tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post8101668122776147756..comments2024-03-28T06:32:24.557-04:00Comments on The Elephant Bar: Food stamps then and nowDeuce ☂http://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-41437605357448698582014-07-24T08:16:25.323-04:002014-07-24T08:16:25.323-04:00While talking tough, Hamas is keen on a “humanitar...While talking tough, Hamas is keen on a “humanitarian” ceasefire – not out of sudden concern for Gaza’s civilians but in desperation for an answer to the Chariot-4 tank’s Armored Shield Protection-Active Trophy missile defense system, the Windbreaker. The Russian Kornet-E and the Concord guided missiles which Hamas has fired against them don’t leave a scratch. Hamas fears that the IDF’s 401st armored brigade’s tanks, the only ones fitted with this armor, will spearhead Israel’s decisive assault on its underground high command, and has asked Tehran to find a counter-measure. What is "Occupation"https://www.blogger.com/profile/02054075097495500689noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-16733203564225104972014-07-24T00:40:09.936-04:002014-07-24T00:40:09.936-04:00 FAA Ends Ban on U.S. Airlines’ Flights to Israeli... FAA Ends Ban on U.S. Airlines’ Flights to Israeli Airport<br />By Alan Levin Jul 23, 2014 8:54 PM PT<br /><br />Photographer: Gil Cohen-Magen/AFP/Getty Images<br /><br />Passengers check a flight information board displaying various cancellations at Ben... Read More<br /><br />The U.S. lifted an almost two-day ban on flights to Israel’s busiest airport.<br /><br />Flights by U.S. carriers in and out of Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion International airport were to be allowed to resume at about 11:45 p.m. New York time, the Federal Aviation Administration said tonight in a statement. The agency had ordered U.S. airlines yesterday to avoid the airport, citing the hazard from rockets fired by Palestinian militants.<br /><br />Because the flight cancellations have the effect of isolating Israel from global travel networks, the actions by the airlines and FAA assumed a foreign-policy dimension. Israeli Transport Minister Israel Katz had said a suspension of flying would “give a prize to terror.” Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07877200182060537865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-35698576803014376262014-07-24T00:37:58.866-04:002014-07-24T00:37:58.866-04:00As of right now, we can all fly to Tel Aviv again....As of right now, we can all fly to Tel Aviv again.<br /><br />Let's go !!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07877200182060537865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-8933827239644281422014-07-24T00:17:35.605-04:002014-07-24T00:17:35.605-04:00Mike Rowe now heads a foundation which is pushing ...Mike Rowe now heads a foundation which is pushing politicians to start funding trade schools instead of diploma mills. There are good paying jobs going begging for lack of trained tradesmen. For instance, North Dakota, on any given day, is hundreds of welders short for its petroleum and NG fields and plants. People with this skill can earn more than twice the median family income in Georgia, if memory serves. <br /><br />How much will it cost the state to supervise 12,000 people? A great deal more than the cost of the benefit I would guess. allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15605114251615293411noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-61911076517068601852014-07-24T00:06:39.224-04:002014-07-24T00:06:39.224-04:00How do you incentivize workforce participation in ...How do you incentivize workforce participation in higher paying jobs?<br /><br />Why should you have to if the jobs are higher paying in the first place?<br /><br />Where do the higher paying jobs come from?<br /><br />Economics isn't my gig.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07877200182060537865noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-66799354299473521752014-07-23T23:43:07.765-04:002014-07-23T23:43:07.765-04:00From a political standpoint, I cannot see the bene...From a political standpoint, I cannot see the benefit from hard-assing the program. From an economic standpoint, I doubt that it costs us anything. Most of the money gets turned into ordinary income in the retail, wholesale, processing and farming payrolls. It also helps keep prices down as it levels out consumption levels, which should also decrease waste in distribution. <br /><br />I think there are good reasons to encourage people to work but having people show up at make work community centers is absurd, unless you want to organize them for political purposes. <br /><br />The best method is to be creative with incentives to increase wages and workforce participation. Instead of a program where “able-bodied must work or volunteer with a community organization for 20 hours a week”, it would make more sense to incentivize workforce participation in higher paying jobs. Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21297199.post-15961138595481095652014-07-23T23:26:09.603-04:002014-07-23T23:26:09.603-04:00The big issue about food stamps seems to be the si...The big issue about food stamps seems to be the size of the program, the amount of people receiving benefits and claims of wide spread fraud. The actual amount per recipient is $133 a month for one person. That is not a lot of money, so clearly if a person needs the help, there is not much room for fraud at $4.43 per day. For the working poor, that is an hourly supplement of $.55 per hour. Deuce ☂https://www.blogger.com/profile/13472858446242700869noreply@blogger.com