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How much do you know about US entitlement programs? Take our quiz.
ChristianScienceMonitor ^ | undated | Allison Terry

Posted on 01/15/2013 8:09:06 AM PST by shove_it

The push to reform entitlement programs is at the heart of debates about the future of the US budget. Many Republicans want big changes as Medicare and Medicaid, in particular, consume a larger share of federal spending. Most Democrats merely want to ensure the programs' survival.

Entitlement programs include Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, unemployment benefits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare). How much do you know about them? [...]

(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Government; Politics/Elections
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I flunked the quiz big time (55%). I don't know much about the agenda of CSM though.
1 posted on 01/15/2013 8:09:09 AM PST by shove_it
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To: shove_it
I don't know much about the agenda of CSM though.

I don't either, but I don't think I like them. Why is a question that says "How many Romney voters used entitlements....blah blah blah?" It seems to me that there is some selective data and question manipulation going on here making one think that the usage isn't so bad, that welfare is 'limited' and that medicare doesn't cover everything. Overall, my opinion of CSM after looking at this is that they are libtards.

2 posted on 01/15/2013 8:17:16 AM PST by Gaffer
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To: shove_it

39% of those making over $100K tap entitlement programs.....we’re DOOOOOOMED!


3 posted on 01/15/2013 8:19:55 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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To: Gaffer

Good point. How could that data be correlated?


4 posted on 01/15/2013 8:22:14 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: shove_it

“Most Democrats merely want to ensure the programs’ survival.”

BS, but the tipoff to the author’s bias. The programs are not sustainable as they stand and are poorly designed to boot. If democrats were interested in program sustainability and quality of service, they would join Republicans in seeking responsible reform. Instead, they are interested in increasing dependency while exploiting the issue for short term political gain.


5 posted on 01/15/2013 8:23:28 AM PST by sphinx
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To: shove_it

The simple fact is that we’re losing the entitlement fight while hundreds of billions in other less politically sensitive spending continues unabated.

I think we need to go after the other spending while focusing on how to change entitlement attitudes for future reform.

After all, people rioting over section 8 housing vouchers won’t care a bit if we don’t give Brazil $100 million for an aquarium. They aren’t going to march in the street if we eliminate the $125 million yearly endowment for the arts. They aren’t going to care if we eliminate a thousand other things that are just as expensive and just as wasteful. They may be drops in the bucket but there are enough of them to fill a supertanker.

The need for entitlement reform is obvious but we need to face the fact that we’re losing that fight because we’re fighting the battle the democrats have chosen and its time to look at new strategies..


6 posted on 01/15/2013 8:26:16 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: shove_it

I flunked it too. Got the same score as you. I think the intent of the test is to show us that ‘welfare’ isn’t the problem. The problem is old people! How long beforoe the rats start urging us old timers to die peacefully?


7 posted on 01/15/2013 8:27:21 AM PST by pgkdan ( "Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not." ~Thomas Jefferson)
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To: shove_it

All I know is that I am constantly standing behind people in the grocery store check-out line who use EBT cards to buy food that I can’t afford and drive away in cars that I can’t afford.


8 posted on 01/15/2013 8:27:56 AM PST by Vigilanteman (Obama: Fake black man. Fake Messiah. Fake American. How many fakes can you fit in one Zer0?)
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To: sphinx

The entitlement fight is nothing but theater anyway.

Lots of sound and fury over the most politically sensitive things which are the least likely to cut in any meaningful way.


9 posted on 01/15/2013 8:30:54 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: cripplecreek

Exactly. We can’t afford our own welfare, while giving it to foreigners too. And why don’t we call welfare by it’s name?


10 posted on 01/15/2013 8:31:08 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: pgkdan
I flunked it too.

Whew. Thanks for sayin' so.

11 posted on 01/15/2013 8:34:43 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: Buckeye McFrog
39% of those making over $100K tap entitlement programs.....we’re DOOOOOOMED!

My guess is that is mostly made of those who collected unemployment benefits after being laid off at one time or another.

12 posted on 01/15/2013 8:37:33 AM PST by kosciusko51 (Enough of "Who is John Galt?" Who is Patrick Henry?)
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To: shove_it

13 of 20


13 posted on 01/15/2013 8:38:48 AM PST by redangus
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To: shove_it

Misleading, as usual. The food stamp benefit was per person. The proper number would be the amount per household. What if income was shown per person?


14 posted on 01/15/2013 8:40:18 AM PST by blueunicorn6 ("A crack shot and a good dancer")
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To: shove_it

I am the son of a social worker. I saw it on the inside.

There is so much waste, fraud and abuse in the public assistance programs, I would guess 90% of our dollars that go into those programs should be discontinued. There is pure stupid evil going on on the giving end and and on the receiving end.


15 posted on 01/15/2013 8:43:24 AM PST by lurk
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To: shove_it

I don’t know how the thing can be quantified when there is NO actual and correct accounting of undocumented’s accessing benefits.

Also, what I call an entitlement may not be what THEY strictly regard as an entitlement


16 posted on 01/15/2013 8:48:25 AM PST by SMARTY ("The man who has no inner-life is a slave to his surroundings. "Henri Frederic Amiel)
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To: redangus

Congrats, you flunked too.


17 posted on 01/15/2013 8:49:23 AM PST by shove_it (the 0bama regime are the people Huxley, Orwell and Rand warned us about)
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To: shove_it

Misleading and agenda-driven. The question about the Romney voters was a dead giveaway. Why no corresponding question about Obama voters? Also, they neglected obvious questions about aid for dependent children programs, Section 8 housing, and the like.


18 posted on 01/15/2013 8:55:52 AM PST by RightField (one of the obstreperous citizens insisting on incorrect thinking - C. Krauthamer)
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To: shove_it

To break the entitlement, we have to break the attitude.

Even 30 years ago, many people would have been embarrassed to take money from government.

While not an entitlement in the strictest sense, the attitude is what is important. Some years ago, the father of one of my friends was resiting taking VA benefits. He said that he didn’t earn them and that they should go to the guys who fought in Korea. He was stationed in Alaska at a military prison as a guard and in his opinion it wasn’t enough to take the benefits.


19 posted on 01/15/2013 8:57:24 AM PST by cripplecreek (REMEMBER THE RIVER RAISIN!)
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To: Vigilanteman
All I know is that I am constantly standing behind people in the grocery store check-out line who use EBT cards to buy food that I can’t afford and drive away in cars that I can’t afford.

In 1980 that situation alone was enough to get Reagan elected in a landslide. In 2012 Romney had to run for the tall grass after the slightest mention of it.


20 posted on 01/15/2013 9:00:21 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
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