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Latest Obama Outrage: More People on Food Stamps Than Are Working Full Time – Money Morning

This is a syndicated repost published with the permission of Money Morning. To view original, click here. Opinions herein are not those of the Wall Street Examiner or Lee Adler. Reposting does not imply endorsement. The information presented is for educational or entertainment purposes and is not individual investment advice.

This Obama economy has soup lines as far as the eye can see. It also appears that many could easily be standing in two, three or even four lines simultaneously!

There are 103.4 million people currently enrolled in any one of 15 subsidized federal food assistance programs. The most people in our nation’s history.

Due to the governments sloppy management of resources it’s anybody’s guess how many people are standing in how many lines, at the same time.

One thing we do know for sure is one third of our nation is now receiving Subsidized Food Assistance.

These programs are extremely expensive and the cost is increasing daily. In 2012 the bill to taxpayers paid was a staggering $114 billion.

But sit down if you’re standing, because it gets worse!

Even more shocking: The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reports there are 97,180,000 full time workers in the private sector.

This means: The number of people receiving food stamps is greater than the number of people in America working full time.

Never in our nation’s history has this been the case. This is a historical first.

One reason is, Subsidized Food Assistance programs are run rather loosely. With few stopgaps and oversights the same people can be in several federal food lines at the same time.

In many cases all daily meals can be provided using different combinations of any or all of the15 different programs. From a July audit by the Inspector General of the USDA’s Food
Nutrition Service (FNS):

The Office of Inspector General (OIG) identified that the potential for overlap and duplication exists among the Food and Nutrition Service’s (FNS) 15 nutrition programs, and determined that FNS may be duplicating its efforts by providing participants total benefits in excess of 100 percent of daily nutritional needs when households and/or individuals participate in more than one FNS program simultaneously.”

From the above statement It appears that the Inspector General’s  Office does realize the potential opportunity for fraudulent activity is abundant. Sales receipts like the one below infuriate the taxpayers who don’t use food stamps.

food stamps

According to Senator John Thune (R-S.D.), food stamp participation has increased at 10 times the rate of job creation under Obama.

Eventually the number of full time workers will be dwarfed by those on Food Assistance programs. Unfortunately, it is entirely possible that we are creating and perpetrating a lifestyle of food entitlements not unlike housing welfare subsides.

When people are raised to believe the government is supposed to feed them it is unhealthy for the nation. However It is even more unhealthy for those who are raised to think of this as a lifestyle.

As the entitlement population grows so grows the cost and amount of subsidized programs.

It has been my experience that anything the government does at a cost of $3.00, private industry can do for $1.00.

What do you think? Should federal food assistance continue to expand?

Money Morning shows how the new farm bill spends nearly $1 trillion in subsidies on the upper middle class Ag industry.

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1 Comment

  1. Darius Dpas Deepazz Smith

    I find it ironic that those who wish to limit the size and scope of government want to use the same entity of government in order to limit people’s food choices. This stigmatization of those on SNAP using all of these horror stories of people buying steaks, lobsters, beer and the like is rather flawed and leads me to believe that there is a dishonest attempt to make those on welfare feel ashamed and embarrassed for using a clearly public service. I am on the program and my benefits are used up before the end of the third week of the month. Instead of punishing these people who a. have children, b. have someone who is disabled, c. work (yes SNAP recipients do work) or d. have just fallen on hard times, why not we USE the powers of government to correct these ills and more accurately account for these tough economic times? The private sector in general, and charities, can help fill a gap, but the problem is that they lack the economies of scale factor that government can provide. Right now, food banks are being strained to the breaking point, with some needing $1 million or more to cover their budgets, and the sequester has truly exacerbated this problem. So again, I say this: if we don’t want the government to dictate our food choices, yet we ourselves in our individual capacity DO, what kind of nation are we becoming in respect to us being a “Christian” nation?

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