Tag: welfare

Why “Don’t Let America Become the UK” Has Become a Warning for Americans

Many American conservatives are saying “don’t let America become the UK.” The reasons are well documented: unbridled illegal immigration, high levels of legal immigration and asylum seeking, and rising crime including rape, sexual harassment, mugging, stabbing, assaults, break-ins, theft, and sexual grooming of minors.

Housing and rental price spikes, unemployment, wage suppression, heavier burdens on taxpayers and public finances, and benefits paid to illegals, asylum seekers, and immigrants—many living fully or partially on welfare, add to the tax burden on citizens. Immigrants are also demanding that crosses be removed from churches and that the British flag be removed from public places. There is also the rise of Sharia councils creating a parallel legal system.

Protests have erupted that suppress British freedoms and values, some openly supporting Hamas, Iran, Hezbollah, and the Houthis, with calls for death to Britain. Conservatives also highlight bans on public preaching of the Christian gospel, hate crime laws used to arrest citizens for Facebook posts criticizing immigration or crime, and arrests for displaying the British flag.

Muslims now hold key political positions, including Sadiq Khan as Mayor of London (2016-present) and Shabana Mahmood as Justice Secretary in the UK Cabinet (2024-present). Humza Yousaf, of Pakistani heritage, served as Scotland’s First Minister from March 2023 to May 2024 before resigning. Additionally, 25 Muslim MPs were elected in the 2024 general election, making up almost 4% of the total 650 MP.

Immigration numbers reveal the same upward trend. Small-boat arrivals climbed from 28,526 in 2021 to about 38,000 in 2024, accounting for 86 percent of irregular entries (British government term for illegals). Total irregular arrivals rose from 38,600 in 2024 to about 44,000 in 2025, a 14 percent increase. Asylum claims nearly doubled since 2021, reaching 93,000 in 2023 and 109,000 in 2024, the highest since 2002.

Mainstream media, with its extreme liberal bias, often suppresses or misrepresents the numbers, while authorities in some jurisdictions falsify or reclassify crimes to make it appear that crime rates are dropping. This happens in the UK just as it does in the U.S. Media outlets claimed Trump was wrong when he said Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York had extremely high crime, although any sane person knew the crime rate, particularly murder and violent crime, was high, and citizen watchdog agencies along with primary source data supported the claims of higher crime rates.

UK crime data shows a decided increase since 2020. Sexual offences totaled 163,244 in 2020 and rose to 209,556 in 2025, the highest on record. Knife crime was just under 49,000 incidents in 2023/24 and rose to about 50,500 in 2024. London knife offences jumped from 12,786 in 2022/23 to 16,344 in 2024/2025. Knife homicides were 244 in 2022/23, and rose to 262 in 2023/24.

And for the privilege of these rising crime rates, UK taxpayers are footing staggering bills. The Home Office spent $5.9 billion on asylum in 2023–24, with another $8.0 billion projected for 2024–25. Welfare payments to non-UK nationals reached $9.4 billion, the equivalent of 1.26 million non-citizens collecting checks.

Asylum seekers get support while claims are processed, refugees receive full access once status is granted, legal immigrants qualify after residency, and EU settled status holders enjoy the same. Nearly $10 billion annually goes to foreign nationals.

Education adds another hidden cost. In 2023/24, 1.7 million pupils in England’s schools used English as an Additional Language, 20.8 percent of all students and up to 37 percent in some districts. With average per-pupil funding at $7,500, taxpayers spend $12.8 billion annually, plus $1.0–2.4 billion in language support, for a total of $13.8–15.0 billion.

This excludes translation services, special education, smaller class sizes, and new school construction in high-immigration areas. These costs are buried in the education budget, while the government promotes fee-paying international university students as an economic benefit.

Healthcare is another manipulated figure. The government estimates $1,295 per migrant annually. At least 1.5 million non-UK nationals receive free NHS care, including asylum seekers in hotels, refused applicants, dependents, and 1.26 million Universal Credit claimants, bringing the cost to $1.9 billion.

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Politico Is Doing Insurance Companies’ Bidding, And It’s Obvious Why

n February, I analyzed how Politico functions as a glorified patronage racket, whereby “reporters serve as a publicity rag for K Street and get paid handsomely for doing so.” Six months later, another such article serves as Example No. 8,579 (or thereabouts) of this swamp machine in action.

In this particular case, Politico published an advertisement — I mean, article — about a potential extension of Obamacare’s enhanced insurance subsidies, which expire at the end of the year. That story ignored sizable evidence of fraud associated with the subsidies, while including not a single quote from a critic or skeptic of such an extension. It looks like a not-too-subtle attempt from Politico to cheerlead for the insurance industry — i.e., its corporate subscribers.

Big Signs of Fraud

The article focused largely on Florida and highlighted that state’s sizable enrollment in Exchange coverage, particularly for households claiming very low incomes, which qualify for the biggest subsidies: 

Florida is one of 10 states that have not expanded Medicaid, so it’s more difficult for some low-income residents to qualify for the government health insurance program. The enhanced subsidies ensure that people who would be eligible under an expansion — those making just above the federal poverty level, with incomes between about $15,600 and $21,600 — can get Obamacare coverage, typically with no premiums. Two-thirds of the 4.6 million Floridians on Obamacare plans are in this gap…

But there’s one big fact Politico omitted: According to one study, while there are nearly 3.1 million Obamacare enrollees claiming income just above poverty in Florida, estimates derived from the Census Bureau suggest that only about 630,000 households actually have incomes in that range. (Disclosure: While I have done work for the Paragon Health Institute, which published the study in question, I had no involvement with this particular report and am writing this article on my own behalf.)

In other words, by one organization’s estimate, more than 2.4 million enrollees — over half of Florida’s total Exchange enrollment — are potentially fraudulent. These individuals may have overstated their income because households with income below the poverty level don’t qualify for subsidies at all, or conversely, they may have understated their income if they make two or three times the poverty level, so they can qualify for bigger subsidies. Alternatively, people could have been enrolled in “free” coverage without their knowledge by insurance brokers seeking commissions, an offense one Florida-based insurance executive pleaded guilty to this April.

Yet Politico mentioned none of this. It advertised the total enrollment in the Florida Exchange, and the billions of dollars in enhanced subsidies that went to Florida, without noting either the significant questions about enrollment discrepancies in Florida’s Exchange population or the fraud — totaling $133.9 million, according to the Justice Department — that one Florida-based individual has already admitted to.

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HHS splurged more than $22B on grants for migrants — including cash for cars, home loans and startups

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) ramped up grants for migrants from 2020 to 2024 — which included cash assistance to buy cars, homes and even build credit for startup businesses, according to a shocking watchdog report that found taxpayers were left on the hook for $22.6 billion.

HHS’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — which came under fire last year for having lost track of 32,000 migrant kids in the US — handed out the high sum to a host of nonprofits, effectively acting as a “giant magnet” for those crossing the US border and claiming asylum, auditors from the money monitor OpenTheBooks revealed exclusively to The Post.

Tasked with settling migrants, asylum seekers and other refugees in America, ORR drastically increased the number of noncitizens eligible to receive funding over the bulk of President Joe Biden’s term, with more than $10 billion shelled out to grant-receiving organizations just in fiscal year 2023.

That coincided with all-time records being set for southern border crossings into the US, with 2.4 million apprehensions by Customs and Border Protection over the same period.

Non-governmental groups bilked taxpayers for up to $1.7 billion in services including dollar-for-dollar matching savings plans for cars, homes, college educations or startups; small-business loans of up to $15,000; loans to repair credit history of up to $1,500; “cultural orientation,” “emergency housing support,” legal assistance and Medicaid care.

Some programs were only available to migrants or refugees who had been living in the US for several years, who were employed or who were making around double the federal poverty level or less, among other stipulations.

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China’s Economic Miracle a Myth: Middle Class Still Poorer Than U.S. Welfare Recipients

China apologists often repeat the Communist Party’s line about the so-called “Chinese Economic Miracle,” claiming that Beijing has “lifted 800 million people out of poverty” as proof that its system is superior to the American one. What they ignore is that it was the Communist Party that first drove some 700 million people into poverty, and it was only the partial adoption of American-style capitalism that allowed them to climb out.

Another oft-cited statistic is that since 2000, average income in China has grown by about 700 percent, compared with only 92 percent in the United States. But the American starting point was far higher. In 1900, average annual income in the U.S. was about $450, while in China it was just $15.

By 2000, the U.S. figure had risen to $41,989, compared with only $959 in China. Today, U.S. average income is $80,610, while China’s stands at just $13,300.

China’s middle class is often estimated at 500 million people, larger than the entire U.S. population. But the definition is misleading. The Chinese government counts anyone earning as little as $7,250 a year as “middle class.” By comparison, in 2024 the average annual disposable income in the United States was about $52,000, or $4,333 per month.

China’s own National Development and Reform Commission reports that 900 million Chinese citizens had a monthly disposable income under $282, and 600 million lived on less than $143.

To qualify for public benefits in the U.S., a single-person household typically must earn $2,510 or less per month before taxes to be eligible for SNAP (food stamps). In fiscal year 2025, the average benefit per person is expected to be $187 per month, or $6.16 per day. This means that nearly all Chinese households would qualify for U.S. food assistance, and that the average food stamp allowance in America is greater than the total disposable income of most Chinese citizens.

Unlike the former Soviet Union, China provides its citizens with very limited socialized benefits. Public schools charge fees, retirement benefits are meager, and healthcare is far from free. Families must shoulder most of the costs themselves, often leaving China’s so-called middle class with less disposable income than U.S. welfare recipients.

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Brooke Rollins Approves Louisiana SNAP Waiver Eliminating Soda and Candy from Eligible Items

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has approved Louisiana’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) waiver barring individuals from purchasing soda and candy with food stamps and adding rotisserie chicken to the eligible items in an effort to Make America Healthy Again.

“Guess what was in the mail? Got a great postcard from the wonderful Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke Rollins, my great friend, and this is our SNAP waiver,” Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry (R) said in a video update Tuesday morning.

“Thank you, President Trump. Thank you, Brooke Rollins, for helping make Louisiana healthy again,” he continued, explaining that SNAP beneficiaries are “more likely to have higher rates of obesity that creates a greater risk for chronic diseases.”

“We want to make Louisianans healthy, so you will no longer be able to buy sugary candy, energy drinks, or soft drinks — no more soda pop —  on food stamps,” he said.

However, the governor said they are adding rotisserie chicken, which will now be covered.

“We want all of Louisiana to be healthy, and our welfare programs are supposed to be a hand up, not a candy out,” Landry added, thanking President Trump and Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.

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HUD launches nationwide review of illegal immigrants living in public housing: ‘The gravy train is over’

Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced that the Trump administration ordered a nationwide review of public housing in an attempt to root out illegal immigrants.

The Trump administration notified every public housing authority (PHA) across the country that it will be given 30 days to share the citizenship status of its tenants or potentially face the loss of federal funding.

Every PHA is required to provide HUD with eligibility information, such as citizenship status. However, two anonymous senior HUD officials speaking with the Washington Examiner claimed that a “significant” number have opted to withhold the information from the federal government, or never collected it in the first place.

“I bet Biden HUD didn’t do anything on collecting citizenship info since they support current [regulations] that allow illegals to be in mixed-status housing, so they wouldn’t have wanted to know those numbers in the first place,” one HUD official told the outlet.

The “mixed family” units are defined as households with “one or more individuals who do not contend that they have immigration status.”

The letter, reviewed by the Washington Examiner, gives the PHAs 30 days to identify and provide the names, mailing addresses, and legal immigration status for individuals in mixed family units.

The letter also orders the PHAs to provide a “spreadsheet, analysis, or other prepared or gathered data concerning the number and/or location of tenants with ineligible immigration status in all Public Housing covered programs as well as a “full tenant file” for any tenant who was found to have “misrepresented either his or her citizenship, national, or eligible immigration status.”

Meanwhile, Turner issued a statement, announcing, “No longer will illegal aliens be able to leave citizenship boxes blank or take advantage of HUD-funded housing, riding the coattails of hardworking American citizens.”

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HUD Secretary Scott Turner to BOOT ILLEGAL ALIENS from Section 8 Housing — Proof Of Citizenship Now Required For All Tenants

The Trump administration is putting illegal aliens on notice: taxpayer-funded housing is for AMERICANS, not for those who broke the law to come here.

On Friday, Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Scott Turner announced that all Public Housing Authorities (PHAs) nationwide have 30 days to conduct audits verifying the legal status of every single tenant in Section 8 housing and other HUD-funded programs.

The first housing authority to face scrutiny is Washington, D.C., where Turner confirmed that the DC Housing Authority has already been put on notice, according to Fox News.

More than 3,000 PHAs across the nation are receiving the same marching orders. If they fail to comply, Turner warned, they risk losing federal funding.

Turner revealed that only 1 out of 4 eligible American families currently receives HUD assistance due to past administrations turning a blind eye to illegal alien abuse.

In a blistering letter to every Public Housing Authority (PHA) in America, Turner laid down the law: within 30 days, all housing agencies must provide a full and complete accounting of every tenant living in HUD-funded housing.

That means names, mailing addresses, number of bedrooms, the cost of each unit, and most importantly, proof of American citizenship or legal immigration status.

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Democrats’ Latest ‘Mediscare’ Gambit Is An Empty Threat

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: Democrats are claiming Republicans have put the Medicare program in jeopardy. As usual, the allegation amounts to a combination of speculation and an empty threat.

The latest version claims that, because the “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill will increase the deficit, automatic spending reductions will hit Medicare. But in recent years, lawmakers of both parties have moved to cancel the automatic reductions with regularity — and you can bet dollars to donuts they will do so again.

Implications of Reconciliation

The most recent claim came via a letter from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), requested by several senior congressional Democrats. CBO noted that, because the new law will increase the deficit by roughly $3.4 trillion in the coming decade, the measure could trigger an automatic sequester under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) law enacted in 2010.

PAYGO requires Congress to offset tax cuts or spending increases with commensurate spending reductions or revenue increases, to avoid further increases in federal deficits and debt. If, by the end of the year, lawmakers do not enact offsetting tax increases or spending reductions to “pay for” the estimated $3.4 trillion deficit increase caused by the reconciliation measure, then automatic spending reductions (i.e., the sequester) will kick in under Statutory PAYGO. (The sequester exempts Social Security and certain other programs; Medicare spending is subject to a maximum 4 percent reduction under this sequester.) 

Arcane Congressional Rules

Lawmakers can always waive or otherwise change the sequester requirement under Statutory PAYGO. However, they cannot do so under budget reconciliation, for reasons related to congressional procedure. The reconciliation process occurs when the House and Senate Budget Committees instruct other congressional committees (e.g., House Ways and Means, Senate Finance, etc.) to make changes to programs within their jurisdiction to accomplish budgetary goals (e.g., raise or lower revenue, raise the debt limit, etc.). 

But Statutory PAYGO lies under the jurisdiction of the House and Senate Budget Committees. And the House and Senate Budget Committees cannot give reconciliation instructions to themselves, meaning that any waiver of, or change to, Statutory PAYGO cannot occur via the reconciliation process.

In other words, while Republicans passed their agenda bill on a party-line via reconciliation, which is not subject to a filibuster, they will need 60 votes, and therefore Democrat support, to modify or waive PAYGO. That gives Democrats leverage in theory, but it hasn’t worked out that way in practice.

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Big Beautiful Bill Will Save Taxpayers From Paying Millions To Fund Medicaid For Dead People

When it comes to potential fraud in government health care programs, the hits just keep on coming. Thankfully, Congress has (finally) done something about it.

Two new reports illustrate why Congress needed to act to boost program integrity efforts in the Obamacare exchanges and in Medicaid. After four years where the Biden administration prioritized enrolling people in government-funded health coverage over any other priority, taxpayers may finally get a dose of some sanity.

Exchange ‘Ghost Enrollees?‘

The first data point came via the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), which released data from exchange insurers’ risk adjustment submissions. The spreadsheet contains enough numbers to make one’s head spin, but two sets of numbers — lines 4 and 7 of the spreadsheet — stand out. Those two lines show that the percentage of enrollees in Bronze and heavily subsidized Silver plans without claims rose from roughly one-quarter (29 percent and 23 percent, respectively) in 2019 to 40 percent last year.

To some, that change may not seem like a big deal — after all, isn’t it a good thing when people don’t make claims on their health coverage? But it suggests that, after four years of Biden administration policies, a growing number of individuals were being auto-enrolled (and/or automatically reenrolled) into taxpayer-funded “free” health coverage that they did not want, need, or use.

It also means that insurers had a slew of enrollees on their hands for whom they received premium payments — funded by taxpayers, of course — and yet didn’t have to pay out a single cent in claims. (Think about it: Will 40 percent of Americans not go to the doctor at all, or pick up a single prescription, this year? I doubt it.) For all Democrats’ tough talk about insurance companies, the last four years look like a gravy train for insurers on the exchanges.

As an article on the release noted, the data have some drawbacks. The spreadsheet shows over 33 million enrollees on insurance exchanges last year — definitely an overestimate — in part because it double-counts enrollees who switched plans mid-year.

But the spreadsheet also shows the biggest percentage of zero-claims enrollees in states like Florida and Texas. Other data points also show those states as potentially having large numbers of individuals who lied about their income to receive “free” taxpayer-funded coverage, meaning that the CMS spreadsheet merely provides confirmation of existing trends.

Thankfully, help is on the way. On Dec. 31, the enhanced subsidies that allow so many individuals to qualify for “free” zero-dollar benchmark coverage will expire, sharply reducing the incentive for fraud. The additional verification provisions mandated in the recently passed reconciliation bill will also ensure that only individuals with a documented need for assistance will receive it.

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14 Million Illegals in 2023: The Cost to Our Nation

Illegal immigration in the United States surged to a record 14 million in 2023, according to a Pew Research Center report. That figure marked a sharp increase from 11.8 million in 2022 and broke the previous high of 12.2 million set in 2007. Numbers rose further in 2024 under Biden’s policies, then began to decline in 2025 under Trump, though the total remains above 14 million.

California, Texas, Florida, New York, New Jersey, and Illinois had the largest concentrations of illegal immigrants, with Texas rapidly catching up to California. Pew estimated that 9.7 million were part of the U.S. workforce in 2023, about 5.6% of all workers, with Nevada, Florida, New Jersey, and Texas recording the highest shares.

The economic impact of illegal immigration is staggering. According to a 2023 study by the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), the gross annual cost of illegal immigration, the total before factoring in taxes paid by illegal aliens, has risen to $182 billion.

Taxes paid by illegal immigrants cover only about 17.2 percent of these costs, leaving American taxpayers with a net burden of $150.7 billion per year. That amounts to $8,776 annually for each illegal immigrant or U.S.-born child of illegal immigrants. On a per-taxpayer basis, illegal immigration costs $1,156 a year, or $957 after accounting for taxes paid by illegal aliens.

These costs have grown sharply. The 2022 totals represented a 30 percent increase over just five years. A previous FAIR study in 2017 estimated the net annual cost at $116 billion, underscoring how quickly the burden has escalated.

The local impact of illegal immigration is especially visible in law enforcement statistics. In Los Angeles County, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide are for illegal aliens, and as many as two-thirds of all fugitive warrants in the county involve illegal aliens.

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