Federal Food Stamps Program Hits Record Costs In 2022

ZeroHedge, Jan 28, 2023 – Excerpts:

In early January, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board warned that one peril of a large administrative state is the mischief agencies can get up to when no one is watching.

Specifically, they highlight the overreach of the Agriculture Department, which expanded food-stamp benefits by evading the process for determining benefits and end-running Congressional review.

Exhibit A in the over-reach is the fact that the cost of the federal food stamps program known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) increased to a record $119.5 billion in 2022, according to data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture…

Food Stamp costs have literally exploded from $60.3 billion in 2019, the last year before the pandemic, to the record-setting $119.5 billion in 2022.

In 2019, the average monthly per person benefit was $129.83 in 2019, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. That increased by 78 percent to $230.88 in 2022.

Even more intriguing is the fact that the number of participants had increased from 35.7 million in 2019 to 41.2 million in 2022…

All of which is a little odd – the number of people on food stamps remains at record highs while the post-COVID-lockdown employment picture has improved dramatically…

Source: Bloomberg

If any of this surprises you, it really shouldn’t given that ‘you, the people’ voted for the welfare state. However, as WSJ chided: “abuse of process doesn’t get much clearer than that.”

In its first review of USDA, the GAO skewered Agriculture’s process for having violated the Congressional Review Act, noting that the “2021 [Thrifty Food Plan] meets the definition of a rule under the [Congressional Review Act] and no CRA exception applies. Therefore, the 2021 TFP is subject to the requirement that it be submitted to Congress.” GAO’s second report says “officials made this update without key project management and quality assurance practices in place.”

Abuse of process doesn’t get much clearer than that. The GAO review won’t unwind the increase, which requires action by the USDA. But the GAO report should resonate with taxpayers who don’t like to see the politicization of a process meant to provide nutrition to those in need, not act as a vehicle for partisan agency staffers to impose their agenda without Congressional approval.

All of this undermines transparency and accountability for a program that provided food stamps to some 41 million people in 2021. The Biden Administration is using the cover of the pandemic to expand the entitlement state beyond what Congress authorized.…

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Watchdog Says 66,000 People Kept Getting Food Stamps Despite Disqualifying Lottery Wins

ZeroHedge, Oct 22, 2023 – Excerpts:

Authored by Tom Ozimek via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

A watchdog has revealed that over 66,000 people stayed on food stamp rolls despite winning enough money in lotteries to make them ineligible—and that’s just based on data obtained in just 13 states—with the figure for all 50 states “likely in the hundreds of thousands.”

The Foundation for Government Accountability (FGA) submitted Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests to all 50 states, seeking information on the number of people in the food stamp program since 2019 who won big in the lottery, according to Hayden Dublois, data and analytics director at FGA.

“We aren’t talking about the proud owners of $20 prizes from scratchers. We’re talking about those who won at least $4,250, which, under federal law, makes a person ineligible for the taxpayer’s help,” Mr. Dublois said in an Oct. 20 op-ed for Fox News.

He said that, through a combination of state negligence and federal loopholes, over 66,000 substantial lottery winners continued to receive food stamps in the 13 states for which the FOIA request yielded survey data.

“Across all 50 states, the number is likely in the hundreds of thousands,” Mr. Dublois said, with the stark figures being the latest sign of persistent food stamp program abuse that FGA has been sounding the alarm on for a long time.

“Congress should get lottery winners off this low-income program when passing the Farm Bill later this fall,” Mr. Dublois added.

Loophole In Focus – In the past several decades, food stamp enrollment has skyrocketed.

In 2000, there were 17 million people on the rolls, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data. By 2023, that number had swelled to 42.4 million.

The cost to taxpayers has, over the same time period, soared by nearly 600 percent, according to an August review by FGA.

Part of the problem, according to FGA, is that 41 states and Washington DC ignore the federal income and asset limits, letting millions of ineligible enrollees to keep getting food stamp benefits while opening the system to waste, fraud, and abuse.

Roughly 5.4 million food stamp recipients who enrolled through BBCE don’t meet eligibility requirements because states have used federal loopholes to overlook eligibility criteria, according to FGA.

Households that managed to qualify under BBCE were nearly three times as likely to have payment errors than other households, according to the FGA study….

The food stamp program is losing roughly $1 billion per month because of fraud and errors, according to Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who in late September introduced legislation aimed at reducing the tidal wave of money being lost from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which is the official name of the food stamp program….

Food Stamp Expansion Blamed for 15 Percent Rise In Grocery Prices

An earlier FGA study blames increased food stamp spending—including a massive expansion of the program under President Joe Biden—for contributing to soaring grocery prices.

In 2021, under the Biden administration, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) introduced updated nutritional guidelines for federal food stamp benefits. These changes led to an approximate 27 percent expansion of the Supplemental Assistance Nutrition Program (SNAP) compared to its pre-pandemic scale….

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There is precisely one plan, marked up and ready to launch, which will responsibly transition millions of Americans off the Food Stamp welfare gravy train – and back into economic liberty and non-dependence on government.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

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Record Household Debt, Jump In Delinquencies Signal “Worsening Financial Distress”, Fed Warns

ZeroHedge, May 14, 2024 – Excerpt:

…. the New York Fed’s Household Debt and Credit Report for 1Q 2024 which was just published, and where the latest data on credit card debt and delinquencies has recently been the most important part of the report.

While we already know that in the latest monthly consumer credit report published by the Fed last week and covering the month of March, total consumer debt hit a record high (despite a sharp slowdown in credit card growth) even as the personal savings rate plunged to an all-time low, hardly a ringing endorsement for the strength of the US consumer…

… today’s report provided more granular details which however did not change the conclusion: the US consumer is getting weaker, and while not in a crisis just yet, will get there soon enough.

As the chart from the NY Fed shows, at the end of the first quarter, US household debt reached a record and more borrowers are struggling to keep up: overall US household debt rose to $17.69 trillion, the NYFed’s Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit revealed (link here). That’s an increase of $184 billion, or 1.1%, from the fourth quarter.  

Consumers have added $3.4 trillion in debt since the pandemic, and that increased debt bears much higher interest rates.

And with both credit card rates and total credit at all time highs, the data corroborate the mounting financial pressures on American families in an age of elevated inflation. The persistent rise in the prices of essentials such as food and rent have strained household budgets, pushing people to borrow against their credit cards to pay for necessities.

Full article: https://www.zerohedge.com/economics/record-household-debt-jump-delinquencies-signal-worsening-financial-distress-fed-warns

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Again…: “… the data corroborate the mounting financial pressures on American families in an age of elevated inflation.”

For America’s hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens, it is time for major reset.

The Federal Reserve and the U.S. Department of Treasury bailed out Wall Street during its own crisis periods of “mounting financial pressures.” And they have been growing the poverty rolls in the U.S. with never-ending social welfare subsidies for millions of people, that do nothing to eliminate debt, re-incentivize work, and help make it possible for motivated hard-working Americans to climb up out of the ranks of poverty.

The Leviticus 25 Plan is the only viable economic plan in the world with the raw power to fix things – and get America back on track.

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

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America needs a decentralized component to health care services for the primary health care needs of the average American. Solution: The Leviticus 25 Plan

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NObamacare? Americans Are Skipping Doctor Visits Due To Costs

ZeroHedge, Dec 12, 2023

Twenty-eight percent of U.S. adults were forced to skip or delay medical care in 2022 because they could not afford to pay for it, according to a survey by the Federal Reserve Board.

As Statista’s Anna Fleck reports, this is an increase from the 24 percent in 2021 and the highest share of U.S. adults since before the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, was introduced back in 2014.

You will find more infographics at Statista

Dental care was the most frequently missed form of healthcare, having been skipped due to costs by 21 percent of respondents in the prior 12 months to the survey. It was followed by seeing a doctor or specialist (16 percent), forgoing prescription medicine (10 percent), follow-up care (10 percent), mental health care or counseling (10 percent). Respondents could select multiple answers to this question.

According to the FRB, the increase in the share of people delaying or avoiding medical care is likely at least partly due to high inflation in the U.S., as patients tried to find ways to cut back on expenses. This matches up to the data in the report, which shows that those with a higher family income and more of a buffer zone were less likely to have skipped or delayed medical care. For those with a family income of less than $25,000, 38 percent of adults went without some form of medical care because of the costs, versus just 11 percent of adults making $100,000 or more.

Similarly, family income seems to correlate with reported levels of health. The FRB explains that for those with an income at $25,000 per year or less, 75 percent of respondents said they were in good health. For those earning $100,000 plus, the figure was 91 percent.

Other surveys tell the same tale. For example, Gallup researchers found that there had been a 12 percentage point increase in the share of Americans reporting that they or a family member had postponed medical treatment between 2022 and the year before, bringing the latest figure to 38 percent – the highest level since 2001. In this study, lower-income adults, younger adults and women in the U.S. were more likely than other respondents to say they or someone in their family have delayed care for a serious medical condition. Meanwhile, a 2023 survey by the Commonwealth Fund found that 46 percent of those with low or average incomes had skipped or delayed needed care because of the cost.

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The Leviticus 25 Plan’s medical savings account provision, the U.S. Health Care Freedom Plan, includes a $30,000 direct allocation to each qualifying/participating U.S. citizen, to be used for direct access medical care covering $6,000 per year for 5 years.

This plan allows U.S. citizen participants to directly address medical needs with cash payments (no middleman involvement) for primary health care services, e.g. clinic visits, routine dental exams/procedures, routine prescription medications, chiropractic services, eye exams / eye wear, etc.

The U.S. Health Care Freedom component provides for a more cost-friendly, market-based, decentralized approach to primary health care services.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2025 (13725 downloads )

Milton Friedman, Nobel Prize winning economist:

“A society that puts equality — in the sense of equality of outcome — ahead of freedom will end up with neither equality nor freedom. The use of force to achieve equality will destroy freedom, and the force, introduced for good purposes, will end up in the hands of people who use it to promote their own interests.

On the other hand, a society that puts freedom first will, as a happy by-product, end up with both greater freedom and greater equality. Though a by-product of freedom, greater equality is not an accident.  A free society releases the energies and abilities of people to pursue their own objectives.

It prevents some people from arbitrarily suppressing others.  It does not prevent some people from achieving position of privilege, but so long as freedom is maintained, it prevents those positions of privilege from becoming institutionalized; they are subject to continued attack from other able, ambitious people.  Freedom means diversity but also mobility.  It preserves the opportunity for today’s disadvantaged to become tomorrow’s privileged and, in the process, enables almost everyone, from top to bottom, to enjoy a fuller and richer life.”

Friedman also wrote: “They think that the cure to big government is to have bigger government… the only effective cure is to reduce the scope of government – get government out of the business.”

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The Leviticus 25 Plan levels the playing field and puts all U.S. citizens on an equal footing.

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 2025 (13526 downloads )

Global Rate-Hikes Hit The Wall Of Debt Maturity

ZeroHedge, Dec 17, 2022 | Authored by Daniel Lacalle via The Mises Institute,

More than ninety central banks worldwide are increasing interest rates. Bloomberg predicts that by mid-2023, the global policy rate, calculated as the average of major central banks’ reference rates weighted by GDP, will reach 5.5%. Next year, the federal funds rate is projected to reach 5.15 percent [currently at 5.25%-5.50% – May 2024].

Raising interest rates is a necessary but insufficient measure to combat inflation.

To reduce inflation to 2%, central banks must significantly reduce their balance sheets, which has not yet occurred in local currency, and governments must reduce spending, which is highly unlikely.

The most challenging obstacle is also the accumulation of debt.

The so-called “expansionary policies” have not been an instrument for reducing debt, but rather for increasing it. In the second quarter of 2022, according to the Institute of International Finance (IIF), the global debt-to-GDP ratio will approach 350% of GDP. IIF anticipates that the global debt-to-GDP ratio will reach 352% by the end of 2022.

Global issuances of high-yield debt have slowed but remain elevated. According to the IMF, the total issuance of European and American high-yield bonds reached a record high of $1.6 trillion in 2021, as businesses and investors capitalized on still-low interest rates and high liquidity. According to the IMF, high-yield bond issuances in the United States and Europe will reach $700 billion in 2022, similar to 2008 levels. All of the risky debt accumulated over the past few years will need to be refinanced between 2023 and 2025, requiring the refinancing of over $10 trillion of the riskiest debt at much higher interest rates and with less liquidity.

Moody’s estimates that United States corporate debt maturities will total $785 billion in 2023 and $800 billion in 2024. This increases the maturities of the Federal government. The United States has $31 trillion in outstanding debt [Dec 2022] with a five-year average maturity, resulting in $5 trillion in refinancing needs during fiscal 2023 and a $2 trillion budget deficit. Knowing that the federal debt of the United States will be refinanced increases the risk of crowding out and liquidity stress on the debt market.

According to The Economist, the cumulative interest bill for the United States between 2023 and 2027 should be less than 3% of GDP, which appears manageable. However, as a result of the current path of rate hikes, this number has increased, which exacerbates an already unsustainable fiscal problem.

If you think the problem in the United States is significant, the situation in the eurozone is even worse. Governments in the euro area are accustomed to negative nominal and real interest rates. The majority of the major European economies have issued negative-yielding debt over the past three years and must now refinance at significantly higher rates. France and Italy have longer average debt maturities than the United States, but their debt and growing structural deficits are also greater. Morgan Stanley estimates that, over the next two years, the major economies of the eurozone will require a total of $3 trillion in refinancing.

Although at higher rates, governments will refinance their debt. What will become of businesses and families? If quantitative tightening is added to the liquidity gap, a credit crunch is likely to ensue. However, the issue is not rate hikes but excessive debt accumulation complacency.

Explaining to citizens that negative real interest rates are an anomaly that should never have been implemented is challenging. Families may be concerned about the possibility of a higher mortgage payment, but they are oblivious to the fact that house prices have skyrocketed due to risk accumulation caused by excessively low interest rates.

The magnitude of the monetary insanity since 2008 is enormous, but the glut of 2020 was unprecedented. Between 2009 and 2018, we were repeatedly informed that there was no inflation, despite the massive asset inflation and the unjustified rise in financial sector valuations. This is inflation, massive inflation. It was not only an overvaluation of financial assets, but also a price increase for irreplaceable goods and services. The FAO food index reached record highs in 2018, as did the housing, health, education, and insurance indices. Those who argued that printing money without control did not cause inflation, however, continued to believe that nothing was wrong until 2020, when they broke every rule.

In 2020-21, the annual increase in the US money supply (M2) was 27%, more than 2.5 times higher than the quantitative easing peak of 2009 and the highest level since 1960. Negative yielding bonds, an economic anomaly that should have set off alarm bells as an example of a bubble worse than the “subprime” bubble, amounted to over $12 trillion. But statism was pleased because government bonds experienced a bubble. Statism always warns of bubbles in everything except that which causes the government’s size to expand.

In the eurozone, the increase in the money supply was the greatest in its history, nearly three times the Draghi-era peak. Today, the annualized rate is greater than 6%, remaining above Draghi’s “bazooka.” All of this unprecedented monetary excess during an economic shutdown was used to stimulate public spending, which continued after the economy reopened… And inflation skyrocketed. However, according to Lagarde, inflation appeared “out of nowhere.”

No, inflation is not caused by commodities, war, or “disruptions in the supply chain.” Wars are deflationary if the money supply remains constant. Several times between 2008 and 2018, the value of commodities rose sharply, but they do not cause all prices to rise simultaneously. If the amount of currency issued remains unchanged, supply chain issues do not affect all prices. If the money supply remains the same, core inflation does not rise to levels not seen in thirty years.

All of the excess of unproductive debt issued during a period of complacency will exacerbate the problem in 2023 and 2024. Even if refinancing occurs smoothly but at higher costs, the impact on new credit and innovation will be enormous, and the crowding out effect of government debt absorbing the majority of liquidity and the zombification of the already indebted will result in weaker growth and decreased productivity in the future.

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Key points from above:

“Raising interest rates is a necessary but insufficient measure to combat inflation.”

“To reduce inflation to 2%… governments must reduce spending, which is highly unlikely.”

“The most challenging obstacle is also the accumulation of debt.”

“…the issue is not rate hikes but excessive debt accumulation complacency.”

Solution: 1) A plan which will effect a massive, long-term scale-back of government spending; 2) Eliminate vast quantities of public and private debt; 3) Revitalize free market economics (increased productivity / market-based efficiencies); and 4) Catalyze a long-term economic growth cycle.

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 2025 (13525 downloads )

Cashless Society: WEF Boasts That 98% Of Central Banks Are Adopting CBDCs

ZeroHedge, Apr 25, 2024 – Excerpts:

…The WEF recently boasted in a new white paper that 98% of all central banks are now pursuing CBDC programs.  The report, titled ‘Modernizing Financial Markets With Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency’, notes:

“CeBM is ideal for systemically important transactions despite the emergence of alternative payment instruments…Wholesale central bank digital currency (wCBDC) is a form of CeBM that could unlock new economic models and integration points that are not possible today.”

The paper primarily focuses on the streamlining of crossborder transactions, an effort which the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) has been deeply involved in for the past few years.  It also highlights an odd concept of differentiated CBDC mechanisms, each one specifically designed to be used by different institutions for different reasons.  Wholesale CBDCs would be used only by banking institutions, governments and some global corporations, as opposed to Retail CBDCs which would be reserved for the regular population.

How the value and buying power of Wholesale CBDCs would differ is not clear, but it’s easy to guess that these devices would give banking institutions a greater ability homogenize international currencies and transactions.  In other words, it’s the path to an eventual global currency model.  By extension, the adoption of CBDCs by governments and global banks will ultimately lead to what the WEF calls “dematerialization” – The removal of physical securities and money. 

The WEF states:  “As with the Bank of England’s (BOE) RTGS modernization programme, the intention is to introduce a fully digitized securities system that is future-proofed for incremental adoption of DLT (Distributed Ledger Technology). The tokenization of assets involves creating digital tokens representing underlying assets like real estate, equities, digital art, intellectual property and even cash. Tokenization is a key use case for blockchain, with some estimates pointing towards $4-5 trillion in tokenized securities on DLTa  by 2030.” 

Finally, they let the cat out of the bag:

“The BIS proposed two models for bringing tokenization into the monetary system: 1) Bring CBDCs, DTs and tokenized assets on to a common unified ledger, and 2) pursue incremental progress by creating interlinking systems.

They determined the latter option was more feasible given that the former requires a reimagination of financial systems. Experimentation with the unified ledger concept is ongoing.”

To interpret this into decoded language – The unified ledger is essentially another term for a one world digital currency system completely centralized and under the control of global banks like the BIS and IMF.  The WEF and BIS are acknowledging the difficulty of introducing such a system without opposition, so, they are recommending incremental introduction using “interlinking systems” (attaching CBDCs to paper currencies and physical contracts and then slowly but surely dematerializing those assets and making digital the new norm).  It’s the totalitarian tip-toe.   

The BIS predicts there will be at least 9 major CBDCs in circulation by the year 2030; this is likely an understatement of the intended plan.  Globalists have hinted in the past that they prefer total digitization by 2030.

A cashless society would be the end game for economic anonymity and freedom in trade.  Unless alternative physical currencies are widely adopted in protest, CBDCs would make all transactions traceable and easily interrupted by governments and banks.  Imagine a world in which all trade is monitored, all revenues are monitored and transactions can be blocked if they are found to offend the mandates of the system.  Yes, these things do happen today, but with physical cash they can be circumvented. 

Imagine a world where your ability to spend money can be limited to certain retailers, certain services, certain products and chosen regions based on your politics, your social credit score and your background.  The control that comes with CBDCs is immense and allows for complete micromanagement of the population.  The fact that 98% of central banks are already adopting this technology should be one of the biggest news stories of the decade, yet, it goes almost completely ignored.   

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Economic liberty is critically dependent upon physical cash, and a strong dollar – that is not being eroded by massive deficits, ‘money printing,’ and special interest politics.

The Leviticus 25 Plan provides a dynamic corrective solution to America’s colossal public and private debt imbalances, reduces the citizenry’s dependence on government, and protects against the pressures of a forced conversion to a global digital currency system.

A dynamic U.S. economy, with annual federal budget surpluses, ultra-low household debt levels, low inflation / low interest rates, and economic freedom – would enjoy overpowering superiority versus any block of nations locked into a digital currency system of governance.

The Leviticus 25 Plan – An Economic Acceleration Plan for America

$90,000 per U.S. citizen – Leviticus 25 Plan 2025 (13468 downloads )

David Walker, is a former comptroller general of the United States, former head of the Government Accountability Office (GAO), and a current Main Street Economics advisory board member.

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Washington’s Fiscal Mess Is Irresponsible, Unethical, Immoral: Former US Comptroller General

ZeroHedge, Apr 27, 2024 | Authored by Andrew Moran via The Epoch Times,

Walker interview with the Epoch Times – Excerpts:

In 2007, the U.S. national debt was below $10 trillion, and the budget deficit was about $160 billion. Federal spending was about $3 trillion, and interest payments were approximately $400 billion... Then the numbers spiraled out of control.

Washington’s fiscal situation has drastically changed… total debt has surpassed $34 trillion, the annual budget shortfall exceeds $1 trillion, and interest costs have topped $1 trillion…

According to the Congressional Budget Office’s long-term outlooks, the national debt will eye $50 trillion by 2034, fueled by around $17 trillion in cumulative deficits. As a percentage of GDP, debt held by the public and the deficit will reach 166 percent and 8.5 percent by 2054, respectively, the CBO forecasts.

“Washington has become addicted to spending, deficits, and debt, and they’re charging the credit card and planning to send the bill to younger and future generations of Americans,” Mr. Walker told The Epoch Times.

“That’s irresponsible. It’s unethical, and it’s immoral, and it needs to stop.”

“Only God knows when the tipping point is going to occur, and God’s not telling us,” he said.…

Republicans and Democrats

President Joe Biden… has added close to $7 trillion to the national debt since taking office in 2021.

While Republicans have griped over the current administration’s spending endeavors, experts assert that the GOP has also contributed trillions of dollars to the debt pile. One of the GOP-led expansionist initiatives was Medicare Part D under former President George W. Bush…

This program, which was designed to utilize private health care plans to offer drug coverage to Medicare beneficiaries, added $8 trillion in new unfunded obligations. Mr. Walker accepted that “the politicians were totally out of touch with fiscal reality,” considering that Medicare was already underfunded by $19 trillion.…

Put simply, both parties have been fiscally irresponsible, and now the bills are coming due.

“The federal debt is on an unsustainable course, and lawmakers have been unable or unwilling to correct it,” the organization stated.

Whether the United States can improve its fiscal trajectories remains to be seen.

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Mr. Walker’s recommendation of a Congressional “fiscal commission” to get America’s government debt and unfunded liabilities crisis back under control would end up being nothing more than a political cat fight – with no meaningful accomplishments.

Furthermore, it would do nothing to eliminate household debt, consumer debt, student loan debt – and restore financial security for millions of America’s hard-working, tax-paying U.S. citizens.

It will take something far more powerful and far more creative than another ‘government commission’ to solve this crisis – and here it is:

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 2025 (13210 downloads )

How Debt-to-GDP Ratios Have Changed Around The World Since 2000

ZeroHedge, Apr 22, 2024

Government debt levels have grown in most parts of the world since the 2008 financial crisis, and even more so after the COVID-19 pandemic.

To gain perspective on this long-term trend, Visual Capitalist’s Marcu Lu visualized the debt-to-GDP ratios of advanced economies, as of 2000 and 2024 (estimated). All figures were sourced from the IMF’s World Economic Outlook.

Data and Highlights

The data we used to create this graphic is listed in the table below. “Government gross debt” consists of all liabilities that require payment(s) of interest and/or principal in the future.

The debt-to-GDP ratio indicates how much a country owes compared to the size of its economy, reflecting its ability to manage and repay debts. Percentage point (pp) changes shown above indicate the increase or decrease of these ratios.

Countries with the Biggest Increases

Japan (+116 pp), Singapore (+86 pp), and the U.S. (+71 pp) have grown their debt as a percentage of GDP the most since the year 2000.

All three of these countries have stable, well-developed economies, so it’s unlikely that any of them will default on their growing debts. With that said, higher government debt leads to increased interest payments, which in turn can diminish available funds for future government budgets.

This is a rising issue in the U.S., where annual interest payments on the national debt have surpassed $1 trillion for the first time ever.

Only 3 Countries Saw Declines

Among this list of advanced economies, Belgium (-2.8 pp), Iceland (-21.2 pp), and Israel (-20.6 pp) were the only countries that decreased their debt-to-GDP ratio since the year 2000.

According to Fitch Ratings, Iceland’s debt ratio has decreased due to strong GDP growth and the use of its cash deposits to pay down upcoming maturities.

Curious to see which countries have the most government debt in dollars? Check out this graphic that breaks down $97 trillion in debt as of 2023.

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The global economic system is heading toward an inevitable ‘breaking point’ – which will collapse fiat currencies across the globe, followed by a coordinated conversion into a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) system.

The World Economic Forum is paving the way for this conversion: April 2024 Insight Report, Modernizing Financial Markets with Wholesale Central Bank Digital Currency (wCBDC).

Washington Republicans and Democrats appear to be oblivious to this looming set up – and insensible to the foreordained loss of individual freedom and liberties.

Main Street America Republicans have the global economic reset plan with the raw power and dynamic efficiencies to eliminate vast sums of nation-by-nation debt, preserve freedom across the globe, and forestall the imposition of a CBDC system.

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 2025 (13192 downloads )

Highlights:

For comparative context, the lower range of the estimate—$233 billion—is greater than fiscal year 2022 obligation levels for all but the eight largest agencies.

There are five agencies with total annual obligations greater than the upper range of $521 billion, based on fiscal year 2022.

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GAO Fraud Risk Management, April 2024

Excerpts:

Annual Federal Losses Due to Fraud Are Estimated to be between $233 Billion and $521 Billion Based on Data from Fiscal Years 2018 through 2022, Reflecting Various Risk Environments

We estimated direct annual financial losses to the federal government from fraud to be between approximately $233 billion and $521 billion, as shown in figure 6. This range reflects the middle 90 percent of values, based on our model. The width of the range is a reflection of both the uncertainty associated with estimating fraud and the diversity in the risk environments that were present in fiscal years 2018 through 2022.

The estimate reflects fraud losses associated with direct federal spending on programs and operations.

Accordingly, fraud loss associated with revenues, such as tax credits or other fees collected by the federal government, are not included.

This estimate does not capture losses that occur at the state, local, tribal, or other government level unless those losses included a federal investigative, administrative, or related action.

Further, the estimate does not include the nonfinancial losses due to fraud or the value of nonfinancial benefits obtained fraudulently.

Figure 6: Estimate of Direct Annual Financial Losses from Fraud Affecting the Federal Government, Based on Our Simulation…

Our estimate is also in line with studies of domestic federal program fraud. For example, we and others conducted estimation work related to pandemic spending, which was at higher risk of fraud.

We estimated that between $100 billion and $135 billion (between 11 and 15 percent of total spending) in fraudulent unemployment insurance payments were made between April 2020 and May 2023.27 This analysis supported even higher fraud rates for the Pandemic Unemployment Assistance payments, which made up a subset of the unemployment insurance payments that were included in our review. The Small Business Administration OIG reported that it estimated $200 billion in potentially fraudulent pandemic related business loans as of May 2023.

Our estimate of direct annual financial losses due to fraud reflects significant financial impacts to the federal government.

For comparative context, the lower range of the estimate—$233 billion—is greater than fiscal year 2022 obligation levels for all but the eight largest agencies.

There are five agencies with total annual obligations greater than the upper range of $521 billion, based on fiscal year 2022.

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The Federal Government allocation of resources is not only inefficient and ‘special interest’ driven, it is also riddled with fraud – costing America’s hard-working taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars in the process.

The Leviticus 25 Plan properly screens potential participants (favorable job histories, credit histories, tax payment records), and where necessary (for uncetain status), provides for custody account oversight to insure proper dispensation management.

The Leviticus 25 Plan thereby shifts trillions of dollars of resource allocation from the government directly to honorable, hard-working U.S. taxpayer citizens – saving the Federal Government massive sums of money in claims processing and middle-man involvement in its current “programs and operations.”

The Leviticus 25 Plan, furthermore, will generate $112.6 billion Federal Budget surpluses annually (2025-2029) vs projected $1.795 trillion annual budget deficits.

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 2025 (13137 downloads )

WSJ: TARP Was No Win for the Taxpayers

Treasury’s claim that the bank bailouts will return a profit ignores the other, more costly programs enabling the banks to repay their TARP funds.

The Wall Street Journal, Mar 17, 2011

… Special Inspector General for TARP criticized Treasury in October for inadequately disclosing a change in its valuation methodology that reduced a $45 billion loss in AIG to $5 billion, making TARP losses appear smaller than they really are. This data manipulation is only part of a much larger problem with Treasury’s representations regarding the supposed success of the bank bailout payments that lie at the heart of TARP.

The focus on repayment fails to consider the huge taxpayer costs from non-TARP programs that directly and indirectly enabled many of the large banks to repay their TARP funds. These intertwined programs, operated by the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, dwarf the size of TARP and lack its accountability.

… The Congressional Budget Office estimates that Treasury’s bailout of the GSEs [Government Sponsored Entities, like Fannie Mae and Freddy Mack] will cost the taxpayers approximately $380 billion through fiscal year 2021. If only one-fourth of CBO’s estimate ultimately benefits TARP recipients and other financial institutions, taxpayers will have provided a subsidy to these institutions of approximately $100 billion, which is not accounted for under TARP.

…. TARP was never where the real action was happening. In fact, other Fed and FDIC programs added another $2 trillion of taxpayer money at risk to the 19 stress-tested banks alone, on top of the $1.1 trillion of MBS purchased by the Fed. TARP is but one-eighth of that total.

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Big bank bailouts and ‘secret Fed loans’ 2007-2010

The Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury Department ‘flushed’ billions of dollars (courtesy of tax-paying U.S. citizens) out through their big-big-bank-connected umbilical cord credit extension system during the height of the Great Financial Crisis.

The ‘biggest of the big’ made out well – and their insiders did even better.

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“Secrets and Lies of the Bailout” –  RollingStone, Jan 4, 2013 

Goldman Sachs, which had made such a big show of being reluctant about accepting $10 billion in TARP money, was quick to cash in on the secret loans being offered by the Fed. By the end of 2008, Goldman had snarfed up $34 billion in federal loans – and it was paying an interest rate of as low as just 0.01 percent for the huge cash infusion. Yet that funding was never disclosed to shareholders or taxpayers, a fact Goldman confirms. “We did not disclose the amount of our participation in the two programs you identify,” says Goldman spokesman Michael Duvally.

Goldman CEO Blankfein later dismissed the importance of the loans, telling the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission that the bank wasn’t “relying on those mechanisms.” But in his book, Bailout, Barofsky says that Paulson told him that he believed Morgan Stanley was “just days” from collapse before government intervention, while Bernanke later admitted that Goldman would have been the next to fall.

Meanwhile, at the same moment that leading banks were taking trillions in secret loans from the Fed, top officials at those firms were buying up stock in their companies, privy to insider info that was not available to the public at large. Stephen Friedman, a Goldman director who was also chairman of the New York Fed, bought more than $4 million of Goldman stock over a five-week period in December 2008 and January 2009 – years before the extent of the firm’s lifeline from the Fed was made public. Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit bought nearly $7 million in Citi stock in November 2008, just as his firm was secretly taking out $99.5 billion in Fed loans. Jamie Dimon bought more than $11 million in Chase stock in early 2009, at a time when his firm was receiving as much as $60 billion in secret Fed loans. When asked by Rolling Stone, Chase could not point to any disclosure of the bank’s borrowing from the Fed until more than a year later, when Dimon wrote about it in a letter to shareholders in March 2010.

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It is now time untangle America from this twisted political mess and get us back to a citizen-driven economy.

It is time to grant U.S. citizens the same direct liquidity access that was ‘gifted’ to major banks and insurers during 2007 – 2010.

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 2025 (12935 downloads )