Arkansas Blog

May not be a pun but there's lots of truth in it. Isn't Ark #Uno in the per cent of population getting food stamps?

In true Bush Administration fashion, they will either:

A) Raise funding for the program, but at rate less than that of inflation or the added need while boasting about their desire to help the people.

B) Maintain funding levels that will clearly be inadequate to meet the need.

C) CUT funding to the program.

I'm gonna go look...there's probably already an answer to this hypothesis. I'm betting A or C...either way he could play it politically (either towards the base with cuts or towards the masses with "raises")

Pretty much what I suspected. 2009 budget increase of $2 billion (partly to offset additional employees for the program) for an estimated increase of 2.5 million recipients. That's a 5.5% increase in the budget expenditure to match a 9.4% increase in recipients. That's just sheer numbers, not taking into account inflation since the 2007 budget.

Interestingly enough, I found an article by a Harvard Economics professor while I was researching those numbers. He estimates that for every dollar spent in our food stamp program, $1.73 is created in immediate revenue because the recipient will promptly spend the money on groceries, boosting business at the grocery stores, distributors, packers, and farmers. Now THAT'S trickle down economics at work! Coincidentally, he noted that while the business tax incentives in the latest economic stimulus package would benefit our economy in the long-run, using 1% of those funds to boost unemployment benefits (he noted a $1.64 immediate economic return for those) and food stamps would prevent us from a recession where as the current program will simply shorten the length of the recession.

The enormous Bush tax cuts to Corporate America and the top 5% of taxpayers was suppose to generate jobs and stay off recession but did neither not even a little trickle down. Duh!! But hey the tax breaks made his supporting cronies filthy rich and what money always does -- corrupt.

Returning soldiers, fighting the GOP patriotic war are returning to nonexistent jobs, they left, and poverty but President Judas see's no problem! However, a major financial institution and corrupted bank practices gets shaky and the entire taxpaying populace is called upon to pay and in return we get new "Hooverite" regulations to protect (you guessed it) them.

I can't think of one thing that President Shit for Brains hasn't F***ed up. Guess he's fulfilling Grover Norquist's desire to kill government...after all, it's only welfare moms/minorities (ha) using government to fund their multiple babies/drive Cadillacs/eat steaks and otherwise live off the poor, excessively burdened rich Republicans.

I'm tired of the bulk of our treasure going to the Military Industrial Complex which operates as the world's police force for countries whose citizens have a much better lifestyle...stuff like free/quality healthcare. It's especially galling now that even our war profiteering is being outsourced. (Watched a special about why the Iraq War hasn't helped our economy;--which war historically has done--it's because much of our weapons manufacturing has been outsourced...sheesh.)

I wonder if Hillary/Obama REALLY know the full extent of what awaits them. From what I can gather, the stuff we know about is only the tip. Evidently, Rove/Cheney spent seven years stacking every government committee that had previously remained untouched by partisan politics. From eliminating funding for personnel whose sole job was to respond to FOI requests, to outsourcing our passports to Taiwan (can't make this crap up), this gang has been hell bent on destroying what they couldn't outright manipulate.

Boycott China--for so many reasons I don't know where to begin--but primarily to keep Monkeyboy from being a star at the opening of the Olympics and to protest its brutality toward Tibet/own people. And, why exactly does China get a pass on the same crap that made Saddam a must-remove?