.
Mav88: toc, cutting the military budget in half isn't 'shaving', it's eviscerating. Why not 'shave' 150B off the larger welfare budget?
In any event it does not stop the coming demographic catastrophe.
*****
May 14, 2009
SouthAmerica: Reply to Mav88
You are confusing the US government welfare program with the entitlement programs.
1) Entitlement is a guarantee of access to benefits because of rights, or by agreement through law. Here is the major U.S. entitlement program: Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
2) Today the US government Welfare program comprise of 2 major distinct pieces; first the old welfare program, and second, the welfare program for Wall Street and the financial system as follows:
A) The old welfare program that most people associate with the word welfare â this program is the welfare program for very poor people, destitute people, and this program has been decimated since 1974 â for a long time even the politicians of both parties in Washington stopped mentioning this program, because they have cut it to the bone in the last 35 years.
B) The new Welfare program for Wall Street and the rich and greedy:
They started this humongous program in 2008 by giving all kinds of bailouts for the richest people in the United States. The US government opened its wallet and the scoundrels in Wall Street and in the financial system have raided the taxpayer as never seen before. In no time the scoundrels got away with $ 700 billion dollars and now they want as much as they can get away with.
On top of that the Federal Reserve became a dumping ground for toxic assets to the tune of trillions of US dollars. It is estimated that so far the US government gave all kinds of new US guarantees to Wall Street and the banking system to the tune $ 13 trillion dollars â a figure about 130 percent of current US GDP.
Mav88 today when you talk about welfare you have to specify which program you are talking about; First, the welfare for destitute people who canât even afford to buy food on a daily basis to feed themselves and their families. Or second, the welfare for scoundrels that the US government have established since last year to the tune of trillions of dollars that have been going sky high and with no end in sight?
And believe me, these scoundrels are going to milk the resources of the US government dry before you know it.
*****
Here is what I posted on this forum regarding welfare for the poor in the USA:
http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showt...4527&highlight=welfare+since+1974#post2144527
October 26, 2008
SouthAmerica: Did you know that the US government froze in 1974 the amount that Americans can get as WELFARE monthly benefit payments?
Until recently WELFARE â was an issue that not even the Republicans had the nerve to touch on that subject.
Welfare is money paid to persons, from a government, who are in need of financial assistance but who are unable to work for pay.
A social welfare provision refers to any program which seeks to provide a minimum level of income, service or other support for disadvantaged peoples such as the poor, elderly, disabled, students, unpaid workers such as mothers and other caregivers, and underprivileged groups.
From January 1974 to January 2008 = 34 years
What $ 1.00 bought in January 1974 in January of 2008 we need at least $ 5.00 to buy that same item. In another words, if you still receiving today the same amount of money that you used to receive in 1974 then you lost 80 percent of your purchasing power or you got a cut on your income of 80 percent because of inflation during that period.
Today there is a subject that even the Republicans donât have the nerve to talk about â and the Republicans usually donât care which group of people they are screwing most of the time.
Here is why:
Do you remember all these programs on television showing to the American people how well all those people were living out of their WELFARE check? And how much fraud was going on in the early 1970âs on that government program?
Have you seeing any candidate from either political party talking about the subject of welfare and how to cut the welfare program for the very poor in the political campaigns for president in 1996, 2000, 2004, and also in the current presidential campaign?
The answer is NO, not even the Republicans have the nerve to touch on that subject.
The candidates talk about reducing entitlements programs, but they are talking about Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. They are not talking about the WELFARE program for the very poor.
The word WELFARE is not part of any politiciansâ vocabulary for a long time here in the United States, at least since the decade of the 1980âs.
Most Americans donât know it, because nobody in the American mainstream media is interested on this subject today.
You must be wondering how the US government fixed the problems regarding that program?
The answer is very simple: the United States government froze the amount people can receive as welfare payment in the year 1974 â the amount people receive as monthly WELFARE payments has not increased in value since 1974, for example if a single person received $ 140 per month from welfare in 1974, a single person still receiving only $ 140 per month as welfare payment in 2008. Inflation cut the amount people receive from WELFARE by 80 percent. Welfare recipients have been receiving an annual cut on their welfare benefits year after year because of inflation.
To this day most Americans still think that the US government is spending a fortune with the people on welfare, and that welfare is one of the major causes for US government yearly budget deficits.
They created a certain perception about welfare for the American people in the 1970âs that has nothing to do with the welfare program in the United States in 2008.
I have no idea how people are surviving on their welfare checks in 2008 â today the amount of money they get as welfare on a monthly basis are below of subsistence level in most parts of the United States, and the only place they might be able to survive on that kind of income is in Zimbabwe.
It is ironic that the last American president to increase the amount of money that any American can receive as WELFARE payment on a monthly basis it was Richard Nixon a Republican president.
*****
I wrote the above piece in January 2008, before the Republican administration had created the largest WELFARE program for the rich in American history to the tune of trillions of US dollars.
Now the United States has one WELFARE program for the rich where some people are going to make a fortune.
And the United States still has its old WELFARE program for the destitute and very poor where people are barely being able to survive. Today even in Zimbabwe they must have a better WELFARE program for the poor.
Anyway, check out if you also qualify for the new US government welfare program for the rich and well connected.
*****
âCompanies start competing for bailout moneyâ
Associated Press - Sunday October 26, 2008
By Martin Crutsinger, AP Economics Writer
Insurance firms, auto companies and foreign banks petition for part of $700 billion bailout
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The bailout is now the hottest lobbying game in town. Insurers, automakers and American subsidiaries of foreign banks all want the Treasury Department to cut them a piece of the largest government rescue in U.S. history.
The betting is that many with their hands out will be successful, especially with financial markets in a stomach-churning dive and predictions the economy is about to tumble into a deep recession.
These groups argue that the credit squeeze is so severe and the risks to the economy so dire that their industries need financial support as well.
The Treasury is considering requests from a variety of industries, but has not decided whether to expand the program, officials said Saturday.
Lobbying efforts are intensifying.
The Financial Services Roundtable wrote Treasury officials on Friday requesting that the initiative to buy $250 billion in bank stock grow to cover insurers, auto companies, securities dealers and U.S. subsidiaries of foreign companies, including banks. The Treasury's plan is intended to bolster banks' tattered balance sheets and get them to resume making loans.
As the Treasury now interprets it, these additional groups would not participate in the bank stock program. They could receive help from a separate part of the $700 billion rescue that will buy bad assets from financial institutions.
You can read the entire article at:
Source:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081026/bailout_bonanza.html
.
