From the New York Times, we find out just how many Americans now qualify for food assistance:

MARTINSVILLE, Ohio — With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.

With millions of jobs lost and major industries on the ropes, America’s array of government aid — including unemployment insurance, food stamps and cash welfare — is being tested as never before. This series examines how the safety net is holding up under the worst economic crisis in decades.

It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples like milk, bread and cheese, swiping them at counters in blighted cities and in suburbs pocked with foreclosure signs.

Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. They include single mothers and married couples, the newly jobless and the chronically poor, longtime recipients of welfare checks and workers whose reduced hours or slender wages leave pantries bare.

But look, not everyone's doing poorly. In fact, the Masters of the Universe are back to their old free-spending ways, thanks to the massive government bailout funded by our tax dollars:

Conspicuous consumption is making a comeback on Wall Street. But no one wants to admit they're doing it.As traders and investment bankers near the finish line of what looks like a boom year for pay, some are spending money like the financial crisis never happened. From $15,000-a-week Caribbean getaways to art auctions to $200,000 platinum wristwatches that automatically adjust for leap years, signs of the good life are returning.

"What we're seeing in the last four to eight weeks is a fairly substantial uptick" in demand for extravagant purchases as Wall Street employees grow more confident that the market's steep rebound so far in 2009 will soon bring them fat bonuses, says David Arnold, senior vice president at Robb Report, a magazine targeted at the super-wealthy.

Isn't that heartwarming? We can be glad that someone's doing well, even if it's at our expense!

Happy Valley News Hour: Dick Cheney sends the Terminator back in time to eliminate Joe Wilson's mother.

TBogg: Since Megan McArdle can't seem to wrap her head around this crazy little thing called "poor", perhaps she'd like to take the Food Stamp Challenge for a week or two.

American Street: The myth that Republicans are fiscally responsible stewards of the economy simply means that the vast majority of Americans know nothing about politics or economics.

D-Day: Look for the Union label...

The Opinion Mill: Bookchat

Show Me Progress: Does anyone really believe Matt Blunt's 'spend more time with my family' dodge?

The Satirical Political Report: Huckleberry promises a "WMD Roll" on the White House lawn

Via Yahoo:

If Gov. Ted Kulongoski seems a little sluggish this week, he's got an excuse: he couldn't afford coffee.

In fact, the Democratic governor couldn't afford much of anything during a trip to a Salem-area grocery store on Tuesday, where he had exactly $21 to buy a week's worth of food — the same amount that the state's average food stamp recipient spends weekly on groceries.

Kulongoski is taking the weeklong challenge to raise awareness about the difficulty of feeding a family on a food stamp budget. Read more...

This is so refreshing to see from a politician. I applaud Governor Kulongoski and his wife for doing this and wish more would follow suit. The gap between the wealthy and working class in America keeps getting wider and we know Bush and the Republicans don't give a damn. He's never had to worry about making choices that many of us are forced to make every day such as choosing food and shelter over health insurance and medications. How long do you think King George would last in the real world, forced to live like the average American?

via Steve Gilliard:

Tobacco Escapes Huge Penalty U.S. Seeks $10 Billion Instead of $130 Billion

"We were very surprised," said Dan Webb, lawyer for Altria Group's Philip Morris USA and the coordinating attorney in the case. "They've gone down from $130 billion to $10 billion with absolutely no explanation. It's clear the government hasn't thought through what it's doing."

Steve wants to know who got paid. When the tobacco lawyers are wondering what's up, you know this came from the White House. It's not surprising that big business again hits the jackpot with the Bush administration. If you need food stamps or are a returning veteran from Iraq, watch out.

enlarge

Public Policy Polling continues its tour of swing states that elected Republican governors last year and have already soured on them. In Florida, Rick Scott's already deep in the negative zone.

[...]

So Scott joins John Kasich of Ohio and Scott Walker of Wisconsin in the ranks of GOP governors with horrible robo-poll numbers only three months into their terms. The Florida difference: There hasn't been a robust union or Democratic protest movement of Scott. There's just negative media coverage about how his family could benefit from his own policies, complaints from Republicans about his leadership, disapproval of his cuts to education and the state workforce (as he phases in an end to corporate taxes), irritation with the cancellation of the Tampa-Orlando rail line, etc and so on.

I wrote earlier this month that the rejection of these governors' austerity packages were potential problems for the GOP's national ticket in 2012 -- it's hard to win without Ohio and Florida. These are still potential problems.

We've already heard quite a bit about Walker and Kasich. But what's Rick Scott done that's so bad? Well...

A disabled food stamp applicant has asked the Florida Supreme Court to overturn Gov. Rick Scott's executive order suspending agency rulemaking powers.

Lawyers for Rosalie Whiley filed the petition Monday. It alleges Scott overstepped his authority by transferring rulemaking from agencies under the governor to his office.

That halted rules to simplify the reapplication process for food stamps. Whiley, who is blind, said the new rules would have made it easier for her to apply for food stamps online.

Her lawyers include former Florida State University president Talbot "Sandy" D'Alemberte, who said the order halts actions urgently needed to protect vulnerable low-income citizens.

He also said the governor doesn't have the power to suspend state laws.

And then there's stuff like this...

Gov. Rick Scott offered little Tuesday when asked whether he would consider ending his family’s financial stake in Solantic, the urgent care company he founded and which provides drug-testing services.

Scott’s role in the firm was spotlighted when he signed an executive order ordering drug-testing for new state hires and random screening of current employees.

“As I’ve told you, I’m not involved in that company,” Scott said, refusing to directly answer whether he would consider prohibiting the state from contracting with the firm.

Scott, who reported a net worth of $218 million when he filed papers to run for governor last summer, had pledged to put his financial holdings into a blind trust, when elected. Instead, in January, Scott transfered his Solantic stock to his wife, Ann.

And...

Scott, lawmakers want less oversight of nursing homes

In the weeks since Gov. Rick Scott called for the ouster of Florida’s top nursing-home watchdog, Republican lawmakers have introduced more than a dozen bills that critics claim would further “neuter” the ombudsman program.

The state Department of Elder Affairs also has notified Florida’s 400 mostly volunteer ombudsmen, instructing them not to speak to the media without alerting a district manager about the conversation and detailing the questions asked.

“My biggest concern is that we can still speak for residents, still do yearly assessments of the facilities, still handle residents’ complaints and not be muzzled by the industry or the governor or anyone else,” said Lynn Dos Santos, chairwoman of the State Long Term Care Ombudsman Council and a volunteer herself. “Under the new policy, I shouldn’t be talking now. But the truth has to be told.”

The developments come as the U.S. Administration on Aging investigates the dismissal of Brian Lee, who led Florida’s Long-Term Care Ombudsman Program for the past seven years. In part, investigators are looking into allegations that Scott broke federal law by “interfering” with the watchdog program, which is supposed to be independent.

In case you were wondering, all of those stories occurred over the span of one day. I cannot imagine what other damage Scott is doing to his state on a regular basis. Maybe I should get a daily Google News alert on him just to satisfy my morbid curiosity.

Continue reading »