41.8 million Americans are now on food stamps. The details don’t look good for our country.

Recipients of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program subsidies for food purchases jumped 18 percent from a year earlier and increased 1.4 percent from June, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today in a statement on its website. Participation has set records for 20 straight months.

An average of 43.3 million people, more than an eighth of the population, will get food stamps each month in the year that began Oct. 1, according to White House estimates.

You might think this is bad news. But, according to House Majority Leader (until 11/2) Nancy Pelosi, this is good news – no, it’s GREAT news! We have found the way to get out of our economic malaise.

At a press conference in her home town of San Francisco, Pelosi explained that the program’s multiplier effect -the amount of money generated in the local economy as the result of the subsidy- far exceeds the nearly $60 billion spent this year by the federal government and is a sure-fire way to stimulate the economy. For every dollar a person receives in food stamps, Pelosi said that $1.79 is put back into the economy. The U.S. Department of Agriculture cites an even higher figure of $1.84.

“It is the biggest bang for the buck when you do food stamps and unemployment insurance. The biggest bang for the buck,” she said.

New Obama/Pelosi plan for our economy: Put EVERYONE on food stamps and unemployment and watch the multiplier effect turn this thing around.

Let’s have the government spend $2 trillion on food stamps and we’ll get back $3.68 trillion. We’ll all be rich. Why haven’t we been doing this all along?

Oh, yeah, that’s right. It’s IDIOTIC! Is Pelosi really so ignorant that she doesn’t understand that every dollar the government spends is either taken from someone else or borrowed from someone else? It’s money that can’t be used to invest, save and create/grow businesses and new jobs. The very jobs that will help people lead productive lives and get off food stamps, welfare and unemployment insurance. THAT’S the biggest bang for our buck. It’s not about the ludicrous charge of class warfare, it’s about wanting all Americans to be able to earn a living.

To be fair, Pelosi is right that this type of “government” money is spent right away. Her fellow Californians are handling these stressful times by cashing their welfare checks for a little R&R.

More than $69 million in California welfare money, meant to help the needy pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent or withdrawn outside the state in recent years, including millions in Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands in Hawaii and thousands on cruise ships sailing from Miami.

This sounds crazy at first, but think about it. If one of these people hits double zero on the roulette wheel at the Mirage, we’ll have an even bigger “multiplier” effect.

Foodstamps for prosperity! Welfare for jackpots!

Hey, who are you to deny these people a weekend in Maui or a cruise out of Miami? I bet you’re the kind of person who thinks you have a right to tell people on welfare and food stamps how they can spend your money. Who do you think you are, Mayor Bloomberg?

New Yorkers on food stamps would not be allowed to spend them on sugar-sweetened drinks under an obesity-fighting proposal being floated by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson…

Recipients can essentially buy any food for the household, although there are some limits on hot or prepared foods.

Food stamps also cannot be used to buy alcohol, cigarettes or items such as pet food, vitamins or household goods.

I can’t believe we would deny welfare recipients the right to buy Fluffy his dog food. Isn’t it bad enough the family is down on its luck, now we’re going to kill their dog, too? I think allowing food stamps to pay for dog food would have a great “mutliplier effect.”

Quick, get Nancy Pelosi on the phone!