Stunting the Lives of Millions

Posted on November 5, 2013 by MN Gordon

An extraordinary occurrence took place last Friday.  Congress let a temporary $5 billion food stamp stimulus from the 2009 Recovery Act expire.  We can’t recall ever hearing of a federal program becoming smaller.  Can you?

As a result, one in seven Americans, or about 47 million people, who are dependent on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) for their daily bread, will find their loaves a little lighter.  This amounts to about a $36 per month cut in food stamp benefits for a family of four.  How will they get by?

“Families will either buy less food or they will buy cheaper food,” said food expert Marion Nestle.  “Food stamps don’t last the entire month.  People will have to make much more careful choices in order to make the money go as far as it can.”

According to Census Bureau data, nearly 1 in 2 Americans are now living at or near the poverty line.  Perhaps this is why SNAP spending has doubled over the past four years to almost $80 billion a year.  But, unfortunately, when something expands this fast there’s got to be some waste and fraud involved. Continue reading →

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Dependent Upon A Bankrupt System

Posted on November 1, 2013 by MN Gordon

Ralph Waldo Emerson, in the mid-19th century, observed that “Society is always taken by surprise at any new example of common sense.”  Perhaps Emerson meant that common sense is rather uncommon.  What’s more, if common sense was uncommon in Emerson’s time, it certainly is today.

Little by little common sense has been dulled from popular thought.  Over time people came to believe that if the right programs were put in place, somehow, they could live in a world without consequences.  Similarly, they came to believe if they voted for the right politicians they could get something for nothing.

These notions are obviously absurd.  For instance, it doesn’t take much common sense thinking to conclude that Social Security would eventually go broke.  The Social Security System was doomed to fail from the get go.

Back in 1939, John T. Flynn predicted Social Security would be under water by 1970, and insolvent by 1980. Continue reading →

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Property Confiscation Is Coming

Posted on October 29, 2013 by MN Gordon

Outright property confiscation by governments is something that’s ardently disparaged here at the Economic Prism.  There’s no justification we can rationalize for state sponsored theft.  This includes penalizing those who are young and healthy with a disproportionate burden of a compulsory health insurance program.

Along these lines, we don’t envy those who’ve managed to accumulate a greater pile of stones than us.  Like Margaret Thatcher, we “do not know anyone who has gotten to the top without hard work.”  Thus, it only seems right they should be free to enjoy the fruits of their labors.

Still, many people out there want to soak the rich.  Somehow confiscating their property is the solution to the government’s spending problem.  Scaling back government promises is politically unthinkable…even though that’s exactly what’s needed.

But these days it’s not just the property of the rich that’s being eyed by over indebted governments.  It’s the property of anyone that has any assets, no matter how meager. Continue reading →

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Economic Frankenstein

Posted on October 25, 2013 by MN Gordon

According to the Department of Labor, 148,000 jobs were created in September.  The experts thought the number of new jobs would be closer to 180,000.  Still, the unemployment rate dropped a tenth of a percent to 7.2 percent.

No doubt, the weak jobs report gives the Fed additional cover to continue creating $85 billion from nothing each month to prop up mortgage and treasury markets.  The Fed believes all this funny money will, somehow, create new jobs.  This seems kind of absurd, don’t you think?

Thus, it’s no surprise the jobs the Fed promised still don’t exist.  But the side effects of their mass money debasement are sticking out further than President Obama’s ears.  At the moment, the stock market’s the most obvious deformation.  Under the thrust of extraordinary monetary policies, stocks are shooting to dizzying heights.

Here at the Economic Prism, we don’t agree with this heavy handed intrusion into markets.  But we can’t ignore it.  Nor can we stand in the way of it. Continue reading →

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