This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: “Your Tax Dollars At Work”

  • If You’re Still Wondering Why Your Taxes Are So Ridiculiously High . . .

    . . . this article might explain it:

    Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov’t Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

    Here’s the summary:  in 2011, 108,592,000 persons in America were receiving some kind of means-tested benefit from Federal, state, or local governments.  That same year, only 101,716,000 people worked full-time year round.

    Unfortunately, that’s only part of the “good news”.  The total of nearly 108.6 million above does not include persons receiving non-means-tested government benefits – e.g., benefits such as Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits*, or unemployment compensation.  Again according to the Census Bureau, the total number of persons receiving Social Security, Medicare, non-means-tested VA benefits, and unemployment compensation in 2011 was 104,617,000.

    There’s obviously some overlap between these categories.  There’s overlap as well as with means-tested government benefits.  Still – this is well past ridiculous, and fast approaching obscene.

    So, the next time you wonder why you pay all those damned taxes, just remember:  there are now more people drawing means-tested government benefits in America than are working full-time.  There are also more people drawing non-means-tested government benefits than are working full-time.  That just might have something to do with why the government seizes so much of your earnings.

    And it also might explain why we can’t seem to come up with enough dollars to defend the nation adequately, too.

     

    *Note:  most VA benefits are not means-tested.  However a few VA benefits – such as VA pensions for low-income vets and the VA Aid and Assistance allowance, to name two – are means-tested. 

  • A Fine Example of Government Promoting the Public Good

    Yeah, well, maybe not so much.  This one pretty much leaves me speechless.

    Privately-Owned Parking Lot Seized By City So it Can be Used for . . . A Parking Lot

  • New “Bennies” Under the ACA

    Well, it seems we’re still learning how bad taxpayers got shafted new things about the Affordable Care Act (ACA) nearly 2 1/2 years after It passed.  I guess we really did have to “pass it to see what’s in it”.

    Here’s yet another bit of “good news” for Federal taxpayers contained therein.

    It seems that the ACA makes able-bodied males with incomes under the poverty level eligible for Federal healthcare assistance.  Specifically, it makes them eligible for Medicaid.

    Under the ACA, it also seems that’s true even if they’re incarcerated in a local or county jail, or in a state prison.  So states participating in Medicaid just got a major “freebie” – and the US taxpayer gets stuck with the bill.

    Now, the US taxpayer will be picking up a chunk of the costs for prisoner healthcare in state/county/local jails.  Previously that was a state/local responsibility previously – which it should be.

    Welcome to Bizzaro World, folks.

  • I Hate to Repeat Myself . . .

    . . . but I will.  From just over a year ago.

    A year ago, just short of 9 million individuals were receiving Social Security disability compensation.  Five months ago, that number was up to around 11 million.

    The number just keeps on climbing.  At the end of August, per the Social Security Administration the number of individuals receiving Social Security disability payments was just over 14 million.

    The program also appears rife with fraud.  It looks like about half of all newly approved claims actually are bogus under Federal law – just like a year ago.  (Federal law regarding Social Security Disability compensation requires that the individual be unable to perform work of any type to be eligible for payment.)  It appears the same could easily be true of about half of all such Social Security disability claims, period.

    It’s now costing Uncle Sam more to pay Social Security Disability benefits than it does to run the Department of Homeland Security, the Justice Department, and the Labor Department – combined.  The annual outlay for Social Security Disability payments is now approximately $135 billion.

    Apparently CBS has now finally figured out the above.  So it’s not just the conservative part of the blogosphere that’s noticing the issue any more.

    Yes, some people are so physically or mentally “messed up” that they legitimately rate Social Security disability payments.  But IMO, a huge fraction of the recipients appear to be using the program as nothing more than an undeserved, alternate form of permanent unemployment compensation.  Further, in many cases it seems they’re being aided and abetted in what appears to be blatant fraud by compliant Social Security officials – and by lawyers who in some cases end up getting paid literally millions by the Social Security Administration.

    The Social Security Disability “Insurance” Fund is in absolutely horrible financial shape.  As you might expect, it’s in far worse shape than the rest of Social Security.

    For the Social Security disability program, the proverbial “well” runs dry in 3 years, give or take; some sources estimate the fund will be exhausted in as little as 18 months.  So I’m guessing we can look forward to another push to raise Social Security taxes yet again some time in the next 3 years.

  • Now, This Is a REALLY Good Idea . . . .

    Have I got a deal for you.  How about we buy a bunch of stuff, then immediately put it in “mothballs” instead of use it?  Good deal, right?

    Uncle Sam and DoD certainly would never do that with a bunch of new airplanes – right?

    Think again.  As in to the tune of over $565 million.

    I understand that at some point terminating a contract just doesn’t make economic sense.  But couldn’t we have figured this out before we ordered 21 of these?

  • Park Service approves immigration rally on the Mall

    You know the Park Service closed the National Mall for the government shutdown, right? You heard that? Veterans had to sneak through the Park Service barricade around the World War II Memorial. Remember that a Park Service employee told veterans who called to inquire about the status of the memorial during their visit was told they’d be arrested? A group of veterans from Syracuse had to dismantle a barricade at the Marine Corps Monument on Saturday.

    One of our ninjas sent us this link from the Washington Examiner;

    Organizers for the “Camino Americano: March for Immigration Reform” were spotted Monday setting up a stage and equipment on the National Mall for the rally which will take place on Tuesday.

    A few scattered barriers around the park have signs informing visitors that the area is closed as a result of the government shutdown.

    Susana Flores, a spokesperson for the rally, confirmed for the Washington Examiner that the Park Service will allow the event to take place under the group’s rights granted by the First Amendment.

    Oh, yeah, Nancy Pelosi is expected to attend and the Service Employees International Union is sponsoring the rally. Maybe the veterans should have told the Park Service that their group were members of Gay Witches for Abortion. Or something funny.

  • MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) isn’t taking the shutdown well

    MCPO NYC USN (Ret.) sends this photo as evidence that the shutdown is impacting him. I don’t know why he just doesn’t go to a nice golf course and play until the growling in his stomach subsides;

    Times is Tuff!

    Me? I’m hoping it goes on for another couple of weeks. I’m kind of liking sleeping in until 7am – especially when I think about the work that is piling up while I’m away that’s all going to be marked “Rush”. That sleeping in thing makes me want OMB to “rush” my retirement paperwork.

  • Yer Friday Afternoon Funny

    It seems as if some local officials in western Pennsylvania weren’t very observant when they approved the final design for a highway safety project.  Either that, or they had a “wicked bad” sense of humor.

    Scott Township recently had some traffic barriers installed.  They’re reinforced concrete posts, called bollards.  They’re designed to serve as safety barriers.

    Let’s just say the design of the bollards is, um, somewhat “open to interpretation.” And not everybody is pleased by the design chosen.

    Photo below the break.  (Probably safe for work, but use care around children and youths – especially if you laugh easily – to avoid answering potentially embarrassing questions.)

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