt that the implication?  And while not stated, every single person over 65 (or as low as 60) gets free, unlimited health insurance.  Plus, the rich can afford all the health care they want.

So it appears that a national health plan would benefit the hard luck, struggling, 'middle class' who doesn't get any break at all in life. 

[chopper read]

Of course.  How else would you think?

I've lived in England for 6 1/2 years.  My wife is British.  Your system is filled with horror stories.  I have lost a father-in-law and a great friend due to gross incompetence in the NHS.  I have heard countless testimonies as they relate to NHS staff performing in line with how they are paid.  Further, consider the fact that it is the American profit-driven system which creates most of the advances in healthcare which you enjoy in England. 

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba649

Fact No. 1:  Americans have better survival rates than Europeans for common cancers.[1]  Breast cancer mortality is 52 percent higher in Germany than in the United States, and 88 percent higher in the United Kingdom.  Prostate cancer mortality is 604 percent higher in the U.K. and 457 percent higher in Norway.  The mortality rate for colorectal cancer among British men and women is about 40 percent higher.

Fact No. 2:  Americans have lower cancer mortality rates than Canadians.[2]  Breast cancer mortality is 9 percent higher, prostate cancer is 184 percent higher and colon cancer mortality among men is about 10 percent higher than in the United States.

Fact No. 3:  Americans have better access to treatment for chronic diseases than patients in other developed countries.[3]  Some 56 percent of Americans who could benefit are taking statins, which reduce cholesterol and protect against heart disease.  By comparison, of those patients who could benefit from these drugs, only 36 percent of the Dutch, 29 percent of the Swiss, 26 percent of Germans, 23 percent of Britons and 17 percent of Italians receive them. 

 Fact No. 4:  Americans have better access to preventive cancer screening than Canadians.[4]  Take the proportion of the appropriate-age population groups who have received recommended tests for breast, cervical, prostate and colon cancer:

• Nine of 10 middle-aged American women (89 percent) have had a mammogram, compared to less than three-fourths of Canadians (72 percent).
• Nearly all American women (96 percent) have had a pap smear, compared to less than 90 percent of Canadians.
• More than half of American men (54 percent) have had a PSA test, compared to less than 1 in 6 Canadians (16 percent).
• Nearly one-third of Americans (30 percent) have had a colonoscopy, compared with less than 1 in 20 Canadians (5 percent).

Fact No. 5:  Lower income Americans are in better health than comparable Canadians.  Twice as many American seniors with below-median incomes self-report "excellent" health compared to Canadian seniors (11.7 percent versus 5.8 percent).  Conversely, white Canadian young adults with below-median incomes are 20 percent more likely than lower income Americans to describe their health as "fair or poor."[5]

Fact No. 6:  Americans spend less time waiting for care than patients in Canada and the U.K.  Canadian and British patients wait about twice as long - sometimes more than a year - to see a specialist, to have elective surgery like hip replacements or to get radiation treatment for cancer.[6]  All told, 827,429 people are waiting for some type of procedure in Canada.[7]  In England, nearly 1.8 million people are waiting for a hospital admission or outpatient treatment.[8]

Fact No. 7:  People in countries with more government control of health care are highly dissatisfied and believe reform is needed.   More than 70 percent of German, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and British adults say their health system needs either "fundamental change" or "complete rebuilding."[9]

Fact No. 8:  Americans are more satisfied with the care they receive than Canadians.  When asked about their own health care instead of the "health care system," more than half of Americans (51.3 percent) are very satisfied with their health care services, compared to only 41.5 percent of Canadians; a lower proportion of Americans are dissatisfied (6.8 percent) than Canadians (8.5 percent).[10]

Fact No. 9:  Americans have much better access to important new technologies like medical imaging than patients in Canada or the U.K.  Maligned as a waste by economists and policymakers naïve to actual medical practice, an overwhelming majority of leading American physicians identified computerized tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) as the most important medical innovations for improving patient care during the previous decade.[11]  [See the table.]  The United States has 34 CT scanners per million Americans, compared to 12 in Canada and eight in Britain.  The United States has nearly 27 MRI machines per million compared to about 6 per million in Canada and Britain.[12] 

Fact No. 10:  Americans are responsible for the vast majority of all health care innovations.[13]  The top five U.S. hospitals conduct more clinical trials than all the hospitals in any other single developed country.[14]  Since the mid-1970s, the Nobel Prize in medicine or physiology has gone to American residents more often than recipients from all other countries combined.[15]  In only five of the past 34 years did a scientist living in America not win or share in the prize.   Most important recent medical innovations were developed in the United States.[16]  [See the table.]

statistics from a survey by the United Nations International Health Organization:

 Percentage of men and women who survived a cancer five years  
 after diagnosis:

  U.S.              65%

  England        46%

  Canada         42%

 Percentage of patients diagnosed with diabetes who received  
 treatment within six months:

  U.S.              93%

  England        15%

  Canada         43%

 Percentage of seniors needing hip replacement who received it  
 within six months:

  U.S.              90%

  England        15%

  Canada         43%

 Percentage referred to a medical specialist who see one within  
 one month:

  U.S.              77%

  England        40%

  Canada         43%

 Number of MRI scanners (a prime diagnostic tool) per million people:

  U.S.              71

  England        14

  Canada         18

 Percentage of seniors (65+), with low income, who say they are in  
 "excellent health":

  U.S.              12%

  England        2%

  Canada         6%

[Bob Sponge]

Thanks. We need to repeal Obamacare.

[More Critical T...]

FYI, this study has been debunked in detail - reality is almost the opposite of the impression that the study tries to give - this document is little more than an advocacy piece for big insurance companies.

[chopper read]

health insurance companies are making out like bandits as a result of Obamacare, you dipshit.

Remember how that ’socialist’ President Obama took over the health insurance industry? Remember how the new health care law was a ‘government takeover’ of one of the largest segments of the U.S. economy?

Well, that socialized, government takeover has worked out pretty well for the big for-profit health insurance companies. They are enjoying soaring profits, and their executives received hefty compensation packages last year. After the health care law passed, Aetna’s net income jumped 40 percent over the same period last year.

http://blogs.ajc.com/cynthia-tucker/2010/08/11/socialist-obamacare-has-been-good-for-capitalist-health-insurance-companies/

As for this 'study', these are actually two different studies.   you posted the Huffington Post article above which relates to the first.  it is duely noted.  however, only 4 bullet points from the first study have alledgedly been disproven.  your implication in the above comment is that both of these studies have been entirely disproven.  this is a self-serving lie. 

now, who were you calling a liar, again?

...keep feeding the Treasury Bond market and International Banking Cartel, you useful idiot. 

[More Critical T...]

health insurance companies are making out like bandits as a result of Obamacare, you dipshit. [...]

Yes, confused arguments like yours are more widespread than they should be it's still going to be much more expensive than it should be.

And your solution is not to remove the health insurance cartels but to repel it all and set civilization back 50 years, right? Smart!

[chopper read]

Yes, confused arguments like yours are more widespread than they should be it's still going to be much more expensive than it should be.

try some type of grammar check, fuckwit, as i cannot even be sure what it is you are communicating.  

America has the most advanced health technology in the world, with the highest paid physicians.  Reducing their pay will reduce the talent attracted to these positions.  These are basic concepts, MCT.  How is socializing medicine going to propel civilization forward.  heave you possibly thought this entirely through as it relates to economic and social costs versus benefits, or are you just another asshole being generous WITH SOMEONE ELSE'S MONEY?

Ha, ha.  you're such a monkey.  ha, ha.  I'm actually enjoying watching your ideas fail in 'real-time' here in America.  

I'm looking forward to things to come, MCT.  i've got a lot of friends, too, that are looking forward to hashing things out with your type.  keep up the propaganda.  

Since you've left us absolutely no choice, then we'll be seeing you in the streets, asshole.  

[ydderf1950]

i call bs on you. my brother inlaw makes 70k a year his wife got laid off from dhl and has collected ue for 99 weeks and is bitching she is going to lose her bennies.

[Sam Clemons]

The human race survived for a very long-time without aid from the state.  Maybe this is why the human race is becoming pathetic and completely averse to hard work.

[Hicham]

I agree. Let's go back to the survival of the fittest. Obviously, if you get sick and are unable to afford something you're weak and should just die.

[Sam Clemons]

I think you are being sarcastic.  However,  I can understand your sympathy, but I have sympathy for the others. If people think the survival of the fittest is anti-life, your policy is more anti-life in that it requires those that can support their life to be drained to support those who do not honor their life.  The human race wins overall.  Honestly, I have great faith in humanity and most would still survive..  People just need to be freed from being spoiled. 

[pazmaker]

Harry,  agreed some people need help, but when helping someone else to have more disposable income then myself by me going to work eveyday and earning only $60,000 a year but then they have more disposible income because of that help how is that fair and just?

I am sorry but I fail to comprehend how anyone can look at that and say it is ok. 

Financial help should never reach the point to were it becomes permanent or reach the point to where it becomes more financially lucrative to not work or work or earn less.

This is not a political issue it is a human nature issue. and I actually feel sorry for those like Harry who are too blind to see this.

[drbill]

Holy Crap! Almost time to "opt out".

[tmosley]

Almost?  If I didn't really and truly love my job, I would be starting the paperwork to get it done right now.  The government is dying, and the longer it survives, the worse it will get for everyone.  Time to push its head below water and hold it there until it stops twitching.

[Shameful]

Why not just bounce?  If you have an in demand skill just leave.  You take your money out of the hands of the beast (to a point for expats), and get to keep the skills sharp.  Family even gets to learn a new language.  Sure it's running, so what.  I'm sure your ancestors came to the US looking for a better life or running from some tyrant/problem.

[tmosley]

My work is too important to abandon, and I don't own the IP, so I can only work on it here.

If I wanted to leave and continue my work, I would need to take at least two people with me.  Though one has expressed interest in leaving, the other has not, and we need his expertise is we are to succeed in our work.

FYI, the work is a new class of drugs that can be easily and quickly modified to attach to any type of protein (ie can be used to target specific types of cells, like cancer, organisms, like bacteria and fungi, or even viruses, like HIV).  I have been trying to convince the owner to spin off this technology away from the company I am currently working for, at which point I would make a bid for the IP, and "bounce" to some sunny island nation and set up a research lab there.  Until I can meet those requirements, I will be staying here, more's the pity.

[Shameful]

No work should be more important to you then the happiness of yourself and your family.

And quite frankly biotech gives me the heebie jeebies.  So it can attach to any sort of cell?  So can you make a brain eating plague, bet that would sell like hot cakes.  Not a slam at you but I am horrified by biotech for the most part.  The weapon/control applications are enormous and it seems like the benefits are drugs with epic side effects.

[tmosley]

It doesn't work like that.  This is a form of targeted chemotherapy that has been shown to have no side effects.  This would be totally ineffective as a weapon, because it can only be administered as an injection, and if you wanted to kill someone with an injection, there are much simpler ways to do it (bleach, or air will do just fine).

We are currently using a similar approach, but with a different targeting method to attack prostate epithelial cells (including cancerous ones).  This approach has the side effect of destroying the prostate.  For many men, this is a good thing, as surgical removal of the prostate is very problematic due to scarring in a very sensitive area, as you can probably imagine.

This is not conventional biotech.  It is closer to chemistry, as the final product is a small peptide with an active group rather than a biological agent.

And yes, some things are more important.  There is no real immediate physical danger here.  Once it looks that way, I won't hesitate to head off to the family compound (location undisclosed), or head for the South Pacific or some such place.

[Shameful]

Glad to hear my irrational fears are not justified in this case!

Not saying biotech could not be whip ass and solve a lot of problems.  I just see basically no positive production in the field except of talk of making new diseases to test and study.  And totally willing to confess to it being a mostly irrational fear, same fear I get around snakes actually.

So is it in the works to hit the cancerous cells but leave the healthy cells?  Because something like that would be like friggin magic and a huge boon for mankind!

[Green Leader]

It's already on store shelves: Vitamin D3.

[ronin12]

Or can be had for free from the sun.

[DoctoRx]

There is a real immed physical danger.  Acronym TSA

[desgust]

2x

[desgust]

HIV???? Are you kidding?

Ever heard of Duisberg?

Ever heard of retroviruse without any implication for healthy organisms?

[fiftybagger]

Yup, and what is ironic is he's just another one indirectly sucking off the government teat.  Big Pharma, what a racket...

[tmosley]

Big pharma?  Hardly.  This effort is a three man operation, and the going is painfully slow due to government regulation.  Absent the FDA, the peptide in my freezer would have been on the market as a cure for HIV ten years ago.

This research is funded 100% by the cash proceeds from similar work on medical devices, where the active group from said drug is coated onto materials to block any form of cellular attachment.  It is being used right now to prevent formation of white spot lesions in orthodontics patients (ie kids with braces), and is being tested for use as a sealant to permanently prevent cavities.  It is also being used in third world countries as reusable bandages that completely block infection.  If they get dirty, you simply boil it and reuse it.  If the FDA wasn't such a little bitch about anything new, it would be in widespread use in the US already, cutting down medical costs by a fairly large percentage as the bandages are reusable and as they completely block secondary infection.  Hell, a neighbor of mine had a big tumor removed from his back.  He didn't want to stop working and give his wound time to heal.  I gave him a small piece of one of my bandages to put on his back.  When he went back to work, he popped every one of his stitches.  His doctor was utterly dumbfounded that he wasn't dead from an infection.

So yeah, what good have you ever done?

[tmosley]

All HIV strains infect the host through use of the CCR5 protein, which attaches to the CD4 binding receptor.  By finding a peptide that attaches strongly to CCR5, you destroy the virulence factor.  It would have to evolve into another virus to obtain immunity, something which would render it impotent to infect humans.

[spdrdr]

Hmmmmm........

This really sounds like the plot to a forthcoming James Bond movie.   "Sunny island nation", "research lab", "new class of drugs", "easily and quickly modified"......

You get my drift.

[Ratscam]

Move the research to Switzerland or New Zealand

[flacon]

If you plan on applying for citizenship to Canada you need to keep working. But they are opening a new "Investor class" on December 1st. 

"Under the new program criteria, investor applicants will need to have a personal net worth of $1.6 million, up from $800,000 under the old criteria, and make an investment of $800,000, up from the previous requirement of $400,000."

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/department/media/releases/2010/2010-11-10a.asp

[Shameful]

Good on Canada.  I actually have job skills and totally fine with working.  Canada is less on my list because of the giant time bomb buttressed up next to it :)  Hate the tax rates, but at least not fighting a bunch of wars.

[Arkadaba]

Read the "Eh Canada" link in this post - written by a US blogger and does a good job explaining what exactly the tax rates are in Canada:

http://arkadaba.blogspot.com/2010/08/economists-make-strangest-bed-fellows.html

[Shameful]

Thanks for the link!  Might force me to do doing more research.  I kinda dismissed Canada out of hand since I heard about high rates and I suspect they will get hurt by their neighbor to the South as the day of debt reckoning draws closer.

[cole]

The problem of immigrants is widespread in developed countries and in Europe foreigners have great opportunities to improve your life and your family

World images

[Phaethon]

I love that image.  I will think through it with different faces on said head and enjoy the thought many times over.

[The Rock]

SNAP bitchez!

[Oracle of Kypseli]

The system can be gamed 100 different ways. I did post elsewhere the story of two friends who employed its other's wife for six months and then laid them off so that they are collecting unemployment benefits for 99 weeks.

[Bob Sponge]

With all the corrupt politicians, ill-conceived policy and people gaming the system, I am often AMAZED that the US is still standing.

[flacon]

+++ 27.77

[Non Passaran]

Yep, I know of another instance of exactly the same scam outside of the US. Those guys opened paper companies and moved employees back and forth.

In a private company if one comes up with a poorly thought out customer promotion of some sort and gets ripped off like this, he gets fired. Not in the government. They meant well, after all! And the companies that abused the system don't get prosecuted because one might ask why not fire those who came up with the moronic rules.

[RobotTrader]

Yep.

Two or 3 times a year I go to Maui and I always stay in Paia on the North Shore.  The town is teeming with single mothers on welfare.  I mean, 25-year old hot chicks who got knocked up by a European windsurfer or an Asian hedge fund manager on vacation.  They are milking the system in Hawaii big time.  If they apply for the right kind of benefits, they can earn the equivalent of up to $65,000 a year.  And the more knocked up kids, the better.

It is a huge scam over there.  But really only benefits the single mom types.

[Shameful]

Yeah it totally benefits single moms.  This might make me a bad person but here goes.  I tried to talk my sister out of getting married.  Brother in law is a great guy but I was trying to talk them out of it.  Why?  Because my sister has 0 interest in working.  So my rational was they live together (maybe not on paper) and she gets goodies from the state.  Brother in law is making just enough to push them out of goodie range so I told them to scam the system.  Now my brother in law is the nicest most honorable guy I've ever met (and a hell of a hard worker) so he wouldn't do it, but I did talk to them about it.  Kids still don't have health insurance.  And yes I'm against the programs that make this moral hazard but I'm also scum enough to suggest my family uses them if they can.  I rationalize it but being one of the people being looted to pay for it.

On the funnier side my former roomies parents almost got divorced over stuff like this.  She is an accountant and figured out they would save about 6k a year in taxes with their lifestyle if they got a divorce.  His dad wouldn't do it, said "It didn't feel right"

[Mariposa de Oro]

I look at it like this; yeah, I'd like to change the system but short of violence, I won't be able to.  So rather than resort to violence, why not just say the hell with it and get what you can from the system until it implodes?  Millions of your fellow citizens want things just they way they are even if they don't understand  the evil of it all and the inevitable outcome.  Screw it and them.  Get what you can while you can.   I'd say sleep well, but in light of all the crap that's happening, if you're like me, peace is elusive.

[fiftybagger]

"why not just say the hell with it and get what you can from the system until it implodes?"

Because when it does implode you will be in worse shape than if you were not dependent at all on it.  By learning to rely on yourself you will be much better prepared for what is certainly coming.

[Blankman]

Or..

Game the system until it does implode using "free" $ to buy survival necessities.  I used to work at a a liquor store in a not so nice part of a college town.  People I worked with would buy food stamps from our clientele for fifty cents on the dollar. 

The whole damn mess of the world is a big game.  That is my belief system in a nutshell.

[dark pools of soros]

ok - so all these bene's go up and up vs the falling dollar...  (same thing that made UAW look like the devil) ..  but if there is a stronger dollar now, after all these bailouts, the debt would be explosive

30 year short term gain killed the USA goose

[RockyRacoon]

...25-year old hot chicks who got knocked up...

Daddy!

[CD]

I always get a chuckle out of the ad placement on this site... "free gov't sponsored cell phones" on this post, "Buy California bonds" on posts about municipal debts, etc. Classic. Talk about making soap from wealthy ladies liposuction castoffs and selling it back to them.

[DeltaDawn]

The ads are tailored to your surfing habits. I get ads based on my teenage daughters' habits.

[flacon]

I get Canadian ads. 

[StychoKiller]

All-a-yahs, just go to:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts2.htm

follow the directions and your browser won't even load most advertising -- unless you're into that sort of thing.

[Bose Einstein OracIe]

I get APMEX and Beamers lol

[HungrySeagull]

I get food ads.

I pay the taxes, but don't take any of the listed entitlements. There are times we go to bed somewhat hungry making sure we have a meal set aside for tomorrow.

And we have plenty of supplies for the coming of winter.

But Disposible income? Wiping out Debt takes most and Ammunition practice takes the rest.

[fiftybagger]

God bless you

[Double.Eagle.Gold]

Ads suck, AdBlock Plus plugin for Firefox rocks.

Of course, if you don't support the sponsors for ZH then please contribute directly.

[Non Passaran]

I was just going to say that.

• Got AdBlock Plus (so I never see any ads)
• Have contributed (which cuts out Google and similar companies)

[caconhma]

It is a Requiem for America freedom and prosperity.

[Threeggg]

This handicap guy seems ready and I think he has had enough !

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=3e0_1290210604

[Horatio Beanblower]

That's brilliant.  Handicap?  What handicap?

[Loan Gunman]

Yea?  This is news?

[tmosley]

News to me.  I had no idea that the amount paid out in welfare was (or could be) so extreme.

[fuu]

Just check out your nearest banker if you think this is extreme.

[MeTarzanUjane]

Or check out how much free money is sent to israel to compensate them for their hardship.

Tax me, send it to israel so the TSA can justifiably violate me.

[macholatte]

play your harmonica son

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiVFfOOm_GI

[weinerdog43]

Oh wait, let's beat up on those folks on the bottom of the food chain because they've stolen WAY more than the banksters.  No more gruel for the poor!

[Maos Dog]

YOU are the bottom of the food chain, WE the upper-middle class producers are the bottom of the food chain, not them, they laugh at us in their drunkenness

I will be going Galt in 2014 when the healthcare mandate starts, I am planning for this now, here in the great swamp..

[Ricky Bobby]

+10

[tmosley]

I'm not sure anyone is blaming those receiving the benefits.  They are blaming the system for creating this sort of underclass, and rightfully so.

There is a difference between indicting a system and indicting a group of people.  For example, I dislike the policies of Israel, but that does not mean I hate Jews.  I dislike the governments of many Islamofascist nations, but I have no problem with Muslims.  I hate the government, but I don't have a problem with anyone in America, save those who created the system, and those who advocate extreme and ongoing violation of natural rights for any reason.

[Maos Dog]

tm you are so right, I just get mad sometimes that's all.

However, I am still effin going Galt when the healthcare mandate starts...

[tmosley]

I encourage everyone who can to do so.  I will do so once I can convince a two friends to come with me so we can continue our research together.

[dark pools of soros]

"....I hate Jews..."    and the anti-semitic labeling target squad fires regardless of out of context

you should be banned for putting those words together in any context...

/sarcasm off

[RockyRacoon]

I'm not sure anyone is blaming those receiving the benefits.

Well, they were sure blaming the "deadbeats" who stopped paying mortgages because they were under water.   You know, the ones who should have honored a signed contract and all that.  What's the diff?

[Chupacabra]

Oh shut up.  It isn't an either/or proposition.  The banksters are dirty, the politicians are dirty, and the leeches are leeches.  Bottom of the food chain doesn't deserve to pick anyone's pockets, either.

[midtowng]

I also question the story's accuracy. I'm looking at the Cleveland Current and I don't see the article anywhere. Plus, who the Hell ever heard of this paper before?

But the real question I question it is because I've lived on minimum wage and about $60K a year and my experience says otherwise.

[MeTarzanUjane]

Don't be a fool. You are the same kind of dummy that tries to discredit Zero Hedge stories.

Show us your balance sheet comparison from your experience, break it down G. Let's do some math.

[midtowng]

I've never tried to discredit a ZH story before, so try not to paint with such a broad brush next time. But then I guess this is what the article is about anyway.

[JohnF]

I don't think you can challenge the accuracy - the numbers seem to be accurate - but I was interested in just who the guy is.

Appears to be the owner of a chain of local newspapers - which are doing quite well, thank you, as they serve the local community right and proper - in Cleveland-Bolivar County in Mississippi (and not the better-known Cleveland in Ohio). I can't find the original article, though, either, and this is sub-par for Zero Hedge..

[Shameful]

Not surprising.  I have a segment of my family that has been doing this for years.  My uncle has been on a disability scam for decades, though he is fit to work.  And I could tell all manner of stories about my cousins cheating the system, like the "child swap".  Where they claim each others kids and use them to get money.  Most aren't even dumb or on drugs/criminals, they just hate working, never bothered to get an education, or had no ambition.

To keep control over the masses in a "democracy" it is necessary to have a class of tax feeders. Ideally for the oligarchs the tax feeders will outnumber the tax producers so that the tax producers can never be free of the plunder, and the wealth can be more easily confiscated. After all only the most naive person would assume that the lower tax feeders would vote against the system that sustains them.

Sure you lose a few points kicking up goodies to the fellow tax feeders but it accomplishes the goal of adding to the wealth taken as well as limiting future competition.  Though as the wealth is devoured less and less will go to the lower tax feeders, after all the top guys get theirs first.

And for tax feeders I include all who make their living off the gov.  Whether they be employed by the state or not, if their check is coming from the gov that makes them a tax feeder.

[fiftybagger]

"And for tax feeders I include all who make their living off the gov.  Whether they be employed by the state or not, if their check is coming from the gov that makes them a tax feeder."

Yup, and tax feeders will be the first to starve too, just watch - locked and loaded.....

[Blankman]

I like to bring up a conversation piece with people I know regarding similar issues. It goes something like this: Who is wiser? the guy living off the govt nipple just kind of hanging out all day with no real cares in the world. Basically having fun on govt money. That is a pretty damn good lifestyle. Or.. the middle class wage slave destined to live in his own humility at what he thinks he is and or what he thinks he could be.

Personally I am not a big fan of working. I work but I try to not let it define who i am. I always heard from grownups when I was a child to find a job you love and go work there. What if you don't like working at anything. I get bored doing just about everything. I suppose it just goes back to the question of what is life?

[blunderdog]

I like this.  He pretty much nails it, but it is a bit rosy a picture.  The author sounds as if he has no experience with the system--it's not like you just fill out a form and checks show up.

The Medicaid benefit is a bit of hassle to qualify for.  I would've been eligible a few years back and couldn't get it because I had $4000 in an IRA.  In theory, I could've cashed it out and blown it on drugs, but unfortunately, the admins might've noticed, and they can disqualify you if they suspect you're intentionally bankrupting yourself for bennies. 

Section 8 is wait-listed in NYC (other places too?).  Definitely a good bit of luck involved in getting that.

Getting and maintaining the benefits also does require you to put in some time.  Nothing onerous, but hanging out in a welfare office for a few hours a week (I'd say 2-12) waiting for your name to be called.  I'd personally have much preferred digging ditches.  It suits some, I suppose.

On the other hand, I think he overstates the child-care expense in the 2nd case, probably the first case too.  Unless someone is severely socially isolated, it's hard to imagine being that poor and not knowing some like-minded underemployed friends/neighbors/relatives who would help out with the kids.

[fiftybagger]

Make it fullscreen and watch closely.  Notice how many are obese women?  God is not mocked....

http://current.com/news/92605717_huge-crowd-shows-up-for-housing-voucher...

[TonyV]

The biggest BS is the Earned Income Tax Credit.

[cheapy]

I know someone that went to a tax place to get his taxes done and took his Polish GF with.  They couldn't do anything to save him any money, but his Polish GF walked out with a $6600 check because she had visited for a few weeks, and so they put her down as having made a few bucks cleaning homes, which then got her eligible for EIC I think, which netted her $6600 for coming to visit on the day he happened to be going to get his taxes done.  She used the money for a wild week in Vegas, compliments of ME via Uncle Sam.

[dark pools of soros]

fuck it...  she knew that experiences are the only currency of the soul

[AUD]

Sure man, except I don't think being a penny scammer makes you prosperous.

And the USA the world's most generous entitlement system? Pffffft, you should check out here in Australia. Leave high school & spend the rest of your life on the dole.

I know a guy who has written the same 'jobs I looked for this week', on every dole form for the last 15 years! And another who is now on a 'permanent disability' pension at age 35 cause he's taken to many drugs, having been on the dole since he left school!

The social security people don't give a shit, in fact I think the whole social security bureaucracy is a 'work for the dole' program, for the bureaucrats!

I'm not surprised I don't pay any tax.

[Shameful]

IIRC the Norway system is even more gilded, but believe that's only for native Norwegians.

Don't pay taxes you say...how did you manage that? 

Not that I don't love Uncle Sugar with his hands in my pocket...used to think it was just for my money, but then he started feeling me up to.  That's when things got 'weird'...

[AUD]

Actually, I suppose it's incorrect for me to say I don't pay any tax since I hold some dollars. But I demand cash at every opportunity!

[EscapeKey]

The Scandinavian welfare systems are ridiculously generous, and I doubt the title is American.

A few years ago in Denmark, it was decreed welfare beneficiaries should receive above-inflation adjustments. A few years later came 2008 where the private sector had to take wage cuts, which made it seem even more outrageous.

[Ratscam]

Try Quatar, there you receive USD 250K as a wedding present from the government. You have to be a native Quatari however.

If you're Indian or Philippino, you get a kick in the butt.

[Herd Redirectio...]

We have encouraged people to game the system for atleast 30 years.  If you see the gov't gaming the system (defaulting on gold obligations, WTF?) then why wouldn't you.

No one has to come to the rescue and save the world, as the world in its current state ain't worth saving.

http://psychonews.site90.net

PsychoNews: Exposing the Oligarchy, one Psycho at a time.

[Jeffersonian]

There is some truth to the article, but clearly the whole monetary comparison hinges on the Child Care number. Which, not knowing the assumptions used, looks pretty skewed in favor of the $3625 group more than it probably is in reality. I have my doubts.

Granted I'll be the first to tell you making $100k per year isn't near as comfortable as I thought it would be when I only made $50k. But still how many people do you know that make $3625 per year that have some great quality of life? How many hit retirement in style?

Seems a bit sensational.

[blunderdog]

It's definitely a bit sensational, but the hyperbole helps emphasize the underlying point.

(Incidentally: if this "lifestyle" actually looks appealing to anyone reading, by all means leave the workforce and try it for a few years.  Make room for someone who wants to get back to work, even if it means they'd be getting fucked.  Don't envy the poor.  Just be one!)

[trav7777]

don't forget to add UE into this if you're recently unemployed.  That can really add up in a hurry.

The entire system is a load of horseshit

[24KGOLD FOIL HAT]

America is the only thing standing in the way of the one world govt. Other countries resist but the machine can roll over them. The US is different...........The money elite and their thintanks are slowly destroying American strength............I think General Ripper was right; the commies are poisoning our precious bodily fluids. And their doin it from DC!.............Banksters overthrew Russia with socialism. Now its our turn to be socialized. Started in 1961 when govt employees were allowed to unionize. Great Society in 1964 put it on steroids.............But...hey banksters...Americans will defeat you assholes!

[slvrizgold]

Nice handle 24K Gold Hat.   Its even better than mine.   I always hated knowing that I was a "tinfoil hat" person, but I can wear my 24K gold hat with pride.

BTW, I know people who work their asses off all year for $15-20k and don't collect welfare out of pride, non-motivation, or ignorance about how they system works.

[MeTarzanUjane]

Metal bugs.... The most useless group of tards in the world.

You better pray the fiats don't ever collapse cuz we will find you, and when we do.....

http://www.chinasmack.com/2010/videos/raccoon-skinned-alive-fur-trade.html

[24KGOLD FOIL HAT]

Tarzanus: didnt ya'all git any educatins in da jungles?  The wise who prepare will be safe while you wil be cannibalized.  Guess some metalheads aint Einsteins but I always aint been metallic.  Bonds n stocks had a good run.  Gold has been a nobrainer since 2007.  I shorted SP500 in fall 2008 and got sum AU.  Atlas is shrugging and Atlasfolk will be fine.  We are prepared with fellowship, guns and the other basics in our peaceful valley.  You still have time, consider our point of view!

[chopper read]

naaaaaaw, he too stoopid. 

[RockyRacoon]

You start skinning my coon relatives and WE WILL COME AFTER YOU.

[24KGOLD FOIL HAT]

Thank you, sir.  Amen on the ethical and moral few who dont scam.

[steveo]

It's a beautiful Full Moon, and Euro rising on bailout!

From the land of WTF?

Ireland, after just days before, steadfastly denying it needs financial help, is forced to accept help.

Down below, please review the S&P 500, especially the Fib Fan from the Great Depression and the Big 61 Fibo, both now in play, both extremely bearish

And the Euro overall up on that news.   Very odd.  Perhaps what they nicely refer to as an exhaustion top/spike.   Which basically means a last minute manipulation before the real direction is set.

NZD as a currency got hammered in Sunday action, against all others that I viewed.
I was snaked out of my copper short, and glad I had stop in place.   Somehow I got a decent fill on a gap up.   Again, with Eurozone blowing up I was surprised that USD down and copper up.

Went back in short copper at a higher price---based on the PRS kickdown shown in this blog last week.

Scanning the futures and FX, I really don't see anything "obvious". 

Expiry was last Friday, and often the Monday after sees some serious moves as the market gets back to normal. 

STRATEGY: set some orders to activate either long or short based upon a move.   For ES (S&P 500 futures) I will accept an 8 point move beyond the entry point as profit stop.   And a 1.25 point stop as a loss. 

I get alot of periodicals. This one called Assembly is hilarious. Upset Zombie Workers, on the production line.

And here it is, the Fib Fan from Great Depression

http://oahutrading.blogspot.com/

[Paul Bogdanich]

You can't stop the little thief until and unless you stop the big thief.  All this is just a diversion from the defalcation of the bankster - political alliance. 

[chopper read]

true dat.

[Milestones]

" The game of history is played by those at the top and the bottom of the heap over the heads of those in the middle."  Eric Hoeffer "The True Believer"  @ 1956 ?    Milestones

[ebworthen]

Yes, makes one think, no?

After watching the banks and corporations get bailed out, and then this, will make many throw in the towel and join the parade.

[Howard_Beale]

My son is a single father and has his own business in Oregon and nets about $38,000 a year these days given the state of the economy. He does not qualify for Food Stamps, Medicaid, utility subsidies, child care subsidies of any kind--or any government assistance, period.

I know another single father in Wisconsin that makes $11 an hour, does not qualify child care subsidies, food stamps, utility help, section 8, Medicaid, etc--no assistance of any kind.

So here's the question--has the author singled out Mississippi to make his point? I think so. I know personally two hard working single fathers that get squadoosh. Neither have savings or IRA's. I think this is an extreme example of one state that has been a welfare state for a very long time. It is not the entire country.

[Lednbrass]

$38K net is mid/high 50's gross after paying taxes and insurance. No, he wouldnt be eligible.

$11/hr is $22,880 gross- this person DOES qualify for CHIP insurance for kids in Wisconsin and the Earned Income Credit.

It has nothing to do with Mississippi outside of state tax rates.

[ebworthen]

They would both need to not be employed, have a vehicle worth less than $8,000, and not have any savings or retirement.  If you save you are punished, and if you work.

Of course, if they were "fired" or had no work, they could get CHIP for their kids, Medicaid, and unemployment. 

I worked with guys who intentionally got "laid off" even when work was available and never married their "old lady" because that would reduce their benefits.  They had become experts at milking the system. 

My pride has always kept me from doing this; but they would chide me and other guys who played by the rules and say we were "damn fools" because the hot shots and big boys got all the gravy, why should they work outside in the cold in the winter if they could get unemployment to sit and watch football while their "old lady" got Welfare and food stamps and healthcare for their kids who supposedly had no Father?

[nmewn]

When my first child was born, I worked with a guy and the discussion turned to finances...along the lines of..."hey that infant formula is expensive ain't it?"

I said yeah...sure is.

He said "you ought to do what I did, get on that WIC program."

I couldn't believe my ears...we both made around 80k.

I took out my wallet and said here...just cut out the middleman.

He didn't get it.

[MurderNeverWasLove]

I took out my wallet and said here...just cut out the middleman.

He didn't get it.

 Classic.

[chopper read]

agreed.  too funny.

[Chupacabra]

This is just the DIRECT welfare.  Don't forget the INDIRECT welfare . . . namely, federal employment.

Overinflated salaries.

Exquisite benefit packages.

Can't be fired short of murdering a co-worker (even then you'd probably get a few months of paid leave until your union grievance was heard).

Inflation-adjusted PENSION (IRAs are for peons!) after 20 years.

Get another .gov job and get another pension!  Why not, you're retired at age 61 with a double pension.  Hell, with your benefit plan you have access to the best medical care, too.  May as well go for 3!  81 is the new 61!

Seriously, at least half of these people would be outright on the dole if not for their .gov job (usually with a BIG dose of affirmative action, to boot)

[bluebare]

Oh puleeez.

Corporate welfare is far more generous than social welfare.  Fat cats get billions and millions not tens of thousands in handouts.  There are hundreds of sources documenting that social welfare hands out peanuts compared to corporate welfare.  Here are some examples for starters:

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=16151

[Shameful]

Oh course it is.  But one must look at the system.  Would everyone stand for no handouts to the poor and unlimited handouts to the oligarchy?  Of course not, and in a "democracy" they would have a rough time because the oligarchs are numerically few.  However by adding people to the rolls of tax feeders the oligarchs gain a big government voting block.  Sure they are getting less then the oligarchs but many are not going to vote against the big gov system that is providing their handout.

Also as things die these handouts will get smaller, the oligarchs will always strive to just give enough to keep the masses from being able to pull them off.  After all if everyone was getting screwed by the all powerful state then there would be a big motivation to pull it off.  If 51% derive their life from the state then it is very secure.  Look up Argentina for a 50 year case study on looting.  Their lower classes are sure not living well, but they get enough to keep the wheels rolling.

[bluebare]

I entirely agree with you. The article, however, did not make this important point.    

"A democracy will continue to exist up until the time that voters discover they can vote themselves generous gifts from the public treasury."

Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the University of Edinburgh, 1787

[Chupacabra]

Great quote.  We WERE a republic, ruled by laws not men, but activist and corrupt justices have long since gutted the Constitution and abrogated their sacred duties, leaving us with nothing more than a democracy, perhaps the worst form of national government imaginable.  This country is not much longer for its present form.

[bluebare]

 "Democracy is the worst form of government, except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."

Winston Churchill from a House of Commons speech on Nov. 11, 1947

[malek]

"Democracy is where the dumbest 51% decide."

That's my own quote.

[chopper read]

which is why we are meant to have a Republic of Laws protecting the property of the individual under the U.S. Constitution. 

...but thats not very 'progressive', is it?

[Quantum Nucleonics]

Oh puleeeeeeezzzzzzzz...

Corporate welfare is measured in billions, social welfare is measured in trillions. 

[tomdub_1024]

60K pretty much describes my 5 person family's income, damn, am I a fool or what?

Meh...whatever...

I work anyway, I need to do something, so I am getting fooked. Or not, as, it will all revert to the mean eventually, and I will be in the habit of making shit happen when it needs to happen, so eventually it rolls to my favor again.

Let them enjoy while its there, I am too busy creating my own future usefulness to care about unfairness at this point.Glad I figured out that life is unfair and just push on with my own program.

[Withdrawn Sanction]

Finally, a sane comment.  Thanks for that.  Carry on, my good man.

[MeTarzanUjane]

A couple of ostriches with your heads stuck in a dark warm place. Carry on with your apatite for apathy.

[cooker]

This is exactly the problem - it's time people stop looking at the tax rate table. The rates are pointless themselves. The rich get less tangible benefits that aren't as easy to pinpoint. The poor are easier to assess with these credits/deductions/payments. You have to consider that the $60k/year taxpayer probably has tens and tens of thousands of dollars for student loans, as well. The middle class gets screwed.

[Chupacabra]

Three cheers for moral hazard and unintended consequences!  The soft-hearted, soft-headed liberals hard at work.

[jomama]

how did this become a partisan issue?

[Chupacabra]

Democrats = socialists.  Republicans = socialists lite.  F them both, along with anyone who thinks they deserve to pick my pocket because they're poor or "needy" or because bankers do it, too.

Happy?

[Lednbrass]

Yep, getting screwed from above and below is getting seriously old. I have known too many people who game the system on insurance, unemployment, Section 8, etc.

I would welcome a system crash and ensuing chaos just to let Darwin weed them out.

[Chupacabra]

I hope it doesn't come to that.  Many, many more people are waking up these days.  Look at Ron Paul - ten years ago he was a lunatic, a joke.  Now, people are lsitening.  His kid just got elected.  Or the Tea Party . . . talk about a true grassroots movement.  It's gaining momentum despite the liberal media doing everything it can to prevent it . . . jokes didn't work ("They're TeaBAGGERS!  Get it?  TeaBAGGERS instead of TeaPARTIERS.  OMG  LOFL ROFLMAO!!11), slander hasn't worked (the racism card is getting played out, finally) and they can't ignore it.

My hope is for a peaceful secession, either outright or de facto.  Maybe Texas or some midwest states (you know, those shitty provincials in "fly over country") opt the frick out of the federal system somehow.  If so, I'm on the first boat out.

But if TSHTF, lead and brass (and water and farmland) it is.  I'd love to see the welfare cases (and their pansy liberal enablers, apologists and puppetmasters) screaming at the ground to grow some vegetables for them to eat, or staging a "protest" if grocery store shelves go bare, or "demanding" that the farmer feed them because it's not "fair" that he has so much.  Nothing but aggressive beggars, the lot of them.

[Chupacabra]

I've got a fan!  Keep junking me, pussy.  You know you can't argue with me, so skulk around in the shadows like the cockroach you are.  ;)  Don't you wish what I just said was a "hate crime," or something?  It should be illegal to say such uncomfortable truths.  lol  Loser.

[chopper read]

+1

anyway, Timmay wishes to divert your attention back to your assigned "enemy". Which label have you chosen?: 'democrats' vs. 'republicans', 'christians' vs. 'muslims', 'old' vs. 'young', 'black' vs. 'white', 'gay' vs. 'straight', 'blue collar' vs. 'white collar', 'rich' vs. 'poor', 'bull' vs. 'bear', 'Jets' vs. 'Giants'. divide. conquer. rinse. repeat.

...but NEVER small vs. big. NEVER EVER competing asset-backed currencies vs. monopoly debt-based paper currency.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2010-11-19/geithner-warns-republicans-against-politicizing-the-fed.html

[Captain Kink]

+1 Led

Bring it on. Please.

[YHWH]

So how do you explain the biggest entitlement increase in the decades - Medicare Part D?

And why doesn't these articles include the biggest entitlements - Medicare and Social Security?  Would that offend the sensibilities of the vaulted, mythical 'middle class'?

[blunderdog]

The retired are probably a good chunk of the author's readership.

Can't be offending THEM, now, can he?

But it's a good point to consider.  The thinking goes that we have to give the poor money or they'll start burning down buildings and killing people.

Why do we have to pay the affluent old folks?

Oh.  Because it's "fair."

Heh.