Poverty, Health & Welfare
2009
2009-03-13 A study showed that income inequality is directly related to health and social problems, but more importantly that the wider the inequality gap in the country, the more likely those health problems reach the wealthy. Inequality doesn’t just hurt the people at the bottom; it degrades the entire system.
https://inequality.org/article/spirit-level-level/
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/mar/13/the-spirit-level
TIMESTAMP 18:35 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w1pwBsaoY0Y
2012
2012-01-01 Rush Limbaugh mocked food programs for hungry American families, “Now it has to be the best”. Limbaugh called compassion for the poor a “part of a partisan agenda”.
2014
2014-07-17 When returns on capital exceed economic growth, wealth concentrates inevitably.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jul/17/capital-twenty-first-century-thomas-piketty-review
https://aier.org/article/understanding-thomas-pikettys-capital-in-the-21st-century/
TAX FOUNDATION DISAGREES https://taxfoundation.org/research/all/federal/thomas-piketty-s-false-depiction-wealth-america/
2023
2023-02-08 During a State of the Union address, Biden was booed and heckled for predicting that Republicans would make Medicare and Medicaid cuts.
2024
2024-01-10 The top 10% of Americans own 93% of US equities.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/wealthiest-10-americans-own-93-033623827.html
https://www.axios.com/2024/01/10/wealthy-own-record-share-stock-market
2024-07-10 Vance said during a National Conservatism convention, “Look, the thing on immigration is that no one can avoid that it has made our societies poorer, less safe, less prosperous, and less advanced.”
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jd-vance-debate-immigration-housing-prices-real-estate-federal-reserve
https://nationalconservatism.org/natcon-4-2024/presenters/sen-jd-vance/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXH1p8_jhc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtRPLCso0Sw
2025 January
2025-01-20 Page 465 of Project 2025 outlines a plan to increase Medicare Part D prescription prices and expose seniors to higher out-of-pocket expenses.
https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
2025 March
2025-03-05 Veteran Eric Rodriguez warned that Trump’s cut of 400,000 VA jobs brought the VA back to 2019 staffing levels.
2025-03-05 Millions of Veterans feel that privatized healthcare will rapidly eat into the VA budget.
2025 April
2025-04-01 The Trump administration made cuts to Meals on Wheels, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, and crisis assistance to the elderly and disabled.
2025 May
2025-05-06 After Trump cut after school programs, weaponized SNAP, dismantled mental health programs, fired working moms and dads, diverted taxpayer dollars to vanity projects, enriched his family business with foreign entanglements, and held lavish dinners for his billionaire friends, he told Meet the Press girls don’t need to have thirty dolls; they can have two or three.
2025-05-20 Trump and supporters announced the lackluster “No Tax For Tips” bill, which ended up being temporary in nature, featured an income cap up to $25,000, and excluded payroll and state taxes.
https://www.epi.org/publication/everything-you-need-to-know-about-no-tax-on-tips/
https://bipartisanpolicy.org/explainer/how-does-no-tax-on-tips-work-in-the-one-big-beautiful-bill/
https://itep.org/conforming-to-the-no-tax-on-tips-gimmick-just-got-riskier-and-costlier-for-states/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_tax_on_tips
2025 June
2025-06-30 DeSantis vetoed stormwater funding, homeless housing, $200,000 for a Samaritan Resource Center program, and $400,000 for the Transition House Homeless Veterans Program in Osceola County.
2025 July
2025-07-03 DeSantis vetoed funds set aside for “Patriot Passport”, a veteran program designed to allow permanent Florida residents who are veterans to ride transit lines for free.
2025-07-04 The Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law, which touts a sweeping agenda to sharply reduce assistance programs for struggling families.
2025 August
2025-08-10 Trump posted on social media, “The Homeless have to move out, IMMEDIATELY…FAR from the Capital….It’s all going to happen very fast, just like the Border….This will be easier - Be prepared! There will be no “MR. NICE GUY.” We want our Capital BACK…”
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115005075016157889
2025-08-11 Trump told the press he wanted to shelter the homeless DC population, but then there was no follow up as to what happened to those people. This was after he posted on social media that the homeless needed to move out “far from the capitol”.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kzz4m3ll1o
2025-08-12 The National Alliance to End Homelessness issued a statement, “Homelessness is not a criminal issue. It is an economic issue” and cited that Trump’s use of military force is making outreach significantly harder.
2025-08-14 Wholesale inflation surges and tariff costs are being passed down to consumers.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/08/14/economy/us-ppi-wholesale-inflation-july
2025-08-18 Executive Order 14321 directs federal agencies to prioritize funding to cities that enforce anti-camping ordinances and forced relocations.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KFi1mcwc9LM&list=WL&index=1&t=198s
2025 September
2025-09-03 Utah unveiled a 1300-bed homeless camp near Rose Park.
https://utahnewsdispatch.com/2025/09/03/utah-homeless-campus-site-unveiled-after-secretive-search/
https://homelesslaw.org/trumpdceo/
2025-09-08 As outlined on page 299 of Project 2025, the administration cut SNAP, school food programs, energy and internet assistance, and funding to the Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Grant Program (SNAP-ED).
https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/08/08/trumps-spending-bill-cuts-billions-in-snap-benefits.html
https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/obbb-implementation
2025-09-14 Days after Fox commentator Brian Kilmeade suggested euthanizing the homeless, “Just kill them”, he was forced to issue an apology, in which he reasserted his opinion that homeless people are criminals.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/14/business/brian-kilmeade-fox-news-apology-homeless
https://www.axios.com/2025/09/15/brian-kilmeade-fox-news-lethal-injection-homeless
https://x.com/kilmeade/status/1967219726456959138
2025-09-17 Before the shutdown, Democrats proposed a bill to keep government funding going through October 31st, reverse Medicaid cuts, and extend the affordable care act subsidies. Unfortunately, they didn’t get enough votes for the bill to pass.
https://nlihc.org/resource/government-shutdown-extends-third-week-after-failed-cr-votes-senate
2025-09-20 The USDA stopped tracking food insecurity and terminated the annual Household Food Security Report.
2025 October
2025-10-01 During the shutdown Republicans falsely claimed Democrats were trying to give free Medicare to immigrants.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/government-shutdown-clock/
https://www.healthinsurance.org/glossary/american-rescue-plan/
2025-10-12 The Trump Administration bailed Argentina out with $40 BILLION in American taxpayer dollars. In November the Senate refused to vote for a takeback of those funds during the shutdown while millions of American families went hungry.
https://democrats-financialservices.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=413878
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g3mdvle78o
2025-10-21 Americans received letters saying their health insurance prices would double or quadruple.
https://www.npr.org/2025/10/12/nx-s1-5570849/shutdown-aca-health-care-tax-credits
2025-10-28 Rob Schmitt commented on both Newsmax and X that there should be a weight limit for SNAP recipients, claiming benefits were going to people who “weigh 300 pounds” and were “selling their benefits to get their nails done and buy weaves”.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/newsmax-anchor-claims-americans-using-160133829.html
https://x.com/SchmittNYC/status/1983284055996047650
2025-10-31 Trump hosted a lavish Halloween party for his billionaire friends, hours before SNAP benefits expired.
2025-10-31 Trump repeatedly posted about a marble White House bathroom renovation during a hunger crisis.
https://deadline.com/2025/10/trump-lincoln-bathroom-white-house-1236604245/
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/10/31/trump-bathroom-white-house-remodel-shutdown.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/10/31/politics/white-house-lincoln-bedroom-bathroom-renovation
2025 November
2025-11-02 Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins perpetuated SNAP fraud claims on social media and praised Trump for withholding food assistance.
https://x.com/SecRollins/status/1985007736896053318
2025-11-03 Despite court orders, Trump continued delaying SNAP funding, at times proposing partial or no release of funds
https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-defies-court-snap-ruling
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/g-s1-96296/trump-deadline-contingency-funds-snap
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/03/nx-s1-5596121/snap-food-benefits-trump-government-shutdown
https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-administration-partially-fund-snap-months/story?id=127138175
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/04/trump-snap-funding-shutdown-food-aid-00635141
https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/07/politics/trump-administration-supreme-court-snap-benefits
2025-11-04 Trump continued to weaponize SNAP benefits posting on his social media account he would continue to leverage food for millions of Americans until the “Radical Left Democrats open up government”.
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115492285081397189
2025-11-04 Trump administration Social Security reforms will now make it harder to attain assistance or housing.
https://www.propublica.org/article/dhs-social-security-data-voter-citizenship-trump
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/26090916-eligible-status-rule/#document/p1
https://www.propublica.org/article/trump-housing-reforms-aid-hud-immigration-homelessness
2025-11-06 Trump removed the Direct File tool which allowed Americans to file their federal income taxes for free.
https://meritalk.com/articles/irs-officially-suspends-free-direct-file-service/
https://www.marketplace.org/story/2025/11/12/trump-kills-irs-direct-file-what-now
2025-11-10 The Agriculture Department threatened to penalize states that didn’t “undo” steps to fully fund SNAP.
https://factkeepers.com/trump-administration-threatens-states-that-dont-undo-full-snap-payments/
https://www.npr.org/2025/11/09/nx-s1-5603417/full-snap-benefits-trump-states-order
2025-11-10 Eight Democratic senators joined Republicans in voting to reopen the government without additional concessions, and nobody voted to take back the $40B bailout that Trump gave to Argentina.
https://time.com/7332610/8-senators-broke-with-democrats-to-end-government-shutdown/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-democrats-vote-end-government-shutdown/
https://meidasnews.com/news/republicans-vote-no-on-using-argentina-bailout-money-for-aca-subsidies
2025-11-12 Trump cut Continuum of Care funding designed to create permanent housing for homeless people. Funds were redirected to policing encampments, arresting people, and transitional housing offered to already employed tenants.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/13/trump-cuts-homeless-housing-program-00650758
https://endhomelessness.org/action/stophudnofo/
2025 December
2025-12-15 Another 35,000 VA jobs were cut.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/13/va-veterans-affairs-job-cuts-trump/
2025-12-16 Four Republicans joined Democrats to stop Obamacare subsidies from expiring, but Congress sent lawmakers home before the vote could happen.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/12/23/expiring-aca-subsidies-most-affected.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/12/19/politics/congress-obamacare-subsidies-expiring
2026 February
2026-02-02 Trump announced luxurious Kennedy Center renovations while Americans struggled with healthcare costs. Meanwhile, a Gallup survey showed that millions of Americans were skipping meals to pay for their healthcare.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vi0AWU60RxE&list=WL&index=1&t=69s
https://news.gallup.com/poll/702596/one-third-americans-cut-back-cover-healthcare-expenses.aspx
https://www.npr.org/2026/02/02/nx-s1-5696489/kennedy-center-renovation-trump-questions
2026-02-25 Dr. Oz and JD Vance placed a 6-month moratorium on enrollments for medical equipment, prosthetics, orthotics, and supplies, claiming it was all too subject to fraudulent activity. Governor Tim Walz responded, “This has nothing to do with fraud. This is a campaign of retribution. Trump is weaponizing the entirety of the federal government to punish blue states like Minnesota”.
https://www.aha.org/news/headline/2026-02-25-cms-announces-actions-addressing-fraud
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1l99wq4amo&list=WL&index=2
2026 March
2026-03-09 Congressman Michael Cloud argued charity should not be government-compelled through taxes.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s2LhGaW2C44&list=WL&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iMI-jsOUDQk
2026-03-10 Pete Hegseth used taxpayer money for a lavish spending spree while SNAP expired: $9M on crab legs, $6.9M on lobster tail, $98,000 for a grand piano, $5.3M on Apple devices, $15.1M for steak, $124,000 on ice cream machines, $139,000 on doughnut orders, $225M on furniture, $12,000 for fruit basket stands, and $50.1B on grants and contracts.
https://newrepublic.com/post/207555/pete-hegseth-billions-dollars-fruit-basket-stands-chairs-crab
https://mashable.com/video/jimmy-kimmel-pete-hegseth-spending-93-billion
2026-03-11 Senator John Husted said, “People living in poverty are not experienced at navigating the real world”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IT_thvf4cXc&list=WL&index=1
2026-03-16 Michael Savage proposed homeless internment camps during a Newsmax interview.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3kp_9N3Jsk&list=WL&index=3&t=10s
2026-03-29 Trump touted more plans for his ballroom to include bulletproof glass and drone-proof construction. This during a war in Iran, the lowest job-market in decades, surging inflation, unaffordable healthcare, increasing poverty, and a shutdown.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mz6x2Y50Egs&list=WL&index=1&t=10s
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/5807115-donald-trump-military-complex-white-house-ballroom/
2026 April
2026-04-03 Trump made deep cuts to the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) and recommended cutting it entirely while simultaneously demanding $1.5T in defense spending to support Israels war. He stated, “It’s not possible for us to take care of daycare, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual…things. They can do it on a State basis. You can’t do it on a Federal – we have to take care of one thing: military protection. We have to guard the country”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSXxofF5lJg&t=33s
https://www.ncoa.org/article/energy-assistance-beyond-liheap/
https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/5815067-trump-budget-liheap-energy-prices/
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5814887-15t-defense-budget-request/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0IV2JT26Ls&list=WL&index=4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEURbAHBPvg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GFcmIVM3Yc
https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/02/politics/donald-trump-iran-war-daycare
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5814887-15t-defense-budget-request/
2026-04-13 UN’s Chief Economist Maximo Torero warned of a global food crisis because of the U.S.-Israeli war in Iran.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wwgxQMSZzbA&list=WL&index=1&t=2s
https://news.un.org/en/story/2026/04/1167289
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-892976
2026-04-16 The Trump administration defunded Catholic charities that provide shelter and care for migrant children.
https://www.ms.now/opinion/pope-trump-vance-catholic-charities-contract-canceled
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/catholic-charities-federal-funding-cut-miami/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hECf9ZCGws&list=WL&index=7
SUB WALL https://www.ms.now/opinion/trump-pope-leo-criticism-vance-catholic-peace
2026-04-28 Louisiana advanced HB211 to criminalize being homeless. Under the Streets to Success Act, homeless individuals would be arrested and fined for sleeping in public places. If they cannot pay the fines, they will be forced into hard labor to pay off the fines. In some cases they can be forced into a treatment program for which they would have to pay off with hard labor. Republican State Representative Debbie Villio stated in her proposal, “We aren’t looking to jail anyone, we’re looking to integrate them with the criminal justice system in an effort to connect them with service providers”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5IpSzIir_A&list=WL&index=1&t=614s
https://council.nola.gov/news/april-2026/councilmember-lesli-harris-urges-louisiana-to-reje/
https://www.legis.la.gov/legis/BillInfo.aspx?s=26rs&b=HB211&sbi=y
https://www.addicted.org/paying-for-treatment/cost/louisiana/
https://www.wafb.com/2026/04/09/louisiana-lawmakers-advance-bill-criminalizing-homeless-encampments/
2026-04-30 A bale of hay costs $23, diesel costs rose up over 46%, screwworms were an issue in the Southern border, and additional cuts to SNAP benefits were made. Meanwhile farming families are under duress and the rate of farmer suicide is increasing.
https://www.instagram.com/reels/DXp39tRiciL/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmRokZs7gPQ&list=WL&index=2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LbxJS5uApQ&list=WL&index=1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VmRokZs7gPQ&list=WL&index=2
https://www.fb.org/initiative/farm-state-of-mind
2026 May
2026-05-01 Nebraska was the first red state to roll out Medicaid work requirements.
https://dhhs.ne.gov/Pages/WorkRequirements.aspx
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-implements-new-medicaid-work-requirements/71189141
https://www.healthcaredive.com/news/nebraska-medicaid-work-requirements-launch-first-state/818992/
2026-05-06 KraftHeinz reported that consumers are dipping into their savings accounts just to eat.
PAY WALL https://www.seattletimes.com/business/consumers-are-running-out-of-money-and-cutting-back-ceos-warn/
2026-05-06 National Economic Council Director Kevin Hasset told Fox news “In fact, I had the head of one of the big five banks in my office yesterday going through the credit card data. And just as Secretary Bessent said, credit card spending is through the roof. They’re spending more on gasoline, but they’re spending more no everything else too.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-official-drops-odd-boast-161158876.html?
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5867139-strong-job-market-us/
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/07/politics/economy-trump-administration-messaging
https://www.the-independent.com/us/money/trump-credit-card-spending-b2971738.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8ofisyS9MA&list=WL&index=9&t=41s
2026-05-09 Former reality TV star, Trump supporter, and healing crystal peddler Spencer Pratt campaigned to be the next Los Angeles mayor, touting claims that the homeless have homes and choose to live in the streets, stating “They’re not homeless – they’re drug addicts”.
https://www.cnn.com/2026/05/28/politics/kfile-spencer-pratt-alex-jones-9-11-conspiracy-theory
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spencer_Pratt
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/29/tmz-harvey-levin-spencer-pratt-la-00942036
https://prattdaddy.com/?srsltid=AfmBOooMElWRCGhUfuWSB0_OkMmMmW-ryNt-27mazVuxMPsjiTYQGY0y
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/lcT9z-g5GIc
SUB WALL https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2026-05-09/spencer-pratt-la-homeless-super-meth
2026-05-12 Trump said, “I don’t think about Americans’ financial situation – I don’t think about anybody”. Two days later JD Vance denied Trump ever said this. https://abcnews.com/Politics/trump-americans-financial-situation-iran-negotiations/story?id=132891356
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/05/12/world/live-news/trump-iran-war-news
https://newrepublic.com/post/210395/jd-vance-donald-trump-never-said-care-even-little-bit-americans
2026-05-19 Twenty-five percent of job seekers reported it had taken them a year or longer to find a job.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtEAIO6zYTo&list=WL&index=1
https://www.investopedia.com/quarter-of-job-searches-are-taking-more-than-a-year-11978096
2026-05-23 Trump proposed a budget to entirely cut housing and community development funds. Appropriations committee Tom Cole responded to Trump’s proposed housing and community development cuts, “Remember, the power of the Appropriation Committee is here, and we will make those decisions”.
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/05/23/white-house-housing-funds-republicans-00934353
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/white-house-wants-eliminate-housing-160000708.html
2026-05-26 Mamdani released a housing plan to build affordable housing and reform maintenance code enforcement. The Heritage Foundation wrote a smear campaign against it (of course they did).
HERITAGE FOUNDATION RHETORIC https://www.heritage.org/government-regulation/commentary/how-mamdani-aims-crush-property-owners-and-socialize-the-skyline
2026 June
2026-06-10 Representative Maxwell Frost of Florida wrote, “Instead of investing in you and ensuring you can afford your healthcare, groceries, or rent – they chose to hand $70 BILLION to agencies operating without any guardrails while terrorizing and brutalizing our communities.”
https://www.commondreams.org/news/house-republicans-2677019857
2026-06-19 The DOJ released a memo undermining the Olmstead mandate designed to provide community-based services to people with disabilities, particularly if they are homeless disabled.
https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1446701/dl
2026-06-23 Banks have not lowered interest rates despite Trump’s pledge in January for them to do so. Citizens are putting food and gas on credit cards, credit delinquency reached the highest level since the crash of 2008, and since January Americans have paid $57B more in credit card interest above 10%. One in three people are skipping meals, medications, and healthcare services.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgOL9u3m3dM&list=WL&index=1
https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/fomc-meeting-recap-january-2025/
2026-06-29 Elon Musk chastised MacKenzie Scott for donating $26 billion of her fortune, claiming generosity makes the world a worse place.
https://fortune.com/2026/06/29/mackenzie-scott-vs-elon-musk-philanthropy-donations/
https://finance.yahoo.com/media-advertising/articles/elon-musk-mackenzie-scott-giving-152505233.html
2026 July
2026-07-19 A Fox journalist Johnny Belisario publicly mocked homeless people for media as he went digging through their personal belongings.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us1aYyH8j90&list=WL&index=4&t=15s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=us1aYyH8j90
https://www.aol.com/articles/fox-news-viewer-tells-reporter-014200000.html
https://www.axios.com/local/seattle/2023/09/27/fox-news-seattle-crime-mock
2026-07-24 In a statement Chief Economist of Food & Agriculture Maximo Torero warned that the Iran war will delay progress on ending global hunger.