Living LARGE in the Land of Largess

 

 

Largess - Liberality in bestowing gifts, especially in a lofty or condescending manner.  

 

On-Line Dictionary

 

 

Life is very good right now. I feel kind of foolish I have used up gallons of stomach bile living in a state of worry about the economy. In fact, living in a state of worry about the entire country. As of late, I have been told over and over that things are just fine. The debt is no longer a problem. In fact, we have more room on our card and there are "investments" to make. Millions upon millions of excellent jobs have been created, the housing market is healed and life is good for all. So good in fact, it you don't want to work, you will be allowed to collect unemployment for 99 weeks! Wow! It just seems like yesterday it was only 13 weeks.

Our good friend Rush likes to say it is hard to compete against Santa Clause. He is right. More and more people in our country are falling victim to the "free stuff" addiction. Many on the Left bristle when our President is referred to as the "food stamp president" - but the facts speak for themselves. Our SNAP Program, which hands out EBT cards like candy, continues to be one of the most fraud infested programs in the Federal Government. And yet it keeps growing. Here are some interesting tidbits from a August 2012 Forbes article:

• Food stamp program costs doubled between 2001 and 2006, and then doubled again between 2008 and 2012. 
• Under the Obama administration, the number of food stamp recipients has also grown dramatically, up from 28.2 million in 2008 to more than 44.7 million in fiscal 2011.
• The proposed Senate extension will essentially lock in an $80 billion per year food stamp budget for the next decade.
• For perspective, consider that during the 1970s, just one in 50 Americans received food benefits, compared with one in seven now (15% of our nation’s total population).
• Half of all current recipients have been on the program for eight years or more.

As bad as the SNAP Program is, lets look at how welfare spending in total is going. Gosh, it just seems like yesterday when then President Clinton addressed the nation and said "we were on a path to end welfare as we know it". Really? It seems as if welfare has found its second wind under President Obama. This was taken from the Washington Post in late 2012:

Federal welfare spending has grown by 32 percent over the past four years...
Federal spending on more than 80 low-income assistance programs reached $746 billion in 2011, and state spending on those programs brought the total to $1.03 trillion...
That makes welfare the single biggest chunk of federal spending — topping Social Security and basic defense spending.

Wow! As the mouse said, "That is a lot of cheese!". Besides the other candy, did you hear about the free phone program? The government has authorized phone companies to provide free cell phones and service to tens of millions Americans at no charge. Party on! I want one of those! I am tired of my large monthly bill from T-Mobile.

Lets not forget about the free tuition President Obama talked about in his first term.
“The first $4,000 of a college education is completely free for most Americans, and will cover two-thirds the cost of tuition at the average public college or university,” he says. “And by making the tax credit fully refundable, my credit will help low-income families that need it the most.” How much will it cost? Who cares? Where will the money come from? Who knows? Wrong questions - you are missing the point. We are living LARGE, baby!

Oh there is more, much more candy I could talk about. However, with smoke coming out of my ears, I will stop for now. Dick Armey would talk about the wagon getting so heavy with people riding in it, soon it would be impossible to pull. I think we are very close to that point. However, until the wheels come off or the axle breaks, party on folks! The Candyman is not done with the free stuff yet!