With one statement on Thursday, Newt Gingrich, who constantly reminds voters about his past as a college professor, managed to mangle the facts while resorting to old-fashioned racist stereotypes to gain votes. With his poll numbers sinking, and his presidential campaign desperate, Gingrich told a crowd at a senior citizens center in Plymouth, N.H., "I'm prepared, if the NAACP invites me, I'll go to their convention and talk about why the African American community should demand paychecks and not be satisfied with food stamps."
"The fact is, if I become your nominee we will make the key test very simple: Food stamps versus paychecks," said Gingrich hoping to appeal to conservative white voters in New Hampshire and in upcoming primaries in South Carolina, Florida and other southern states. "Obama is the best food stamp president in American history. More people are on food stamps today because of Obama's policies than ever in history. I would like to be the best paycheck president in American history."
Despite the fact that Gingrich used the phrase, "the fact is," he got his facts wrong in several ways.
About 40 million Americans (in 18.4 million households) receive food stamps, according to a U.S. Department of Agriculture report released in September, using the latest (2010) data.
Among the food stamp recipients 33% (13.4 million) are white, 22% (8.9 million) are black, 16.7% (6.6 million) are Hispanic, and 2.8% (1.1 million) are Asian.
Almost half (47%) of all Americans who receive food stamps are children. Another 8% are elderly. About 20% are disabled. These are not people who have a choice between paychecks and food stamps.
Moreover, there is no contradiction between earning a paycheck and receiving food stamps. Because of the explosion of low-wage jobs in America, many people who work are eligible to receive food stamps. According to the Department of Agriculture report, about five million non-elderly adults who receive food stamps are working. Another 4.4 million are unemployed and looking for work. Millions more have joined the ranks of "discouraged" workers who've given up looking for work after months, and in some cases more than a year, of unsuccessful job searches. That shouldn't be surprising, given the reality that for more than 2½ years, the number of jobless Americans has outstripped the number of available job openings by more than 4 to 1.
Among those lucky enough to have jobs, more than 10 million Americans are the "working poor," whose incomes are below the federal poverty line, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. But Gingrich has a long history of supporting repeal of the minimum wage. An employee who works full time and earns the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 per hour would have an annual income $15,080 -- not enough to be above the poverty line for a family of three.
Gingrich has also been a long-time critic of the food stamp program., rehearsing the "food stamps vs. pay check" rhetoric for some time. He's suggested that Republicans use food stamps as a "symbol" of the Democratic Party. He has accused the program of massive fraud and waste, even though food stamp abuse (people getting stamps who are ineligible) is at an all-time low and accounts for a tiny proportion of all recipients, according to a study by the Government Accountability Office.
In Iowa last month, Gingrich said the following: "And we now give it [food stamps] away as cash -- you don't get food stamps. You get a credit card, and the credit card can be used for anything. We have people who take their food stamp money and use it to go to Hawaii. They give food stamps now to millionaires because, after all, don't you want to be compassionate?
In fact, as Politifact pointed out, food stamps cannot be "used for anything," as Gingrich claimed. Food stamp benefits are now loaded on to an electronic benefits transfer card, or EBT, similar to a debit card. Recipients can only purchase certain grocery items with the card. Beer and wine, for example, aren't allowed. They cannot be used to purchase airline tickets to "go to Hawaii." Gingrich is also wrong that "They give food stamps now to millionaires." Only individuals and families with incomes below 130 percent of the poverty line are eligible to receive food stamps. That does not include millionaires.
And before Gingrich starts ranting about illegal immigrants ripping off and bankrupting the food stamp program, he might want to check his facts. Only 3% of food stamp participants (1.2 million individuals) are noncitizens (according to the DOA study), and it is highly likely that the overwhelming number of them are legal residents.
Peter Dreier teaches politics and chairs the Urban & Environmental Policy Department at Occidental College. His next book, The 100 Greatest Americans of the Twentieth Century: A Social Justice Hall of Fame, will be published by Nation Books in the spring.
'nough said.
Whites make up 63% of the U.S. population (196,817,552) while Blacks make up only 12.2%!!! (37,685,848). Which means 24% of Blacks are on Food Stamps, while ONLY 6.8% of WHITES are on Food Stamps!!!
"When his career was at its height, he and his children were followed by an MTV News camera crew, which filmed them being taken in a limousine to the welfare office to receive food stamps."
See this article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4011357.stm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=paMQn7EWoco&feature=related
Hey Newt, they want the paycheck but have no choice but to settle for the food stamp. Explain.
To suggest anything other than a disproportionate number of blacks receive stamps is simply disengenuous.
The culture of debelitating handouts adversely affects the black community more than any other. This continuing attempt to destroy the initiative of the individual in the communities of color is the worst legacy of the Great Soceity.
There is very little oversight once a recepient is approved and with a program fast approaching a $100 billion dollars, it is safe to assume using the metrics from other govt programs, a fraud rate that's most likely in the area of 20%..
One might assume that, as we fast approach 50 years of the modern era welfare state and have had no reduction in the rate of poverty in America, we would CONSIDER at least a rexamination of our methodology in regards to dealing with poverty.
Not only is that not going to happen, but anyone daring to suggest it should, is branded a racist who wants to kill poor people.
Can anyone, faced with the failure of our approach, honestly say an in depth national dialogue is not required?
Forget the current budget problems, that's not the issue right now. If we have spent 9 trillion and have the same poverty rate, HAVE WE NOT FAILED THE VERY PEOPLE WE WERE MEANT TO HELP?"
I'm not really seeing the author's point on this one . . . here's the facts:
Population Demographics:
White 196,817,552 63.7 %
Black or African American 37,685,848 12.2 %
In other words, about 1 in 4 black Americans are on food stamps . . . about 1 in 15 whites are on food stamps.
"Among the food stamp recipients 33% (13.4 million) are white, 22% (8.9 million) are black"
And leave out the fact that there are 160 million more whites than blacks it's trying to mislead.
What is missing from the article is why are there so many people who resort to food stamps these days. The number started increasing at the end of the Bush administration and coorespond to the recession. People and the economy lost many good paying jobs which are being replaced with minimum wage jobs. If married with children even 2 minimum wage jobs puts one below the poverty wage for elegibility for some assistance for food.
We subsidize large corporations to the tune of $100'sBillions with tax subsidies but have problems providing subsistance to our neighbor.
A great example is Walmart. In California a study estimated that Walmart workeers on public assistance cost the state around $86M.
86M.
http://labÂorcenter.bÂerkeley.edÂu/retail/wÂalmart.pdf
http://wwwÂ.walmartsuÂbsidywatchÂ.org/top_nÂation.html
http://wwwÂ.walmartsuÂbsidywatchÂ.org/subsiÂdies/generÂal.html?suÂbsidy_typeÂ=6
This is the result of following republican policies put in place over 30 years ago. The republican policies have failed to maintain a robust middle class and it is time to change the trickle up economic philosophy.
Please make sure to include this statement in any discussions involving the national unemployment rate, especially when Obama tries to take credit for improving unemployment by pointing to this figure.
Parents are responsible for their children. In many cases where children are receiving food stamps it is because the parents are not providing for them.
1 in 4 African Americans are on food stamps while 1 in 15 whites are on food stamps?
Glad to see many commenters pointing out Mr. Drier's manipulations