Last August, Republican members of the U.S. Senate Budget Committee released a chart that would have had us believe that 100 million Americans, or nearly one-third of the U.S. population, were on welfare. Shocking! And untrue. The Republican thinkers arrived at this number by apparently including in their definition of welfare all means-tested federal programs exclusive of Social Security and Medicare. This meant that they included such programs as, for example, means-tested veterans’ benefits and educational financial assistance. So if you were a veteran receiving such benefits, or if you were the recipient of a federal student loan, you were on welfare. But that still didn’t equal 100 million people. In order to reach that number they included, according to a footnote to the chart, “…anyone residing in a household in which at least one person received a benefit.” In other words, if a household of five members included a veteran who received means-tested benefits or a student who had received a Pell Grant, the Republicans added five “welfare recipients” to the tally. Their means of calculating the number might almost make one laugh, were it not for the seriousness – and meanness – of the attempted exaggeration. A good starting point in seeking solutions to the problems we face would be an honest discussion of the facts. While the deception I describe above quickly sank due to its blatant dishonesty, the Right is still at it as you can see from this report, which I found on the Northeast IL. PDA website. I want to thank PDA for posting this link that I now share with you.
Posted on: Thu, 29 Aug 2013 23:20:28 +0000
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