Bill O'Reilly has been going off the deep end even more than usual, ever since the Trayvon Martin trial ended and since he's not beating up all black youths for wearing hoodies, he's turned to serious business: disparaging those in need of food stamps. It's obviously aimed at promoting Bret Baier's Great Food Stamp Binge special on FOX. With the economy still not helping the 98% of Americans and the need for assistance to eat has grown, you might think that conservative hard liners would at least ease up on the needy when it comes to food (since bankers and mortgage lenders with the aid of many conservatives helped destroy the world economy).
You might think that, but you'd be wrong.
Here's O'Reilly going off on the less fortunate:
The food stamp scandal, right now, 15 percent of the entire American population receiving food subsidies,” the Fox News host announced. “And some of those people are conning the system.”
O’Reilly said that the president was to blame for changing the work rules for food stamps and allowing “anybody to get them if they know how to game the system.”
“I take one look at this guy and he’s making money off the books,” he explained.
“Now I’m not going to make any accusation on national television about how he’s making money, but this guy’s not just surviving on food stamps. Alright? He’s making money. The rat life entails a lot of different things.”
“But this guy is a parasite. And my contention is that the Obama administration is encouraging parasites to come out and, you know, take as much as they can with no remorse. And this is how a country declines. This is how we become a weak nation.”
Go read media Matters article called: Fox's Shameless Misrepresentation Of SNAP Recipients to get an idea of what FOX is doing.
If I was addressing a normal human being, I would ask them: What's it to you? Are you eating well and living large? If so, then how are these suffering Americans affecting you? But obviously I'm speaking to BillO, so I have to adjust my thinking. Conservatives always focus on the 1% that beats the system when they discuss government programs that assist the American people, and never the 99% that it helps.
SNAP is targeted at the most vulnerable. 76% of SNAP households included a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. These vulnerable households receive 83% of all SNAP benefits.[i]SNAP eligibility is limited to households with gross income of no more than 130% of the federal poverty guideline, but the majority of households have income well below the maximum: 83% of SNAP households have gross income at or below 100% of the poverty guideline ($19,530 for a family of 3 in 2013), and these households receive about 91% of all benefits.
61% of SNAP households have gross income at or below 75% of the poverty guideline ($14,648 for a family of 3 in 2013).[ii]
The average SNAP household has a gross monthly income of $744; net monthly income of $338 after the standard deduction and, for certain households, deductions for child care, medical expenses, and shelter costs; and countable resources of $331, such as a bank account.[iii]
Every since FDR implemented the New Deal, this is the kind of demonization we have seen coming from conservatives and it's as sickening as it has always has been.
Hey, Bill! Why don't you take two months off from your cushy gig and move into Harlem? Then live on a gross monthly income of $744 that most SNAP recipients live on, and tell me how good these moochers have it and how badly these Americans are ripping off the government.
