Food Stamp Participation Jumped by Over 600,000 in September

[Locutus]

The U.S. Department of Agriculture released its latest report on food stamp program participation through September today. I received the email alerting me to the release at 5:17 p.m., so it seems reasonable to believe that USDA and the Barack Obama administration wanted the new data to get as little attention as possible (as will be seen later, it's currently getting none). If so, they have two probable reasons for wishing to minimize its impact.


The first and more obvious of the two is that the food stamp rolls increased by over 607,000 in September to 47.71 million, yet another all-time record. That's awful enough, but here's the real kicker: the participation figure for July, the last month of data available before Election Day, was revised up by over 150,000, changing that month's reported increase from 11,600 to just under 166,000. As will be seen after the jump, no other month's data was revised except August, where the changes were infinitesimal.


The graphic on the left is a portion of the monthly report through July retrieved from Google cache. The graphic on the right is through today's release. My inserted red boxes are around the changed data:

​

The clumsy data-massagers at USDA missed over 154,319 participants in July but somehow managed to account for every household. This doesn't even pass the stench test.


more


Not News: Food Stamp Participation Jumped by Over 600,000 in September; Last Pre-Election Number Revised Up | NewsBusters.org

 

[tay]

Get rid of 'free from tariff trade'............



One out of every five children ages 12 to 17 currently live in a low-income family — one making twice the federal poverty level or less.

And as the recent round of labor protests against Walmart and the fast food industry highlighted, two out of every three jobs the United States is predicted to produce over the next decade will be low-wage and will not require more than a high school diploma. The proliferation of low-wage work as an ever greater share of America’s job supply can have all sorts of damaging effects on the country’s future generations


Low-Wage Jobs Don't Just Harm Workers -- They Harm Their Children | ThinkProgress



Does it bother you that in 2010, after the crash, the top 25 hedge fund chiefs made as much as 685,000 teachers who educate 13 million children?

Are you worried that cutting government debt means raising your social security eligibility age and cost of living adjustment, so that you have to work longer and receive lower retirement benefits?

Have no fear. The super-rich are spending hundreds of millions of dollars to sell you their economic fabrications. Why so much inequality? They say because the rich have the most important skills and you don't. Why so much unemployment? They say it's because our skimpy unemployment insurance keeps people from looking for work. Why so much government debt? They say it's because you have too many "entitlements." Why the Wall Street crash? They blame poor people for buying homes they couldn't afford.

In short, the super-rich want us to believe that any effort to tax them a bit more or control Wall Street will only kill more jobs and harm our economic well-being. And most of all they don't want us to know the six economics facts of life that explain how the super-rich are running away with our nation's wealth.

It wasn't an accident, or market forces, or an act of God. It was a result of human polices designed by and for the rich. Tax cuts for the rich, financial deregulation, support for moving jobs overseas and union-busting combined to give the super-rich more and more of our economy's productivity gains. In 1970, the top 100 average corporate executive earned $45 for every $1 earned by the average worker. By 2006 it had jumped to a whopping $1,723 to $1. That's the very definition of greed run wild.


The 6 Economic Facts of Life in America That Allow the Rich to Run off with Our Wealth | Alternet

 

[captain morgan]

One out of every five children ages 12 to 17 currently live in a low-income family — one making twice the federal poverty level or less.

So - your solution is to create an environment where there may be fewer jobs?... Think that will turn the tides, eh?

And as the recent round of labor protests against Walmart and the fast food industry highlighted, two out of every three jobs the United States is predicted to produce over the next decade will be low-wage and will not require more than a high school diploma. The proliferation of low-wage work as an ever greater share of America’s job supply can have all sorts of damaging effects on the country’s future generations

The only way that these mega corps can justify opening as many stores as possible is by cutting overhead including wages... The demand for 'cheap everything' has an impact, mostly that it drives the mid and upper market suppliers out of the scene. The mid/upper suppliers are the ones that will pay the above avg wages - but you demand that they get taxed into non-existence so don't expect much of anything to develop on that employment front

Does it bother you that in 2010, after the crash, the top 25 hedge fund chiefs made as much as 685,000 teachers who educate 13 million children?

Awwwww, poor widdums - still pulling that tired old bait and switch on the underlying issue.

Until you look to the root of the problem, you'll never reverse this path

Are you worried that cutting government debt means raising your social security eligibility age and cost of living adjustment, so that you have to work longer and receive lower retirement benefits?

Ummm, think about taking a lesson from Greece. When you can't afford these entitlements, then ya, you figure-out an alternative that will solve the problem without incurring trillions more in debt

Why so much unemployment? They say it's because our skimpy unemployment insurance keeps people from looking for work.

Business isn't saying that... They are saying that the gvt has increased the cost of doing business to the point where they can't justify expansion and growth.

Take a look at the trend since the election - companies are changing people's status from full time to part time to minimize the benefits that the Dems have mandated.

Looks like this has backfired on the gvt in a big way

Why so much government debt? They say it's because you have too many "entitlements." Why the Wall Street crash? They blame poor people for buying homes they couldn't afford.

Why do you think there is too much debt?

... Did Wall Street have a gun to the heads of people and force them to buy?

In short, the super-rich want us to believe that any effort to tax them a bit more or control Wall Street will only kill more jobs and harm our economic well-being.

I guess that you are the sort of person that needs to learn by actually making the mistake - go ahead, see what happens

The 6 Economic Facts of Life in America That Allow the Rich to Run off with Our Wealth | Alternet

Thanks for the laugh - the first thing that popped-up when I hit the link was a window begging for contributions in order to keep fighting the good fight.... I didn't bother reading anymore of that opinion piece at that point, I was laughing too hard

 

[Locutus]

Thanks for the laugh - the first thing that popped-up when I hit the link was a window begging for contributions in order to keep fighting the good fight.... I didn't bother reading anymore of that opinion piece at that point, I was laughing too hard

Funny too that most visitors to that site are middle-aged males making in excess of 100K a year. They care. ;-)

 

[captain morgan]

Funny too that most visitors to that site are middle-aged males making in excess of 100K a year. They care. ;-)

But do they care enough to give-til-it-hurts?

What a load of claptrap that was... Been a long time since I've read something that defies all the basic tenants of economics