46.5 Million Americans, Record 22.3 Million US Households, On Foodstamps; 8,753,935 On Disability

[stockholmer]

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/465-million-americans-record-223-million-us-households-foodstamps

America's transition into a welfare state continues, as May saw a new all time high number of American households, 22.3 million to be exact, enter technical poverty and collect foodstamps. At the individual level, 46.5 million Americans lived off foodstamps, a 222,157 increase in the month, or nearly three times the number of people who found jobs in June according to the BLS. Next month this too will be a record, as it is currently just 17,367 below the previous all time high set in December of 2011. The good news, and we use the term loosely, is that the average benefit per household rose from all time lows of $275.82 to $276.76. Surely, the bottom is in and just like housing, there is on blue skies ahead.







snip
--------------------------------

http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/34SNAPmonthly.htm

http://www.socialsecurity.gov/OACT/ProgData/icp.html

[uponit7771]

1. Yeap, Gerorge Bush Fucked Up America....Obama is fixing it slowly....

[taught_me_patience]

2. The rise in disability is concerning

I'm suspicious that long term unemployed are turning to disability... not the intended use of the program.

[Egalitarian Thug]

3. Of course they are, and a very lucrative industry has sprung up around it. The fallacy that eludes

the authoritarians is that people will not simply disappear because you cut their lifeline. They will find a way to go on and some of them can get through the disability system.

[Kaleva]

13. Living on $1071.00 in SSDI plus $16.00 for food stamps a month is no picnic.

My doctor and the specialists I saw said if I kept trying to work (I was self employed), I would probably die. I kept trying for years to work but it just kept getting worse. Finally I told my wife at the time i just can't do it anymore and I applied for SSDI. Because of my long and well documented medical history, my application was approved in three months.

According to the letter I got from SSA, upon review of my medical records, I was considered fully disabled 4 years and 10 months before I applied but by law, they could only pay benefits up to 12 months before I submitted my application.

[Egalitarian Thug]

19. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply that SSDI was in any way a bad thing at all,

nor that the recipients of it are not due. I was merely replying to taught_me_patience's point that it is one refuge for the growing number of people that we think we can simply throw away with no consequence.

[HiPointDem]

5. what would you suggest people who can't find work do?

[taught_me_patience]

8. I'm not sure

but they shouldn't go on disability. It makes it harder for those that are legitimately disabled to get the help they need.

[HiPointDem]

9. unfortunately, if it's that or starvation/homelessness, people will do what they have to do, and

their own condition trumps the condition of others.

[Iggy]

6. Agreed and the amazing

thing is the big "fiscal hawks' in our blubbering congress have yet to latch on to this and whine/moan
loudly.

WTF? you'd think the anti-welfare types would b all over this like a bad suit

[ProSense]

7. This

"I'm suspicious that long term unemployed are turning to disability... not the intended use of the program."

...is a RW myth.

Who Actually Benefits From Federal Benefits?

—By Kevin Drum

Republican candidates have lately been parroting Charles Murray's argument that our "entitlement society" has created a nation of deadbeats who would rather live off government benefits than find a job. In response, the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) released a study earlier this week showing the fraction of government benefits that go to able-bodied workers.

Their estimate is about 9 percent. I linked to the CBPP study on Monday, and since their methodology was fairly complex, I added a back-of-the-envelope version that simply added up the benefits of programs that don't serve the elderly, disabled, or working poor...The next day I got an email from Arloc Sherman, one of the authors of the study. You can't just add up these programs, he told me, because even a lot of programs that people think of as "welfare" actually serve the elderly, disabled, and working poor too. Medicaid is the biggest example: Most of us think of Medicaid as a program for the poor, but more than half of all Medicaid spending actually goes to the elderly and the disabled.

So what percent of each program goes to the elderly, disabled, or working poor? The bulk of both Medicare and Social Security goes to the elderly and most of the balance goes to the disabled. The Earned Income Tax Credit goes almost entirely to the working poor. But what about the others? I was surprised when I saw the complete breakdown, and you might be too. Here it is:




Eighty-three percent of Medicaid goes to the elderly, disabled, or working poor. Seventy-nine percent of school lunches. Sixty-nine percent of unemployment compensation. Sixty-four percent of SNAP (food stamps). Even TANF, the classic "welfare" program, clocks in at 46 percent—and it's a very small program. The other 54 percent only amounts to about $6 billion, a minuscule fraction of federal benefits, and ever since the 1996 welfare reform bill those benefits have been temporary anyway. It's not really possible to become dependent on TANF any longer.

- more -

http://motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2012/02/federal-benefits-able-bodied-workers

[gollygee]

12. We have an aging population

That might be at least part of it.

[taught_me_patience]

15. It's probably a part of it for sure n/t.

[NightWatcher]

16. Disability was not easy to get.

I had to supply 100+ pages of medical records documenting the 3 disabling diseases I have along with records and labs from my hospital stay. I don't see many people being able to fake their way onto the disability roles. Plus the $1000 a month is not exactly enough to keep this Welfare Queen in a brand new Cadillac.

[dixiegrrrrl]

17. The stats do not say which disability programs they are counting.

But state disability ( SSI) is very very hard to get
and
Federal Disability ( Soc. Sec. Dis) is quite hard to get.
Plus
the stats do not say for how long people stay on either disability program.
Both state and Fed. disability programs distinguish between "partial" and "total" disability.

Plus, state disability programs can and do kick people off the program, often arbitrarily.
federal programs review partial disability claims on a regular basis.

[Iggy]

4. Ahh, America

"We saw it, we tipped it over.. and then we _sold_ it."

Laurie Anderson

[Gormy Cuss]

10. Comparing persons on "foodstamps" with number of new jobs is just stupid.

Last edited Fri Jul 27, 2012, 09:56 PM - Edit history (1)

I'm talking about this statement:

At the individual level, 46.5 million Americans lived off foodstamps, a 222,157 increase in the month, or nearly three times the number of people who found jobs in June according to the BLS.

Here's why. First, it compares individuals in households (a mixture of adults and children) to labor force participants (adults.) Comparing the household change number would be somewhat better but still weak because not all of those households have likely labor force participants (e.g. many households with only disabled adults or low income seniors.)

Second, it compares new job finders to those on assistance as if a new job render persons ineligible for SNAP benefits. Approximately 30% of heads of households receiving SNAP benefits are employed yet still qualify for some assistance because of low wages. Unless all of those new jobs are full time and/or higher wage positions some of the new job finders may still be eligible for SNAP.

And on a related note, I assume the writer is being facetious about average benefits creeping up because higher average benefits generally mean that average income of recipients has gone down, thus qualifying more recipients for higher benefits.

[leftstreet]

18. +1

Excellent observations

(which everyone will ignore)

[FarLeftFist]

11. Blame it on low wages.

[Romulox]

14. Good lord. Those charts look as if a tidal wave is forming.

Something has got to give. Soon.

[nanabugg]

20. Well, you can't say the government doesn't help its people. nt