Showing posts with label Medicaid. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medicaid. Show all posts

Monday, August 24, 2020

New Newspeak



Sometimes I, like George Orwell, believe that liberal brains are mis-wired and they are “unable to process.” It seems that they have an uncanny way of offering up arguments that, by their mystical quality, sound possible ... but fall apart upon closer inspection. The following is a comment on a recent blog post here that has Swiss cheese holes all through it:

People yearn for simple ways to describe complex issues. In the political realm, unlike science, the simplest solution is too often a short term fix, which fails in the long run due to those pesky unintended consequences.

This is Trump's appeal: He offers simple solutions. A Wall to stem illegal immigration, Tariffs to punish China, Hydroxychloriquine, cancelling Treaties, on and on. The ramifications of his actions are beyond his ability to process. It will take a long tome to fix the mess he has created.”

 A few observations:

- William of Ocean did not say the his “razor” only applied to science. He obviously meant that the simpler solution applied across the board.

- How does this commenter know that Trump’s solutions will fail in the long run ...  does he have a Magic 8 Ball? And does his observation imply that they are working at least in the short term? The wall and Trump’s standing up to China are seminal events that, I predict, will make the history books.

- Trump’s jettisoning of the Paris Climate Accord and the Iran Nuclear Deal was legit because they were NOT treaties since they had never been ratified by Congress. The remake of NAFTA WAS ratified by Congress.

- Are these Biden solutions also short-term: the Green New Deal, huge tax increases, open borders, eliminate cash bail, defund the police, no fracking, Medicaid for All (including illegals), more regulations, gut our armed forces, eliminate prisons, rewrite our history, more regulations, voting from prison, scuttle tariffs, Socialism, etc.?


Bottom line: With many of these cockamamie Democrat proposals, there is no long-term ...


STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Friday, August 07, 2020

Headlines


‘She is absolutely our No. 1 draft pick’: GOP pines for Rice as Biden VP pick

Private payroll growth slows sharply in July amid spike in virus

Trump suggests DOJ uncovered ‘breathtaking’ evidence  of misconduct in Russian probe

Watch: Democrats refuse to condemn Antifa at Senate hearing

Biden hits back at reporter asking if he took a cognitive test: ‘Are you a junkie?’

Trump banned Epstein from Mar-a-Largo after sex criminal hit on member’s daughter, book claims

Report: Biden narrowed VP pick down to Kamala Harris and Susan Rice

Charles Hurt: Nadler calls riots ‘myth’ — then blames them on Trump

Missouri votes latest to approve Medicaid expansion

Trump says coronavirus death toll ‘is what it is’ as he insists pandemic is ‘under control’ in U.S.

25% of mail-in ballots in Brooklyn June primaries declared invalid

Trump: I want $600 unemployment benefits to continue

STAND UP FOR AMERICA!

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

Headlines


Voters in deep-red Oklahoma weigh Medicaid expansion as virus cases soar

Top CEOs see business impact from coronavirus lingering through 2021

LOL, Iran issues arrest warrant for Trump over death of Soleimani

Supreme Court strikes down abortion safety law

Schumer, Pelosi to McConnell: Move on coronavirus relief

NY malls can’t open without air systems that filter coronavirus, Cuomo says

Oklahoma DA hits rioters with terrorism charges — ‘This is not Seattle’

New Jersey Democrats charged with mail-in voter fraud

House Dems propose strengthening Congress’ contempt powers to break administration’s stonewalls

Supreme Court leaves CFBP standing, but backs president’s ability to fire director

One dead and another critical after ANOTHER CHAZ/CHOP shooting

Over 60 shot, 16 killed, during weekend in Mayor Lightfoot’s Chicago

Saturday, February 01, 2020

Headlines


Trump pushes forward conservative transformation of Medicaid

Trump impeachment trial: Senators ask final questions before critical witness vote

Republicans could move to quick acquittal vote ... claim momentum ...

Graham there are ‘53 Republican votes to call Hunter Biden’

Wilbur Ross says coronavirus could bring jobs back to the U.S. from China

GM resurrecting Hummer as ab all-electric ‘super truck’ with 1,000 horsepower

Mexican economy suffers first contraction in decade ...

Impeachment poll: 47% for removal, 48% against

U.S. economy grew at moderate 2.1% rate in fourth quarter

Economic growth looks even weaker this quarter virus now a wild card

Fed pumps another $82 billion ...

Netanyahu in Moscow to discuss Mideast peace plan

Friday, May 17, 2019

Income Disparity


Much of the impetus behind the blind drive to a socialist government in the United States derives from the disparity between the rich and the non-rich. This disparity has demonstratively grown in recent years to the point where the super rich and their lavish lifestyles are visible examples to the rest of us of a problem with capitalism. The simple solution to the simple-minded becomes socialism ... that economic policy that is inculcated into our children from kindergarten through graduate school by those pedagogues living in their left-canted ivory towers.

Yes, America now embraces snippets of socialism —  Medicaid, the Earned Income Tax Credit, food stamps, etc. But we don’t yet have the public ownership of the factors of production or services like in Venezuela or Cuba ... where the disparity of income shifts to that between the governors and the governed.

Can this disparity be fixed under capitalism. Yes, it has in the past through anti-trust legislation ... which should be resurrected to deal with the new technology trusts that have reared their ugly heads in the 21st century ... whereas fixing this disparity with a socialists regime can only be accomplished by bringing down our capitalist government ... the goose laying these golden income-disparity eggs.

The time is also ripe for another capitalistic solution to income disparity other than the Bernie Sanders lunacy. And, I can’t believe that ham-fisted laws that restrict corporate compensation ratios will fix things. But perhaps our tax code could be used ... maybe by making taxes on capital gains progressive like that on incomes ... since much of these stratospheric executive compensations come from stock options? And finally, eliminating the  “carried interest” tax loophole that the Republicans promised to deep-six three years ago. What’s the delay Donald?

Afterward: Restrict this progressive taxing proposal to only capital gains achieved though stock option grants.


Monday, January 21, 2019

Headlines


Mueller team disputes aspects of BuzzFeed report on Trump, Cohen

This Indiana town is selling a single-family house for $1

Consumer sentiment plunges to lowest level since 2016 election

Women's March co-chair refuses to acknowledge Israel's right to exist

Trump exempts many tribes from Medicaid work rules

Workers going unpaid during shutdown owe $438 million in rent and mortgage payments this month

Report: Gavin Newsom running ads in swing states ...

France: Yellow Vests protest for tenth straight weekend

DNC says it was target of Russian cyberattacks after 2018 midterms

Winter storm grounds hundreds of Midwest flights at start of holiday weekend

At least 66 killed, 85 missing in Mexico pipeline blast ...

U.S. missile defense assent says North Korea remains 'extraordinary threat'


Friday, October 26, 2018

Headlines


Tromp decries 'political violence' after years of stoking it

Strong economy halts 10 years of Medicaid growth as more Americans earn too much to qualify

NYT: China and Russia listened in on Trump's personal phone calls ...

Media blasts Trump for 'hate parade,' not blaming himself for bomb scares

Poll: Feinstein holds wide lead in California Senate race

America's closest Asian allies are all pushing for closer ties -- with India

Bannon holds rally for Republican candidates but none show up ...

Fact check: Yes, Andrew Gillum signed radical group's pledge

Pompeo was 'snubbed' by Beijing. Now China wants to be friendlier

China will never give up an inch of territory, defense minister says

Inside China's internment camps: Tear gas, Teasers and textbooks ...

Romney on Democtats' bomb scares: 'Hate acts follow hate speech'

Saturday, January 20, 2018

Headlines


DOJ asks Supreme Court to rule on Trump's right to end DACA

US could topple Russia and Saudi Arabia as world's largest oil producer this year, IEA says

Stock market 31% gain during Trump -- best since FDR!

... 'Entire Mueller investigation is a lie, built on a foundation of corruption' ...

Hungary has arrest warrant out for ex-Trump aide Gorka

Trump's approval is the lowest for any president one year into his term, WSJ/NBC poll says

3.6 million 'DREAMERS' in USA ...

Report: Schumer won't negotiate immigration unless Tom Cotton is excluded ...

Trump contradicts Kelly, says border wall stance 'never changed'

Donald Trump is the only person in Washington who doesn't seem worried about a shutdown

Paper: Sexual harassment, assault rifle at UN ...

Poll: 64% agree with work requirement for Medicaid ...

Sunday, January 14, 2018

Headlines


'John Kelly is the man Fred Trump always wanted Donald Trump to be'

Trump lawyer releases letter from porn star denying affair with POTUS

CNN says 'shithole' 36 times [in one night] ...

School [UMass Amherst] limits free speech to one hour per day ...

Trump administration OKs Medicaid rollback in Kentucky

California killing its last nuclear plant, putting locals in $85 million bind

Saudi richest man running out of time to make freedom deal ...

Amazon Jeff Bezos announces deal to give $33 million scholarships to 1000 illegal immigrants

Judge: Trump's racism may have been key to ending DACA

Ryan says environmental reform unlikely this year

Trump physical : excellent health ... approval back up to 46% ...

Spielberg endorses Oprah, would make am 'absolutely brilliant president'

Thursday, November 09, 2017

Headlines


All from Internet news sites. Guess which are from The Daily Caller?

Democrats euphoric after Tuesday election romp

Trump's Pentagon nominee says it's 'insane' civilians can buy assault rifles

VA: Gillespie loses by 8 points (Trump only lost by 6) ...

Kurdish leader: Kurds 'revisiting' ties to U.S. after Trump refuses support

Maine voters approve expanding Medicaid under Obamacare

Texas gunman was in mental hospital in 2012 -- until he escaped

Fog grounds Trump's surprise DMZ visit ...

Experts: Chinese investments flowing into Brazil 'like a tsunami'

Obamacare sign ups surge despite Trump cuts

US is running out of ISIS terrorists to bomb

Menendez juror asks judge: What is a Senator?

House tax bill to impose 2-year holding period for 'carried interest'

Friday, May 05, 2017

Confusopolies


Scott Adams is right again ... nobody really understands all the ins and outs of Obamacare or Trumpcare ... "confusopolies" -- laws designed to confound voters with complexity ... see: Dilbert Blog. However, there are some Occam's razors that can cut through some of this complexity. Let me offer a few that I think clarifies things a mite:

- In 1980, healthcare costs consumed 10% of the US economy. Today, after over 36 years of "solutions" this sector has grown to almost 18% ... see:  Commonwealth Fund. So, none of these schemes, including Obamacare, has bent down the cost curve. And, it seems problematic that Trumpcare will succeed where other confusopolies have failed.

- One reason for such a large share of our GNP, that healthcare consumes, is the false notion that healthcare insurance (including Medicaid and Medicare) equals healthcare. For years every American, including immigrants ... legal and illegal ...have been guaranteed healthcare. When you insert a middleman between a patient and a doctor, you by definition increase costs. The bill of goods that liberals have sold to Americans is that everyone needs healthcare insurance (i.e., a middleman). Why? Since this is one major reason for our inflation in healthcare costs?

- Flash ... the liberals ultimate solution to this confusopoly, single-payer healthcare (i.e. socialized medicine), does not eliminate these insurance middlemen ... it just replaces them with government bureaucrats. When was the last time that government was more efficient and effective than private industry? Conservative Charles Krauthammer believes that, within 7 years years, we will be forced into having a single payer system ... the sotto voce goal of Obamacare. This will mean the ultimate distruction of what was once the world's  premier healthcare system.

- Another reason that U.S. healthcare costs are so high is that, because of the insertion of insurance companies between patients and doctors, free-market forces have disappeared. A patient who gets a knee replacement does not know (nor care) if it costs $2,000 or $20,000 ... and, in fact, seldom actually sees the ultimate bill? So, what do you think the cost turns out to be?

- To make matters even worse, liberals have sold Americans on the notion that, even without mandated healthcare insurance, people can wait until they are sick to buy such insurance ... or what has been known as "no denial for pre-existing conditions." This is like allowing you to buy home fire insurance just when the fire engines are on their way ... clearly fiscal insanity.

The real resolution for run-away healthcare costs, if the American people want a solution, would be disintermediation ... the elimination of the healthcare middlemen ... and the unleashing of free-market forces. Trumpcare takes baby steps in this direction. Will it, or its Senate remake, continue on this path? The 2018 midterm elections will be determinative. Let's hope Krauthammer is wrong for a change.

An easy way to tell whether the American consumer will be the winner when the Obamacare fix is finished ... watch to see if the stock prices of the healthcare insurers tank. If so, we win.

Monday, April 17, 2017

Headlines


These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

NKorea [failed] missile launch hacked?

Failure to sanction China helped North Korea, former officials say

Pence's [Indiana] Medicaid experiment confounds expectations

Americans owe $1 trillion in credit card debt

Massacre of New York teens tied to Central American MS-13 gang

Report: Melania and Baron Trump will move to the White House this summer

29 people shot in less than 18 hours in Chicago ...

Fox personality wonders if Speaker Ryan is sabotaging Trump

Turks vote to expand Erdogan power ...

DOE prepares studies determining green energy's affect on the [power] grid

Ex-acting CIA chief: Trump made North Korea situation worse

Mystery surrounds Obama's mass clemencies

Sunday, March 26, 2017

Headlines


These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites. Guess which ones came from Politico?

Trump gets tamed by Washington

President regrets: Should have done tax cuts first ...

Poll: Majority of Americans want independent commission investigating Trump-Russia ties

China sees unstoppable momentum of globalization ...

House Democrats new Obamacare strategy: Get out of the way

Israeli teenager who threatened Jewish institutions may have been paid by foreign governments

Ivanka Trump's Secret Service detail is infuriating ritzy DC neighborhood

French city of Lille on lock down after multiple shootings

Imam calls for killing Jews in Montreal mosque sermon ...

Canadian Parliament officially condemns criticism of Islam

Tourists flee BELLAGIO casino in Vegas as burglar in pig mask opens fire ...

Medicaid babies: NM 72%, Nev 64%, NY 51%, Calif 50% ... MORE ...

Friday, March 24, 2017

Death Spiral


"You really don't have health insurance if you can't afford to use it."

On TV this morning there was a representative from Tennessee (who is also a doctor) commenting on the overhaul of Obamacare. He sat me up when he related that 60-70% of hospital bills in his state were not getting paid because the deductibles on the insurance plans under Obamacare are so high that they force patients to pay these bills out-of-pocket ... for which they have not the money. In other words, even though an additional 5 or 6 million people may have gotten insurance under Obamacare (an equal number falling under expanded-Medicaid, paid for by the rest of us), these people -- along will millions more who lost what was called by Obama "bad apple" insurance and have had to purchase these high-deductible, high-premium, high-co-pay policies -- cannot use this insurance for the reasons stated above.

Now you understand why hospitals are under such financial distress, why emergency rooms have not been emptied as promised, and why Obamacare is so unpopular (except for those being subsidized under expanded Medicaid). I don't care what phony polls may say. There are still enough people receiving health insurance under their businesses or under Medicaid/Medicare that the system has not yet completely collapsed. But Obamacare is in a death spiral because it is a jackass ... a race horse designed by a committee of bureaucrats who don't believe in free markets ... and who colluded with the insurance and drug companies with the notion that they knew better than Adam Smith. Well they didn't ... and they left a pile of steaming bleep for the Republicans.

Can Obamacare be fixed by Ryan/Trump? I am inclined to agree with Rand Paul ... let's euthanize this jackass and design a transition back to the free market ... and, in the process, save our hospitals. In the meantime make the insurance and drug companies compete for our money instead of colluding with the politicians.

Thursday, February 16, 2017

Headlines


These headlines are real ... they have all been discovered on Internet news sites

After likening Trump to Hitler, journalist are upset they are not being called on

WSJ: Spies keeping intelligence from president ...

Top former intel official: Trump has to clean house at the CIA

Fear spreads across Paris as riots in suburbs spread into city ...

Congressman staffer knocked unconscious by anti-Trump protester

CA's Medicaid enrollment jumps 57% ...

FBI releases documents related to Trump's 1973 racial discrimination case

Vigil: The Deep State bumps off General Flynn. Who's the next target?

NYT reporter apologizes for calling Melania Trump 'a hooker'

Report: ESPN losing 10,000 subscribers a day over its political left turn

Ashton Kutcher blows kiss to McCain during hearing

Former NSA analyst claims intel community will go 'nuclear' against Trump

Friday, November 11, 2016

Obamacare


I am no health-care expert like Zeke Emanuel or Jonathan Gruber, but I do know that Obamacare is a race car designed and built by a kindergarten finger-painting class. Instead of Obummer's promise of reducing the cost of family health-care insurance by an average of $2,500 per year, many "bad apple" insurance plans were replaced by rotten apple ones and costs are skyrocketing. Supposedly 20 million more people have health insurance (a number I doubt ... like just about everything else the Obummer administration claims) ... and, of those, over 90% are in a form of Medicaid.

But just looking at the Obamacare insurance premiums, co-pays and deductibles suggest that, for those poor schmoes who pay full freight, this is not traditional health insurance. It is a bastardized form of major medical. This is because of astronomical deductibles often in five figures as well as high co-pays ... just like old-time major medical plans. However, because of the need to pay for the free-riders, their premiums are many times higher than what they would have been previously. This is a classical screw job ... particularly because, if they don't buy this dreck, then they get fined by the IRS (or as John Roberts called it, a "tax") and still have no insurance.

I can't close this short indictment of Obamacare without a big "thank you" to Senator Marco Rubio who stopped the effort to subsidize health-care insurance companies for their losses. Without his blockage, the Obummer administration would have papered over these losses that have subsequently forced many insurance companies to drop out of this ill-constructed program. If he hadn't done this, the U.S. taxpayer unknowingly would be paying billions more to keep this program afloat ... see: New York Times Article.

And, by the way, this law was supposed to empty hospital Emergency Rooms of those without insurance. Have you been to one lately? They are just as crowded as before ... another Obummer fib.

Monday, January 28, 2013

Six Old Men on Entitlement Reform

Not the Real Signers

This blog entry is an user-submission by a reader (Brad Stroup).  I must relay the fact that Brad is generally of the liberal persuasion … as are most of his friends.  But this areopagitica is very conservative in its tone and purpose.  I will not divulge the other five signers of this pledge other than to indicate that their first priority is their country.  Here is their argument for entitlement reform: 
We six old men [all from Tucson, Arizona)] oppose the “me first” culture of the elderly who demand no reforms in entitlement especially in “retirement” states like Arizona.  Most of us over 65 have been guaranteed subsidies in the form of Social Security and Medicare for the rest of our lives that far exceed our contributions.   If we include the “baby-boomers” retiring in the next few years, we elderlies have more annual income than people our age have ever had, and yet we expect the rest of you to take care of us in our leisure years.  Thanks to the profligate generosity of our nation over the past 50 years, we have created an approaching train wreck no one wants to face.  
The AARP’s lobbying efforts to protect old people at everyone else’s expense make no moral or economic sense.  The nation simply cannot afford Medicare and Social Security without some cost reductions.  Medicare co-pays to patients should be increased; Social Security retirement ages should be increased to 67 or 70.  Both entitlements should be means-tested so that those who have more do not take from those whose needs are great.  If we don’t reform these programs now, they won’t be there when younger people go to the window for benefits.
To my amazement, most of the return-e-mail dissenters to this pledge were usually liberals … often radical (and semi-famous) liberals … offering lots of AARP-inspired me-first excuses ranging from “I paid for this benefit and don’t you dare touch it” to “when defense spending is brought under control, then our entitlements will be affordable” (thinking defense spending represents “over 55% of Federal spending" – a liberal chimera.)  For the real facts, see: Heritage Foundation Analysis).  And, if you want to see how an uber-liberal mind works, please see the link I received back as justification for this original outrageous statement: War Resisters League Rationales.  I guess [too] many Americans believe Obama when he said [to Boehner], “[government] spending is not a problem.”

I have volunteered to Brad to be added to the “List of Six.”

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Medical Fads

When was the last time a child you know had his/her tonsils out? How about an adenoidectomy? A study in New York City in the 1930s had over 90% of its children with tonsillitis resulting in surgery or a recommendation of same. Today the equivalent statistic is below 1% (see: The Pediatric Journal).  Of late, I even can’t recall anyone I know getting his/her appendix removed. Yes, I know, the use of antibiotics may have a lot to do with the dramatic reduction in these medical procedures, but it can’t be the total reason. May I suggest that medical fads exist and that this may be one reason for our spiraling health-care costs … particularly when someone else pays for things?

What are the latest oft-expensive medical procedures that deserve to be evaluated for such faddish “crowding in?” Maybe botox injections, cellulite reductions, other vanity plastic-surgeries (Nancy Pelosi per esempio), C-sections, and maybe even some joint replacement procedures (see: Cracked Article). Yes, I know of those people where a knee replacement was a medical necessity, but I still see or hear of others where it may have been palliative or even faddish. (I, myself had been recommended for such an operation.) And, how about those ads on TV that push those fancy self-propelled wheelchairs?

Too often in the news we see of some medical quackery that operate clinics that will perform some expensive Medicare- or Medicaid-paid procedure or surgery over and over again on anyone who is willing to submit to this charlatanism. Why do these patients offer themselves up for such suffering? Often, I think, for bragging rights, borderline masochism, vanity, or even Munchausen’s syndrome.  Estimates of the “waste, fraud and abuse” in our medical system run into the tens of billion dollars per year (see: HHS Testimony), but somehow we can never seem to reduce this number significantly.

May I offer that some targeted and repeated public-service announcements, pointing out these medical fads and their consequences, might be an interesting path to follow? Escalating medical co-pays based upon the degree of faddishness involved might also be tried? These approaches do seem to be working for reducing cigarette smoking.

Afterthought:  I don't know why I didn't first suggest this solution to fix waste, fraud and abuse in the medical system ... reintroduce market forces into medical payments (Ryan's approach).


Monday, August 13, 2012

The Upcoming Debates -- Ryan


In the upcoming debates, there are ten questions I would like to be asked of Paul Ryan:

1) You were a member of the Simpson-Bowles commission and voted against its final recommendations which President Obama ignored anyway ... costing us two additional years of huge budget deficits. If you could do it all over, would you have voted for these reforms?

2) You have been widely castigated for putting forward two federal budgets that, although they passed the House, died in the Senate.  You have been around Washington for a number of years and, assumedly knew what Harry Reid would do, so why did you allow yourself to be subject to such political ridicule for no real national economic benefit?  

3) The Democrats are continuing to repeat the mantra that your tax reform proposals will cut taxes for the rich while increasing taxes on middle-class Americans.  Without getting too deep into the weeds, how can you simply explain exactly how your and Romney’s current tax proposals will affect the various classes of our citizens?

4) Your suggested reforms to Medicare are being used by your opposition to frighten our senior citizens.  How can you here assure our seniors that they will NOT be pushed off a cliff in their wheelchairs?

5) For American citizens, below age 55, you have proposed a Medicaid voucher program whereby they can shop around for health insurance that suits their needs better.  Democrats retort that these premium supports will fall further and further behind their actual medical care costs … and the deficiency will come out of their pockets.  How do you respond to such charges?

6) Your solution to our Medicaid problems involves block-granting states federal money so that they can solve the escalating costs in these programs each in their own way.  How can you be sure that this process will not be equally inflationary and, instead of one large national medical care cost problem for indigent citizens, we will not end up with fifty separate state problems.

7) You voted for Medicare, Part B under President Bush.  If you had a Mulligan on this vote, would you do it again?

8) In order to move toward a balanced federal budget, I assume you also would pare back spending in the discretionary portion of the federal budget.  Please specify what your top three priorities would be ... and how far would you go with Defense Department cuts?

9) You have virtually no foreign policy experience and, since you are only a heartbeat away from becoming the leader of the Western World, what are your foreign policy concerns and priorities?

10) You are widely respected by your House colleagues for your camaraderie and working relations.  What role do you see yourself playing, if you are elected, in helping Romney push his legislative agenda though what might be a hostile Congress.

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Safety Net


Mitt Romney recently said that he is not worried about the poor ... they have a safety net ... and if the net is broken, he will fix it.  Most "pundits" on the left and the right consider this a major gaff that Romney needs to walk back.  I'm not quite so sure.  I believe that the safety net that our European-style welfare economy has constructed is nearly as universal as humanly possible ... and our politicians constantly vie to outdo each other finding even newer benefits.  I recently wrote about how the poor in this country are now getting free cell phones (see: Alphabet Soup).  Now I read that our safety net includes another goodie -- nearly free high-speed Internet access (see: NY Post Article).  Wow!  We middle-class schlubs are paying north of $50 per month for broadband Internet access.  So this reduced fee ($10 per month) then amounts to about another $480 per year of cost forgiveness (this time, courtesy of The Barry) to those who already have a myriad of government benefits.

I would really love to see a definitive financial spreadsheet of all this government largess (Section-8 housing, heating assistance, Medicaid, free school lunches, free cell phones, SSI, cash aid to dependent families, food stamps/EBT cards, free transportation, earned-income tax credits, reduced Internet costs, educational grants, etc. etc.) that a go-getting welfare family does, in fact, receive.  I suspect such a compendium would show few if any holes in the safety net and shock the American public into a movement toward real welfare reform.  Were this to happen, Romney's words may not be so damaging after all.