COSTS RISE WITH CASELOADS
By Richard Wolf, USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — Government anti-poverty programs that have grown to meet the needs of recession victims now serve a record one in six Americans and are continuing to expand.
More than 50 million Americans are on Medicaid, the federal-state program aimed principally at the poor, a survey of state data by USA TODAY shows. That's up at least 17% since the recession began in December 2007.
The program has grown even before the new health care law adds about 16 million people, beginning in 2014.

More than 40 million people get food stamps, an increase of nearly 50% during the economic downturn, according to government data through May. The program has grown steadily for three years.

Close to 10 million receive unemployment insurance, nearly four times the number from 2007. Benefits have been extended by Congress eight times beyond the basic 26-week program, enabling the long-term unemployed to get up to 99 weeks of benefits.

More than 4.4 million people are on welfare, an 18% increase during the recession. The program has grown slower than others, causing Brookings Institution expert Ron Haskins to question its effectiveness in the recession.

As caseloads for all the programs have soared, so have costs. The federal price tag for Medicaid has jumped 36% in two years, to $273 billion. Jobless benefits have soared from $43 billion to $160 billion. The food stamps program has risen 80%, to $70 billion. Welfare is up 24%, to $22 billion. Taken together, they cost more than Medicare.

And somehow the Government wants us to believe that unemployment is dropping. With 1 million less jobs than a year ago, the federal numbers are dropping on unemployment, yet still the poverty and handouts climb.

There is a twofold explanation to this; first the people who run out of unemployment benefits and those who quit looking for work are no longer counted as unemployed. Second the Government uses Voodoo Mathematics to calculate the numbers, using mind reading techniques they determine if a person is still looking for work or quit because they found a better life-style. Then they divide it by a random number and multiply it by an unknown percentage to find the unemployment numbers. Did you ever read “Russia House”? Every one doctored the numbers of the soviet missile test programs because they did not want to look bad to their superiors; just a few points at each level; and the test results ended with no relation to reality. Just a few points at each level to make it look good and our unemployment numbers go down.

The Ministry of Truth strikes again, but reality has a stark appearance.

The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
-Joseph Goebbels (AKA Jay Carney)

Gas is how much now in your area compared to two years ago? Food has increased how much? 65% to 120% depending on type in the past year. Are you really better off than you were last year? Two years ago? How about three years ago? When was the last time you had it this good? Jimmy Carter comes to my mind…

God Bless.

Just my thoughts for today.