HuffPo: Obama 'Largely Silent' on Poverty

On Monday, the progressive Huffington Post blasted Congress and President Barack Obama for being “missing in action” in combating the brutal effects of the Obama economy on ordinary Americans falling into poverty.

“The issue has all but disappeared from the legislative agenda in Congress as lawmakers focus squarely on deficit reduction,” the article laments. “Obama, too, has been largely silent on the issue, and has even proposed cutting Social Security–a key tool for combating poverty.” 

The article relayed “staggering” statistics about the abysmal Obama economy–figures that conservative media have reported and underscored consistently, including: over 46 million people now in poverty, 16.4 million children now living under the federal poverty line, and the addition of over 20 million individuals to the food stamp rolls.

Not surprisingly, HuffPo’s solution to combat the ravages of the Obama economy includes more taxpayer-funded “stimulus” spending (a policy that has already failed miserably), raising the minimum wage (which Obama’s own former chief economic adviser says will do little to help poor Americans), higher taxes, and reversing so-called austerity measures like the sequester–a cut in the rate of growth in federal spending equivalent to 0.5% of the national debt.

Indeed, other explanations have recently been offered to explain why programs like food stamps continue to climb despite Obama’s claims that the economy is on the mend. Last Friday, a Sean Hannity special, “Boomtown 2: The Business of Food Stamps,” featuring Government Accountability Institute (GAI) President Peter Schweizer and Breitbart News Executive Chairman Stephen K. Bannon highlighted the massive profits politically-connected corporations are making off of the rapid growth in food stamps.

“Boomtown 2” revealed that the food stamp program does not just foster government dependency among the lower class but the corporate class as well.

JP Morgan, for example, has bagged at least $560 million since 2004 through administering Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards. Soda makers, meanwhile, haul in an estimated $4 billion a year selling sugary drinks to welfare recipients on the food stamp program (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP).  

“We’ve had record levels of government spending these past few years, yet we continue to have high levels of poverty,” said Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ). “We need more, not less, of what we know creates growth and prosperity–free markets, low taxes, and limited government.”