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Freerepublic --- lasT Monday JR died "‘We Are Not the Crazy Ones’: AOC Protests Too Much" "Rep. Comer to Newsmax: No Evidence Biden Approved Autopen Use" "Donald Trump Has Broken the Progressive Ratchet" "America Must Slash Red Tape to Make Nuclear Power Great Again!!" "Why the DemocRATZ Activist Class Couldn’t Celebrate the Cease-Fire They Demanded" Antifa Calls for CIVIL WAR! British Police Make an Arrest...of a White Child Fishing in the Thames "Sanctuary" Horde ASSAULTS Chicago... ELITE Marines SMASH Illegals Without Mercy Status: Not Logged In; Sign In United States News See other United States News Articles Title: Maine required healthy, childless food stamp recipients to work, and... Source: HotAir URL Source: http://hotair.com/archives/2016/02/ ... -stamp-recipients-to-work-and/ Published: Feb 10, 2016 Author: Jazz Shaw Post Date: 2016-02-10 09:47:46 by Tooconservative Keywords: None Views: 2211 Comments: 12 It’s a case of miracles and wonders up in the Pine Tree State, folks. A report from Rachel Sheffield and Robert Rector at the Daily Signal takes a look at welfare programs and efforts to reform them, particularly in the area of food stamps. They note that one of the fastest growing segments of welfare programs over the last decade has been applications for food stamps by ABAWDs, or able bodied adults without children between the ages of 18 and 49. These are folks who are determined to be otherwise able to work but without a source of income. The total cost of these programs in 2014 was $83.1B. In Maine they took some steps to make the program more efficient last year, much to the dismay of social justice advocates. The Governor put a new program in place which requires ABAWDs desiring food stamps to put in some effort. In response to the growth in food stamp dependence, Maine’s governor, Paul LePage, recently established work requirements on recipients who are without dependents and able-bodied. In Maine, all able-bodied adults without dependents in the food stamp program are now required to take a job, participate in training, or perform community service. Job openings for lower-skill workers are abundant in Maine, and for those ABAWD recipients who cannot find immediate employment, Maine offers both training and community service slots. But despite vigorous outreach efforts by the government to encourage participation, most childless adult recipients in Maine refused to participate in training or even to perform community service for six hours per week. When ABAWD recipients refused to participate, their food stamp benefits ceased. You’ll note that the requirements here aren’t exactly onerous. If you do have some sort of employment you’re supposed to report it. If not, the job training programs are free. And if you don’t wish to do either, you can put in six hours of community service per week. That doesn’t exactly take up all your free time, and yet the number of people who rejected all of those options was overwhelming. So how did that shake out? In the first three months after Maine’s work policy went into effect, its caseload of able-bodied adults without dependents plummeted by 80 percent, falling from 13,332 recipients in Dec. 2014 to 2,678 in March 2015. That’s an 80% drop in 90 days. How astounding is that? And it represents a serious savings for the taxpayers in terms of keeping the state’s budget afloat, though the majority of the cash comes from the federal government. But what of all the people who were no longer receiving the benefit? Are they starving? As it turns out, the study shows that a substantial number of recipients were working “off the books.” (And likely not paying taxes on their income either.) That allowed them to qualify for any number of social welfare programs while still having a cash income. Those folks dropped off the rolls quickly rather than have to own up to their income. Compare that for a moment to New York City, where Mayor de Blasio has essentially thrown welfare reform into reverse. The number of New Yorkers on welfare is reportedly on the rise, with about 13,000 more people being added to the rolls during the mayor’s first year in office. The New York Post is reporting that the cash assistance program swelled by 4 percent in 2014. According to an advanced look at the “Poverty and Progress in New York” report, the jump comes the same year the city added around 90,000 jobs. Are we to believe that Maine is somehow unique, with an extraordinary number of residents signing up on the dole when they don’t actually qualify or are otherwise able to work but choose not to? Or perhaps New York City is just a mecca for paragons of honesty who would never short sheet the system. Both are unlikely. Welfare reform (or workfare, as we once called it) is being crushed by progressive elements at all levels of government and the results speak for themselves. What’s happening in Maine should be the benchmark for how to move forward rather than a target of criticism by Democrats. Post Comment   Private Reply   Ignore Thread   Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest #1. To: All, BobCeleste (#0) You gotta give LePage some major credit here. I personally suspect that the explosion in EBT card use is due to rampant fraud in all the states. But you add even minimal requirements like Maine did and the fraud breaks down. And suddenly, all those food stamp recipients disappear into thin air. Tooconservative  posted on  2016-02-10   9:49:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #2. To: TooConservative (#0) "That’s an 80% drop in 90 days." The average food stamp benefit for a single person in Maine is $130 per month. If they are expected to do six hours of community service per week (26 hours per month) that works out to about $5 per hour. Less than minimum wage. I can see why they say, "Screw it". misterwhite  posted on  2016-02-10   10:37:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #3. To: misterwhite, TooConservative (#2) The average food stamp benefit for a single person in Maine is $130 per month. If they are expected to do six hours of community service per week (26 hours per month) that works out to about $5 per hour. Less than minimum wage. I can see why they say, "Screw it". Is that tax free? потому что Бог хочет это тот путь SOSO  posted on  2016-02-10   20:49:53 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #4. To: SOSO, misterwhite (#3) (Edited) Not federally taxable. IRS.gov: IRS Publication 4128: Tax Impact of Job Loss "If I am eligible for Public Assistance or Food Stamps, is it taxable? No. ..." I'm not sure about state taxes but those are generally based on the required federal reporting rates so I think not. States generally exempt some food items from any tax (including sales tax), other food items do get taxed. However, some states do consider whether you are receiving WIC or utility or rent assistance and that can affect the food stamps overall. I can't claim any real knowledge of this though, just what I'm seeing via the search engines. Tooconservative  posted on  2016-02-10   20:58:36 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #5. To: TooConservative, misterwhite (#4) Not federally taxable. Welfare: A Better Deal than Work "America’s public-assistance system pays many people better than the jobs they’d otherwise have. Suppose someone offered you the same amount of money that you currently make at your job on one condition — you don’t work. Might you be tempted? That is exactly the deal that our welfare system offers too many people today. The federal government currently funds 126 separate anti-poverty programs at an annual cost of $688 billion. Of these, 72 provide cash or other benefits directly to poor families. State, county, and municipal governments often operate additional benefit programs. The combined benefits from those multiple overlapping programs can easily add up to the point where welfare simply pays better than work. This week, the Cato Institute released a new study calculating the state-by- state value of this typical welfare package for a mother with two children participating in seven common welfare programs — Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), food stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, housing assistance, WIC, energy assistance (LIHEAP), and free commodities. We found that, in 2013, the value of those benefits varied widely across states, from a low of $16,984 in Mississippi to an astonishing high of $49,175 in Hawaii. In nine states — Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maryland — as well as Washington, D.C., annual benefits were worth more than $35,000 a year. The median value of the welfare package across the 50 states is $28,500. But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Welfare benefits are not taxed, while wages are, so we calculated how much money a welfare recipient receiving these six benefits would have to earn in pretax income if she took a job and left the welfare rolls. We computed the federal income tax, the state income tax, and the FICA payroll taxes one would have to pay on wage income; we also took into account both federal and state versions of the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) as well as child tax credits where available (these helped increase the relative value of work but did not fully offset the taxes due). We found that, just to break even, a person on welfare would often have to take a job that paid considerably more than the value of the forgone welfare benefits. In Hawaii, for example, a person leaving welfare for work would have to earn more than $60,590 a year to be better off. In fact, welfare currently pays more than a minimum-wage job in 34 states and the District of Columbia. In Hawaii, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Washington, D.C., welfare pays more than a $20-an-hour job, and in five additional states it yields more than a $15-per-hour job. Consider this: In ten states and the District of Columbia, welfare pays more than the entry-level salary for a teacher in that state. In 38 states and the District of Columbia, welfare is more generous than the average starting salary for a secretary. And in the three most generous states, welfare pays more than the wages for an entry-level computer programmer. In eight states, welfare recipients receive benefits worth more than the median salary there.This is not even to consider the other costs of going to work. As Casey Mulligan of the University of Chicago recently testified before Congress: Earning income requires sacrifices, and people evaluate whether the net income earned is enough to justify the sacrifices. When [welfare programs] pay more, the sacrifices that jobs require do not disappear. The commuting hassle is still there, the possibility for injury on the job is still there, and jobs still take time away from family, schooling, hobbies, and sleep. But the reward to working declines, because some of the money earned on the job is now available even when not working. Likewise, we should consider that, as the Congressional Research Service has pointed out: Leisure is believed to be a “normal good.” That is, with a rise in income, people will “purchase” more leisure by reducing their work effort. . . . Thus, the increase in [the value of welfare benefits] is expected to cause people to reduce work hours. Many welfare recipients, particularly long-term ones, lack the skills and attachment to the job market necessary to obtain the types of jobs that pay average or above-average wages. Individuals who do leave welfare for work most often start employment in the service or retail industries, in positions such as clerks, secretaries, cleaning persons, salesmen, and waitresses. And, although it would be nice to raise the wages of entry-level service workers, the government has no ability to do so. (Attempts to mandate wage increases, such as increases in the minimum wage, primarily result in fewer such jobs.) It should be no surprise, then, that, despite the work requirements put in place by the Nineties welfare reform, fewer than 42 percent of recipients are participating in broadly defined “work activities.” In some states, such as Missouri and Massachusetts, less than one out of five welfare recipients are “working.” Moreover, work activity frequently means not a job but only looking for work or participating in a job-training program. In fact, fewer than one-fifth of welfare recipients are working in unsubsidized private-sector jobs. Of course, not every welfare recipient meets our profile, and many who meet our profile do not receive all the benefits listed. (On the other hand, some receive even more.) Still, what is undeniable is that for many recipients — particularly the “long-term” dependents — welfare pays substantially more than an entry-level job does. Nor does our study suggest that people on welfare are lazy. Indeed, survey after survey suggests that they would prefer to be working. By not working, welfare recipients are simply responding rationally to the incentive systems our public-policy makers have established for them. But in the long term, policies that discourage work are bad for the recipients. One of the most important long-term steps toward avoiding or getting out of poverty is employment. Only 2.6 percent of full-time workers are poor, compared with 23.9 percent of adults who do not work. Even part-time work makes a significant difference — only 15 percent of par t-time workers are poor. And, while many anti-poverty activists decry low-wage jobs, even starting at a minimum-wage job can be a springboard out of poverty in the long run. Recently, the Cameron government in Britain has introduced a cap on welfare benefits at £500 a week, or about $40,000 a year. When the British are outpacing you on welfare reform . . . Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/356317/welfare-better-deal- work-michael-tanner" потому что Бог хочет это тот путь SOSO  posted on  2016-02-10   21:34:38 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #6. To: TooConservative (#1) In Maine, US Military veterans, who are 65 and over and have incomes of less than 25K a year have seen a decrease in benefits from 270 a month to a little under 70 a month, yet, illegals and syrians refugees, and somalian refugees have seen no decrease and are still, for those over 65 getting their part b and d paid for. I will be at the VA in L/A this morning, finishing my research. But let me say this, both parties are using US Military vets like two bit used up whores. Eli, Eli, nai erchomai Kurios Iesous. BobCeleste  posted on  2016-02-11   8:07:50 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #7. To: BobCeleste (#6) (Edited) In Maine, US Military veterans, who are 65 and over and have incomes of less than 25K a year have seen a decrease in benefits from 270 a month to a little under 70 a month, yet, illegals and syrians refugees, and somalian refugees have seen no decrease and are still, for those over 65 getting their part b and d paid for. Good reporting on the ground. I thought you would know a lot about this. A lot more than the paid media whores would ever reveal. But let me say this, both parties are using US Military vets like two bit used up whores. I think it's safe to conclude that they want the vets dead or shambling through life full of psychotropic drugs. They want this to happen sooner than later. The same applies to a lot of other dissident elements but the veterans are considered among the greatest threats to their efforts to undermine the country that we have been, particularly the post-WW II social order. The Dems have declared war on it and seek to drown it in a massive wave of legal immigrants and illegal aliens and the GOPe is generally content to be complicit in the Dem plot. Tooconservative  posted on  2016-02-11   8:31:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #8. To: TooConservative (#7) I think it's safe to conclude that they want the vets dead or shambling through life full of psychotropic drugs. Back in 2014, while in the VA hospital in Albuquerque, I was spoken ot by a goup of former Marines. There logo and membership is Nothing on earth is a deadly and dangerous as a Terminal Marine. Based on it and is continual growth, I wrote this: "There is nothing on the face of the earth more dangerous than a terminal former or current Marine. Those in the ruling political and media class may very soon learn the truth of that." Eli, Eli, nai erchomai Kurios Iesous. Eli, Eli, nai erchomai Kurios Iesous. BobCeleste  posted on  2016-02-12   9:37:48 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #9. To: BobCeleste (#8) "There is nothing on the face of the earth more dangerous than a terminal former or current Marine. Those in the ruling political and media class may very soon learn the truth of that." I've thought the same over the years. Yet I notice that, despite sky-high suicide rates among the older vets, they haven't kamikazed the usual culprits in the system (which I won't name but I know that you know who they are). Tooconservative  posted on  2016-02-12   10:32:57 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #10. To: TooConservative (#9) killing and dying are a last resort, I think manya re waiting to see if Donald get's the nomination, wins the election and then six months to make some serious changes. For those who have enver seen combat it is fun, for those who have, it is a last resort. Eli, Eli, nai erchomai Kurios Iesous. BobCeleste  posted on  2016-02-12   14:21:26 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #11. To: BobCeleste (#10) For those who have enver seen combat it is fun, for those who have, it is a last resort. Spoken like a combat veteran. That's what they always say, if they say anything at all to a civvy. If you haven't been in combat (like me), you simply can't understand it. You can learn some things about it but you'll never really understand. Some things just have to be lived. Tooconservative  posted on  2016-02-12   15:04:00 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   #12. To: TooConservative (#11) Thank you. Eli, Eli, nai erchomai Kurios Iesous. BobCeleste  posted on  2016-02-13   12:59:47 ET  Reply   Trace   Private Reply   Top • Page Up • Full Thread • Page Down • Bottom/Latest

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