Entitlements Gone Wild

What do you know about EBT?  If you are like me, you probably hadn't heard much about it.  EBT stands for Electronic Benefit Transfer.  The debit card is for welfare recipients, and is extremely convenient to use.

After watching the clip, it is amusing to hear the words "basically for free".  Does she really believe that it is free, and not paid by the American Taxpayers?  She has great advice and can mentor anyone seeking to utilize this program to get maximum benefits. 

We have made it too easy for people to enroll into this system, and STAY on it.  What incentive or motivation does anyone have to get off of welfare?  Personal pride and the willingness to work to provide for your family were the main reasons recipients got off this program.    

This isn't the "change" any American should believe in.

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The Poor and Welfare Spending in the US

Since 1964, when the War on Poverty started, the United States has spent almost $16 trillion, which is a 17-fold increase since 1964. Despite "reforms," Welfare spending continues to rise. This year alone, Welfare spending is projected to be nearly 1 trillion!

What are we getting for the money being spent? As of 2009, the United States had approximately 43 million "poor" people vs. approximately 40 million in 1959. As a result, Welfare programs have simply failed to reduce the (1) number of poor persons and (2) causes of poverty.

How Poor are the American Poor? Well, Heritage.org compiled the following facts from various government reports about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau:

• 91% of poor households have either a landline or cell phone (32% have both).
• 43% of all poor households actually own their own homes. (The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio. And, only 6% of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.)
• 80% of poor households have air conditioning. (By contrast, in 1970, only 36% of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.) 
• The average "poor" American has more living space than the average "non-poor" or middle class individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (Again, these comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
• 75% of poor households own a car; 31% own two or more cars.
• 97% of poor households have a color television; over 50% own two or more color televisions.
• 78% have a VCR or DVD player.
• 62% have cable or satellite TV reception.
• 89% own microwave ovens, more than 50%  have a stereo, and more than 33% have an automatic dishwasher." 

As you can see, the average person defined as poor in the United States lives in a material world that is comfortable, especially when compared to the rest of the world. In the end, the growth of welfare spending is simply unsustainable and will drive the United States into bankruptcy if allowed to continue unchanged.

Source Heritage.org

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Do unemployment checks = welfare?

When do unemployment checks equal another form of welfare? Our government has continued to increase the amount of time a person can collect unemployment. In the above clip, Rush discusses what the US government is doing to help the unemployed by increasing the dration a person can collect unemployment.

There is NO incentive to find a new job.

If you think the level of unemployment is alarming, you’ll find the chart of the average duration of unemployment in weeks downright frightening:

The duration of unemployment benefits was increased to 99 weeks in 2010.  

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