Victor Davis Hanson Private Papers

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Don’t Forget the Other Entitlement Monsters

November 8, 2013 11:10 am /

by Bruce S. Thornton // FrontPage Magazine 

The continuing attention devoted to the blunders, incompetence, and lies surrounding the Photo Credit: USDA Gov via FlickrObamacare rollout is much deserved. But we shouldn’t forget that the President’s health-care monstrosity is merely the latest and biggest of scores of government entitlement programs suffering from the same flawed progressive assumption––that government “experts” armed with coercive power alone can solve problems better left to the states, civil society, and the free market. In reality, such programs relentlessly metastasize, increasing as well fraud, waste, abuse, and costs.

One such program is SNAP, the kinder and gentler name for what we used to call food stamps. Apparently the old coupons were too hurtful, so they have been replaced by the Electronic Benefits Transfer card that looks like a debit or credit card. Over the last decade, SNAP recipients have increased from 21 million to 47 million, 1 in 7 Americans. But benefits paid out have nearly quadrupled from $21 billion to $75 billion. Read more →

Posted in: Bruce S. Thornton, Debt and Deficits, Commentary / Tagged: , , , ,
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