CBO just released a report on means-tested programs: See full report:Click Here 
“The federal government devotes roughly one-sixth of its spending to 10 major means-tested programs and tax credits, which provide cash payments or assistance in obtaining health care, food, housing, or education to people with relatively low income or few assets. Those programs and credits consist of the following: Medicaid, canadian pharmacy la roche posay The low-income subsidy (LIS) for Part D of Medicare (the part of Medicare that provides prescription drug benefits), The refundable portion of the earned income tax credit (EITC), The refundable cheap viagra online portion of the child tax credit (CTC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly called the Food Stamp program), Child nutrition programs, Housing assistance programs, and The Federal Pell Grant Program. As shown in this report and an accompanying infographic, in 2012, federal pharmacycanada-rxedtop.com spending on those programs and tax credits totaled $588 billion. (Certain larger federal benefit programs, such as Social Security and Medicare, are not considered means-tested programs because they are not limited to buy viagra online people with specific amounts of income or assets.) Total federal spending on those 10 programs (adjusted to exclude the effects of inflation) rose more than tenfold—or by beta blockers and cialis an average of about 6 percent a year—in the four decades since 1972 (when only half of the programs existed). As a share http://cialisgeneric-toped.com/ of the economy, federal spending on those programs grew from 1 percent to almost 4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) over that period. (For ease of presentation, this report frequently uses the term “programs” to encompass both the spending programs and the tax credits.)” Check out chart:Click Here
The Reemergence of Liberals Among Youth?
The New York Times ran a story about the views of young people: Young, Liberal and Open to Big Government. They wrote:
“It is no secret that young voters tilt left on social issues like immigration and gay rights. But these students, and dozens of other young people interviewed here last week, give voice to a trend that is surprising pollsters and jangling the nerves of Republicans. On a central philosophical question of the day — the size and scope of the federal government — a clear majority of young people embraces President Obama’s notion that it can be a constructive force, a point he intends to make in his State of the Union address on Tuesday.
‘Young people absolutely believe that there’s a role for government,” said Matt Singer, a founder of Forward Montana, a left-leaning though officially nonpartisan group that seeks to engage young people in politics. “At the same time, this is not a generation of socialists. They are highly entrepreneurial, and know that some of what it takes to create an environment where they can do their own exciting, creative things is having basic systems that work.’”
Read article:Click Here
More killed by guns since 1968 than in all U.S. wars
Commentator Mark Shields said more Americans have been killed by gunfire since 1968 than in all the wars in the nation’s history. Is that correct?
Politifact checked it out and confirmed:
“Since Shields’ comparison was otherwise accurate, with about 1.4 million firearm deaths to 1.2 million in war, we rated his claim True.”
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PEW: Low Trust in Government, Majority Feels Government is Threat to Liberty
January 31, 2013: “The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, conducted Jan. 9-13 among 1,502 adults, finds that 53% think that the federal government threatens their own personal rights and freedoms while 43% disagree.”
The low trust in government continues, while 26% is a slight increase, it is nothing to rave about. Favorability of Congress continues to decline as well. The shenanigans with the federal budget and so called fiscal cliff probably were contributing factors..
PEW Report: Wide Support for Women in Combat
PEW just released a report on its polling results for allowing women in combat.
They write:
“The survey, conducted after Defense Secretary Leon Panetta ended the ban on women serving in ground combat units, finds that most Americans (58%) think that the policy shift will improve opportunities for women in the military.”
“The public broadly supports the military’s decision to lift restrictions on women in combat. Two-thirds (66%) support allowing women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, while just 26% are opposed. Opinion on this question is little changed from a Washington Post/ABC News survey two years ago.”
Are Poor People More Likely to be Fat?
One central assumption of those advocating prohibiting soda purchases with food stamps is that poor people are obese. The question, in my mind, is whether excess weight is associated with income.
I did not find any research that showed a consistent and clear pattern between income and excess weight. It does not mean that there is no data, but none has jumped out at me so far.
Highlights from the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) reported data for preschool-aged children living in low-income families from 1998 to 2010 in December 2012 (Volume 308, No. 24).
They reported that extreme obesity and obesity declined among low-income increased from 1998 to 2003, and then decreased from 2003 to 2010, although the rates were higher than they were in 1998.
Gun Ownership in the US
Just came across this chart posted in the Huffington Post. It makes me want to find out how they came up with the estimate of 270 million guns. I would also want to know how many of these guns are actually registered and licensed. Is there an interest in inflating the number of guns owned in the US?
Mother Jones reported: that there were an estimated 310 millon guns in circulation in the United States as of 2009, according to a survey from the National Institute of Justice. That number includes 114 million handguns, 110 million rifles, and 82 million shotguns. They also noted that 47 percent of Americans reported having at least one gun in their home, according to a 2011 Gallup poll. Of those, a majority – 62 percent – admitted to owning multiple guns.
Alternative Views About Obesity
Abigail Saguy, a UCLA professor, just published a book, “What’s Wrong with Fat? In a UCLA story, Meg Sullivan states viagra sales online that the author “argues that ‘obesity’ is far from a neutral scientific fact. Rather, it is a discrete perspective-what sociologists call a ‘frame’–that draws attention to certain aspects of a situation while obscuring others. ‘The very term ‘obesity’ suggests that weight over a certain amount is pathological,’ say Saguy….’This perspective shuts out other interpretations of fat as, say, potentially healthy, an aspect of beauty, or even as a basis for civil rights claims resulting from discrimination, which has been well documented.” The author also notes that debates about body size “do not take place on an even playing viagra generic name field. Saguy contends that powerful interests
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benefit from drawing attention to the ‘crisis,’ including the International Obesity Task force (a lobbying group funded by pharmaceutical companies), obesity researchers and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.” Continue reading
The Obesity Picture: Part 2
The Gallup Poll has been asking people about their weight from 1991 to 2011. In a report on their website in November 2011, Elizabeth Mendes stated: “American men, on average, say they weigh 196 pounds and women say they weigh 160 pounds. Both figures are nearly 20 pounds higher than the average that men and women reported in 1990. As Americans’ actual weight has increased, so has their ideal weight.”
She presented two charts summarizing the trends they found.
See Report:Click Here
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The Obesity Picture
In a nutshell, according to the C
enter for Disease Control: 35.7% of U.S. adults were obese in their most recent survey: 2009–2010. The U.S. National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey See report: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db82.pdf
The report notes: “There was no significant difference in prevalence between men and women at any age. Overall, adults aged 60 and over were more likely to be obese than younger adults. Among men there was no significant difference in obesity prevalence by age. Among women, however, 42.3% of those aged 60 and over were obese compared with 31.9% of women aged 20–39.”
Find chart at: http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html
In a different report using the same survey data:
- 31.2 percent of adults (over age 20) had BMIs under 24.9 and so were considered normal weight or underweight.
- Another 33.1 percent had BMIs from 25 to 29.9, and so they were considered overweight.
- The group with BMIs of 30 or higher—people considered to have obesity—amounted to 35.7 percent. Within that 35.7 percent were 6.3 percent who were defined as morbidly obese, with BMIs of 40 or higher.
- http://www.win.niddk.nih.gov/statistics/index.htm#graph