Obama Getting Tough On Fraud…
by lizard
If only poor people could afford lobbyists. But lobbyists like Newt Gingrich charge a lot of money for their services.
While the GOP clown show gets devoured by the punditry, angry little malcontents like myself keeps railing against the Republican in the White House, president Barack Obama. I say that because we are so skewed to the right, that “centrists” like Obama are essentially Republicans.
Under the cover of Newt Gingrich tossing out the lazy poor people meme, calling child labor laws stupid and proposing that kids work as janitors at their shitty schools, the Obama administration is FINALLY targeting fraud. At the Pentagon? Hell no! On Wall Street? Fucking hilarious!!
No, Obama would like to make sure struggling Americans aren’t taking advantage of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program currently serving over 40 million people.
To quote Wall Street’s attractive CNN shill Erin Burnett: Seriously?
With more Americans relying on the program, the Obama administration on Tuesday plans to announce new steps to crack down on SNAP fraud amid estimates suggesting as much as $753 million in federal food aid is spent fraudulently each year.
USDA plans to introduce what officials described as “severe penalties” for the illegal “trafficking” of SNAP benefits by retailers and beneficiaries. The officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the issue in advance of this afternoon’s formal announcement, did not detail the severity of the penalties.
Yes, seriously.
Now back to your regularly scheduled GOP/Trump reality television programming.
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4&20 blackbirds 
December 6, 2011 at 6:31 pm
Well, in fairness to the Obama administration, according to the WAPO article the USDA is going after retailers that rip off food stamp recipients, not just recipients who use stamps fraudulently.
I’m not against this. I’ve been on food stamps at various times in my life and think everyone should play by rules. I always did.
Now the DOJ needs to get busy with Wall Street.
December 6, 2011 at 7:27 pm
maybe you can help me understand this better, Turner. how can retailers perpetrate fraud with SNAP? do they sell prepared food instead of pre-packaged food? for example, Wordens is kind of like a grocery store, and they sell grocery items to SNAP recipients. but they can’t sell their sandwiches.
as for the DOJ getting busy with Wall Street, I’m sure once Obama is reelected, he will transform into a populist agent of reformatory change fighting the good fight against systemic greed and corruption in Wall Street.
December 6, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Having a lot of friends on Wall Street (JP Morgan, BTIG, BMI, Goldman Saches, Morgan Stanley, and others) I can tell you that the DOJ has been in there trying to find criminal activity. The problem, as explained to me by my friends, is that the burden of proof requires knowledge if intent to defraud. It’s a burden that the DOJ hasn’t had much luck meeting. Nor do I think they will considering that the regulations on financial representations give the industry a systemic level of plausible deniability. That is to say that, in representing securities, it is verboten to “guarantee” returns. I wouldn’t hold your breath even if Obama actually became the populist you imagine he could be.
December 6, 2011 at 8:21 pm
The answer to your question is in the very article you linked to. Below Pogie quotes it.
Please read the articles you link to more carefully.
December 6, 2011 at 6:33 pm
Or he could send one Forensic Audit team into Solyndra and get the 500 million back.
December 6, 2011 at 7:54 pm
Given the kind of sites that use the image you’re posting here, you might want to rethink it. I’m not sure that trafficking in racist stereotypes is the best way to argue against the Obama Admin policy.
December 6, 2011 at 8:07 pm
What Pogie said, bro.
December 6, 2011 at 9:34 pm
thanks for the heads up, Pogie. poor due diligence on my part. I changed the picture to better reflect the honest aspirations of our president.
December 6, 2011 at 7:57 pm
And from the same article you linked, one of the examples of fraud they plan to go over hardly seems like a Republican war on poor people:
About 230,000 retailers nationwide participate in the SNAP program, with about 80 percent of funds spent at larger grocery chains. But officials said several smaller retailers often fraudulently obtain PIN or card numbers from program beneficiaries and keep the funds without the person’s knowledge. In the last decade, USDA has disqualified more than 8,300 retailers for such fraud, officials said.
December 6, 2011 at 9:43 pm
you mean the corporate war on poor people?
here are the other examples of fraud this new campaign to cut waste is focusing on:
and all this to get at less than a billion dollars?
meanwhile, let’s see how the 10% defense budget cut (the consequence of super committee failure) gets dealt with.
December 6, 2011 at 9:51 pm
I’ve posted this before, Ingy, but here it is again.
December 7, 2011 at 8:57 am
On the I-pod.
E-Roc left the music business to become a longshoreman to support his family with a steady stream of income. Somehow I wish that message would be incorporated into their songs.
December 6, 2011 at 10:45 pm
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-201_162-57337766/mom-denied-food-stamps-shoots-kids-kills-self/?tag=pop;stories
You’re timely. Or the President’s timely. If timing is everything, he just came out looking like President Tom Burnett.
So I’m clear, I think a billion dollars is real money. But I understand your perspective. My outrage at the fifteen trillion dollar deficit beats your “bail out outrage” by a large factor.
Tell ya what. We get a balanced budget amendment, and then we can talk about competing priorities after that.
December 7, 2011 at 6:57 am
I didn’t know we were having an outrage contest Mr. B, but I’m glad you are upset about the deficit that exploded due to factors like the Bush tax cuts, war’s waged on the national credit card, and our inability to address our broken health care system.
but don’t underestimate bailout rage, because we’re counting in the trillions with what the Fed has done to keep the too-big-to-fail finance sector solvent.
December 7, 2011 at 9:02 am
Thinking a billion is real money??
What ’bout the post office which is scheduled to lose 6 times that this year?
By the way 6B Large is more money than Montanans send in April 15th for Federal Income Tax.
December 7, 2011 at 1:08 pm
I’m going over my self-imposed limit of 1 UTube per post BUT SOMEONES NEEDS TO PAY!!!
December 7, 2011 at 2:01 pm
there are lots of irresponsible people in this country, but this poor black woman and the 12 children she can’t take care of didn’t cost this country a trillion dollars, thousands of dead soldiers, and a tarnished reputation in the world.
I’m wondering, Ingy, if the pic I originally had at the top of this post is something you’ve run across at other sites you frequent?
Also, I found another fly vid for you to enjoy.
December 7, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Republican president Barack Obama’s administration of spineless appeasers have once again “surprised” supporters by “caving” in to the right on Plan B
December 7, 2011 at 7:46 pm
Sebilious made the right call here but she needs to go further and find a way for those young women to get that immediate access to a Doctor. I’d support Planned Parenthood having a strong presence in our high schools.
December 7, 2011 at 8:45 pm
I hope you convey that message to the people you vote for, Chuck.
I may agree fully with you there, I don’t know – I tend to think that Plan B, at the very least, should be regulated like what they do with sudafed (have to ask the pharmacist, who could then instruct said minor). I could be convinced differently – I haven’t read enough about the medical side of Plan B, to be honest.
But there are a hell of a lot of other otc drugs that can cause all kinds of problems. Cough syrup, for crying out loud. It seems to me that if it’s passed FDA scrutiny, then what is really going on is something-other-than-science based decision.
By someone who is unelected. I’d think you’d think that was some federal official run amok.
December 8, 2011 at 7:14 am
I vote Pro Choice J-grl and contribute to PP. I may seem like a right winger compared to the left in Missoula but I am a moderate everywhere else.
I have seen this powerful drug in action and think the physical and mental struggles patients can go through justify keeping it under prescriptive use so that the patient has someone to call besides a recorded number at the pharmacy. It is not Sudafed or cough syrup.
December 8, 2011 at 12:57 pm
Liz, while I’ve been disappointed by a number of the stands taken by the Obama administration, your “Republican president Barack Obama’s administration of spineless appeasers … ” line is a bit over the top. He’s a centrist with occasional leanings both left and right.
The current Republican Party is a far-right mix of free-market zealots, anti-government activists, evangelical nut cases and hypocrites (like “family values” Gingrich).
To the howls of “lesser of two evils” and “triangulation,” dare I say that Obama has done pretty much what was expected with the hand that was dealt him, and that he is a vast improvement over any of the Republican Presidents we’ve had for at least five decades.
December 8, 2011 at 5:41 pm
like I said Pete, the whole political spectrum has been dragged to the right, so a “centrist” like Obama more closely resembles a Republican than a Democrat. that’s why, even with a Democrat in the White House, Obama’s appointment to the Supreme Court makes it more conservative.
I think referring to his administration as a bunch of spineless appeasers is pretty accurate, because policy decisions orbit around the one true goal: reelection.
I guess, like with Clinton, we’re just suppose to “hope” that Obama suddenly has a “change” of heart during his second term.
well, I’m not buying it. our president’s rhetoric is betrayed by his actions. whether it’s his Cairo speech, or his recent Kansas speech, all Obama has shown us is he’s more articulate than his predecessor when lying to the American people.
but don’t worry Pete, it should be lots of fun pointing out how insane the GOP has become for the next 12 months. even with all the disappointments, I can’t imagine how a Mitt or Newt could possibly win a general election.