Tonight's guests:
- Veronica Degraffenreid, elections liaison, North Carolina State Board of Elections
- Congressman Barney Frank, (D) Massachusetts
And here's executive producer Bill Wolff with a look at what's in store (served up funky):
Ahead on the 9/20 Maddow show
-
Thu Sep 20, 2012 6:34 PM EDT
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While it's is important to celebrate the one year anniversary of the repeal of DADT and the lack of a military implosion that so many fools had predicted, it is also important to note that Obama's embracing of gay marriage did not decimate his support among black voters. Yes, it does get's better...
Just watching your piece in the Vote Integrity Project/True the Vote. I contacted the NYTimes author about her article, and if the story published is accurate - the group claims to have accessed Drivers License records. Access to DL records is highly restricted. If True the Vote did in fact use DL records in its analysis, it may have well violated state and federal DPPA laws.
yes timInOhio, you are correct, I worked for the State of New Mexico and even I need to have to permission to get into the DL records...and this is all confidential information...
I want my freebies.....
Welfare State Grows by Nearly 19% Under Obama – to Almost $1 Trillion a Year
By Elizabeth Harrington
August 9, 2012
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U.S. Department of Agriculture SNAP program (food stamp) card. (AP photo)
(CNSNews.com) – Federal and state welfare assistance has grown almost 19 percent under President Barack Obama, according to the conservative Heritage Foundation.
All in all, there are 79 means-tested federal welfare programs, at a cost approaching $1 trillion annually, said Heritage Senior Research Fellow Robert Rector.
Rector conducted a comprehensive analysis of spending for government assistance programs, ranging from food, education and childcare programs to housing and medical care.
Since Fiscal Year 2009, federal and state welfare spending has risen from $779.9 billion to $927.2 billion, an increase of 18.8 percent. That fiscal year includes spending from Oct. 1, 2008 to Sept. 30, 2009.
In his report, Rector said the increase in federal means-tested welfare spending during Obama's first two years in office was two-and-a-half times greater than any previous increase in federal welfare spending in U.S. history, after adjusting for inflation.
Rachel Sheffield, a research associate at The Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society, told CNSNews.com that this kind of pay out can not be maintained.
"It's a huge amount of money we're spending on these programs and our debt is growing," she said. "It's not sustainable."
According to the report, titled "Examining the Means-tested Welfare State," in FY 2011 the federal government dolled out $717.1 billion on welfare programs, while states spent $210.1 billion.
The 79 federal programs include:
-- 12 programs providing food aid;
-- 12 programs funding social services;
-- 12 educational assistance programs;
-- 11 housing assistance programs;
-- 10 programs providing cash assistance;
-- 9 vocational training programs;
-- 7 medical assistance programs;
-- 3 energy and utility assistance programs; and,
-- 3 child care and child development programs.
Robert Rector of The Heritage Foundation. (AP photo)
Since FY 2007, state welfare spending has stayed relatively flat, averaging $190.2 billion per year. Federal spending, however, has increased 53 percent, going from $468.7 billion in 2007 ($717.1 billion) to $717.1 billion in 2011.
In FY 2011 the largest share of total welfare spending went towards medical related programs (49.5 percent), followed by cash assistance (19.6 percent) and food assistance (11.8 percent).
That year nearly half of spending went to families with children at 49.9 percent, followed by disabled adults at 28.1 percent and elderly adults at 14.4 percent.
Since the 1950s when means-tested welfare spending (as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product) was less than 1 percent (0.93), welfare disbursements have ballooned to 6.1 percent of GDP in the 2010s.
Heritage's Sheffield said the fastest growing welfare program is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as the food stamp program. As of May 2012, 46.5 million Americans are participating in SNAP, accordingto the Department of Agriculture, a 2.4 percentage increase from a year ago.
According to Rector, the government has spent $19.8 trillion (in inflation-adjusted 2011 dollars) on means-tested welfare since President Lyndon B. Johnson launched the War on Poverty began in the 1960s.
"In comparison," he wrote, "the cost of all military wars in U.S. history from the Revolutionary War through the current war in Afghanistan has been $6.98 trillion."
"The War on Poverty has cost three times as much as all other wars combined," he said.
The increase in the welfare state shows no signs of slowing down, according to the Heritage report.
President Obama's budget for FY 2013 estimates that total welfare spending will increase to $1.57 trillion by 2022, largely due to new entitlements under the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare.
Star Parker, a leading champion for welfare reform in the 1990s, said the size and scope of benefits programs to the poor is "unfathomable" at nearly 80 programs and a cost of $1 trillion annually.
"How in the world will we survive as a country?" asked Parker in a speech at the Heritage Foundation on Friday.
"I mean the demand on the states and the local communities then is it a wonder that they are now going broke themselves, they're having to file bankruptcies trying to keep up with the pensions and the promises that they've made to their underclass?" she said.
"What we've got to do is come up with some new plans," Parker added.
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There is no question that The Obama administration has inherited a huge debt and that the relief programs to help us recover from that Great Depression of 2008, has increased that debt. The initial redistribution to curb the impact of that depression was the outlay of billions to the super rich who put us into this situation. The continuing effort to pass legislation for appropriations to spur job growth and prepare us to become the competitive juggernaut that we have been in the future, have met with a conservative political backlash which downgraded our credit record and threatens to slowdown the recovery process greatly.
While I am just a common citizen and in no way connected to the efforts of the Democrats in the white house or in Congress, the attempts by the Republican party to derail the efforts of responsible states-persons, to get our nation on its feet again, is unpatriotic. Romney and The Tea party conservatives are turning even the other Republicans into supporters of the Democratic Party. Do not be surprised if Obama and The Democratic party take over Washington D.C, by a landslide.
As to the redistribution issue, the answer lies, not in being obstructionists. The answers are policies that do not harm or benefit any one class of citizen over the others. To do that there has to be truth in advertizing and campaign rhetoric should not be exempted from laws that prohibit lies in the air waves. The citizenry deserves to have some degree of confidence in what we hear and see from ads by politicians or any one else.
Supply side economics only work for the suppliers, the wealthy. It has never benefited the working American. When supply side economics is allowed to control the economy, the greed factor leads to fewer suppliers, a reduction in competition, or monopolies, which then blackmail the consumer by controlling prices. The growth of America as a super power, comes from an ever expanding Middle Class, which benefits from policies that enable all people to have a good education, policies that are future oriented in preparing our entrepreneurs to take advantage of Government investment in the sciences, technology, and a modern infrastructure.
The American Middle-Class is made up of workers and entrepreneurs.The history of the labor movement tells us that collective bargaining in a free society allows for the Capitalist and the worker to benefit from free enterprise in a level playing field. Regulation to prevent monopolies and encourage higher earnings in working class America is what develops the greater share of our Middle-Class.
On the other side of the playing field, we have people with great ideas, a lot of energy,no money, and no administrative skills to make their ideas a reality. The government can do a lot for the entrepreneur in being the catalyst for entrepreneurial growth by giving the entrepreneur administrative support, initial tax exemption, long term small business loans, on the condition that the business have profit sharing for the employees(25%) and collective bargaining rights with respect to salaries and benefits.
Re: Scott Brown's "Native American" comment. I don't like the guy, but I think he wasn't slamming her racial identity, but was hinting that she lied. This apparent misdirection on your part bothered me, and I'm a huge fan!
I believe you misunderstood Terry. The deal was that he was saying we would be able tell by looking at her that she was not Native American. You are correct, he implied she lied about it. Warren says she didn't use it to get into school or a job.
I don't think Rachel said or implied he was slamming her "racial identity". That's how I saw it.
He was not slamming her racial racial identity. He was just demonstrated his ignorance, when he like many others, who tend to stereotype, that she did not appear to be Native American. There are many Native Americans who appear to be white. The implication of the comment was that she may have benefited from checking the box. That is why Ms Warren corrected him by indicating that he had not benefited from checking that box. Her being part Native American is part of her family folklore.
Good one Barney. Nyah, nyah! hee hee!
Please do all the Obama supports a favor and cool it with the giddy laughter about Mitt Romneys self inflicted bad campaign management. I share the feeling, but it doesn't come off as unprofessional. And if you see Lawrence tell him he has a worse problem. All of the Obama supporters have dodge a terrible up hill fight to get Obama re-elected by Romneys big 47% debacle. Obama is in a comfort zone now but we aren't there yet and the public is flick, the GOP have their lies, and we are still have six weeks to go.
Maybe there's a desire for humor, just look at the late night comics and SNL.
We need some reprieves from all serious, all the time.
We can smile while we discuss the insults of the RW and Rmoney calling us losers that don't pay taxes, when we do pay taxes.
The most funny part is the poor folks and retired folks and military folks did not even understand that Rmoney thinks they are moochers (dependent on government) even his own supporters.
@ Linda Lingle, Yes you are responsible as a Republican for your party's nominee. Governor, your party wanted a rabid anti-Obama, and that's who your party chose. It may not be 2012, but the GOP has set the bar to were anyone who can win a general election won't get a nomination.
I thought the most interesting question not addressed in the 30000 dead people that Voter Information Project claimed shouldn't be on the voter roles, was what percentage of them were democrats. Really? This wasn't considered?
That though crossed my mind as well. Were they accessing personal information and were they only looking at dead Democrats, or just heavily Democratic areas? I suspect so.