Infuriating Democrats, Trump Plans To Redefine Poverty, Cutting Americans From Welfare

Via ZeroHedge

The Trump Administration is looking into altering how it determines the national poverty level, which may put some Americans at risk of losing access to welfare programs, according to Bloomberg. The move might occur from changing how inflation is calculated in the “official poverty measure” according to a regulatory filing by White House Office of Management and Budget. That formula has been used for decades to try and determine where the poverty line is and what people qualify for social programs and federal benefits.

The measure is calculated at three times the cost of a minimum food diet and adjusted every year as prices rise. It was first set in the 1960s and, in 2018, a family of four making no more than $25,900 was considered under the poverty line. This figure determines eligibility for federal, state and nonprofit programs like Medicaid and food stamps.

By changing this measure, the poverty level could wind up rising at a slower rate. One proposal has been a shift  to “chained CPI”, which regularly shows a slower pace of price gains than the already rigged traditional measures. It shows slower inflation growth because it assumes consumers will substitute less expensive items when prices rise.

The Office of Management and Budget said: “Because of this, changes to the poverty thresholds, including how they are updated for inflation over time, may affect eligibility for programs that use the poverty guidelines.”

Source: US Census, Sept 2018

The change is being reported as an effort by the Trump administration to make it more difficult to access welfare programs. Last year, the president signed an executive order calling on federal agencies to strictly enforce current work requirements for welfare recipients and propose new stricter requirements that could reduce eligibility.

Trump said in December: “Millions of able-bodied, working-age adults continue to collect food stamps without working or even looking for work. Our goal is to move these Americans from dependence to independence, and into a good-paying job and rewarding career.”

This isn’t the first time that the government has suggested using chained CPI to bring down the cost of government programs. While democrats won’t like to hear it, but President Barack Obama proposed switching cost-of-living adjustments in Social Security and other retirement programs to the index in 2014. Obama ultimately abandoned the proposal after outrage from congressional Democrats. Something tells us Trump may not fall victim to that same pressure, however.

At the beginning of the year, we reported that the U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights in the United States found about 40 million live in poverty, 18.5 million in extreme poverty, and 5.3 million live in Third World conditions.

The U.N. Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty warned the U.S. has one of the highest rates of income inequality among Western nations, while critiquing the Trump administration for the $1.5 trillion in debt-fueled tax cuts in December 2017 that overwhelmingly benefited the wealthy and worsened inequality among the middle class and poor.

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42 Comments
steve
steve
May 8, 2019 7:11 am

Far beyond time that an immense inner city electorate (snicker) is paid to watch TV in bedroom slippers. Their life’s duty seems to be to wait for a monthly check, get their hair and nails done; finally raise feral children. And for the women in this bunch……

Anonymous
Anonymous
  steve
May 8, 2019 8:17 am

A leased Cadillac Escalade seems to be their choice for transportation.
comment image

Robert (QSLV)

Dutchman
Dutchman
  Anonymous
May 8, 2019 9:34 am

The niggers have gotten all their reparations – entitlements for the past 50 years. Time to pull the plug.

Any race of people who denigrate education, because you’ll appear white – is bound to fail. And failing they are, miserably.

Dutchman
Dutchman
May 8, 2019 8:08 am

I’ll ask the question: If you don’t have any skills, don’t want to work, can’t afford food, can’t afford housing, can’t afford medical care – what fucking good are you? What is your contribution to the world? Just a breather and eater. You deserve to die. You’re an ‘extra’ person we don’t need.

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
  Dutchman
May 8, 2019 8:24 am

Ouch. And here I thought I was a Darwinist.

I’ll take a different tack; let me and mine be us, and others be themselves, separately.

There are large numbers of people whose aptitudes are consistent with a 19th century standard of living. Others have aptitudes consistent with a 15th century standard of living and yet others have behaviors and aptitudes suited for a complete “State of Nature,” aka barbarism.

I don’t want to police these people, nor do I want to be the “exterminator.” Let disparate peoples live apart from each other, each group producing the kind of conditions to which they are naturally predisposed.

Let NATURE TAKE ITS COURSE.

This is, after all, the situation as it stands. Some of us are bright and self-controlled and civilized, and thus are naturally capable of producing the kind of living standards I (and everyone else) like. But those who are not capable of producing those high living standards are not entitled to ENJOY THEM.

Humanity has two paths ahead:
1. We keep trying to make everyone the same (with the foolish notion that we’re all 140 IQ, low-time-preference, civilized and talented) which paradoxically is destroying us all.
2. We separate into relatively smaller, homogeneous groups, who peacefully coexist BY WALLING OUT those who want what we have but who are incapable of producing it themselves.

The first one is a prescription for total war. The second holds at least modest hope for some peace.

steve
steve
  Deter Naturalist
May 9, 2019 5:22 pm

But, but, but how can I be accepted and gain entrance to Wakanda?

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 8:17 am

Trump said in December: “Millions of able-bodied, working-age adults continue to collect food stamps without working or even looking for work. Our goal is to move these Americans from dependence to independence, and into a good-paying job and rewarding career.”

Translation:

Trump said, The 1-5% able bodied, working age Wall Street Fat Cats continue to collect corporate subsidies, reduced taxes (40% reduction) and to use MOST of the tax savings to buyback shares of their own stock and offshoring more jobs and hiring more illegals, instead of hiring more Americans, meanwhile contributing NOTHING to Main Street economy, the use of the military to increase corporation profit (Venezuela, etc.). Our goal is to move these non-working Fat Cats from rich to richer, while everyone else pays more in taxes which go most to the military for the purpose of stealing other nations wealth for to increase the Fat Cats even more. While if they don’t work hard enough, the already overtaxed Americans will bail them out so they can remain non-working Fat Cats.

I guess when Wall Street gets bailed out it’s not because they didn’t work hard enough. So therefore we must preserve and support our brave CEO’s so the rest of us can work hard and pay our, THEIR share of taxes to increase the wealth gap through the barrel of a gun.

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 9:05 am

When the end of the Long Boom finally arrives, Wall Street will be the ultimate Humpty Dumpty.

Who gained the most from the last 38 years?
Who thus has the most to lose?

[Don’t get me wrong; someone with $50,000,000 who loses 95% is still rich, compared to someone with $5,000 who loses 95%. And the way things will really work, those in the bottom 50th or even 80th percentile will be utterly destroyed when this Long, Debt-fueled Boom ends.

No one is going to escape Nature’s Wrath when the bubble finally pops. By the time we get to the final lows of the ensuing bear market(s) I am fairly certain that warfare will not be metaphorical.]

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 8:29 am

comment image?itok=7nPJZT4k

Looks like construction workers aren’t working as hard as the CEO’s of robot makers.
https://www.roboticsbusinessreview.com/construction/more-than-7000-robots-will-work-in-construction-by-2025-report-says/

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 8:52 am

What are my “advantages” in life?
Smart.
Strong.
Tall.
Patient.
Modest lifestyle choices.

I started with NOTHING.
I went to college and graduated with debt.
I raised a family.
I paid off all my debts.
I accumulated wealth.

Anyone who suggests I don’t “deserve” the fruits of my labor is, in essence, saying that I should have the benefits of my INBORN talents stolen and handed to others.

This belief system is (1) a prescription for a return to barbarism and (2) an incitement for violence. What else is robbing me of the fruits of my labors if it is NOT fractionally murdering me for the hours of my life I spent creating them?

Robbery is fractional murder.
Murderers deserve a painful death.

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
  Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 8:55 am

PS: Yes, I’m a white, Anglo-Saxon Protestant (or the descendant of them, anyway.)

If I was black, I’d be ten or twenty times wealthier because corporations would have beat each other senseless to hire someone with my innate abilities and their “diversity, inc.” approved melanin content.

White privilege my ass. Talk about an inversion of reality.

Mistico
Mistico
  Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 12:11 pm

Talk about an inversion of reality.

No shit, Sherlock. WTF do you think we are doing here, documenting grass growth?

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 8:30 am

Paradoxically, I worry about this.

With the Medical/Medical-Insurance industrial cartel poised to rob me blind, deaf and dumb if I get sick or injured, I look to the IDIOCY of the (un)Affordable Care Act to let me get highly subsidized “insurance.”

The subsidy is a function of INCOME. My “retirement” income will be low enough to qualify for the subsidy (as things stand now.) My standard of living, which is very modest, will not be destroyed by having to pay $15,000 or more per year for the privilege of not being quite literally ROBBED by a hospital if some intoxicated Aztec t-bones my car at an intersection.

The Medical Cartel is an asset-stripping scheme.

I don’t want to be asset-stripped.

I had planned on “playing the ACA game,” but if I’m not deemed “poor” then I go back to paying what I literally deem EXTORTION, to a criminal syndicate that enjoys legal protection.

It’s time for a revolution.

Anonymous
Anonymous
May 8, 2019 8:44 am

…”which MAY put some Americans at risk of losing access to welfare programs, according to Bloomberg.”

Because, God forbid, we try to weed out lazy, greedy sponges who game the system, causing the bloated costs of more free shit to even more non-productive people with their hand out, expecting even more blood from the backs of working stiffs via higher taxation. No,we can’t have that, as Bloomberg jumps to conclusions with more fear mongering.

It can’t be stated loudly enough, or often enough.
Give shit away, and the audience of dependents you create grows exponentially larger.
Take shit away, and the bitching commences, and the generosity of the source reaps scandal, ridicule, and scorn.

Read a story quote once.
The NBA had 2 very successful, rich superstars on different teams who were friends.
They were riding around in a limo one night, and out of generosity, were handing out C-notes to bums on the streets, who recognized them instantly, and were singing their praises.
When the hundies ran out, the bums who didn’t get one called the stars pieces of shit.

It was Isaiah Thomas and Magic Johnson.
Nowadays, I pay no attention to major league superstars’ laments, but…
There’s a moral to that story.
Very telling.
~

Anonymous
Anonymous
May 8, 2019 8:51 am

How many of those living in poverty are illegal immigrants? How many are generational welfare recipients? How many are collecting social security?

yahsure
yahsure
May 8, 2019 9:20 am

I was looking at jobs in the Phoenix area and 12 bucks an hour was normal. Houses rent for around 1600.00 a month. This is the problem facing most people all over the country.

Lulu
Lulu
  yahsure
May 8, 2019 1:33 pm

Then you get a second or third job. Or move to another area. Or acquire higher paying job skills. Or get a roommate. Or get married and share expenses.

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 9:26 am

Trump said in December: “Millions of able-bodied, working-age adults continue to collect food stamps without working or even looking for work. Our goal is to move these Americans from dependence to independence, and into a good-paying job and rewarding career.”

TRANSLATION:

A young, vibrant, able bodied and NON-WORKING Dotard Trump received massive welfare payments from his rich parents and afterward claimed he was a self-made capitalist. Upon getting elected, he tells everyone don’t ever expect a handout. Get your god damn asses out and get a job that a robot will take in a few years.

https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/10/02/us/politics/donald-trump-tax-schemes-fred-trump.html

A captain of industry or a captain in the Free Shit Army?

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 11:16 am

Transparently disingenuous, wadstreet.

Who gives a fuck whose nipple trust fund kids suck. They don’t suck mine unless I shop in their mommy’s store.

Trump isn’t a bloodsucking dontdonuffin, leaching off of Nanny.Gov

Shove your Trump = Captain Free Shit sign up your ass.

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
  Diogenes’ Dung
May 8, 2019 11:50 am

Didn’t you read the article Idiot??

Didn’t you see the image that said,

Republicans increasingly attribute wealth to working harder, rather than having greater advantages in life

The Dotard didn’t work harder as his party says. Instead he had greater advantages. Now he’s telling everyone the opposite of the truth and that he does not support the Free Shit Army, when in fact he’s got more free shit than anyone. His policies support more free shit for Wall Street non-working socialism-for-the-rich parasites with low taxes and bailouts from the middle class and poor. It’s called the redistribution of wealth. A classic tenet of communism. In this case, “corporate communism”.

The point is that if the Dotard didn’t have double standards, he wouldn’t have any standards at all. But since it’s over your head, you didn’t get it.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 1:20 pm

Oh please, quit with the Dotard shit. You don’t like Trump? Who cares. Sorry but Hillary was a crappy and unlikeable candidate, she lost, get over it.

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 1:34 pm

I despise Hildabeast. You stupid idiot think that if someone doesn’t like Trump then they have to like Hillary? My god you’re stupid.

Besides, Hillary not too long ago announced that she would not be running in 2020. Why do you think that is retard? The reason is simple, she figured she doesn’t need to run for president now, because Trump’s already doing most of what she was going to do, so she doesn’t need to run for president now.

Congratulations assholes, you voted for Trump and you got Hillary.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 1:48 pm

Oh boy, I poked a troll.
BTW: insulting people by name calling is the mark of a remarkably stupid and immature person. English is your second language, at least let us hope so, otherwise your lack of education is showing.

Lulu
Lulu
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 1:36 pm

The advantages President Trump had were good genes, good parents, and a strong work ethic.

We can’t penalize people because they win the DNA lottery, or because they had responsible parents who actually loved them.

Without a penny to his name, President Trump would have been a success as evidenced by his work ethic and the success of his immigrant mother and his father’s immigrant father.

ESADWALLST
ESADWALLST
  Lulu
May 8, 2019 2:02 pm

a strong work ethic.???

Yes of course, using the military to steal another nations natural resources and giving it as an entitlement to US corporations is a good strong work ethic.
More like a Free Shit Army.

Without a penny to his name, President Trump would have been a success

Trump’s financial track record shows a record of failures. A silver spoon was in his mouth and he blew it. So then how is his economic policies for all Americans supposed to be now a success? Spoonboy don’t know anything about economics. He is unsuccessful and will drive the national debt past that which Obama did. Massive deficits, massive debt, massive civil unrest will be Dotards legacy. When it’s all said and done, Trump Hillary and Obama will be partying in Florida while the border remains wide open.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/5-takeaways-from-10-years-of-trump-tax-figures/ar-AAB2BDR

Congratulations asshole, you voted for Trump and got Hillary.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 2:20 pm

Ok Potty Mouth , Orange man bad, What else you got?

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  ESADWALLST
May 8, 2019 1:46 pm

Really, wadstreet?

YOU, holding politicians accountable for double-standards? Laughable.

Both of your arms are full of yourself.

MrLiberty
MrLiberty
May 8, 2019 11:30 am

Heaven forbid he should do something about CORPORATE WELFARE first – like the welfare programs tied to the entire DOD budget. Don’t get me wrong. I am against ALL WELFARE. But wouldn’t it “sell better” to Americans to cut off the 0.1% FIRST?

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  MrLiberty
May 8, 2019 1:49 pm

a 100% guaranteed way to open a window on your calendar to schedule your assassination.

By the “I stole it, it’s mine” crowd.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  MrLiberty
May 8, 2019 2:10 pm

Close the tax loopholes.

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 2:48 pm

For those who don’t already have a chronically puckered wallet.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  Diogenes’ Dung
May 8, 2019 4:08 pm

DD: while I have your attention, you still playing with that speculum? How’s it taste?

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 4:57 pm

Pretty much the same as all yeasty twat, with a slight difference.

You sound like the last sugar buffalo I munched, who inquired, “Would you like some crackers with your cheese?”

Your Roquefort dressing demands crackers.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  Diogenes’ Dung
May 8, 2019 5:25 pm

Surprised you didn’t try it on yourself. Probably too small for such a large orifice. Then again, would you admit to pleasuring yourself that way? You’ll munch on anything that will hold still, no water buffalo safe around you, ditto roadkill.

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 6:22 pm

I’m rarely so amazed by my amusement at my expense.

Bravo, mybitch…certainly!

Call a hypocrite out and they double-down on hypocrisy.

You’re starting to sound like a pharmaceutical commercial. Might as well admit you that create worse side effects than you cure.

Diogenes’ Dung
Diogenes’ Dung
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 6:33 pm

BTW, Mybitch, only a ragged-out, presumptuous cunt would lead with what they don’t know and then ask would I admit it was so. For your puerile pleasure, since you asked nicely, and can swallow it all:

Yes, once. I didn’t enjoy it at all. Zero pleasure. It was right after emerging from a trance wherein I “relived” a past life as a woman. I immediately wanted to know if it really did feel that good, but I waited until whacked on blow to answer the question for myselff.

But it was not to be. That pleasure was confined to a different time and place

So, now that your , “would you admit” has been answered.

Your turn to lie.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  Diogenes’ Dung
May 8, 2019 6:53 pm

Nah, enough thread jacking. I made my point.

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 1:59 pm

When the time arrives that Working Whites (the people keeping the lights on) get ROYALLY SHAFTED by the collapse of the value of everything they’ve saved, THEN, MAYBE things will change.

Not sure about it, though. What we see today just may be a behavioral subroutine Nature uses when an organism has become way too successful for the good of all. Humanity has been too successful.

“Those whom the gods would destroy they first make insane.”

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 2:28 pm

Things are already collapsing What is your money worth? Inflation everywhere, incomes stagnant, the water is getting hotter, the frog is cooking and may not be able to jump when the temperature hits the boiling point.

Many have gone Galt, they keep quiet but they don’t contribute to a corrupt system. Why work if what you labor for is taken from you and redistributed?

Deter Naturalist
Deter Naturalist
  Mygirl...maybe
May 8, 2019 3:13 pm

Things are not collapsing.
I can go to the store and buy whatever I like. I can do so without having to don body armor or lock a magazine into a rifle. The Plenitude Mall is still open for business.

Inflation? Where? Gasoline is still a buck cheaper than a couple years ago. I can buy a nice T-shirt for $9, less than they cost 40 years ago. I can buy nice brand-name bluejeans (I like carpenter pants) for less than $30, an absolute STEAL compared to when I was a kid and Levi’s were (in inflation-adjusted terms) probably $90 for the standard (not pre-ripped, we did that ourselves playing) version.

What does a dollar buy little of?
Stocks.
Medical Care.
Higher Ed.
All the “recipients” of borrow-to-spend economics. This is where INFLATION rages, but simple people call it “the rich getting richer.” I call it a thousand Hindenbergs looking for a match.

The system is corrupt. It was always corrupt. It will always be corrupt. We are slaves because our neighbors prefer to be slaves and they don’t want anyone to “miss out.”

Enjoy Plenitude while it lasts. I’m serious, enjoy it. Someday the cornucopia of junk we now take for granted won’t be available at ANY price.

Mygirl...maybe
Mygirl...maybe
  Deter Naturalist
May 8, 2019 3:59 pm

Make up your mind, earlier comment you say collapse happening and now, not so much. You live in an affluent neighborhood? Mostly white? A collapse doesn’t happen all at once, it’s often incremental. The little burb I shop in is getting browner and now the grocery story has security, wasn’t like that a year ago. You forgot food on what a dollar buys less of. I can live without blue jeans (carpenter or otherwise) food, not so much.

Vixen Vic
Vixen Vic
  Deter Naturalist
May 9, 2019 2:43 am

I beg to differ on inflation. Food prices seem to go up every week when I go to the grocery store. The pace of higher prices has increased since the 2008 financial crisis.