Amount
Spent on Welfare Exceeds Average Income
Data from a Congressional Research
Service report reveals that the amount the government spends on
welfare per family below the poverty line exceeds the median earned
income. The median for earned income in the United States is about
$50,000 per year. The amount spent per family on welfare exceeds
$60,000 per year. Assuming a 40-hour work week, welfare equates to an
after-tax wage of over $30 per hour.
Congressional Democrats used these
figures to make the case against prospective cuts to the government's
entitlement spending. “The GOP's notion that we ought to be pushing
people to get jobs is completely refuted by these numbers,” House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif) contended. “Any person who
can qualify for welfare payments would be harming her family by
leaving the shelter of government benefits for the uncertainties of
the marketplace.”
Over in the Senate Charles Schumer
(D-NY) claimed that “cutting welfare benefits would devastate our
economy. As the research shows, families on welfare contribute more
spending to stimulate the economy than those who work for a living.
Rather than foolishly trying to reduce the number of persons who
qualify for welfare as the Republicans want us to do, we ought to be
adding to and extending the benefits we bestow on this economically
vibrant segment of our society.”
The New York Senator averred that
“the President's bid to raise taxes on the wealthy is a small step
in the right direction, but it doesn't go far enough. The number of
these people who will be encouraged to leave the workforce is small.
A much bigger impact would be achieved if we could, like former
Governor Howard Dean advises, raise everyone's taxes. That way a lot
more could join this crucial economic cohort.”
In related news, disability is now
America's fastest growing career choice among persons aged 18-64. In
1960 less than 1% of these persons were receiving disability
payments. Last year more than 5% were. Disability due to “mood
disorders” was credited with “making substantial inroads into the
workforce over the last 50 years.” “Given the plasticity of this
designation we see no reason why the vast majority of the population
shouldn't qualify for benefits for this cause over the next few
decades,” boasted Health and Human Service Secretary Kathleen
Sebelius. “We are within sight of creating a society where the
majority can be relieved of the burdens of toil.”
Homeless
Bill of Rights Pushed in California
Assembly
member Tom Ammiano (D-San Francisco) says he will introduce
legislation aimed at establishing what he termed “a homeless bill
of rights.”
“As
it stands right now, a homeless person can be prosecuted for breaking
into and occupying a vacant house,” Ammiano complained. “This
places the property rights of an absentee home owner ahead of the
human rights of the poor and impoverished. That's not fair.”
While
the details of the bill are still sketchy, the gist of the proposed
legislation would exempt the deprived from being punished for helping
themselves to any unused and inadequately secured private property.
In addition to allowing them to occupy vacant homes they would also
be permitted to pretty much walk off with anything that is not locked
up.
“It
is a blot on our society that some people have so much while others
have so little,” Ammiano said. “Just because you are lucky enough
to be able to afford to buy something shouldn't serve as an
impediment to someone else in need from making use of this property
when it is idle. I'll bet there are clothes in your closet that you
haven't worn in years. Why shouldn't a poor person wear them if he
can get his hands on them?”
“It's
time that we put need ahead of greed when it comes to how society's
resources are used,” Ammiano insisted. “My bill aims to make a
modest stride toward accomplishing this.”
Unemployment
Rate for Government Workers Half that of Private Sector
While
the national rate of unemployment for private sector workers exceeds
8%, the rate for government workers is under 4%. US Secretary of
Labor Hilda Solis argued that “this is just one more piece of
evidence bolstering the President's economic plan.”
“The
President's critics are fond of alleging that a tax increase will
hurt the economy,” Solis said. “But let's take President Obama's
advice and 'look at the numbers.' The private sector appears to be
relatively inefficient when it comes to job creation. Despite being
allowed to keep more than half of the money they earn, private sector
businesses still can't get unemployment below 8%. Contrast this with
the under 4% unemployment rate in the public sector and I think
you'll see where we ought to be putting the nation's resources for
maximum growth.”
Solis
maintained that “as we can see, the private sector is a major drag
on the economy. If more people would see that funds are lying sterile
in the hands of private sector businesses when they could be more
effectively deployed by government the Republican opposition to the
President's proposed tax increases would be regarded as a criminal
expropriation of what should be community property.”
The
Secretary expressed her hope that “the American public will rise up
against the capitalist despoilers of the nation's wealth and demand
that their congressional representatives support the President's
efforts to reclaim the nation's wealth for the benefit of the
people.”
In
related news, at the same time that the Great Recession was reducing
householder net wealth by 39%, members of congress saw their net
wealth increase by 14%--greatly relieving the anxieties of Americans
worried that those who govern them might have faced unspeakable
hardships during the past few years.
House
Speaker Grabs for More Power
House
Speaker, Representative John Boehner (R-Ohio) undertook moves meant
to consolidate his authority this past week. First he executed a
purge of House committee members he deemed “not team players.”
Later he blocked all others from participating in the negotiations
with President Obama on the so-called “fiscal cliff.”
“My
leverage with the President is diluted when Republican members of the
House cannot be counted on to back my play,” Boehner complained.
“He persistently taunts me with gibes about whether I truly have
the authority to speak for the majority. It's humiliating. The GOP
needs to speak with one voice. That voice is mine.”
Not
everyone in the GOP is comfortable with Boehner's stance. In the
Senate, Jeff Sessions (R-Ala) has questioned the “secret
negotiations” being conducted between Boehner and Obama. “The
President should be laying out his plan for us all to see,”
Sessions contended. “Maybe Boehner is satisfied to be the only one
privy to whatever the President may be proposing, but I don't think
that serves the country well.”
The
Speaker belittled Sessions' concerns as “an outsider's uninformed
babblings. I am standing toe-to-toe with President Obama. I am the
one who's carrying the ball for our side. The sooner everyone comes
to terms with that the better off they'll all be.”
Boehner
discounted suggestions that he might be replaced as Speaker as
“rumblings of a disorganized and impotent gang of malcontents. Even
in the unlikely event that they looked like they might succeed in
their quest to remove me they still won't get what they want. If
forced to do so, I and my loyal lieutenants would always have the
option of caucusing with the Democrats. Do those who oppose me really
want to bring back Pelosi as Speaker?”
In
related news, President Obama insisted that “raising taxes on the
rich is my number one priority” and vowed to “destroy this
country if that's what it takes to achieve a greater equality among
the mass of common people.”
Governor
Strongly Backs “Assisted Suicide”
Vermont
Governor Peter Shumlin (D) says it's imperative that the state enact
an “assisted suicide” bill calling it “a crucial element of a
successful implementation of Obamacare.”
“Study
after study has shown that a disproportionate share of what this
nation spends on health care goes for the treatment of persons who
are desperately ill,” Shumlin observed. “One way of overcoming
this disparity is to channel more of these persons onto a path toward
death with dignity.”
“For
the amount it costs to treat one late stage cancer patient we could
provide thousands of others with condoms or abortions,” Shumlin
pointed out. “The benefits of the many shouldn't be sacrificed to
the selfishness of the few. Those near the end of their lives should
be given the added help they need to efficiently end it. This
assisted suicide bill would go a long way toward making that happen.”
Obama
Administration Pondering How to Overturn Pot Legalization in States
On
November 6 voters in Colorado and Washington legalized marijuana. Use
of marijuana still remains illegal under federal law. A federal task
force composed of representatives from the Justice Department, the
DEA, the State Department, and the Office of National Drug Control
Policy is considering how to respond.
Attorney
General Eric Holder brushed aside all substantive debate over the
merits of legalization saying that “it's not up to us to prove that
marijuana is harmful in order for us to enforce the federal ban on
its use. The simple fact that federal law trumps state law is
sufficient grounds for us to suppress this drug.”
Whether
federal law trumps state law on this issue may not be a “simple
fact.” Legalization of marijuana would appear to be within the
purview of states under the 10th
Amendment to the US Constitution. This Amendment reserves powers not
expressly delegated to the federal government in the Constitution to
the states.
Holder,
however, rejected this argument. “Essentially, the 10th
Amendment is a dead letter,” Holder said. “As the Civil War
demonstrated no power asserted by any state can stand against the
might of the federal government. The idea that we would stand aside
while states seek to profit from legalizing pot is mistaken. We will
arrest anyone caught producing, selling, or using this substance. Any
funds earned or taxes collected from the production, distribution, or
use of marijuana will be seized. This drug is not legal until we say
it is.”
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