Monday, February 27, 2012

Spreading the Wealth Around Gets Personal

By Warren Beatty

While campaigning for president, Senator Barack Hussein Obama, in Ohio in October 2008, was approached by plumber Joe Wurzelbacher, who asked Obama about his tax plans.  Senator Obama used very twisted logic to explain to Wurzelbacher that he was going to raise Wurzelbacher's taxes in order to "spread the wealth around."

"Spread the wealth around" has been Obama's tax policy since day 1.  Indeed, one example is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the current name for food stamps.  SNAP is a government assistance program to help low-income households pay for food.  The amount of SNAP food stamps a household receives depends on the household's size, income, and expenses.  Now, rather than receiving actual food stamps, recipients receive an Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) card.

Speaking about food stamps on NBC's Meet the Press on May 15, 2011, Newt Gingrich defended his characterization of Obama as "the most successful food stamp president in American history."  Politifact rated Gingrich's statement as "half-true" because it considered the increase as a combination of the economic problems Obama inherited and an upward trend from policy changes.

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