Because there are reports that some people around here have been unduly happy...

Welcome to the United States of Welfare

At some point in the last year or two we quietly passed a milestone in America: As a nation we are now more benefit-takers than full-time workers.

Of course there's probably some overlap between these groups but the bottom line is that getting by with government money is more the rule now in the US than the exception.

So if you work full-time and aren't getting some form of government payout based on your income, you're a sucker part of an elite group these days. You should feel proud to declare that you are a Producer. A majority of America thanks you.

Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau. They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

Note that these means-based benefits do not include Social Security and most government pensions. Those fall into an entirely separate Big Effin' Problem category.

Among the 108,592,000 people who fit the Census Bureau's description of a means-tested benefit recipient in the fourth quarter of 2011 were 82,457,000 people in households receiving Medicaid, 49,073,000 beneficiaries of food stamps, 20,223,000 on Supplemental Security Income, 23,228,000 in the Women, Infants and Children program, 13,433,000 in public or subsidized rental housing, and 5,854,000 in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Also among the 108,592,000 means-tested benefit recipients counted by the Census Bureau were people getting free or reduced-price lunch or breakfast, state-administered supplemental security income and means-tested veterans pensions^*.

*_{I'm not quite what this is but it seems distinct from the usual years-of-service-based military pensions.}

Food Stamp Nation

Wait are you paying for your own food? Come on - be a smarty and join the EBT party.

Posted by: Maetenloch at 06:47 PM | Comments (518)
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NBCSN-Noon eastern, live stream here.

This is the rematch weÂ’ve been waiting for for four years.

Unfortunately itÂ’s in the semis, instead of the gold medal game because Canada couldnÂ’t take care of Finland (BenÂ’s favorite team) in regulation time of the last round-robin game.

So we will just have to extract our revenge when we can and look forward to playing Sweden who beat Finland in the Dirty Scandi Bowl (aka, the other semi-final) for the gold.

But is Team USA good enough to beat the team many had as the gold medal favorites coming into the tournament? Surprisingly the answer isÂ….I donÂ’t know.

The US was the 2nd ranked team behind Sweden after the round-robin and led all teams with 20 goals scored. This was particularly good news because goal scoring was expected to be a problem for this team.

So all is good for Team US, yes? Well, no.

While they had no problem handling teams like Slovenia, Slovakia and an elderly Czech Republic team in the quarterfinals, there was one noticeable blipÂ…the shootout win over Russia in the round-robin. Now a win is a win you may say and thatÂ’s true but Russia was the only remotely peer competitor the US has faced thus far and they almost blew it. If not for a disallowed goal with a little over 4 minutes left in the game the US might very well have lost to a disappointing Russian team that was bounced in the quarters by Finland. Even with the fortunate net off the mooring call it took 4 extra rounds in the shootout to put the Russians away. One less goal by T.J. Oshie or one less save by Jonathan Quick and the Russians win that game and the whole tournament might look very different at this point.

Fortunately things arenÂ’t exactly rosy across our northern border. Team Canada was supposed to be so loaded at forward that they were able to leave a guy like Claude Giroux home because hey, who needs another crazy talented forward on a team filled with perennial all stars, scoring leaders and future Hall of Famers? Well, it turns out Canada does. For all their fire power up front and my God do they have it, their forwards have been outscored by their defensemen. Two of their defensemen, Drew Doughty and Shea Weber to be exact. Doughty/Weber have 7 goals so far, all Canadian forwards have 6 (that includes 3 from Jeff Carter in a game against noted hockey power, er, Austria). That is not how Hockey Canada imagined this when they drew up their game plan.

more...

Posted by: DrewM at 07:45 AM | Comments (507)
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• Minnesota, Three Dems Try To Explain Obamacare, One Succeeds
  
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Follow me on twitter.

Posted by: Open Blogger at 05:03 AM | Comments (369)
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Assault gun? Whatever, I'm sure the left will call it that eventually.

Via Hot Air. As you probably know, Detroit's chief of police is actively recommending that citizens buy guns in order to defend themselves.

more...

Posted by: Ace at 02:45 PM | Comments (179)
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Oh my stars and garters.

Oh my.

No seriously, Kay Hagan is now writing a Strongly Worded Letter to the Medicare people imploring them to not make the cuts she voted for when she voted for Obamacare.

Thanks to @comradearthur.

Posted by: Ace at 11:59 AM | Comments (308)
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Great article.

#BreadAndCircuses

[T]he President... never wastes an opportunity to show just how right the absurdness of the social media noise machine is. When Obama jokes about being able to do whatever he wants, then turns around and hits an HBO producer up at a State Dinner for advanced copies of television shows to get him through an extended weekend, how are we as a desperate electorate supposed to react? We tolerate the luxuries afforded to our leaders. Just donÂ’t be a dick about it.

How is a world currently engulfed in flames of revolution supposed to react?

The problem for a President who makes any excuse to hit up a golf course or admits to watching tons of HBO is there are still events in the world happening outside his windows. People are desperate for American leadership and canÂ’t wait for the killer on True Detective to be revealed.

Nobody in Kiev is interested in the fallout of the Red Wedding.

Nobody in Venezuela cares about the fate of Zoe Barnes.

Obama and his administration canÂ’t wait to inject themselves into pop culture as it suits their narratives. If Lego Movie is number one at the box office, the Secretary of State is referencing global warming to 3D movies. If the Super Bowl is trending on social media, out come the football analogies. Michelle Obama is on Jimmy FallonÂ’s new Tonight Show and Joe Biden on Seth MeyerÂ’s follow up. Actors pushing health care that they themselves refuse to sign up for. What message does it send the world when cries for democracy in Ukraine and Venezuela are met with silence, but tweeting about a cable show is paramount?

Barack Obama is the first President optimized for SEO and therein lies the problem. When #Venezuela and #Kiev are the top trends on Twitter for two days straight and not #HouseOfCards or #TrueDetective, the online persona machine that elected Barack Obama goes dark and resorts to a spam account selling us crappy insurance.

At the height of violence that erupted with both protests this past weekend, where was he? Hosting a Hollywood premiere style party for #GeorgeClooney and cast of his film #TheMonumentsMen, in private at the White House, simply because he could. Right now in Kiev, historical statues and art are being burned in front of the world. He was content to remain silent and watch a movie about it happening instead. The real world does not interest this President. The set design does.

Via @slublog.

Posted by: Ace at 12:54 PM | Comments (274)
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Interesting.

But how can it be a war, without a bodycount?

Oh, but there is. And there will be further casualties.

Posted by: Ace at 03:35 PM | Comments (503)
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Howie Kurtz wants to know what the FCC was thinking when it proposed to monitor how editorial decisions are made in news media. (Including in newspapers, over which they have no jurisidiction whatsoever.)

Oh, She's got answers. Some of these answers are obvious, but apparently they didn't occur to Kurtz.

After summing up what they were thinking (which I don't want to excerpt, because it's smokin'-hot, and you should click over there), she concludes:

The biggest problem in our nation is not the Democrats, or the Republicans; it is not the Obama Administration, just as it wasnÂ’t the Bush Administration, and it wonÂ’t be future Clinton or Warren Administrations. Our biggest problem is that the press has voluntarily surrendered its freedoms for the sake of idols and ideologies.

Because this is true, our government is either factionalized, fictionalized and bombarded with daily media outrage and indignation, or it is given an utterly free pass, with no accountability required. Either way, it is a process of illusion, which gives assist to the necessary distraction, and thatÂ’s all.

I didnÂ’t want to write about this today. The truth is, I donÂ’t even want to write about politics, anymore, because itÂ’s all distraction and illusion and theater. IÂ’d be happy to write about prayer and scripture, and nothing else, for the rest of my life, and maybe thatÂ’s what IÂ’ll be doing, soon enough. But I am passionate about journalism, passionate about the need for a free press, and so I had to write, today. Without a curious press interested in protecting its own freedoms, there is no there, there. We might as well just put down the mics and turn out the lights, because itÂ’s over.

Posted by: Ace at 01:54 PM | Comments (153)
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He's visiting Iowa.

Posted by: Ace at 10:57 AM | Comments (500)
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On NBC now.

I'm told to avoid spoilers I should not tell you the exact situation. I will say that the situation is dramatic.

Livestream here.

This is women's hockey, the final game, I think.

Posted by: Ace at 10:40 AM | Comments (190)
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