Plowing The Poor Under

I don't know how many of you noticed, but the GOP reached a whole new level of heartlessness when they stripped Food Stamp benefits from the Farm Bill.

As you probably know, I don't usually like to post Op-Eds, but this one really hits the mark, and since I'm totally prepared to defend it, I thought that I'd post it.

Some excerpts...

Hunger Games, U.S.A.

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Something terrible has happened to the soul of the Republican Party. We’ve gone beyond bad economic doctrine. We’ve even gone beyond selfishness and special interests. At this point we’re talking about a state of mind that takes positive glee in inflicting further suffering on the already miserable.

The occasion for these observations is, as you may have guessed, the monstrous farm bill the House passed last week.

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To fully appreciate what just went down, listen to the rhetoric conservatives often use to justify eliminating safety-net programs. It goes something like this: “You’re personally free to help the poor. But the government has no right to take people’s money” — frequently, at this point, they add the words “at the point of a gun” — “and force them to give it to the poor.”

It is, however, apparently perfectly O.K. to take people’s money at the point of a gun and force them to give it to agribusinesses and the wealthy.

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Now, some enemies of food stamps don’t quote libertarian philosophy; they quote the Bible instead. Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, for example, cited the New Testament: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Sure enough, it turns out that Mr. Fincher has personally received millions in farm subsidies.

Given this awesome double standard — I don’t think the word “hypocrisy” does it justice — it seems almost anti-climactic to talk about facts and figures. But I guess we must.

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What about the theory, common on the right, that it’s the other way around — that we have so much unemployment thanks to government programs that, in effect, pay people not to work? (Soup kitchens caused the Great Depression!) The basic answer is, you have to be kidding. Do you really believe that Americans are living lives of leisure on $134 a month, the average SNAP benefit?

Still, let’s pretend to take this seriously. If employment is down because government aid is inducing people to stay home, reducing the labor force, then the law of supply and demand should apply: withdrawing all those workers should be causing labor shortages and rising wages, especially among the low-paid workers most likely to receive aid. In reality, of course, wages are stagnant or declining — and that’s especially true for the groups that benefit most from food stamps.

The GOP  has become a party that is rotten to the core.

Scorpion wrote:

I don't know how many of you noticed, but the GOP reached a whole new level of heartlessness when they stripped Food Stamp benefits from the Farm Bill.

The GOP  has become a party that is rotten to the core.

I doubt the Senate will approve a bill without food stamps and even if they did,Obama has already said that he would veto it.

In the end all their behavior does is humor their base,the angry old white guys that are dying off a whole lot quicker than other demographics,and alienate even more voters.

The one idiot that likes to quote fairy tales

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Representative Stephen Fincher of Tennessee, for example, cited the New Testament: “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.” Sure enough, it turns out that Mr. Fincher has personally received millions in farm subsidies.

is obviously living in the bubble that has zero compassion for the working poor and would like to cut their wages even further if they could.

Artie60438 wrote:

Scorpion wrote:

I don't know how many of you noticed, but the GOP reached a whole new level of heartlessness when they stripped Food Stamp benefits from the Farm Bill.

The GOP has become a party that is rotten to the core.

I doubt the Senate will approve a bill without food stamps and even if they did,Obama has already said that he would veto it.

That's not really the point.  Just imagine what might happen if the GOP takes over the Senate next year and then manages to somehow grab the Presidency in 2016 (probably by stealing it, because they sure as hell can't win it any other way).  

Republicans disgust me.  They really do.  They're a bunch of clueless pricks. Their behavior during the Obama years has been unforgivable.

While it's true that "the left" didn't much like Bush, the attacks on Obama have been really beyond the pale.

Scorpion wrote:

Artie60438 wrote:

Scorpion wrote:

I don't know how many of you noticed, but the GOP reached a whole new level of heartlessness when they stripped Food Stamp benefits from the Farm Bill.

The GOP has become a party that is rotten to the core.

I doubt the Senate will approve a bill without food stamps and even if they did,Obama has already said that he would veto it.

That's not really the point.  Just imagine what might happen if the GOP takes over the Senate next year

Relax,Unless they can gerrymander statewide races the Todd Akins and Sharon Angles will continue to keep them from achieving that.

Scorpion wrote:

and then manages to somehow grab the Presidency in 2016 (probably by stealing it, because they sure as hell can't win it any other way).

I predict Hillary or another Democratic woman will take office on Jan 20,2017. The more these idiots try to suppress voting the more determined those about to be disenfranchised become.

Scorpion wrote:

Republicans disgust me.  They really do.  They're a bunch of clueless pricks. Their behavior during the Obama years has been unforgivable.

Thank the tea party bigots

Scorpion wrote:

While it's true that "the left" didn't much like Bush, the attacks on Obama have been really beyond the pale.

Yep,not even close

Artie60438 wrote:

I predict Hillary or another Democratic woman will take office on Jan 20,2017.

Yeah. Well I think that Hillary is a good bet. But what "other woman" do you think might run?

First of all it depends whether Hillary runs. If she does I can't see any other woman challenging her. If she doesn't then possibly Kirsten Gillibrand D-NY or Jennifer Granholm.

MEanwhile Ted Cruz R-Cukooland was stumping in Iowa over the weekend. Let's keep our fingers crossed  

Artie60438 wrote:

First of all it depends whether Hillary runs. If she does I can't see any other woman challenging her. If she doesn't then possibly Kirsten Gillibrand D-NY or Jennifer Granholm.

I have to admit that Gillibrand would be an interesting candidate, at least to me.  

I could be wrong, but I don't think that Granholm is eligible to be President. (Born in Canada)

In any case, Hillary would be tough matchup for any Republican.

Scorpion wrote:

I could be wrong, but I don't think that Granholm is eligible to be President. (Born in Canada)

You're right. I never knew that.

The big lie behind food stamps
Great article. The McDonalds budget video is hilarious. A little too big to post with the videos and charts but well worth a look.

The Myth of Efficient Markets

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One of the unkillable ideas that ricochet around the empty heads of the right wing is that markets are part of the natural order of things. As Bernard Harcourt explains in his book, The Illusion of Free Markets, in this natural order “economic exchange constitutes a system that autonomously can achieve equilibrium without government intervention or outside interference”. That idea evolved into the idea that markets are inherently efficient. That is, of course, stupid.

. . .

The concept “market” may be perfectly efficient and wonderful in every respect, but the practical application of the term in the real world is pretty much like every other human activity: plenty of effort by participants to game the system for their personal benefit and screw everyone else.

It’s bizarre that so many people cling to the myth of market marvelousness despite massive evidence of market corruption and inefficiency. People seem to think that each example of corruption or inefficiency is a bad apple who should be punished. But, of course, we don’t do that any more. The people behind these examples are being sued, not indicted. Their corporations may or may not pay up, but no one is going to jail, and no one is being punished. Every single one of the responsible people will walk away with a pocket full of dirty money, and their reputations, if they care about them, will be restored after the obligatory time away from the media spotlight.

Beyond that, how could anyone think that any human activity wouldn’t be subject to lying, cheating and stealing, including the sacred market? It must be some kind of quasi-religious fervor that deadens people to the reality slapping them in the face, rapt in their ecstatic vision of perfection without cost.

Given the amount of religion entrenched in the GOP, I do no understand why or how they can think that the Free Market is somehow immune to mankind's moral deficiencies.  

And in a similar topic, here's the Daily Show on the GOP's hypocrisy on dealing with "bad apples":