The Republican Myth of Obama's "Entitlement Society" 2FEB12

WHAT I can't understand is the number of people who support romney's and gingrich(k)'s attacks on the social safety net while they themselves, or someone they know, family, friends or former co-workers, are benefiting from the very programs making up the social safety net. How can they not be aware that these programs are putting food on the table, keeping homes warm, keeping people in their homes, providing medical care when needed for families, for children? Their hypocrisy is amazing, their voluntary ignorance disgusting. If the repiglicans and tea-baggers had their way the poverty rate in the U.S. would be higher than it's current unacceptable level and many more would be hungry, cold, homeless and without any medical care. The attitudes and support of these people for the politics of those who seek to do them harm lends credence to the article on HuffPost on 2FEB12 "Intelligence Study Links Low I.Q. To Prejudice, Racism, Conservatism", http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/intelligence-study-links-prejudice_n_1237796.html?ref=mostpopular
From Robert Reich on HuffPost......
One of the few things Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich agree on is that President Obama is turning America into "European-style welfare culture."
In his standard stump speech Romney charges Obama with creating a nation of dependents. "Over the past three years Barack Obama has been replacing our merit-based society with an entitlement society."
Gingrich calls Obama "the best food-stamp president in American history."
What's their evidence? Both rely on federal budget data showing direct payments to individuals shot up by almost $600 billion, a 32 percent increase, since the start of 2009.
They also point to Census data showing that 49 percent of Americans now live in homes where at least one person is collecting a federal benefit -- Social Security, food stamps, unemployment insurance, worker's compensation, or subsidized housing. That's up from 44 percent in 2008.
Finally, they trumpet Social Security Administration figures showing that the number of people on Social Security disability jumped 10 percent in Obama's first two years in office.
They argue our economic problems stem from this sharp rise in "dependency." Get rid of these benefits and people will work harder.
But they have cause and effect backwards. The reason for the rise in food stamps, unemployment insurance, and other safety-net programs is Americans got clobbered in 2008 with the worst economic catastrophe since the Great Depression. They and their families have needed whatever helping hands they could get.
If anything, America's safety nets have been too small and shot through with holes. That's why the number and percentage of Americans in poverty has increased dramatically over the past three years. According to a study by Northeastern University, a third of families with young children are now in poverty.
This is the real scandal. For example, only 40 percent of the unemployed qualify for unemployment benefits because they weren't working full time or long enough on a single job before they were canned. The unemployment system doesn't take account of the fact that a large portion of the workforce typically works part time on several jobs, and moves from job to job.
Republicans also object to Obama's health care law, which covers 30 million more Americans than were covered before. That law still leaves over 20 million without health insurance. They'll get emergency care when they're in dire straights -- hospitals won't refuse them -- but we all end up paying indirectly.
Regressive Republicans pretend they're about opportunity. In reality they're back at what they've been doing for years -- promoting Social Darwinism.