Friday, May 10, 2019
Changing poverty formula, Trump administration to make millions ineligible for social programs
By Alex González
10 May 2019
The Trump administration
released May 6 a proposal to change the way the official poverty rate is
calculated. The move would involve altering the inflation formula so the
poverty level increases at a slower rate, giving the artificial appearance that
fewer people are poor. Major social programs, including Medicaid and food
stamps, rely on the poverty rate to determine eligibility for benefits.
The proposal would be
devastating for millions of people. More than 20 percent of the US
population—some 52 million people—participated in means-tested programs in
2012, according to the Census Bureau. The change would gradually push millions
off the rolls of government programs, intensifying the poverty and social
misery of those denied already inadequate social assistance.
The proposed change was
outlined by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), under the direction of
self-proclaimed “deficit hawk” and current acting White House Chief of Staff
Mick Mulvaney. Having previously advocated slashing entitlement programs like
Medicare and Social Security, Mulvaney is one of many Trump appointees setting
policy for programs that they actually wish to destroy.
The OMB proposal calls for
changing the government’s inflation formula to a so-called “chained consumer
price index.” The “chained CPI” assumes that consumers substitute items that
they usually buy with cheaper alternatives when prices rise. However, critics
point out that, due to higher prices set by monopolies, individuals are not
easily able to substitute many essential goods, such as transportation,
healthcare, child care and housing.
The poverty line is adjusted
each year to account for the consumer price index. The chained CPI would
reflect slower inflation growth and therefore lead to fewer people being
categorized as poor. The effects would be particularly dire for the elderly,
because they are disproportionate users of healthcare, whose cost has typically
risen much faster than prices overall.
The current poverty rate is
already severely underestimated. The official poverty line was set in the 1960s
as three times the cost of a basic diet, based on research showing that
families spent about one third of their incomes on food. Now, however, families
spend only about one seventh of their income of food and the rest on other
basic necessities that are not sufficiently taken into consideration when
determining who can receive social assistance.
A study by the National Center
for Children in Poverty at Columbia University revealed that on average, a
family of four would require double the official federal poverty
level to make ends meet. Last year, the poverty level for a family of four was
just $25,900.
While criticizing the outdated
nature of the poverty-rate formula, the Trump administration is not looking to
update it scientifically to reflect modern spending habits and allocate
government resources more fairly and efficiently. Rather, it seeks to rig the
rate artificially as a means of gutting social programs, enabling it to divert
resources towards militarism, attacks on immigrants, and tax breaks for the
rich.
This proposal is just the
latest of Trump’s assaults on social programs. Trump’s proposed budget for the
next fiscal year would impose the biggest cuts in Medicaid and Medicare in
history, nearly $2 trillion over 10 years. Medicaid would be turned into a
block grant for states, and the expansion of Medicaid under Obamacare would be repealed,
leading to more than 10 million people losing healthcare. Trump’s fiscal year
2019 budget proposed cutting the budget for the Supplemental Nutrition
Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly referred to as food stamps, by nearly 30
percent over 10 years.
In July of last year, the
White House Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) declared that the “War on
Poverty is largely over” and recommended implementing work requirements for
non-cash government programs. Flying in the face of reality, the CEA declared that
America no longer had “poverty” or “homelessness.”
On April of last year, Trump
signed an executive order dictating that departments throughout his cabinet
review which programs had work requirements affiliated with benefits. He
instructed that programs lacking these requirements be either eliminated or
consolidated, except when doing so would go against the law.
Trump’s tax bill, passed in
December 2017 with no serious opposition from the Democratic Party, granted a
windfall to the financial elite at an estimated cost of $1.5 trillion, creating
conditions where social programs would be purposefully underfunded so they
could be better attacked and dismantled.
The gutting of social programs
was not initiated by Trump, but is bipartisan in nature. It was Obama who tried
to introduce the chained CPI for federal programs in 2014. The move, which was
eventually dropped due to popular opposition, would have cut Social Security
payments by $130 billion and federal workers’ retirement benefits by $35
billion over 10 years. Obama’s 2012 fiscal year budget included $320 billion in
Medicare and Medicaid cuts over 10 years.
In every country, the working
class is coming under assault by a rapacious ruling class set on clawing back
concessions fought for through sweat and blood by the working class throughout
the 20th century. The attack on social program is a class response by the
financial elite, who wish to solve their insoluble crisis by means of
authoritarianism and war. The gargantuan $750 billion available to US imperialism
to launch full-blown war abroad necessarily requires vicious attacks on the
living standards and social benefits of working people at home.
The defense of social
programs, the fight against war, and the struggle to reorganize social life on
a scientific and democratic basis requires a break with the Democrats and the
Republicans—both reactionary parties of the rich—and taking up the fight for socialism.
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Arkansas is a very bad place to live
Go to 10:39 to hear about the shithole that is ARKANSAS.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZWYVMzbOsM&t=702s
#1. Absolute WORST state in the US: Arkansas
Arkansas is consistently ranked at or near the bottom. It is almost always listed as the WORST state in the US. Sometimes it is next to last (second worst).
#1. Absolute WORST state in
the US: Arkansas
Arkansas calls
itself the Land of Opportunity, but some might beg to differ. While the state
does provide protections against discrimination based on race, sex, religion and
national origin, it lacks such protections based on sexual orientation, gender
identity, marital status and age. And it is one of only three states that bars
localities from enacting wider protections of their own. According to the most
recent study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 16
percent of Arkansans reported frequent mental distress. That is the
second-highest rate in the nation.
2018 Quality of Life score: 81
out of 300 points (Grade: F)
Weaknesses: Lack of
inclusiveness, health, high crime
Strength: Air quality
Arkansas was ranked as the
second worst state in the country on the new version of Gallup's National Health and Well-Being Index.
Only West Virginia ranked
lower on the list of the happiest and healthiest U.S. states. West Virginia has
been in last place for ten years in a row.
The research organization
published the results of the healthiest and happiest states in the United
States, a ranking based on the way residents graded their careers, relationships, finances, physical health and their communities at large.
Gallup collected more than 115,000 survey responses from U.S. adults in all 50
states for the entire year of 2018.
Arkansas was in the bottom 5
in the Career, Social, Financial and Physical categories. The Natural State was
ranked dead last in Financial and Physical.
Using a scale of 0 to 100,
with 0 being the lowest possible well-being and 100 the highest, the
calculations took into consideration survey respondents' relationships and
families, job satisfaction, economic security, neighborhood safety
and pride in the community, plus health and energy levels to maintain an active
lifestyle. Below are the results for the bottom 10 states, along with their well-being index score.
West Virginia 57.0
Arkansas 58.7
Kentucky 58.8
Mississippi 58.9
Tennessee 59.5
Oklahoma 59.8
Alabama 59.9
Louisiana 60.0
Illinois 60.3
Indiana 60.3
Here are 10 observations I've
made about Arkansas.
1. The culture – Arkansas has a very redneck culture. It dominates from the small towns to the heart of Little Rock. Most people are interested in NASCAR, the "deer woods", and muddin’ in their free time. Country music and bluegrass dominate the music scene. These people believe that a Willie Nelson concert is “culture”. And all of this probably goes back to the education systems. Arkansas always ranks one of the worst states for a reason. Public schools in Arkansas put far too much emphasis in things like football stadiums and not near enough on keeping curriculum up to date.
2. Obesity - Arkansas is always ranked one of the highest states for obesity. Fast food restaurants and chain bar and grills dominate the dining scene. Subway is considered “health food” here. Also, there is only one whole foods store near me and it is very small
3. Food - It is nothing, dominated by chain restaurants like Chili’s. Little Rock has little exposure to ethnic cuisine. Many of the supposedly “ethnic” restaurants are very bland and Americanized compared to their counterparts in real cities. Here people rave about the Olive Garden (crappy Italian food) and this area has zero for health food options.
4. Lack of Entertainment- Pro Sports, Concerts, shopping, nightlife, beaches, water parks, museums, the arts, the zoo sucks, etc.
5. Lack of young people – Most young people who are educated leave after college and never look back. Therefore, there isn't much of an intellectual community. Everybody who sticks around gets married straight out of high school, so there is virtually no dating scene. If you are my age and not married yet it's very awkward. If you are gay/lesbian, you can hang it up.
6. Car culture - Unbelievable sprawl for such a low population. The natives LOVE to drive EVERYWHERE. People commute 100+ miles on a regular basis. Also, zero public transit.
7. Nightlife – Nightlife consists of hanging around a Chili's bar, going to a country bar filled with country music, or the evening church service. The streets roll up at sunset here.
8. Bible Belt – The culture here and everything about it revolves entirely around church. Your social life and networking in this area pretty much depends on it. My co-workers have Bible verses plastered all over their walls and people carry Bibles around the office. What if someone is non religious or Jewish, etc?
9. Retail - There are few retail options outside of Wal-Mart, Target, and low end department stores like Kohls, even in Little Rock. It’s unbelievable that a town with almost 200,000 people can have such few options for shopping. Similar sized cities across the country do MUCH, MUCH better in this area than Little Rock. Most people drive to Dallas or Memphis to do their shopping.
10. Crime – Little Rock has a very high crime rate for such a small town. The problem is that there are no amenities to offset the crime. People here say stuff like "Well, all major cities have crime". Newsflash. Little Rock is not a major city. It’s far from it.
That said, I know most people here are just going to say "if you don't like it, then you can leave". Well I am working on a job transfer so I can move somewhere that is living in the 21st century. I only have one life to live, and I am tired of pissing it away in this boring hellhole.
1. The culture – Arkansas has a very redneck culture. It dominates from the small towns to the heart of Little Rock. Most people are interested in NASCAR, the "deer woods", and muddin’ in their free time. Country music and bluegrass dominate the music scene. These people believe that a Willie Nelson concert is “culture”. And all of this probably goes back to the education systems. Arkansas always ranks one of the worst states for a reason. Public schools in Arkansas put far too much emphasis in things like football stadiums and not near enough on keeping curriculum up to date.
2. Obesity - Arkansas is always ranked one of the highest states for obesity. Fast food restaurants and chain bar and grills dominate the dining scene. Subway is considered “health food” here. Also, there is only one whole foods store near me and it is very small
3. Food - It is nothing, dominated by chain restaurants like Chili’s. Little Rock has little exposure to ethnic cuisine. Many of the supposedly “ethnic” restaurants are very bland and Americanized compared to their counterparts in real cities. Here people rave about the Olive Garden (crappy Italian food) and this area has zero for health food options.
4. Lack of Entertainment- Pro Sports, Concerts, shopping, nightlife, beaches, water parks, museums, the arts, the zoo sucks, etc.
5. Lack of young people – Most young people who are educated leave after college and never look back. Therefore, there isn't much of an intellectual community. Everybody who sticks around gets married straight out of high school, so there is virtually no dating scene. If you are my age and not married yet it's very awkward. If you are gay/lesbian, you can hang it up.
6. Car culture - Unbelievable sprawl for such a low population. The natives LOVE to drive EVERYWHERE. People commute 100+ miles on a regular basis. Also, zero public transit.
7. Nightlife – Nightlife consists of hanging around a Chili's bar, going to a country bar filled with country music, or the evening church service. The streets roll up at sunset here.
8. Bible Belt – The culture here and everything about it revolves entirely around church. Your social life and networking in this area pretty much depends on it. My co-workers have Bible verses plastered all over their walls and people carry Bibles around the office. What if someone is non religious or Jewish, etc?
9. Retail - There are few retail options outside of Wal-Mart, Target, and low end department stores like Kohls, even in Little Rock. It’s unbelievable that a town with almost 200,000 people can have such few options for shopping. Similar sized cities across the country do MUCH, MUCH better in this area than Little Rock. Most people drive to Dallas or Memphis to do their shopping.
10. Crime – Little Rock has a very high crime rate for such a small town. The problem is that there are no amenities to offset the crime. People here say stuff like "Well, all major cities have crime". Newsflash. Little Rock is not a major city. It’s far from it.
That said, I know most people here are just going to say "if you don't like it, then you can leave". Well I am working on a job transfer so I can move somewhere that is living in the 21st century. I only have one life to live, and I am tired of pissing it away in this boring hellhole.
Don't come to Arkansas
Currently, I live in Arkansas.
And not because I want to, mind you. The entire time I've been here has been
utter hell. Bottom line, is this place sucks, and I hate it here. I don't know
why anyone in their right mind would want to live here. Almost everyone I've
met has been an asshole, or unpleasant. Finding anyone who is halfway decent is
like pulling teeth. Not to say there aren't nice people here, they're just hard
to find. There is also nothing to do here, and with a lot of cities being dry,
there is so much drug activity. Want some meth? Fucking, I'm sure three people
on any given block sells it. Hell, right across the street from where I'm
currently staying, there was a drug dealer, mind you, we are like two blocks
from the police station, yet they were still selling drugs. They recently got
raided by the police, which makes me feel a bit better. I come from a pretty
large city, and the "culture" I guess you could say, is much
different. And God forbid you're a little different from everyone else here,
otherwise you'll most likely get ridiculed. I have a job, and for probably the
next month or so, I'll be working with a complete dumbass who all he talks
about is sex, his penis, all the women he's been with, and drugs. All I want to
do is shove my boxcutter that I work with down his fucking throat with the
blade extended. Almost everyone here is homophobic. And the guy I'm working
with thinks I'm gay There's tax on food. I'm not sure if tax on food is normal,
but where I come from, if you bought food from the grocery store, you didn't
have to pay tax. There's a lot of other things I would like to say about how
shitty Arkansas is, and I know this probably doesn't sound like much, but I
don't really know how to put it into words.
Just don't come to Arkansas,
it's probably one of the worst states. I'm counting down the days till I don't
have to live here anymore, and if I never have to come back here, it will be
too soon.
Side note. Its difficult to
get a WiFi connection here too. If you so much as sneeze in the wrong
direction, or enter a building, you'll lose your connection, and it's downright
frustrating, especially since I'm paying for the service and getting almost
fuck all back
Worst States In The US For
2019
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