By: Bryan Baumgart 11/2/2012
With the release of the latest jobsreport we learn that for every ONE job created under the Obama administration, 75more people have been added to food stamp rolls.
In total since January of 2009, anet of 194,000 new jobs have been created while 14.7 million people have joinedthe food stamp rolls. As The Weekly Standard points out today, “During that time, our nation’s debt has risen $5.63trillion. Total spending on food stamps is now more than $80 billion annually.Total welfare spending is now approximately $1 trillion, or enough to sendevery household beneath the federal poverty line an annual check for $60,000.”
Some may not be surprised by thistrend; we are after all in the grips of a pretty stagnant economy. The problemhowever, isn’t the ever increasing number of Americans added to the rolls offood stamps. The problem is that the current administration has put in a much greatereffort to increase food stamp rolls than to increase job creation. They havepromoted dependence rather than empowerment.
President Obama claims, “We do not pressureany eligible person to accept benefits, nor is our goal to simply increase thenumber of program participants.” You can imagine how surprised I was then, whenI was approached by a friend recently who mentioned that they were currently receiving SNAP themselves. Theystated that while applying for college at Education Quest, counselorsapproached them and suggested they apply for SNAP. The process was easy enough. They applied,had an interview, and began receiving food stamps immediately. Counselors evencoached them on how to be accepted into the program stating, “It helps if youare a full time student working at least 20 hours a week.”
Despitethe president’s claims, the focus of the Obama administration remains onincreasing enrollment in SNAP. The administration has partnered with Mexico, meeting with Mexican officials over 30 times in an effort to boost participation among immigrants.
The USDA boasts a range ofstrategies and programs designed to bring more people to SNAP,including taking on “pride.” Awards are provided to localassistance offices for “counteracting” pride and pushing more people to sign upfor benefits. A “Common SNAP Myths” sheet details theimportance of reaching people who do not think they qualify or have beliefsthat conflict with accepting food stamps. A pamphlet currentlyposted at the USDA website encourages local SNAP offices to throwparties as one way to get potentially eligible seniors to enroll in theprogram. Despite the high rate of food stamp participation, the USDA hasnumerous blueprints posted ontheir website aimed at getting more people to enroll. The USDA even goes so faras to argue that the program is “the most direct stimulusyou can get.”
Only194,000 net jobs have been created under the Obama administration. This pacedoesn’t even keep up with the population increase. So few jobs have beencreated that the employment rate actually decreased due to an increasing numberof working age adults have given up even looking for jobs. The realunemployment number (U-6) currently hovers around 14.6 percent.
While on the campaign trail, thepresident’s slogan has been to, “ask a little more from the wealthy”. He doesn’t plan to ask though, he plans totake. Allowing the Bush era tax cuts to expire equates to a tax increase on jobcreators. In the words of Senator Marco Rubio, “I have never met a businessowner waiting for the next big tax increase before he will create some jobs.” Under the president’s current proposals, jobcreation in the private sector isn’t likely to pick up anytime soon. If thesetrends continue, we won’t have enough employed Americans to fund SNAP for theneedy. If the trends aren’t reversed, America will soon go the way of ourEuropean neighbors.
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