Is There a Problem with “Handouts” and “Free Rides” in the U.S. or is This Merely a Disinformation Campaign?

The short answer:

The rise of popular phrases such as “Handouts” and “Free Rides” is the result of a political propaganda campaign designed to misrepresent factual data and create an emotional response in citizens so it becomes easier to push an agenda onto them that they will get behind and support.

It is the rule in war, if ten times the enemy’s strength, surround them; if five times, attack them; if double, be able to divide them; if equal, engage them; if fewer, defend against them; if weaker, be able to avoid them. – Sun Tzu

This may not be “war” but the mainstream media in the United States is certainly a battleground of ideas and the most important tool toward swaying public opinion away or toward a particular agenda. Phrases like “Handouts” and “Free Ride” have been growing in popularity not because the public decided to randomly use these words more frequently, but because these words were being used to divide our population and create conflict among the lower class. It is hardly a metaphor to say they have the poor fighting the poor for picking up too many crumbs.

(Rise in popularity of the search term “free ride” has almost doubled on Google search engines from 2012 to 2017)

The long answer:

Let’s focus first on an example of common welfare propaganda in mainstream media to show just how fabricated some of their information is. Here is one image which has been routinely circulating the internet regarding this debate about welfare fraud and it’s exaggerated impact on the U.S. economy:

“New American way of life” propaganda article by John Tabb

Some of these ideas may be accurate but the way it paints this minuscule percentage of the population who would use such a complex fraud as the cause of our “$18 trillion plus in debt” is purposely misleading. The author clearly has a political agenda in writing this. It is clearly not about the statistics at all, it’s about pushing a political agenda.

This is a very complex fraud and would require pretty in-depth research to prove false. Working that hard to find a way to circumvent the system is practically a job in of itself. My initial feeling was that I seriously doubt enough people would implement such a scam for it to impact our economy in the slightest. It’s the same as any other criminal fraud scam, the only difference is this one is being presented in the media.

My initial feeling was that, before researching the validity of this article at all, I would be more concerned with bailouts of corporations who screwed up our economy than I would this tiny percent of welfare fraud, but that is a no-no to talk about in the media (since the media is owned by the same crowd getting the bailouts)

Also this article doesn’t cite it’s sources for this information therefore making it even more difficult to prove wrong. But that is the nature of propaganda: It isn’t designed to help make our lives better or help our economy, it’s to rile people up and get their support for a political agenda.

But after researching further I found this article was completely debunked. This emotionally charged propaganda was covered by Snope.com which has this to say about the article:

As is often the case with e-mail polemics focused on purported welfare abuse and taxpayer outrage, the “New American Way of Life” offers an implausible, far-fetched scenario to condemn those who use public assistance to make ends meet.

Regarding the misrepresentation of Section 8 housing legislation they go on to say:

Points 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 of the forward pertain to the imagined generosity of the housing program colloquially called “Section 8,” the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) assistance program that provides very low-income families with subsidized vouchers they can use towards paying a portion of their monthly rent.

While Section 8 is frequently derided in the fashion referenced above, it’s very difficult to play the system in the manner described due to the low supply versus tremendous demand for housing and vouchers among those in need of it. Applicants typically have to spend years on waiting lists before Section 8 housing becomes available, and in many cases it takes years to even get one’s name on a waiting list in the first place. (Source – http://www.snopes.com/new-american-way-life/ )

I don’t want to delve too deeply into the complex “Why” behind Welfare propaganda and the purposely misleading data behind it becoming so readily regurgitated on the internet in countless debates across social media and news outlets, but I have a few points I want to make.

First off, the amount of government spending on Welfare (and the perceived effect of welfare fraud on our economy) is insignificant at best, and purposely misleading to create conflict with divide and conquer tactics at worst.

(Total Government Spending in the United States, Federal, State, and Local Fiscal Year 2017) Source: http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/breakdown

Notice how Welfare is less than 10% of our Federal Budget

To even mention welfare fraud as if it is some big problem is to be either unaware of the scope of corporate fraud or prejudiced against the poor. There is no middle-ground.

My point is not to defend criminal welfare fraud. My point is that the media has the citizens of the U.S. bitching about this .005% of the population who are abusing this system instead of the massive corporate bailouts and complete corruption of our government by big money from 13 or so families who are literally trying to take over the nation by turning the population against eachother through media outlets they control and the politicians they have helped put into power with their inordinate wealth.

Welfare fraud is mathematically insignificant when compared to even one government “bailout” of Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, General Motors, and other such tragedies. (Companies that did not need to be bailed out, or should have been left to be replaced by another company)

Let us not forget how the government gave an 85 BILLION dollar bailout to AIG which they then proceeded to spend $440,000 of on a massive party.

Corporate corruption, corporate fraud, corporate financial crimes are FAR FAR FAR more significant and impactful on our daily lives than the drop in the bucket of welfare fraud. To even mention welfare fraud as if it is some big problem is to be either unaware of the scope of corporate fraud or prejudiced against the poor. There is no middle-ground.

To describe the psychology of the American citizens passionately uniting against one another to fight with the poor while ignoring massive corporate and political corruption is basically a prisoner becoming the prison warden mentality. The poor are fighting the poor and calling it a “handout” when someone receives welfare because they believe there are an abundance of welfare users who blow all their “free” money on material bullshit they were brainwashed into buying and too few welfare users who are using it to provide for their family.

What they fail to realize, however, is both of these types of welfare users are a victim of a hyper commercialized society where businesses and business owners get away with murder while the poor fight with one another over the crumbs.

No one gets a handout. No one can live off welfare alone. No poor person receiving a “handout” is holding society back like it is portrayed on popular media. The truth is the banking cartels, media moguls, megalithic real estate owners and their little clubs are the ones holding us back.

I repeatedly encounter arguments when I try to bring up the stratification of wealth issue and bring attention to corporate bailouts and criminal acts committed by massively rich families in public conversation such as:

“Your destiny in life is brought to you by your everyday choices.."

"The choice is yours!!"

"You can’t blame anyone for where you end up in life."

"I’m tired of hearing the poor blame the rich for their own problems”

What a nice sentiment. Truly it is the American dream. It is partly true, the philosophy is sound, we certainly cannot make our lives better by complaining and whining and not doing anything to better our lives. We can accomplish anything we put our minds to, I truly believe that.

HOWEVER there are millions of people in the U.S. who have the odds stacked against them and must work 4 times harder due to what tax bracket they were born into. Look at the historical standard oil monopoly for an example of how the theory: “the choice is yours! You can’t blame anyone for where you end up in life” works when you’re up against the Rockefellers who eliminated their competition with illegal bribes, back door deals and economic might.

Look at the JP Morgan empire which practically single-handedly caused the great depression. People who reduce these issues to “anyone can be rich with hard work, and it isn’t the rich people’s fault” simply do not know what the word “rich” means.

Rich is not a suburban family with a 3 story house, 4 cars, a yacht and 10 big screen TVs.

Rich is being able to destabilize a small nation by investing against it’s economic interests, being able to cause war over your oil empire…Rich is the families who, if threatened by another new business opening in their field, will merely buy the business and acquire it’s assets, and if that business does not agree to be bought then using your economic might, strong arm it completely out of the market and force their stocks to plummet.

This is the reality of American business 90% of the public is not aware of when they argue about these topics on social media. They reduce immense discussions on inequality and manipulative business practices that harm the entire world to “liberal” and “conservative”: political garbage that misses the entire point.

It takes money to make money and as any investor knows, a 1000 dollar investment with a 140% ROI is far less valuable than a 100,000 dollar investment with the same return.

We can’t use these philosophy quotes as if they are a solution to the problem of stratification of wealth and consolidation of resources and power. Those quotes are not the same for you and I as they are for the Rockefellers, the Rothschilds, the Morgan’s, the Warburgs, etc. Names most people haven’t even heard of yet the world’s most wealthy and influential people (yet the media rarely talks about them…)

It’s not about people not working hard or relying on “handouts” it’s about 13 families having so much control over land, resources and political influence that their vote is worth 100,000,000 times our vote, and their consolidation of wealth affects our ability to prosper.

People who comment on these topics with their “Hell yeah AMEN Brotha! End the free rides!” are generally ignorant and they truly believe that when I bring attention to how the megalithic corporation owners are the real problem, that I am bitching about my neighbor who has 2 hummers, a jetski, and kids attending private school…. How shortsighted, people truly don’t know what a rich person is. They have no f****ng clue there are men who make more while they are taking a shit then they will their entire lives.

No matter how “in control” or “free” you think you are you will NEVER, EVER be free like the Rothschilds, the Rockefellers, the Warburgs, the Morgan’s and their little clubs.

That is the point I am trying to make here.

The rich have the poor believing they are truly at fault for the problems of the U.S. and pardon my sensationalist commentary here but is it really that different from the jews being blamed for the economic struggle of Germany before WWII?

The problem never has been and never will be the poor or the lazy. The problem is the rich and dedicated psychopaths who make their life pursuit to amass as much control and resources as humanly possible at the expense of everyone else.

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Closing Remarks

It seems to me, pretty dark, that there are citizens who spend enough time in their life watching the poor and judging their actions to the point of becoming physically sick and tired when they don’t do what they want them to do. It doesn’t take long, reading through comments about welfare to find some rather disturbing misconceptions about the poor in our nation.

The public response to welfare seems callous, devoid of empathy, devoid of human recognition, like these people on welfare aren’t human beings to them but rather some diseased animal somehow perceivably limiting their capacity for growth merely by their desire for food and snacks.

Considering welfare is one of the smallest percentages of what the U.S. budget goes towards, it is insightful to study the public reaction toward these claims of “handouts” and “free rides”, terms that seem to have exploded in popularity in the past 5 years.

Why would the public be so focused on such a small percentage of the federal budget but speak with such sensationalist language and rhetoric which makes it seem as if we are in some sort of national state of emergency due to welfare inefficiency…?

Waste may be waste and these programs are not perfect, but why do I get the feeling these people yelling about “handouts” do not feel so passionately about any of the other wasteful actions of the government or big business? Why does welfare bother these people to the point of outrage and public declarations of “the free ride must end!”

Why is it such a plaguing issue? The answer is it is not. There are far far worse and more serious tax related problems we could be talking about but those discussions do not take place because everyone is focused on welfare “handouts”

To those of you who are attacking welfare on social media: How does it affect you? It doesn’t. You falsely believe this welfare inefficiency is impacting your life and it is not. You have been misled. It doesn’t make you a bad person, you’ve been manipulated by the media and a propaganda campaign designed to pit the poor against the poor and I’m sorry if you didn’t know, you are also poor. There is no middle class, you are either poor or you are massively rich.

– Another Hero