Census Bureau: Gov't Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers

**Elspeth** · 10-25-2013, 06:57 PM

Census Bureau: Means-Tested Gov't Benefit Recipients Outnumber Full-Time Year-Round Workers
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/tere....YUEO9TYK.dpuf

Americans who were recipients of means-tested government benefits in 2011 outnumbered year-round full-time workers, according to data released this month by the Census Bureau.

They also out-numbered the total population of the Philippines.

There were 108,592,000 people in the United States in the fourth quarter of 2011 who were recipients of one or more means-tested government benefit programs, the Census Bureau said in data released this week. Meanwhile, according to the Census Bureau, there were 101,716,000 people who worked full-time year round in 2011. That included both private-sector and government workers.

That means there were about 1.07 people getting some form of means-tested government benefit for every 1 person working full-time year round.

The Census Bureau counted as recipients of means-tested government programs “anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program.” Many of these people lived in households receiving more than one form of means-tested benefit at the same time...

More at the link.

**Elspeth** · 10-25-2013, 07:09 PM

;;

**Zathras** · 10-25-2013, 08:13 PM

Just more of the "change" promised to America by the Empty Suit sitting in the White House.

**Madisonian** · 10-25-2013, 08:59 PM

Its a typical BS piece.

The Census Bureau counted as recipients of means-tested government programs “anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program.

If you work full time and spouse does not work at all and you have 3 kids and one is a disabled child collecting SSI, it is counted as 5 "recipients" and 1 FT worker based on their counting method.
Pisses off the Right because they see it as too many on the dole.
Pisses off the Left because government (and ebil businesses) aren't doing enough to get people back to work.

Divide and conquer.

**Novaheart** · 10-25-2013, 11:44 PM

Originally Posted by Elspeth

The Census Bureau counted as recipients of means-tested government programs “anyone residing in a household in which one or more people received benefits from the program.” Many of these people lived in households receiving more than one form of means-tested benefit at the same time...

More at the link.

So you could have four working adults and one child on Medicaid or EBT in a household and it would count as five people on welfare?

**Elspeth** · 10-26-2013, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by Madisonian

Its a typical BS piece.

If you work full time and spouse does not work at all and you have 3 kids and one is a disabled child collecting SSI, it is counted as 5 "recipients" and 1 FT worker based on their counting method.
Pisses off the Right because they see it as too many on the dole.
Pisses off the Left because government (and ebil businesses) aren't doing enough to get people back to work.

Divide and conquer.

I don't think it's a political thing. It makes sense to count the family as recipients, not just the child since the government money affects the whole family budget.

In addition, monies set aside for one child sometimes (either innocently or fraudulently) get used for the support of the other children. Here's an example of one case that I actually know about:

A teenager is getting SSI. His dad has passed away. The mother, in the meantime, has moved in with another man and they have two children together. The teen's SSI money gets used by the mother and baby daddy for the support of the entire family, not just for the teen. This is not supposed to happen, but it happens all the time. The teen wants to go live with another blood relative but the mother (and abusive baby daddy) won't let him because that money has become an integral part of their budget. The kid is trapped until he's 18. The kid tried to tell a school psychologist about what was going on, and that idiot told the kid that he needed to learn to get along with the baby daddy so he wouldn't be so abusive. No one cared about the fraud, and from what was said, this happens all the time.

Also, there was an old Judge Judy along these lines. The episode was "Dad's Death Benefit Fight" in which an 18-year-old sued her mother for having stolen her military dad's death benefit. Basically, the mother had taken every check sent to the daughter while she was a minor and spent it to raise her other children by another man. When Judge Judy explained that this was theft, the mother asked the Judge how she was supposed to have supported the other children if she didn't use the death benefit from the dead military boyfriend (they never married). The 18-year-old could only recoup $5000 from the show, but it was clear the Judy would have charged that mother with fraud if she could have.

So there's good reason to include the whole family unit as beneficiaries of the government money.

**Elspeth** · 10-26-2013, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by Novaheart

So you could have four working adults and one child on Medicaid or EBT in a household and it would count as five people on welfare?

It sounds like it, but I'd like to check with someone who actually might know for sure.

**Madisonian** · 10-26-2013, 09:17 AM

No, it's a bullshit numbers game.
I work full time, my wife is over 70 and therefore is covered by mandatory Medicare.
So according to the way they did the count, there are twice as many "recipients" in our 2 person household than full time workers.
So what is the relevance of the study? Absolutely nothing.
What conclusions can be drawn? None.
What is the purpose of spending the money to gather this useless information? Support politician's position to spend more money for whatever reason.