Note To House Republicans: Many People On Food Stamps HAVE Jobs

House Republicans slashed food stamp funding yesterday and claimed the move will help poor people.

You see, poor people on food stamps don't have jobs because they get food stamps and don't need jobs.

But if the House cuts food stamps, that will force these lazy, welfare kings and queens to go out and get jobs.

Only one problem with that theory - many people getting food stamps already have jobs, but make so little a month in income that they STILL qualify for food stamps.

That's because many of these people work full-time jobs and are under the poverty level anyway.

Like at Walmart.

The famous Communists at Forbes even published a story about this back in 2012:

While it does appear to be true that most households receiving benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP is the new name for food stamps) are out of the work force, a significant fraction do have earnings and most of the rest are poor elderly or disabled households or single parents with children.  Only one in six SNAP households in 2010 is a nonworking family without kids or an elderly or disabled family member.

The USDA also reports that 28 percent of adult participants in SNAP were employed.  Another 24 percent were unemployed and looking for work.   When the economy recovers, there will be many fewer unemployed people who need assistance. But a more fundamental problem is that so many people work in jobs that don’t pay enough to support a family.

Amazing when you think about it.

But that's what we have in 21st century feudal America.

And now, they're cutting food stamps and soon they'll be forcing these people to buy crappy private health insurance as a tenet of Obamacare

 And they're selling it as a benefit to poor people.

With lies about helping them get jobs.

When many of them already have jobs or are in job training programs.

They use these bulletpoint myths from the Reagan Era to sell these food stamp cuts, but they're all lies and mistruths.

One more thing about this - don't forget that Obama cut $2.2 billion from food stamps back in 2010 to save, in part, his Race to the Top funding.

Cutting food stamps for struggling Americans - something both parties can agree on.

The Consequences Of Christie's Rule

Two stories in the Newark Star-Ledger caught my eye this morning.

The first was this one:

Gov. Chris Christie’s cutbacks in school funding violate the state’s mandate to provide children "a thorough and efficient" education, a court-appointed Special Master declared today in a finding that could force the governor to come up with millions more for schools.

The opinion by Superior Court Judge Peter Doyne, who was appointed by the state Supreme Court in January, will now be considered by the state’s highest court, potentially setting the stage for another historic confrontation on an issue that has been litigated for more than 40 years.

"The difficulty in addressing New Jersey’s fiscal crisis and its constitutionally mandated obligation to educate our children requires an exquisite balance not easily attained," Doyne wrote. "Despite the state’s best efforts, the reductions fell more heavily upon our high risk districts and the children educated within those districts."

This was the second:

The Great Recession pushed thousands of New Jerseyans below the federal poverty level in 2009, causing the state’s rate to spike to the highest it’s been since at least 2002, a report released Tuesday finds.

The recession also took its toll on the state’s youngest residents, according to a separate report to be released today by the nonprofit Advocates for Children of New Jersey. Close to one-third of the state’s 2 million children were living in low-income families, more youths were out of both school and work, and slightly more children were abused or neglected, the group found.

In 2009, 9.4 percent of the state’s residents lived in poverty, compared with the national average of 14.3 percent. New Jersey’s rate has not risen above 8.7 percent since 2002, the first year it was calculated under the formula now used.

"New Jersey poverty is markedly worse by every measure," said Melville Miller Jr., president of New Jersey Legal Services, which released the poverty report. The numbers are "stunning, and terribly troubling," he added.

The report found 799,099 New Jerseyans lived below the poverty line in 2009. Children and the state’s Hispanic population in particular suffered sharp increases.

I'm sure Christie's school budget cuts, cuts to state aid, and tax cuts for rich people won't make these dire circumstances in New Jersey worse.

Bloomberg's NYC: Food Stamp Capital Of The State

This is what happens when you live in a city with an oligarch in charge who promotes his own interests and the interests of his corporate and banking cronies over middle and working class people:

According to new data from the Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance, 3 million NY State residents were on food stamps in 2010, an 11% increase from 2009. Which means that the 1.7 million city residents on food stamps account for over half of the state's recipients.

The state got $5.1 billion in food stamp benefits last year, with the average monthly benefit per person is just $150. Which will get you about two bags worth of goods at Whole Foods. Minus the sugary drinks.

I'm so glad that other corporate whore in public life - Barack "Race to the Top" Obama, cut food stamps in order to ensure his education reform program wouldn't be cut and his ed deform buddies could continue to receive government largesse.

Food Stamp Use Up - So Glad Obama Cut The Food Stamp Program

From the Wall Street Journal:

More people tapped food stamps to pay for groceries in September as the recession and lackluster recovery have prompted more Americans to turn to government safety net programs to make ends meet.

Some 42.9 million people collected food stamps last month, up 1.2% from the prior month and 16.2% higher than the same time a year ago, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Nationwide 14% of the population relied on food stamps as of September but in some states the percentage was much higher. In Washington, D.C., Mississippi and Tennessee – the states with the largest share of citizens receiving benefits – more than a fifth of the population in each was collecting food stamps.

President Obama had the food stamp program cut twice in the past year - once in order to save cuts to his Race to the Top program, once to offset an increase in school lunch aid.

Gee, he couldn't have raised taxes on a few millionaires to get the money for the school lunch program?

And he couldn't bear to see some money for standardized test data tracking systems cut from Race to the Top?

No, I guess he couldn't.

This is especially disturbing since for most people in America, the economy is NOT getting better, the jobs situation is NOT getting better and the food situation is NOT getting better.

Ironic, but Obama's Change We Can All Believe In looks suspiciously like Bush's Ownership Society.

Obama To Tout Education For Midterms

From Politico:

The White House will focus on education this week as an economic issue and political wedge that contrasts Democrats and Republicans, senior administration officials said Sunday in a conference call with reporters.

“The issue of education and reforming education so we can be more competitive in the long term is a fundamental difference between President Obama and Republicans,” said White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer. “The Republican pledge that was unveiled a few weeks ago would include the largest cut in education in history. ... We think that is inexcusable and irresponsible.”

From Common Dreams:

As schools faced the potential layoff of an estimated 300,000 teachers across the country, Congress dawdled until the second week in August, finally approving $10 billion to save the jobs of about half that number. The catch was that Congress “found” the money by cutting $12 billion in spending on food stamps (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)—a measure that the Food Research and Action Center says will hurt 40 million people, almost half of them children, when the cuts take effect in 2014. As Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, who voted for the bill, said, “I cannot in good conscience condone what we have taken away. . . . The bill shamefully pits these priorities against each other.”

So Obama takes money from food stamps to hand to schools to ostensibly keep teachers employed, but the states use the money to plug budget gaps or for data systems or just sit on it because they think next fiscal year is going to be even worse than this year.

And then he has the nerve to come around and call the contrast between Dems and Repubs on education "an economic issue."

Please.

Tell that to the family of three you just gave $521 in food stamp cuts to (starting in 2014, of course...always roll the cuts into the future so no one is quite sure who to blame...)

There is NO contrast between Dems and Repubs on these issues.

Both steal from the working and middle classes to give to the rich and powerful.

Poverty Rate Soars

Times are hard:

Struggling New Yorkers dragged into poverty during the recession weren't surprised to hear that things have gotten worse at the bottom of the economic food chain.

...

Although citywide poverty statistics won't be available until later this month, local advocates for the poor said there are more New Yorkers in need.

The West Side pantry experienced a 21% jump in visitors this year while St. John's Bread and Life, Brooklyn's largest soup kitchen program, reported a 47% increase in the number of people it served.

"These are people who were just getting by before. They can't work any harder. They just can't make it," said Anthony Butler, executive director of St. John's Bread and Life.

One woman, who asked not to be named, was visiting a food pantry for the first time Thursday because she hasn't been able to find work since her son was born a year ago.

Her husband's job as a security officer is no longer enough to pay their new expenses.

"It's harder to make ends meet," she said, adding "Things are more difficult in every way."

1 out of every 7 people in this country now live in poverty.

The unemployment rate stands at 9.6%.

The underemployment rate stands at 18%.

People are hurting.

What has Barack Obama's response been?

Bail out Wall Street, cut food stamps by $11.9 billion, and move to raise the retirement age to 72 with his Cat Food Commission.

Change we can believe in?

Nope - corporate governance from a corporate Dem.

The change I can believe in is seeing Barack Obama going the way of Adrian Fenty.

States Plan To Use Teacher Jobs Bill Money For Non Education Expenses

It is a given that Race to the Top money cannot be used for classroom expenses like hiring/rehiring teachers, reducing class sizes, buying books, etc.

The RttT money can only be used to create new standardized tests, purchase data tracking systems for those tests and close schools and fire teachers based upon the test results.

But now it seems that $10 billion in teacher jobs bill money that President Accountability signed into law earlier this month that is supposed to be used to hire/rehire teachers won't be used for classroom expenses either - it may not even be used for education:

Crippled by budget deficits, states officials have been eying money in the $26 billion federal jobs bill that's intended for schools. State leaders in California and Oregon have expressed interest in taking their fraction of the federal money from the $10 billion Education Jobs Fund and stashing it away for rainy day funds or using it to retire state debt.

...

Although states are not allowed to use the federal money to reduce or retire debt obligations incurred by the state, a House Democratic Aide tells the Huffington Post, there are ways around rules, and some lawmakers are eager to skirt them.

In California, legislators, including state Sen. Darrell Steinberg, have proposed using the $1.2 billion in federal money designated for the schools to help offset the state's $19 billion deficit. Steinberg has since backed off those statements under public pressure.

"With the new school year already underway and students facing unprecedented larger class sizes due to $17 billion in cuts to public schools over the past two years, California's lawmakers need to take urgent action to ensure that federal funding passed by Congress is distributed to schools immediately and not used to fix the state's budget crisis," wrote Robin Swanson, spokeswoman for Education Coalition, a 2.5 million-member group that includes teachers, parents and other school officials.

In Oregon, Governor Ted Kulongoski told superintendents to be "judicious and prudent" with the $118 million expected from the federal-aid bill, as the state's deficit has grown an estimated $200 million to $500 million this year, according to The Oregonian. A superintendent quoted in the The Mail Tribune said the budget shortfall "effectively erases the federal funds."

"I will be working with legislative leadership on how we can resolve the deficit if the forecast materializes as expected," Kulongoski wrote. "If I am required to use my allotment authority to bring the state budget for this biennium (2009-11) back into balance, it will require another round of budget cuts, including cuts to the state's allocation for schools."

So between the $4.3 billion from Race to the Top and the $10 billion from the teacher jobs bill, President Accountability has increased education spending by $14.3 billion dollars at the federal level it is quite possible that NOT ONE THIN DIME of that money will be used to save teacher jobs, reduce class sizes or buy books.

Just amazing.

And let's remember that Obama insisted that the teacher jobs money come from $12 billion in food stamp cuts to poor people.

So less food, larger classes, fewer teachers - but more tests and central office bureaucrats to collate, collect and analyze that data.

Truly we live in a third world country where the ruling classes steal every bit they can and leave just crumbs for the rest.

And sometimes they don't even leave crumbs.

Blame The Right Person For The Food Stamp Cuts

Fred Klonsky points out that Katie Haycock of the Education Trust - a Gates and Broad Foundation-funded education deform group - is blaming teachers unions and teachers for the $12 billion cut from food stamps by Congress and the administration as an offset to the $10 billion they provided for states to rehire laid off teachers.

Here is some of what this vile woman is saying:

Though many in the education community are celebrating last week's Senate vote for the so-called Edujobs bill, I can't find any joy in it. In fact, I am shaken and ashamed because, to pay for it, the Senate snatched $11.9 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

That's right: They cut food stamps. For the first time ever, this move would gouge the monthly benefits that low-income families receive. Beginning in 2014, America's poorest families will--if the House concurs during a special session this week--see $59 disappear from their food stamp benefits every single month.

...

Politicians know that there are less ruthless ways to pay for this than by slashing food stamps. Oil and gas and other corporate subsidies, for example, could withstand the blow far better than the poorest people in this nation. But families who rely on public support don't wield much political influence. After all, when you don't have enough money to buy your children dinner, it's hard to find room in your budget for a lobbyist or a fat campaign contribution.

Most shockingly of all, the education community--particularly those who assert that it's all but impossible to teach impoverished children who come to school hungry or overwhelmed by family stress--is cheering the passage of this bill with its hateful trade-off. We'd all do well to remember this proposal and those who supported it the next time teacher union bosses assert that they are fighting for what's best for our nation's poor kids.

Uh, Ms. Haycock, you do know the person who insisted that the offset for the teacher money come from food stamps was Barack Obama, yes?

David Obey was going to take some of the money for the teacher bill from Race to the Top but Obama threatened to veto any bill that took money from RttT.

When Obey said, "Okay, where do you want me to get the offsets from?" Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told him "Food stamps."

And so that is what happened.

I was outraged by it (I have posts here, here, here, here and here expressing my outrage) and I know other education bloggers and teachers who were as well.

It is true the teachers unions did not put up a fight against the food stamp cuts, but it is also true that the reason the cuts happened is because BARACK OBAMA INSISTED UPON THEM.

You all need to call and leave the vile Katie Haycock a message about the lies she spewed on Huffingtonpost about teachers being responsible for the food stamp cuts.

Here is her voicemail:

202/293-1217

You will be asked for a voice mail extension. You can type in the last name of Ms. Haycock and get her voice mail box and leave her a message.

I already have.

She should hear more.

Either she is deliberately lying to tar unionized teachers as evil people who steal food from poor people or she is ignorant of the fact that Barack Obama was the guilty party.

I suspect given her association with Eli Broad, Bill Gates and other union-bashers, she is doing the former in order to smear teachers and teachers unions.

Either way, she is wrong and she needs to be set straight.

Also, it would be nice if the anti-teachers union shill Ariana Huffington stopped allowing misinformation and lies to be published on her site.

But apparently if you are anti-teacher, you get to say pretty much any old horseshit on Huffingtonpost and never get called on it.

Heckuva Job, Barack!!! Obama Admin Helps Corporate America Outsource Jobs While Domestic Job Market Tanks

President Accountability loves data and stats. Nothing makes him happier than tracking numbers, data and stats and then using that information to fire teachers, fire principals and close schools.

Well, right now the data for the Barack Obama administration isn't looking too good:

With the American economic recovery hanging in the balance, private employers added 71,000 jobs in July, up from a downwardly revised 31,000 in June but below the consensus forecast of 90,000. The unemployment rate stayed steady at 9.5 percent.

Over all, the nation lost 131,000 jobs last month, but those losses came as 143,000 Census Bureau workers left their temporary posts, the Labor Department said. June’s number was revised dramatically downward to a total loss of 221,000 jobs. The agency originally reported that the nation lost 125,000 jobs in June.

Figures released last week confirmed that the United States economy slowed in the spring, and the Department of Labor’s monthly statistical snapshot of hiring pointed toward a stall in hiring this summer, as employers failed to add jobs at the rate they were earlier this year.

With some economists predicting a “double dip” back into recession and the political stakes for the Obama administration rising as the weeks tick closer to the midterm elections, Friday’s unemployment report renewed pressure on lawmakers to consider the next steps they might take to bolster the economy. Recent indicators focusing on consumer confidence, retail sales and housing appear to put the economy in a holding pattern.

Earlier this week, a crucial index of manufacturing showed that activity had slipped slightly in July, chain stores reported anemic increases in sales and unemployment claims rose above the level usual for this stage of a recovery. On the more positive side, auto sales increased 5.1 percent in July compared with a year earlier, although from a very low base.

For now, companies appear nervous about expanding their payrolls. “Businesses just don’t want to hire,” said Allen Sinai, chief global economist at Decision Economics. “Workers are too costly and it’s very easy to substitute technology for labor.”

He added that with corporate earnings rising partly on the back of cost-cutting, employers are reluctant to give up profits. “So while corporate earnings were spectacular,” Mr. Sinai said, “the job market just stinks.”

Corporate profits are spectacular, but the job market stinks.

That's great!

Maybe Barack Obama should be doing something to hire Americans here at home, yes?

Except that he's not.

His administration is actually helping corporations outsource jobs abroad.

I'm not kidding.

Here's David Sirota on that:

In recent months, President Obama reversed his campaign promises on trade issues - first by dropping his pledge to renegotiate NAFTA and then by pushing to pass NAFTA-style trade agreements with South Korea, Panama and Colombia. Now, with the unemployment crisis persisting, the key jobs question is once again front a center in American politics. Specifically: How do we create jobs here at home and build our most valuable 21st century industries?

The first and foremost answer is that our government should stop doing stuff like the program described in this stunning new report from Information Week:

U.S. To Train 3,000 Offshore IT Workers

Despite President Obama's pledge to retain more hi-tech jobs in the U.S., a federal agency run by a hand-picked Obama appointee has launched a $22 million program to train workers, including 3,000 specialists in IT and related functions, in South Asia.

Following their training, the tech workers will be placed with outsourcing vendors in the region that provide offshore IT and business services to American companies looking to take advantage of the Asian subcontinent's low labor costs...

The outsourcing program (is) sure to draw the most fire from critics. While Obama acknowledged that occupations such as garment making don't add much value to the U.S. economy, he argued relentlessly during his presidential run that lawmakers needed to do more to keep hi-tech jobs in IT, biological sciences, and green energy in the country.

Now look, I'm all for a robust foreign aid budget - we don't do nearly enough to help the developing world. However, using foreign aid money to specifically help private corporations "take advantage of low labor costs" in the developing world - that's not "aid," that's rank taxpayer subsidization of for-profit exploitation.

Right now, Even if we do not reform our atrocious trade policies that incentivize the ongoing wage-cutting race to the bottom, the least we should be doing is investing every single available dollar we have in job training and job creation here at home. Doing the opposite - actually using public dollars to intensify that wage-cutting race to the bottom - is grotesque.

Indeed it is grotesque, but not a surprise from a president who only listens to a couple of cronies when it comes time to get advice for policy and then sticks with both the cronies and the advice even when they and it are wrong.

So Larry Summers and Timmeh Geithner have the president's ear and nobody else with contrary ideas gets to offer them.

So here we are, almost two years after the 2008 election, and job losses are starting to accelerate again even as corporate profits are "spectacular."

What exactly has changed from the Bush administration economic policies to the Obama administration's policies?

Leaving aside the idiots like Palin and Bachmann who call Obama a socialist, this administration seems very comfortable making sure the corporations are doing "spectacular," while working people are struggling.

And don't get me started about how Obama cut food stamps so he could save his RttT/Fire Teachers program..

House To Return From Recess For Jobs Bill/Food Stamp Cuts

Gotta make sure those food stamp benefits get cut!

Speaker Nancy Pelosi is calling the House back from its summer recess next week in hopes of quickly approving a $26.1 billion fiscal aid package for states and local governments now poised to clear the Senate Thursday.

The decision follows calls from labor allies and Education Secretary Arne Duncan that swift action is needed to put the rest the threat of thousands of teacher layoffs before the school year. And after conferring with her leadership, the ever modern California Democrat used a twitter account to spread the word.

...

Cash-strapped governors are promised $16.1 billion to help meet Medicaid payments next year, and $10 billion would go to state and local school boards to preserve teacher jobs.

“It is a great vote for American children, It showed a lot of courage,” Duncan told POLITICO. “There were a lot of people of who given this up for dead. It shows you have to keep fighting and yes, I hope the House returns to get it done.”

How is it a great vote for American children when the Medicaid/jobs bill offset comes from $11.9 billion in food stamp benefit cuts?

The benefit cuts will about $47 a month for a family of three beginning in April 2014 or $516 over the first 12 months

So we're going to keep teachers in the classrooms but steal food from poor people?

How are those American children Duncan claims to care about so much going to do well in school WHEN THEY"RE FUCKING HUNGRY???

Duncan is evil scumbag.

Not enough bad stuff can happen to the man.

Same goes for Obama, the man who suggested the food stamp benefit cuts so he could save cuts to his signature Race to the Top/Fire Teachers and Close Schools program.

Maybe if Duncan's and Obama's kids had to go hungry to pass this bill, they wouldn't be so eager to cut food stamps to offset the Medicaid/jobs bill.

Senate Cuts $11.9 Billion From Food Stamps Program To Save Teacher Jobs

People eat too much in this country anyway - especially debt-ridden, deadbeat poor people receiving "government hand-outs" like food stamps:

After months of trying, the Senate on Wednesday voted to end debate on legislation providing states with billions of dollars in emergency Medicaid funding through the first half of 2011.

The vote lends a pre-recess legislative victory to Democratic leaders, who have struggled for months to pass the measure under threat from the nation's governors that a failure to do so would lead to layoffs and cuts to safety-net programs nationwide.

The tally was 61 to 38, with Maine GOP Sens. Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe joining every Democrat in favor of the bill.

The two moderate Republicans were drawn to support the measure after Democratic leaders scaled back the measure from $24 billion to $16.1 billion and provided offsets for the entire cost of the legislation, which includes $10 billion for education programs to prevent teacher layoffs.

For liberals, the offsets came at a price: Almost $12 billion of the $26.1 billion tab is covered by cutting food stamp benefits to low-income Americans beginning in 2014.

Wednesday's cloture vote sets the stage for a final passage of the bill no later than Thursday afternoon — depending on how long GOP leaders want to delay.

The House won't be back in session until after school starts, so NO teacher jobs will be saved in the 2010-2011 school year.

But FEWER people will receive food stamps and those that receive them will have their benefits CUT.

President Obama pushed for the $11.9 billion dollar food stamp benefit cut rather than have $500 million cut from his $4.3 billion dollar Race to the Top/Fire Teacher and Close Schools program.

Now that's some change we can believe in, huh?

Offset a teacher jobs bill that won't actually save any teacher jobs with almost $12 billion in food stamp cuts so that you can save $500 million that goes for firing teachers and closing schools.

No wonder President Obama is pulling out all the stops to keep corporate whore Dems like Michael Bennet in the Senate.

Real progressives would call Obama out on his corporate whore shit.