Paying Americans Not to Work – Committee To Unleash Prosperity

A Family of Four Can Receive over $100,000 Annualized Equivalent in Cash and
Benefits in Three States, and over $80,000 in 14 States, with No One Working

Casey Mulligan is a Professor of Economics at the University of Chicago, who served as Chief Economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisors. EJ Antoni is a Research Fellow for Regional Economics in The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis. Both are Senior Fellows at the Committee to Unleash Prosperity.

Executive Summary
In a previous study in 2021 we estimated that with supplemental unemployment benefits of up to $600 a month, food stamp expansions, child tax credit payments, and other special Covid-related benefits to families without anyone working could exceed $120,000 in many states. Those extra benefits had a highly negative effect on employment, particularly in the states with the highest benefits.

Those temporary benefits have expired but this study finds that even with existing unemployment benefits and the dramatic recent expansion of ObamaCare subsidies, a spouse would have to earn more than $80,000 a year from a 40 hour a week job to have the same after-tax income as certain families with two unemployed spouses receiving government benefits. In these states, working 40 hours a week and earning $20 an hour would mean a slight REDUCTION in income compared to two parents receiving unemployment benefits and health care subsidies.

This study also finds:
• In 24 states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies for a family of four with both parents not working are the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household income.
• In 5 states, those two programs provide the same family with both parents not working the annualized equivalent of at least the national median household income and benefits.
• In 14 states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies are the equivalent to a head of household earning $80,000 in salary, plus health insurance benefits.
• This is a higher wage than is earned by the national median secondary school teacher, electrician, trucker, machinist, and many other jobs.
• In more than half the states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies exceed the value of the salary and benefits of the average firefighter, truck driver, machinist, or retail associate in those states.
• In a dozen states, unemployment benefits and ACA subsidies exceed the value of the salary and benefits of the average teacher, construction worker, or electrician in those states.
• A family of four with income over $227,000 qualifies for ACA subsidies in all states and families earning over $300,000 a year still qualify for ACA subsidies in 40 states and DC.

Fig. 1: Highest Benefit States for Not Working and National Median Income Plus Benefits for Selected Occupations

Disincentive crisis: Many states pay families unemployment benefits larger than job salaries https://committeetounleashprosperity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/Paying-Americans-Not-to-Work.pdf

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America’s Main Street Republicans have a solution to these types of big-government perverse outcomes – one that will deliver a ‘helping hand’ up to a new live of debt elimination and financial security for hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens – rather than ongoing government handouts and debt serfdom.

This dynamic plan will generate federal budget surpluses, state budget surpluses, citizen-centered healthcare, and economic liberty for all Americans.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5516 downloads)

The Ugliest Omnibus Bill Ever – WSJ

Congress will pass a 4,155-page bill most Members will never read.

By The Editorial Board, Dec. 20, 2022 6:40 pm ET – Excerpts:

The 117th Congress has been the most spendthrift in history, and this week it plans to go out with one final bipartisan back-slapping hurrah—a 4,155-page omnibus spending bill that is the worst in history. This is no way to govern in a democracy, but here we are….

Democrats failed in their duty to pass normal spending bills, so they are using this omnibus to finance all of government with $1.65 trillion for fiscal 2023. But wait, it’s worse. Congress is also adding major policy changes many of which deserve separate votes or couldn’t pass by themselves—from healthcare to presidential election rules to regulation of the beauty industry (see nearby).

A bill this large—1,500 pages more than last year’s omnibus—can’t be all bad, and this contains a few bright spots. One is $858 billion for defense, a 9.7% increase. That’s $45 billion more than President Biden sought, and it will backfill dwindling weapons stocks, give military members a 4.6% pay raise, and help stabilize the naval fleet, among other urgent needs…

Republicans claim they’ve broken the longtime Democratic demand for defense-non-defense spending “parity,” but that’s not clear. The GOP says non-defense discretionary is $787 billion, a 7.9% increase, which is on top of the $4.6 trillion Congress has already spent over two years….

The domestic accounts include increases for food stamps, heating assistance, Pell grants and Head Start. The bill provides a $25 million funding boost for the National Labor Relations Board, which now exists to harass business on behalf of Big Labor. There’s a 30% increase for the Child Care and Development Block Grant Program, which the left hopes to build into a universal entitlement.

Republicans are boasting about a symbolic $275 million cut to the IRS’s annual budget—but that’s a drop in the $80 billion gusher bestowed on the agency in August. The overall discretionary pot holds as much as $16 billion in earmarks—including $656 million in parting gifts for retiring Senate Appropriations Vice Chairman Richard Shelby….

The political process here is as bad as most of the policy. Major changes in law deserve their own debate and vote. Instead, a handful of powerful legislators wrote this vast bill in a backroom. Members can use the need to fund the government as an excuse to say they supported, or opposed, specific provisions as future politics demands.

This didn’t have to be. Congress could pass a short-term funding bill and kick this mess to next year when the GOP House would have more leverage. A few Republicans are suggesting they may try to delay a Senate vote, and please do. For trying to stick the country with this omnibus, Congress should miss Christmas.

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More…

The U.S. Department of Mascara – WSJ

The omnibus bill gives the FDA new power to police the beauty aisle, since it did so well with baby formula.

By The Editorial Board, Dec. 20, 2022 – Excerpts:

Some 3,500 pages into the bill arrives the “Modernization of Cosmetics Regulation Act of 2022,” and by “modernization” Congress means giving the federal bureaucracy more power. Peddlers of lotions and lip gloss now will have to register their facilities, report “adverse events,” and abide by stipulated manufacturing practices. Another section establishes new labeling requirements. The FDA will have power to issue mandatory recalls.

The FDA already has enforcement options to deal with adulterated or misbranded cosmetics, and its regulations preclude or limit certain ingredients such as mercury compounds. Many in the agency will welcome their new power, but note that an FDA official told Congress in 2019: “We believe that most cosmetics on the market in the United States are indeed safe, and in our experience, most firms are responsible actors—they care about consumer safety and the reputations of their brands, and in those rare cases when safety issues do arise, many firms work with us cooperatively to address them.”…

The agency struggles mightily to approve in a timely fashion new drugs that save lives, and the FDA recently failed to head off a nationwide shortage of baby formula, for heaven’s sake. It won’t perform better once it spends more time and money policing eye shadow.

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The 18 Republican Senators who supported this Omnibus monstrosity should further explain how this $1.7 trillion spending bill will aid in the Fed’s battle to bring inflation under control:

Big Spending Bill Is A Big Problem For The Fed’s Inflation Fight -Dec 27, 2022

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Here is a full list of Republican senators who voted in favor of the bill:

• Roy Blunt (Missouri)
• John Boozman (Arkansas)
• Shelley Capito (West Virginia)
• Susan Collins (Maine)
• John Cornyn (Texas)
• Tom Cotton (Arkansas)
• Lindsey Graham (South Carolina)
• Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma)
• Mitch McConnell (Kentucky)
• Jerry Moran (Kansas)
• Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)
• Rob Portman (Ohio)
• Mitt Romney (Utah)
• Mike Rounds (South Dakota)
• Richard Shelby (Alabama)
• John Thune (South Dakota)
• Roger Wicker (Mississippi)
• Todd Young (Indiana)

These 18 Senators, this day, have a golden opportunity to redeem themselves with a new plan for America….

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5514 downloads)

Washington’s earmark largess… more government bloat, snowballing budget deficits, economic stagnation, growing peril for U.S. Dollar…

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WSJ: The GOP Spending Poseurs

House Republicans prove themselves unserious by refusing to ban earmarks.

By Kimberley A. Strassel, Dec. 1, 2022 – Excerpts:

Self-awareness isn’t one of the modern GOP’s strong suits, as House Republicans proved again this week. If the party is still confused as to why voters didn’t trust them in greater numbers, it might consider that it isn’t trustworthy.

Leader Kevin McCarthy in September unveiled to great fanfare the party’s Commitment to America, which vowed that Republicans would “curb wasteful government spending” that feeds inflation and the national debt. Hundreds of Republican candidates stormed their districts, waving Commitment pocket cards and pronouncing on fiscal discipline and oversight.

Then came Wednesday’s first test of whether this was all hot air, and it turns out a fleet of dirigibles wouldn’t have held the gas. California Rep. Tom McClintock moved to repeal the recent party rule allowing earmarks. The caucus routed his motion, voting it down 158-52. Commitment to America? More like Commitment to Spoils.

The vote came despite a vigorous campaign by independent conservative groups. “Earmarks are one of the most corrupt, inequitable, and wasteful practices in the history of Congress,” read a letter signed by representatives of 15 groups, including Heritage Action, Club for Growth, FreedomWorks, Americans for Tax Reform and Citizens Against Government Waste. The groups told lawmakers it was “your first opportunity to demonstrate to taxpayers that the election of a Republican majority in the House will be accompanied by a serious effort to restore and maintain fiscal responsibility.” So much for that.

The GOP swore off earmarks in 2011, when it stood for something other than investigations. But when a Democratic Congress in 2021 announced intentions to bring them back, GOP trough-feeders rushed to sign up. At least in March 2021, the vote was closer: 102-84. But that was before members got hooked on the earmark drug. Some 120 Republicans partook in the subsequent earmark free-for-all, snorting up nearly $5 billion for their states and districts. And the addicts aren’t interested in rehab.

They hide behind GOP appropriators like Arkansas Rep. Steve Womack, who in recent years have draped their spending in the cloak of “constitutional duty.” According to Mr. Womack, spending on specific pork projects is a way of asserting lawmakers’ “authority” to make spending decisions rather than ceding it to the Biden administration. He suggests, with a straight face, that earmarks are central to “our job controlling spending.”

This is hilarious, considering that the GOP continues to cede all spending decisions to the administration outside the isolated pork members siphon back home. Even as the GOP spenders high-fived their earmark triumph, 41 House Republicans on Thursday voted with all Democrats to give the Justice Department $50 million to hand out in grants to create re-entry programs for former prisoners. Attorney General Merrick Garland will have unilateral control over this money—deciding which communities benefit and which nonprofits get a check. In a floor speech on the bill, Mr. McClintock noted that grant making has become the “third-biggest expenditure of the federal government, behind only Social Security and national defense”—costing half a trillion dollars a year, or approximately $4,000 from an average family’s taxes.

Republicans could insist that contracts be competitively bid out. They don’t. They could insist on accountability—conditioning further dollars on the performance of past ones. But that would take work, and it isn’t nearly as much fun as grandstanding as a constitutionalist while bagging $1 million for the St. Louis Symphony (Missouri Sen. Roy Blunt) or $650,000 for feral swine management (Arkansas Sen. John Boozman) or $4.2 million for a sheep experiment station (Idaho Rep. Mike Simpson). Good thing Mr. Biden wasn’t in control of those dollars! Imagine the waste!

If Republicans are that concerned about Biden decisions, they could simply zero out budgets. But that might make people unhappy. Or Congress could do its job by actually debating, marking up and passing its 12 annual spending bills on time. That’s something no Congress has managed to do in 25 years.

Rousing a party to do uncomfortable things is the leader’s job. But on the topic of earmarks, Mr. McCarthy put his finger to the wind and took the bold stance of . . . not weighing in. Is it any wonder he’s having trouble convincing 218 Republicans he has the mettle for the job? Meanwhile, the Senate’s spender-in-chief, Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, is using Mr. McCarthy’s organizing travails as reason to bleed taxpayers more. The theory is that House Republicans won’t be able to corral the votes for a start-of-year spending solution. The answer is for Senate Republicans to sign off on another eye-watering black-hole omnibus, full of (what else?) earmarks.

What an opening impression. If Republicans can’t muster the backbone to get rid of earmarks that are an affront to spending discipline, good governance and federalism, voters won’t muster the enthusiasm to keep them in charge.

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Washington Republicans have no ‘backbone’ to oppose Washington Democrats and their destructive plans for America, benefiting, paradoxically, wealthy elites and those riding welfare gravy train.

While Washington Republicans have no plan to strengthen the lot of America’s hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing U.S. citizens – the true ‘backbone of America…

Main Street Republicans do have a plan:

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5472 downloads)

WSJ: Republican Party Masochists in Congress

GOP division and disarray on Capitol Hill bode ill for the next two years.

By The Editorial Board, Updated Dec. 17, 2022 – Excerpts:

… Democrats in the House minority have completed a seamless change of House leadership to a younger generation with little internal dissent. But Republicans, who ostensibly won the majority, can’t even find the votes to elect a GOP Speaker, much less agree on budget strategy or much of anything else.

Meanwhile, across the Capitol, Senate Republicans are doing Mr. McCarthy no favors by joining Democrats to pass a giant omnibus spending bill for fiscal 2023. Most House Republicans prefer a continuing resolution to fund the government only into early next year, when Republicans will have more leverage as the House majority.

But Mitch McConnell and the Senate GOP don’t trust that Mr. McCarthy can deliver in January, or so they say. They won’t even give him the chance. The more likely explanation is that Senate Republicans also want one more spending blowout this Congress as much as Senate Democrats do. Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby is the ranking Republican on the Appropriations Committee, and he seems intent on going out with big spending bang.

The result could be a spending bill nearly as large as the $1.9 trillion March 2021 Covid relief bill that triggered inflation. The omnibus bill would lock in baseline domestic non-defense spending far above levels that would have been expected in 2023 given normal increases pre-Covid. Defense would also get a spending boost, but the omnibus would set the budget through next September.

The new House GOP majority wouldn’t be able to use their power of the purse to influence priorities until fiscal 2024. The higher spending, and thus larger budget deficits, would also make pro-growth tax cuts that much more difficult to sell politically. If there’s a recession, Democrats will propose even more spending, and Republicans will propose what?

Democrats run the House until January, so Mr. McCarthy can’t stop an omnibus bill. But the lack of coordination between the House and Senate GOP bodes ill for any coherent agenda over the next two years. Senate Democrats and the White House will have a united front and could roll over a divided GOP.

The GOP dysfunction since Election Day won’t matter if it teaches Republicans that their only chance of influencing policy is to stay united. On the evidence so far, however, Republicans are the gang that couldn’t shoot straight—except at one another.

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Again… “Democrats will propose even more spending, and Republicans will propose what?

The lack of any type of master plan by Washington Republicans to get America back on course is astonishing. There is no strategy to restore economic liberty and free market dynamics. No strategy to reduce the entitlements crisis and re-incentivize work. No plan to dial back inflation and revitalize long-term economic growth. No politically feasible plan to restore financial security for American Families and eliminate federal budget deficits.

America’s Main Street Republicans do have a plan:

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5470 downloads)

Politics, December 13, 2022

Gallup: Government Remains Americans’ Top Problem in 2022

by Megan Brenan

Story Highlights

• Average 19% in 2022 name some aspect of government as biggest problem
• 16% cite inflation and 12% the economy in general, on average
• Satisfaction with direction of the U.S. averages 18%, similar to 2008 and 2011

WASHINGTON, D.C. — For the seventh year in the past decade, Americans name dissatisfaction with the government as the nation’s top problem in 2022. An average of 19% of U.S. adults have mentioned some aspect of the government as the most important problem facing the country in Gallup’s 11 measures this year. The government edges out the high cost of living or inflation (16%) and outpaces the economy in general (12%). Further down the list, immigration, unifying the country, COVID-19, race relations and crime each average 4% to 6% of mentions in 2022.

The data show significant differences in partisans’ views of the nation’s top three problems. On average, Republicans are more likely than Democrats and independents to name the government as the most pressing issue in 2022.

In addition, Republicans are more than twice as likely as Democrats to name inflation and the economy in general, while the readings among independents fall between the two partisan groups.

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America needs ‘less government,’ a strong, vibrant economy with low inflationary pressures, and a citizen-centered ‘new direction.’

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5462 downloads)

The U.S. is living through an ‘avalanche’ of sloppy, ill-conceived government social welfare programs which are ‘ripping off’ working taxpayers to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars each year.

It is time to change all this – with a powerful new, citizen-centered program.

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US Hemorrhaging Money From Entitlement Fraud & Waste

ZeroHedge, Aug 18, 2021 – Excerpts:

Commentary by Rep. James Comer via RealClearPolitics,

…. the United States is on the path toward becoming a welfare state fully entrenched in waste, fraud, abuse, and mismanagement. President Biden plans to expand welfare to almost half of the country’s working adults through the deceptively named American Families Plan. If passed, it will allow the federal government to meddle in Americans’ everyday lives from birth to death. Meanwhile, every year, entitlement programs are spending tens of billions of taxpayer dollars improperly—either through inaccuracies, incompetence, or fraud.  

Government is already too big with too much waste. Current entitlement programs are rife with abuse. Their size and lack of guardrails to protect taxpayer dollars open the door for bad actors to take advantage of the system. But rather than acknowledging and addressing these issues, the Biden administration wants to dramatically expand the welfare state, which will undoubtedly result in even more waste, fraud, and abuse.  

Since 2003, when agencies were required to report these payments, the Government Accountability Office estimates $1.9 trillion in improper payments have been made. But that might just be the tip of the iceberg because the GAO maintains it is unable to “determine the full extent to which improper payments occur.” 

In fiscal year 2020, more than 21% of Medicaid’s federal program spending was the result of improper spending, which means one-fifth of taxpayer dollars, intended to help roughly 77 million low-income and medically needy individuals, has been lost without helping those Americans. Medicare was similarly disastrous, with $43 billion in improper payments—money that should have helped provide health care for the 63 million elderly and disabled currently receiving Medicare benefits.  

Outside of Medicare and Medicaid, three other significant sources of improper payments are for the earned income tax credit, unemployment insurance, and supplemental security income. Almost a quarter of the payments made for the earned income tax credit in FY2020 were improper—this amounted to $16 billion. Of the benefits paid by the Department of Labor for the unemployment insurance program, 10% were improper payments, which accounted for $8 billion. The Social Security Administration similarly spent almost 10% of the Supplemental Security Income funds on improper payments during FY2020—amounting to $5.3 billion.

The federal government wasted tens of billions in improper payments last fiscal year alone—and that does not include any improper payments related to COVID-19 relief programs. We already know substantial fraud occurred within pandemic unemployment benefit programs. It’s simply a matter of time before we know how severe the damage was in improper payments….

James Comer is the ranking member of the House Oversight and Reform Committee.

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Rep. Comer went on to say, “Republicans stand ready to stop the rise of the socialist state, and while we wage that battle, we must simultaneously fix the massive flaws in our existing welfare system. If we fail or the administration stops us, American families will pay the price.”

He offered no politically viable, concrete plan, however, to get America out of this miserable mess – which he, and most Republicans have been party to over the past several decades.

Democrats are moving fast to grow entitlement programs and ultimately expand the welfare state. Republicans are content to do nothing more than lightly tap the brakes, and pay lip service to ‘changing the system.’

The most powerful economic recovery plan in the world is ‘loaded up and ready to go.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is the most powerful economic acceleration plan on the face of the earth. It is politically viable, specific in its details for implementation. It will generate hundreds of billions of dollars in new tax revenue, and produce $383 billion federal budget surpluses in each of its first five years of activation. And it will pay for itself, entirely, over the initial 10-15 years period of activation.

It will change the entire dynamic on waste, fraud, and abuse that are ‘ripping taxpayers off’ in Medicare, Medicaid, and Earned Income Tax Credit payments, Supplemental Security Income payments, Unemployment Insurance, Means-tested Welfare payments.

The Leviticus 25 Plan will restore a citizen-centered health care system in America, and reignite a long-term economic growth cycle, and reduce government intrusion into the daily affairs of citizens.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5428 downloads)

Glenn Hubbard, dean of the Columbia Business School and former chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers during the George W. Bush presidency,. recently urged that financial crisis interventions should not be limited to banks.

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*Bailouts Shouldn’t Be Only for Banks – WSJ

Wall Street Journal, 9-14-18 – Excerpts:

“To be sure, recapitalizing financial institutions was an important element of the policy response. The depletion of capital buffers before the crisis reduced loan supply and exacerbated fire sales of distressed assets once the market collapsed. Cash infusions by the Treasury under the Troubled Asset Relief Program, in concert with the Fed’s bold lender-of-last-resort interventions, blunted the impact of the crisis.

That said, the perceived lack of attention to “Main Street” fed public suspicion of the bailouts. The government appeared to be more interested in addressing the decline in bank capital than the decline in home values. Millions of homeowners who were current in their mortgage payments were unable to refinance at lower interest rates because they were underwater. Yet many of these mortgages were already guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac , meaning taxpayers held the credit risk. Banks and investors holding the mortgages would never receive less than par.

The government should have directed a mass refinancing of mortgages for primary homes in which the borrower was current in payments. This would have led to an increase in disposable income and in home prices totaling more than $100 billion, according to a proposal Christopher Mayer and I offered at the time. The Treasury instead offered a tepid version of this with the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Home Affordable Refinance Program. These initiatives lacked the boldness of the bank bailouts, and Americans noticed…”

Hubbard concluded, “Ten years on, the U.S. still lacks a detailed plan for post-crisis intervention…”

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Solution: What America really needs, to restore financial health to working families and ‘power up’ economic vitality across Main Street America – is a detailed plan for ‘pre-crisis’ intervention.

America needs a plan that will insulate Main Street America from the next financial crisis. This detailed plan must also generate massive new tax revenue flows and a powerful, sustainable reduction in government deficits.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is currently loaded up and ready to launch…

The Leviticus 25 Plan is a dynamic economic initiative providing direct liquidity benefits for American families, while at the same time scaling back the role of government in managing and controlling the affairs of citizens.  It is a comprehensive plan with long-term economic and social benefits for citizens and government.

The inspiration for this plan is based upon Biblical principles set forth in the Book of Leviticus, principles tendering direct economic liberties to the people.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2023 (5424 downloads)