The Gimme Generation

 Somewhere along the way, we started naming our generations. We had the Greatest Generation, the ‘ 50s Generation, the Hippie Generation, the Now Generation, the Me Generation, the X Generation, the Millennial Generation, and probably others I can’t recall. Now, I don’t know exactly who decides these names or even how they are determined, but the generation surviving the Obama years could rightly be called the Gimme Generation.

A noble American hallmark is that we try not to let the needy suffer. There are myriad of religious and private charitable organizations that help those in need. Through the years, a benevolent congress has seen fit to create government programs to help those unable to help themselves. Like everything else in government, these programs have spawned increasingly more give-away programs. All funded, obviously, by taxpayers.

In 2007, we entered what some term the Great Recession. Americans all felt the pinch – some more than others. Falling housing values, disappearing jobs, high unemployment, foreclosures, loan defaults, and bankruptcies put a real hurt on a wide swath of the population.

Even more government handout programs were spawned in the name of economic recovery. Companies, and individuals were crying for help. The federal government handed out some 17 trillion dollars more than we had, and put us in monstrous debt.

Many of the bailed out companies have reportedly repaid their debt, and many of the individuals that were helped by government programs were indeed thankful and are on the road to economic self-sufficiency. Although the government claims the recession is over and millions of new jobs have reportedly been created, the poverty level keeps climbing even while the national debt is increasing. How could this be happening?

I saw a report from FoxNews.com titled Food Stamp Fraud Rampant: GAO Report. The piece centered on a Government Accounting Office report from August 5. Apparently, Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing, and cash.

I checked it out. Even though claims that the recession is over, the amount of food assistance is incredibly rising. According to data I obtained from the FDA, the total cost of SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) in 2007, the reported recession beginning, was 33.172 billion dollars. In 2013, the cost jumped to 79.923 billion dollars. That’s a 140% increase! In 2007, there were 26.136 million people receiving SNAP; by 2013 that had jumped to 47.036 million. If the recession is over, why aren’t these numbers going down?

Now enter the fraud factor. The government calls them “overpayments.” This doesn’t begin to describe the nature of this abuse of taxpayer money. People have sold and bartered SNAP funds to buy items unrelated to food, and many ineligible people are receiving SNAP money. Payments are going to dead people and prisoners.

Just how much fraud is there? Good question. The GAO report uses data from 1997 and 1998, and has conspicuously not shown current fraud data. In 1995, there were 12,000 prisoners in four states receiving food stamps. There is nothing in the report to show that this condition has improved, or that the number of ineligible recipients has dropped. To the contrary, since 2002 all states are required to issue EBT cards that work like bank debit cards. Now it is even easier to spend our tax dollars on things not intended for the SNAP program, and certainly not essential for sustenance.

Consider SNAP is but one government program handing out free stuff. From cell phones to free breakfast and lunches at schools, Americans are getting ever more stuff at taxpayer expense. What will happen when there are no more taxpayers left to foot the bill? Ain’t socialism grand?

I have to wonder. Are government figures lying to us about the recession being over, or are we simply becoming the Gimme Generation?