Jonathan, watched the program Friday but you got to pay to comment or I would have corrected your characterization of the history of food stamps. First you failed to mention that there was no food stamps in the early part of the 20th Century especially during the War to End all Wars, as well as the War won by the greatest generation. And there were not starving people then as there are not now. Additionally you somehow forgot to mention that in the 1950’s and early 1960’s the government offered surplus food to the poor. They were called commodities. They came in gold colored tin cans. There were beans, carrots, potatoes, beets, and other items and most importantly there was canned beef. But of course you could not buy votes with canned goods distributed through local churches and armories. Now at least you did say that food stamps started out only for the very poor, but like any Democrat Party hand out you got to give it to as many as possible to buy votes. Now you stated falsely that if the billions of dollars allocated to this program are held up children will starve, give us a brake. There are not 42 million people starving in the USA. 🇺🇸 what needs to happen is we need to go back to handing out commodities, people who really need the food will get it and all the rest can buy groceries at the store with their own money not the taxpayers money.
Best and Julian is really nice and to nice to point out your inaccurate framing of the Food Stamp Program but one needs to get your mind right. Just sorry I could not do it in real time but again I don’t pay to correct someone else’s misinformation. Best Lynn
Your comment Annie seems obvious, but I've found in roundtable discussions that 50 years of chronicled real Wage Stag-Nation is not commonly and consciously factored into the Hunger\Starvation\Malnutrition journalistic coverage, such as it is in the U.S.
Canadians are slightly better informed with such national coverage in print and broadcast news via the dominant state-owned and Public Interest informed CBC (Canadian Broadcast System). Thanks largely to the National broadcaster CBC and not to the now legion commercial broadcasters as corporate-captured as ours down here in these lower 48 of the US and content-controlled by prevailing Private Interests of Big Capital:
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation for November suggests that the labor market got over the big bump of strikes and storms that resulted in few job additions in October. Just 12,000 jobs were added then. In November, 227,000 jobs were added—not enough, but pretty good by conventional standards and better than six of the last eight months. Sectors that led the way in job creation included health care, leisure and hospitality, and the public sector."
"To get a longer view of what is going on in the labor force, we can look at where job totals stand against pre-pandemic levels. Are today’s levels still below pre-pandemic levels as two Washington Post authors, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Andrew Ackerman seemed to claim (December 6, 2024)? Not that I can see. As the pandemic hit in 2020, the total number of non-farm employees fell by 21.6 million, from 152 million in January to 130.4 million in April..."
"...Since then, the total number of non-farm employees has increased to 159.3, or about 7 million above the pre-pandemic high. But that five-year gain is well below other five-year increases, including the period of January 2015 through December 2019, which saw an increase of more than 11 million non-farm employees. In short, we are not below pre-pandemic levels, but job gains are far below what they have been in some other five-year periods. The pandemic left permanent scars."
"On the plus side for people with mainstream views, there is the fact that the official unemployment rate has been running at 3.9% to 4.2% for the past ten months. That’s full employment for many observers. But, as seen in our Full Count, if we add people who want jobs but are not searching in specified ways, and part-time workers who want full-time work and cannot find it, we get an unemployment rate of 9.8%. For dozens of millions of people out there it is not so easy to find a position. Some get discouraged and stop actively searching."
"If we really were at or nearly at full employment, we’d expect that real wages would be rising strongly. What’s that story? Not so bad, not so great. In terms of purchasing power, the hourly wage—the real wage—of the average rank-and-file non-farm private-sector employee, increased in some months of the last year. But not by much. Over the year, real hourly pay increased by a total of 1.3% and so did real weekly pay. Inflation, although rather low, was still high enough to wipe out most of the apparent increase in wages (3.9%).."
"...In terms of absolute numbers, the average weekly pay for these employees is a bit over $1000. Some do much better and some do much worse. And does $50,000 a year sound like a lot? To lower-wage workers, perhaps so. But if you are earning that amount and supporting one or two dependents, it’s not much. If your rent is $1500 a month or even just $1200, that is $18,000 or $14,400 off the top every year. Often, there is not enough left after rent, taxes, and other deductions for the rest of your normal bills, not to mention emergencies, such as when your car breaks down."
"The grim fact is that for five decades most leaders in the major parties and in other mainstream movements and institutions have not been able to or have not wanted to get serious about lifting wages. In The New York Times on November 10, 2024, Nicholas Kristoff pointed out that blue-collar workers today earn less every week in real terms than they did in 1972. After huge declines in the 70s and 80s, it’s been a long slow crawl just to get back to where blue-collar wages were a half century ago."
"But wait. On a site called CAP20, Bobby Kegon and Brendan Duke ran this headline on October 17, 2024: “American Wages Higher Than They Have Ever Been.” Whoopee? Don’t think so. Not counting the labor market effects of COVID, the hourly pay of production and non-supervisory employees is barely higher than it was in the early 70s. So this fact is pretty much in line with Kristoff’s argument. The buying power of the wages of dozens of millions of average American workers is about where it was in the 1970s. A half century of no progress whilst the total wealth of the country has ballooned."
It’s unfortunate that while many employers understand that fair wages must be paid, many would just as soon use slave labour. Especially now since businesses are being gobbled up by private equity. What has become important is return on investment for shareholders.
In this reply, Annie, your language shifts to exceedingly conservative and\or neo-liberal (where economic policies are concerned as here in the US the political term\label Conservative reflecting the 'Right Wing' in fact reflects the de facto neo-liberal economic model which has been historically reliant of cyclical economic intervention by government and the public purse to bail out so-called
'Private Enterprise.' For definitions of these terms where EU and US\Canadian economic systems and prevailing Political Economy commentariat control mass media dominant exposure and our shared Political Econ Class definitions of such see under:
For example you say here "Especially now since businesses are being gobbled up by private equity. What has become important is return on investment for shareholders." I would note that has been the dominant and sole acceptable operative Value for the run of our nation's limited if oligarchic and plutocratic institutional and market interventionist rule.
Your phrasing & use of the descriptive term "gobbling up" reflects the preferred state and intended pre-condition of Big Capital rule over all lower capital holdings, investments and proprietorship. It would appear that you & I share the pejorative use of this economic term (in Political Economy terms), whereas our Masters and Rule of Law favors the larger privately held and publicly traded capital holders seeking ROI (Return On Investment).
That term ROI has no analogue in biblical or scriptural texts as it is an amoral term by definition (it doesn't have to be immoral, democratic consensus can change that within the parameters of any true variant of Political Economy as a functioning "democracy" conditioned on the Public Interest rather than and in opposition to the influence of Private Interests).
However, I and those broadcasting over corporate-captured control of the US broadcast spectrum and\or publishing for the past 50 years here in the western world from even institutionally limned and mass news media acceptable spectrum of representative leftist Political E-Con positions would not confuse the prevailing Wall Street to Washington Ruling Spectrum via Big Capital Consensus with anything like a "functioning democracy."
See for example whose economic interests have been saved and served from Boom\Bust Cycles and which economic earning classes have been left to so-called non-interventionist Free E-Con dba Neo-Liberal Market Forces. Our broadcast and press self-censorship prevents any reference to academic, empirical and institutional studies of "Wealth Concentration" prior to, during and after each federal governmental and necessary in human terms INTERVENTION dba Bail-Out of the INVESTOR CLASS of Private Interest owners of our Free Market National E-Con.
"Marc Davis is the author of several books and has 20+ years of experience writing about business, finance, and economics.
Learn about our editorial policies
Updated January 30, 2025
Reviewed by Charles Potters
Fact checked by David Rubin
Part of the Series
Guide to Economic Depression"
"The U.S. government has a long history of leading economic bailouts. The first major intervention occurred during the Panic of 1792 when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton authorized purchases to prevent the collapse of the securities market..."
1
"When private enterprises are in need of rescue, the government is often ready to prevent their ruin. In this article, we look at six instances over the past century that have necessitated government intervention: "
"...The Great Depression
The Savings and Loan crisis
The conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The collapse of Bear Stearns
The rescue of American International Group (AIG)
The COVID-19 pandemic..."
"Key Takeaways..."
"The Panic of 1792 was the first time the federal government intervened to prop up the markets. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton authorized purchases to prevent the collapse of the securities market."
"During the Great Depression, a government program to buy and refinance defaulted mortgages kept 1 million families in their homes..."
"...The Savings and Loan crisis cost the government $160 billion (in 1990 dollars) to clean up..."
"...In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government authorized more than $2 trillion in assistance, including providing three stimulus checks to individuals from April 2020 through March 2021.
The COVID bailout was the largest ever, with a tally of $4.65 trillion as of July 2024..."
Given proportional rule via 'popular election' as mediated by our Electoral College I suggest you see comparative definitions of "functioning democracy" under "Oligarchy" and "Plutocracy."
This is the consensus bedrock term that bonds the US Ruling Class from Conservative (Right Wing) to the Neo-Liberal (Left Wing) here in our peculiar United States of US. Especially so when unified institutionally in practice and enforcement of law and what is called "Free Trade" rules via actually remote controlling the neo-liberal so-called 'Free' E-Con roost that has been consensually agreed to in Political Economic terms throughout US creation out of Absolutist British-UK monarchic\Royal settler colonial terms and times of governance back in 1776.
If less or more regulated in earlier western his\herstoric (Historic) eras via such Absolute Interventions into our 'Free Economies' via New Deal Reforms and each institutional 'Elite' investor class Bail-Out of the US Treasury since.
A Century of U.S. Bailouts: 1913 → 2025 Patterns, Turning-Points, and the Future of 'Too Big to Fail'
Darren Hicks
•
June 14, 2025
"Scale of U.S. Financial Interventions"
See even conservative concessions to Neo-Liberal Bail-Outs & Fiscal Interventions and\or explanations and rationales for the collapse of US Political Econ Norms with each cyclical Great Depression and Lesser if no less regular Political Econ Depressions requiring federal government interventions into our 'Free Markets' (especially High Finance markets) since 1776 and especially since the turning of the 19th into the 20th centuries.
In simpler terms, Big Capital Rules in service to concentrations of select Private Interests. Consensus on Left Wing across Right Wing US Political E-Con advocacy of bailing out current Argentinean High Finance E-Con insolvency is a very dynamic illustration if you weigh actual US News Media Coverage versus the rest of the world's Financial News Coverage of the Trump bail-outs of Argentinean Absolutist leader\ruler Javier Milei acting in tiny minority Private Interests:
Jonathan, watched the program Friday but you got to pay to comment or I would have corrected your characterization of the history of food stamps. First you failed to mention that there was no food stamps in the early part of the 20th Century especially during the War to End all Wars, as well as the War won by the greatest generation. And there were not starving people then as there are not now. Additionally you somehow forgot to mention that in the 1950’s and early 1960’s the government offered surplus food to the poor. They were called commodities. They came in gold colored tin cans. There were beans, carrots, potatoes, beets, and other items and most importantly there was canned beef. But of course you could not buy votes with canned goods distributed through local churches and armories. Now at least you did say that food stamps started out only for the very poor, but like any Democrat Party hand out you got to give it to as many as possible to buy votes. Now you stated falsely that if the billions of dollars allocated to this program are held up children will starve, give us a brake. There are not 42 million people starving in the USA. 🇺🇸 what needs to happen is we need to go back to handing out commodities, people who really need the food will get it and all the rest can buy groceries at the store with their own money not the taxpayers money.
Best and Julian is really nice and to nice to point out your inaccurate framing of the Food Stamp Program but one needs to get your mind right. Just sorry I could not do it in real time but again I don’t pay to correct someone else’s misinformation. Best Lynn
But if wages were fair, many would not require food stamps.
Your comment Annie seems obvious, but I've found in roundtable discussions that 50 years of chronicled real Wage Stag-Nation is not commonly and consciously factored into the Hunger\Starvation\Malnutrition journalistic coverage, such as it is in the U.S.
Canadians are slightly better informed with such national coverage in print and broadcast news via the dominant state-owned and Public Interest informed CBC (Canadian Broadcast System). Thanks largely to the National broadcaster CBC and not to the now legion commercial broadcasters as corporate-captured as ours down here in these lower 48 of the US and content-controlled by prevailing Private Interests of Big Capital:
https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/11-631-x/11-631-x2025003-eng.htm
"Research to Insights: Wages in Canada, 1981 to 2024"
Release date: June 9, 2025
https://www.dollarsandsense.org/five-decades-of-stagnant-wages/
The U.S. Jobs Report for November 2024
Frank Stricker
December 21 2024
2:10 PM
4 min read
Share
"The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Employment Situation for November suggests that the labor market got over the big bump of strikes and storms that resulted in few job additions in October. Just 12,000 jobs were added then. In November, 227,000 jobs were added—not enough, but pretty good by conventional standards and better than six of the last eight months. Sectors that led the way in job creation included health care, leisure and hospitality, and the public sector."
"To get a longer view of what is going on in the labor force, we can look at where job totals stand against pre-pandemic levels. Are today’s levels still below pre-pandemic levels as two Washington Post authors, Lauren Kaori Gurley and Andrew Ackerman seemed to claim (December 6, 2024)? Not that I can see. As the pandemic hit in 2020, the total number of non-farm employees fell by 21.6 million, from 152 million in January to 130.4 million in April..."
"...Since then, the total number of non-farm employees has increased to 159.3, or about 7 million above the pre-pandemic high. But that five-year gain is well below other five-year increases, including the period of January 2015 through December 2019, which saw an increase of more than 11 million non-farm employees. In short, we are not below pre-pandemic levels, but job gains are far below what they have been in some other five-year periods. The pandemic left permanent scars."
"On the plus side for people with mainstream views, there is the fact that the official unemployment rate has been running at 3.9% to 4.2% for the past ten months. That’s full employment for many observers. But, as seen in our Full Count, if we add people who want jobs but are not searching in specified ways, and part-time workers who want full-time work and cannot find it, we get an unemployment rate of 9.8%. For dozens of millions of people out there it is not so easy to find a position. Some get discouraged and stop actively searching."
"If we really were at or nearly at full employment, we’d expect that real wages would be rising strongly. What’s that story? Not so bad, not so great. In terms of purchasing power, the hourly wage—the real wage—of the average rank-and-file non-farm private-sector employee, increased in some months of the last year. But not by much. Over the year, real hourly pay increased by a total of 1.3% and so did real weekly pay. Inflation, although rather low, was still high enough to wipe out most of the apparent increase in wages (3.9%).."
"...In terms of absolute numbers, the average weekly pay for these employees is a bit over $1000. Some do much better and some do much worse. And does $50,000 a year sound like a lot? To lower-wage workers, perhaps so. But if you are earning that amount and supporting one or two dependents, it’s not much. If your rent is $1500 a month or even just $1200, that is $18,000 or $14,400 off the top every year. Often, there is not enough left after rent, taxes, and other deductions for the rest of your normal bills, not to mention emergencies, such as when your car breaks down."
"The grim fact is that for five decades most leaders in the major parties and in other mainstream movements and institutions have not been able to or have not wanted to get serious about lifting wages. In The New York Times on November 10, 2024, Nicholas Kristoff pointed out that blue-collar workers today earn less every week in real terms than they did in 1972. After huge declines in the 70s and 80s, it’s been a long slow crawl just to get back to where blue-collar wages were a half century ago."
"But wait. On a site called CAP20, Bobby Kegon and Brendan Duke ran this headline on October 17, 2024: “American Wages Higher Than They Have Ever Been.” Whoopee? Don’t think so. Not counting the labor market effects of COVID, the hourly pay of production and non-supervisory employees is barely higher than it was in the early 70s. So this fact is pretty much in line with Kristoff’s argument. The buying power of the wages of dozens of millions of average American workers is about where it was in the 1970s. A half century of no progress whilst the total wealth of the country has ballooned."
Via
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee
It’s unfortunate that while many employers understand that fair wages must be paid, many would just as soon use slave labour. Especially now since businesses are being gobbled up by private equity. What has become important is return on investment for shareholders.
In this reply, Annie, your language shifts to exceedingly conservative and\or neo-liberal (where economic policies are concerned as here in the US the political term\label Conservative reflecting the 'Right Wing' in fact reflects the de facto neo-liberal economic model which has been historically reliant of cyclical economic intervention by government and the public purse to bail out so-called
'Private Enterprise.' For definitions of these terms where EU and US\Canadian economic systems and prevailing Political Economy commentariat control mass media dominant exposure and our shared Political Econ Class definitions of such see under:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neoliberalism
For example you say here "Especially now since businesses are being gobbled up by private equity. What has become important is return on investment for shareholders." I would note that has been the dominant and sole acceptable operative Value for the run of our nation's limited if oligarchic and plutocratic institutional and market interventionist rule.
Your phrasing & use of the descriptive term "gobbling up" reflects the preferred state and intended pre-condition of Big Capital rule over all lower capital holdings, investments and proprietorship. It would appear that you & I share the pejorative use of this economic term (in Political Economy terms), whereas our Masters and Rule of Law favors the larger privately held and publicly traded capital holders seeking ROI (Return On Investment).
That term ROI has no analogue in biblical or scriptural texts as it is an amoral term by definition (it doesn't have to be immoral, democratic consensus can change that within the parameters of any true variant of Political Economy as a functioning "democracy" conditioned on the Public Interest rather than and in opposition to the influence of Private Interests).
However, I and those broadcasting over corporate-captured control of the US broadcast spectrum and\or publishing for the past 50 years here in the western world from even institutionally limned and mass news media acceptable spectrum of representative leftist Political E-Con positions would not confuse the prevailing Wall Street to Washington Ruling Spectrum via Big Capital Consensus with anything like a "functioning democracy."
See for example whose economic interests have been saved and served from Boom\Bust Cycles and which economic earning classes have been left to so-called non-interventionist Free E-Con dba Neo-Liberal Market Forces. Our broadcast and press self-censorship prevents any reference to academic, empirical and institutional studies of "Wealth Concentration" prior to, during and after each federal governmental and necessary in human terms INTERVENTION dba Bail-Out of the INVESTOR CLASS of Private Interest owners of our Free Market National E-Con.
https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/government-financial-bailout.asp
"A History of U.S. Government Financial Bailouts"
By Marc Davis
Full Bio
"Marc Davis is the author of several books and has 20+ years of experience writing about business, finance, and economics.
Learn about our editorial policies
Updated January 30, 2025
Reviewed by Charles Potters
Fact checked by David Rubin
Part of the Series
Guide to Economic Depression"
"The U.S. government has a long history of leading economic bailouts. The first major intervention occurred during the Panic of 1792 when Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton authorized purchases to prevent the collapse of the securities market..."
1
"When private enterprises are in need of rescue, the government is often ready to prevent their ruin. In this article, we look at six instances over the past century that have necessitated government intervention: "
"...The Great Depression
The Savings and Loan crisis
The conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
The collapse of Bear Stearns
The rescue of American International Group (AIG)
The COVID-19 pandemic..."
"Key Takeaways..."
"The Panic of 1792 was the first time the federal government intervened to prop up the markets. Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton authorized purchases to prevent the collapse of the securities market."
"During the Great Depression, a government program to buy and refinance defaulted mortgages kept 1 million families in their homes..."
"...The Savings and Loan crisis cost the government $160 billion (in 1990 dollars) to clean up..."
"...In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the U.S. government authorized more than $2 trillion in assistance, including providing three stimulus checks to individuals from April 2020 through March 2021.
The COVID bailout was the largest ever, with a tally of $4.65 trillion as of July 2024..."
Given proportional rule via 'popular election' as mediated by our Electoral College I suggest you see comparative definitions of "functioning democracy" under "Oligarchy" and "Plutocracy."
This is the consensus bedrock term that bonds the US Ruling Class from Conservative (Right Wing) to the Neo-Liberal (Left Wing) here in our peculiar United States of US. Especially so when unified institutionally in practice and enforcement of law and what is called "Free Trade" rules via actually remote controlling the neo-liberal so-called 'Free' E-Con roost that has been consensually agreed to in Political Economic terms throughout US creation out of Absolutist British-UK monarchic\Royal settler colonial terms and times of governance back in 1776.
If less or more regulated in earlier western his\herstoric (Historic) eras via such Absolute Interventions into our 'Free Economies' via New Deal Reforms and each institutional 'Elite' investor class Bail-Out of the US Treasury since.
https://darrenhicks.dev/articles/us-bailouts-century-analysis
A Century of U.S. Bailouts: 1913 → 2025 Patterns, Turning-Points, and the Future of 'Too Big to Fail'
Darren Hicks
•
June 14, 2025
"Scale of U.S. Financial Interventions"
See even conservative concessions to Neo-Liberal Bail-Outs & Fiscal Interventions and\or explanations and rationales for the collapse of US Political Econ Norms with each cyclical Great Depression and Lesser if no less regular Political Econ Depressions requiring federal government interventions into our 'Free Markets' (especially High Finance markets) since 1776 and especially since the turning of the 19th into the 20th centuries.
In simpler terms, Big Capital Rules in service to concentrations of select Private Interests. Consensus on Left Wing across Right Wing US Political E-Con advocacy of bailing out current Argentinean High Finance E-Con insolvency is a very dynamic illustration if you weigh actual US News Media Coverage versus the rest of the world's Financial News Coverage of the Trump bail-outs of Argentinean Absolutist leader\ruler Javier Milei acting in tiny minority Private Interests:
https://www.mediamatters.org/fox-news/right-wing-media-touted-mileis-austerity-schemes-now-argentina-might-need-us-bailout
"Right-wing media touted Milei’s austerity schemes. Now Argentina might need a US bailout."
"Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent floated a financial lifeline for the right-wing leader even as Trump cuts lifesaving foreign aid across the globe"
Written by John Knefel
Published 09/26/25 2:16 PM EDT
Via
Mitch Ritter\Paradigm Sifters, Code Shifters, PsalmSong Chasers
Lay-Low Studios, Ore-Wa (Refuge of A-Tone-ment Seekers)
Media Discussion List\Looksee