#Big Government

[culturevulturette]

No lie!

#truth #quotations #milton friedman #big government

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Iowa's starvation strategy

I don’t really buy that “the cruelty is the point.” I’m a materialist. Money talks, bullshit walks. When billionaires fund unimaginably cruel policies, I think the cruelty is a tactic, a way to get the turkeys to vote for Christmas. After all, policies that grow the fortune of the 1% at the expense of the rest of us have a natural 99% disapproval rating.

If you’d like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here’s a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2023/04/19/whats-wrong-with-iowa/#replicable-cruelty

So when some monstrous new law or policy comes down the pike, it’s best understood as a way of getting frightened, angry — and often hateful — people to vote for policies that will actively harm them, by claiming that they will harm others — brown and Black people, women, queers, and the “undeserving” poor.

Pro-oligarch policies don’t win democratic support — but policies that inflict harm a ginned-up group of enemies might. Oligarchs need frightened, hateful people to vote for policies that will secure and expand the power of the rich. Cruelty is the tactic. Power is the strategy. The point isn’t cruelty, it’s power:

https://pluralistic.net/2022/06/25/roe-v-wade-v-abortion/#no-i-in-uterus

But that doesn’t change the fact that the policies are cruel indeed. Take Iowa, whose billionaire-backed far-right legislature is on a tear, a killing spree that includes active collaboration with rapists, through a law that denies abortion care to survivors of rape and forces them to bear and care for their rapists’ babies:

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/16/us/politics/iowa-kamala-harris-abortion.html

The forced birth movement is part of the wider far-right tactic of standing up for imaginary children (e.g. “the unborn,” fictional victims of Hollywood pedo cabals), and utterly abandons real children: poor kids who can’t afford school lunches, kids in cages, kids victimized by youth pastors, kids forced into child labor, etc.

So Iowa isn’t just a forced birth state, it’s a state where children are now to be starved, literally. The state legislature has just authorized an $18m project to kick people off of SNAP (aka food stamps). 270,000 people in Iowa rely on SNAP: elderly people, disabled people, and parents who can’t feed their kids.

Writing in the Washington Post, Kyle Swenson profiles some of these Iowans, like an elderly woman who visited Lisa Spitler’s food pantry for help and said that state officials had told her that she was only eligible for $23/month in assistance:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/04/16/iowa-snap-restrictions-food-stamps/

That’s because Iowa governor KimReynolds signed a bill cutting the additional SNAP aid — federally funded, and free to the state taxpayers of Iowa — that had been made available during the lockdown. Since then, food pantries have been left to paper over the cracks in the system, as Iowans begin to starve.

Before the pandemic, Spitler’s food pantry saw 30 new families a month. Now it’s 100 — and growing. Many of these families have been kicked off of SNAP because they failed to complete useless and confusing paperwork, or did so but missed the short deadlines now imposed by the state. For example, people with permanent disabilities and elderly people who no longer work must continuously file new paperwork confirming that their income hasn’t changed. Their income never changes.

SNAP recipients often work, borrow from relations, and visit food pantries, and still can’t make ends meet, like Amy Cunningham, a 31 year old mother of four in Charlton. She works at a Subway, has tapped her relatives for all they can afford, and relies on her $594/month in SNAP to keep her kids from going hungry. She missed her notice of an annual review and was kicked off the program. Getting kicked off took an instant. Getting reinstated took a starving eternity.

Iowa has a budget surplus of $1.91B. This doesn’t stop ghouls like Iowa House speaker Pat Grassley (a born-rich nepobaby whose grandpa is Senator Chuck Grassley) from claiming that the cuts were a necessity: “[SNAP is] growing within the budget, and are putting pressure on us being able to fund other priorities.”

Grassley’s caucus passed legislation on Jan 30 to kick people off of SNAP if their combined assets, including their work vehicle, total to more than $15,000. SNAP recipients will be subject to invasive means-testing and verification, which will raise the cost of administering SNAP from $2.2m to $18m. Anyone who gets flagged by the system has 10 days to respond or they’ll be kicked off of SNAP.

The state GOP justifies this by claiming that SNAP has an “error rate” of 11.81%. But that “error rate” includes people who were kicked off SNAP erroneously, a circumstance that is much more common than fraud, which is almost nonexistent in SNAP programs. Iowa’s error rate is in line with the national average.

Iowa’s pro-starvation law was authored by a conservative dark-money “think tank” based in Florida: the Opportunity Solutions Project, the lobbying arm of Foundation For Government Accountability, run by Tarren Bragdon, a Maine politician with a knack for getting money from the Koch Network and the DeVos family for projects that punish, humiliate and kill marginalized people. The Iowa bill mirrors provisions passed in Kentucky, Kansas, Wisconsin and elsewhere — and goes beyond them.

The law was wildly unpopular, but it passed anyway. It’s part of the GOP’s push for massive increases in government spending and bureaucracy — but only when those increases go to punishing poor people, policing poor people, jailing poor people, and spying on poor people. It’s truly amazing that the “party of small government” would increase bureaucratic spending to administer SNAP by 800% — and do it with a straight face.

In his essay “The Utopia of Rules,” David Graeber (Rest in Power) described this pathology: just a couple decades ago, the right told us that our biggest threat was Soviet expansion, which would end the “American way of life” and replace it with a dismal world where you spent endless hours filling in pointless forms, endured hunger and substandard housing, and shopped at identical stores that all carried the same goods:

https://memex.craphound.com/2015/02/02/david-graebers-the-utopia-of-rules-on-technology-stupidity-and-the-secret-joys-of-bureaucracy/

A society that can’t feed, house and educate its residents is a failed state. America’s inability to do politics without giving corporations a fat and undeserved share is immiserating an ever-larger share of its people. Federally, SNAP is under huge stress, thanks to the “public-private partnership” at the root of a badly needed “digital overhaul” of the program.

Writing for The American Prospect, Luke Goldstein describes how the USDA changed SNAP rules to let people pay with SNAP for groceries ordered online, as a way to deal with the growing problem of food deserts in poor and rural communities:

https://prospect.org/health/2023-04-19-retail-surveils-food-stamp-users/

It’s a good idea — in theory. But it was sabotaged from the start: first, the proposed rule was altered to ban paying for delivery costs with SNAP, meaning that anyone who ordered food online would have to use scarce cash reserves to pay delivery fees. Then, the USDA declined to negotiate discounts on behalf of the 40 million SNAP users. Finally, the SNAP ecommerce rules don’t include any privacy protections, which will be a bonanza for shadowy data-brokers, who’ll mine SNAP recipients’ data to create marketing lists for scammers, predatory lenders, and other bottom-feeder:

https://www.democraticmedia.org/sites/default/files/field/public-files/2020/cdd_snap_report_ff.pdf

The GOP’s best weapon in this war is statistical illiteracy. While racist, sexist and queerphobic policies mean that marginalized people are more likely than white people to be poor, America’s large population of white people — including elderly white people who are the immovable core of the GOP base — means that policies that target poor people inevitably inflict vast harms on the GOP’s most devoted followers.

Getting these turkeys to vote for Christmas is a sound investment for the ultra-rich, who claim a larger share of the American pie every year. The rich may or may not be racist, or sexist, or queerphobic — some of them surely are — but the reason they pour money into campaigns to stoke divisions among working people isn’t because they get off on hatred. The hatred is a tactic. The cruelty is a tactic. The strategic goal is wealth and power.

Tomorrow (Apr 21), I’m speaking in Chicago at the Stigler Center’s Antitrust and Competition Conference. This weekend (Apr 22/23), I’m at the LA Times Festival of Books.

[Image ID: The Iowa state-house. On the right side of the steps is an engraved drawing of Oliver Twist, holding out his porridge bowl. On the left side is the cook, denying him an extra portion. Peeking out from behind the dome is a business-man in a suit with a dollar-sign-emblazoned money-bag for a head.]

Image: Iqkotze (modified) https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Iowa_State_Capitol_April_2010.jpg

CC BY 3.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/deed.en

#pluralistic #ecommerce #Foundation for Government Accountability #fga #iowa #florida #ebt #david graeber #utopia of rules #big government #usda #surveillance #cruelty #gop #devos #starvation #food stamps #snap #koch network #Tarren Bragdon #state policy network

[ms-boogie-man]

This Terrifying Alex Jones Prediction Has Just Come True

Let me help you with that question posed by Mr Brand;

You are seeing the piloting of marshal law

When your government ceases to perform their elected positions as the public servants those positions were designed to be… well, I will let you do the math on that one

… but before you respond, read up on our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution, and the 1st ten in our Bill of Rights; and you might want to see is there are any applicable points of interest in our CFR (Code of Federal Regulations)… I have not any patience for emotional outbursts from ignoramuses; which is what most liberals are

Angie/Maddie🦇❥✝︎🇺🇸

#Russel Brand #National Guard #NYC #subways #police state #marshal law #Gov Kathy Hochul #tyrant #dictator #dictatorship #authroitarian #big government #anarchists KEEP OFF #not interested #it is not that I am shutting down dialogue… you have already done that

[odinsblog]

Despite “RIP Ted” trending on social media, it is my duty to regretfully report that the Zodiac Killer, Ted Cruz, is still alive

#politics #republicans #ted cruz #zodiac killer #dylan mulvaney #transphobia #lgbt #lgbtq #fascism #neo fascism #big government

[underthrowthegovernment]

#picard #immigration #pooice state #government #big government

[aspiringbogwitch]

#transphobia #Ted Cruz #misha collins #lgbtq #pride #queer #pronouns #chosen name #nonbinary #nb #enby #trans #trans rights #gay rights #transgender #transgender rights #republican hypocrisy #dont’t trust the government #big government #us government #us govt #florida

[4libertylover]

"The bigger the government, the greater the corruption." - Dennis Prager

#big government #corruption

[tomorrowusa]

Republican Nikki Haley ignored slavery as a cause of the US Civil War. That's like ignoring flour when baking bread.

She tried to blame the war on the usual 21st century GOP bogeyman — big government. Haley, who is anti-abortion, then went on hypocritically to say that government shouldn't tell people how to live their lives.

Haley, former governor of the first state to secede from the Union, is currently in damage control mode.

#nikki haley #slavery #the us civil war #gop presidential nomination #big government #abortion #damage control #election 2023 #jimmy margulies

[dosesofcommonsense]

Don’t want a shot? They’ll find you.

#truth #globalist playbook #dangers of ai #evil #vaccine #vaccines #big pharma #big government

[culturevulturette]

Their gaslighting is outrageous. And so easily disproven.

#covid-19 vaccines #big government #memes

[anthonybialy]

Bill of Wronged

Our rights have been taken to not be safe.  People get every benefit otherwise.  Attempting to manipulate the universe on our behalf is super kind of authorities who expect the gesture to compensate for not actually doing it.  We only get a vote technically.

Wondering how could one be in favor of guns is popular amongst those not into free will.  Sanctimony about how implements hurt bodies and feelings replaces not thinking out that naughty types might obtain them, perhaps even in defiance of legal restrictions.  The mere existence of that choice dissuades villains from initiating nefarious plans.

Figuring what crimes never occurred is hard to measure.  But it’s easy to see what happens when the only people restricted from bearing arms are those who comply with laws.

Trying to get virus season going again is for your benefit.  You’re acting a bit too independently.  A sequel scare might get you to remember who rules over you.  Visionary faux epidemiologists have to plan panic ahead, as one can’t spring fear a month before an election.  The timing of picking a new president is surely coincidental.  Paranoia is a symptom immune to vaccination.

Thoroughness is not a virtue when the right to shop elsewhere is treated as a sin.  The fear of an even worse shutdown sequel serves as an extension of the sickly notion that government should and can be responsible for one’s health.  You don’t get a choice.  That’s supposed to make you feel reassured.

Treating companies who heal you as Satan’s minions is lamentably consistent.  Contempt is similar to what simply must be justified demonization of the gun industry, as they couldn’t merely be offering a product customers want.  Shooting bowling pins in the woods is almost as fun as scaring off potential muggers and tyrants.  But aspiring buyers are told they’re beholden to diabolical shootie-manufacturing conglomerates that would profit any way they could and truly enjoy doing so off suffering.  Compensation for offering something we want is tough to accumulate, anyway, what with inflation remaining a stubborn problem ever since corporations realized they could exploit the populace for excessive profit just after Joe Biden took office.

Pretending money isn’t involved makes life costly.  We’re trying complimentary living right now to see how much more expensive existence can get.  You may notice your consent wasn’t sought.  Being aware of losing liberty is the extent of rights. so be grateful perception remains legal.  That’s only because it’s tough to ban.  The Biden White House’s efforts to control social media narratives through coercion show they try their hardest.  It’s too bad they couldn’t invest efforts to suppress narratives into learning trades.

A caring government lovingly protects serfs from the torture of choice.  Politicians who’ve never run businesses dream of reducing options down to one.  The ensuing dream world will just like what happens when government kindly consolidates industries and takes your money without asking.

Bad examples to avoid will have to count as progress.  Your rulers show their contempt for profit by taking as much of it as possible.  They spend it at will to illustrate the peril of greed.  A biblical situation leads to losing niceties such as options.  Imposing unwieldy burdens upon amalgamations is justified by demonizing them as cruel indulgers of decadence.  Similar logic leads to thinking efficiency means reducing options, not multiple options reducing supply.

It’s their fault for both charging too much and not offering enough.  Those who think the only crime is paying bills also coincidentally double as enemies of capitalism, which as a reminder is another name for trading.  Dragging down others because they have nothing which would enable them to participate flaunts a distinct lack of empathy.

If you want to spend six or seven years which could be spent getting a plumbing business going instead majoring in political science, don’t expect to pay.  College shouldn’t cost anything, at least according to attendees.  Students who take classes in self-righteousness specialize in claiming they benefit society, which is a common delusion amongst the least useful graduates.  Humans who actually help went into business for themselves and contributed to society functioning as a byproduct.  I thought liberals believed in collective benefits.

Endless interventions are based in the seemingly reasonable and wholly delusional notion that life should feature protections.  Wanting to be free of fear is as natural as it is impossible.  Evidence isn’t going to deter a plucky hero like your incumbent executive.  We’re learning the notion does indeed alter our world.  The problem is it’s for the worse.  Making an impact on the world is easy as long as you don’t care what kind.

Deciding which amendments they exploit while scoffing at them is how de facto autocrats respect our Constitution.  They’re free to say any moronic thing they want while law-abiding firearms carriers keep them safe.  You don’t have to worry about sluggish trials or, if you’re a Biden, testifying against yourself.  Meanwhile, the country is presently propped up by states possessing the option to have rights.  Liberals would quarter troops, but only if they work for the IRS.  They endure the cruel and unusual punishment of having to live with themselves.

#rights #Constitutiion #guns #shutdowns #big government #gun control #free market #incentives

[ongovernment71]

#government #quotes #quotations #freedom #liberty #constitution #quoteoftheday #politics #political quotes #democracy #republic #republicans #democrats #liberals #threat to freedom #big government

[jessica-marie-baumgartner]

#big government #control #technocracy #corporatocracy #fascism #truth #the state

[aspiringbogwitch]

TikTok

“This is Jonathan Greenblatt and he’s the CEO of the Anti Defamation League, and you need to hear what he said on a phone call. He’s very, very, very concerned about the younger generation being brainwashed by social media and TikTok is a huge fear of his.

“They have always had the power to spread misinformation and propaganda and of course, the media co-signs it, and before this app existed it was very hard to get the truth out.”

#free palestine #free gaza #gaza war #gaza strip #palestine #anti zionisim #anti defamation league #adl #jonathan greenblatt #ceasefire #TikTok #spread the truth #big government #corporate lies

[idroolinmysleep]

Wayne Thorburn has been active in the Republican Party of Texas since 1960 and served as executive director from 1977 to 1983. Back then, he said, “the philosophical or ideological thing that motivated people to work for the Republican Party was a general conservative political philosophy that emphasized local government, limited government. The main thrust of it was future oriented.” The GOP’s strongholds at the time were Houston and Dallas, while Democrats dominated rural Texas. The past few decades have seen a geographic realignment. Democrats now control four of the state’s five biggest cities, while Republican support is increasingly concentrated in rural areas. “These are people who are not upwardly mobile,” Thorburn said of today’s Republican-base voters. “They’re not looking to the future. They want to go back again to some perceived way of life, whether it be the Protestant work ethic, whether it be white society, whether it be small-town [life], whatever.”

As the GOP’s constituency changed from predominantly urban to predominantly rural, so did its priorities. … The goal of today’s Republican Party, Thorburn said, is “using the power of the state to advance these cultural values. It’s totally different from the small-government, free-enterprise conservative values that the party represented fifteen years ago.”

Remember this the next time some lunkhead tries to tell you that Republicans are all about small government.

#Texas #Republicans #Republican Party #GOP #politics #big government

[trutown-the-bard]

Any decision that doesn’t stop the government from handing out those loans in the first place isn’t a decision worth making.

#student loans #Joe Biden #big government