June saw a new surge in those Americans living in poverty and thus eligible for foodstamps, with 173,600 new entrants into the system, bringing the total to a new all time high of 46.670 million and once again rising fast. Furthermore, with subsequent emergency events affecting the heartland due to the drought, the administration has made sure even more Americans will be eligible going forward. As a result expect the July and August numbers to promptly surpass 47 million on their way to the psychological resistance level of 50 million. Indicatively, the 173,600 increase in Foodstamps recipients in June was three times greater than Americans finding jobs (64,000, most of which part-time) according to the BLS. Finally, a new record was also breached for American households on foodstamps, which now hit 22.4 million, an increase of 106,298 households.
Guess it’s a good thing that Obama’s jobs council was so effective, huh.
It’s worth reminding ourselves and any undecided voters in our lives how this has happened. It’s not just that the economy is bad so people are turning to the food stamp program to get by. It’s that when Barack Obama had the chance to make things better, he did two things that made things worse. First, he packed the trillion dollar stimulus with payoffs to Big Labor under the guise of “shovel ready” projects that he later had to admit weren’t shovel ready. Second, he pursued ObamaCare, which increases taxes and liabilities on businesses. ObamaCare has kept business from hiring when they otherwise might have, due to the uncertainty it has created. Meanwhile, health care costs have continued to go up.
While all of that was going on, the Obama administration also ramped up promotion of the food stamp program, rebadged SNAP, through advertising. One radio ad, which the federal government is paying to run on radio stations nationwide, even encourages people who have jobs and own their own homes and cars to get on food stamps. That sends a powerful message that destigmatizes getting on the dole, and undoubtedly many have decided to get on board.
There’s a cardinal rule of government at work here: What you subsidize, you get more of. Obama came in talking about the “dignity of work” but in reality he jettisoned that for the expediency of dependence.
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