The California Department of Social Services admits it has lost $439 million in stolen Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) benefits since 2021. The program noticed a $100,000 monthly loss halfway through 2021, but did nothing. Now, the state is losing $10 million each month due to EBT theft.
The Department of Social Services is still investigating how widespread this theft has become but the trend is rising. In January of this year, $14,181,029 in taxpayer provided EBT funds simply vanished. Scammers can access account information in a variety of ways without gaining access to the actual EBT card. Skimming and phishing scams have been on the rise.
“EBT theft cruelly robs vulnerable individuals of the public benefits they are legally entitled to,” said District Attorney Hochman. “In addition to directly taking critical financial assistance away from children, families, and the elderly, public assistance fraud steals from taxpayers. Our Office will continue to vigilantly investigate and prosecute these cases and hold offenders fully accountable for their criminal actions. We are also working closely with victims and the LA County Department of Public Social Services to return the stolen benefits.”
Arrests are rare as these fraudulent transactions can be hard to trace but punishments are harsh. One such scammer in California faced 10 counts of felony identity theft, three counts of felony grand theft, and one misdemeanor charge of obstructing a law enforcement officer after stealing thousands through skimming practices. He now faces up to 10 years in prison.
Over 3 million people in the state receive EBT cards through SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). No state can afford to lose $100 million per year due to fraud. This is something that needs to be reassessed at the federal level as EBT fraud occurs everywhere. Washington state reported lost $5.5 million to EBT card scams in 2024, for example. A recent police sweep of the DC area found 27 skimming devices, preventing an estimated loss of $7.2 million.
Did I mention that EBT cards do not have chips? Every bank forced users to switch to chip technology years ago, but the US government, per usual is behind. Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) and John Fetterman (D-Pa.) have been trying to push through the Enhanced Cybersecurity for SNAP Act that would phase out swipe-only cards and provide recipients with additional information to manage their accounts. Yet, the act would also reimburse recipients with 100% of stolen funds which could lead to different forms of fraud.
Stealing from the poor is abhorrent behavior. A survey of 10,000 welfare recipients found that over half had little to no understanding of phishing or skimming scams. Around 87% reported taking some action to prevent their cards. A second survey of 1,700 EBT scam victims revealed that 44% were forced to borrow money elsewhere or go into debt, 53% became food insecure, and half of those victims have no idea how their funds were stolen. Only 55% of theft victims were reimbursed for their stolen funds. Something must be done to protect not only the welfare recipients but the taxpayers who may be forced to fund EBT fraud.
Posted originally on Feb 25, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: You said that the US was going to invade Iran after Iraq. Was that classified? I never heard of that. You also said that the Neocons pulled off a coup and seized control of American foreign policy, and the press prints their narrative. I respect your sources, which appear to be remarkable. Lira was the first time you identified any source. Is this the way it operates behind the curtain? What drives you? Or perhaps what changed you?
FK
ANSWER: I cannot reveal sources, or I won’t have any afterward. I do not make money from this blog, and I do not solicit donations or accept advertising. I have ZERO personal stock accounts because I cannot have the slightest conflict of interest because I have to comply with laws worldwide – not just in the ISA. My incentive is to try to leave behind a better future for my grandkids, and if Scotty wants to bean me up, I do not give a shit. When the government tortures you and tries to kill you, something happens. I wrote about that when Trump was shot. You emerge, losing all fear of death. People do not understand. Trump now realizes he is here for a purpose and is going full steam ahead. He now knows the real Deep State as I do.
He is hitting the Cntrl-Alt-Delete and is rebooting the USA, which is exposing the corruption and is setting the stage for the redesign of government in 2032. He is part of this cycle, too, whether he understands that or not. People ask me all the time why I am not bitter about what they did to me. I was endowed with the strength to endure. That was my divine gift, like the gifts from the gods to Perseius. What they did to me opened my eyes for growing up with lawyers always discussing the Constitution, I thought our legal system was fair. When the judge threw my lawyer, Richard Altman, out, his last words to me were: “You should have run.” He added they would have had to put on a real case to get me back had I gone to London.
My case was covering up the first Neocon regime change they tried to get me to fund with $10 billion, and I refused. This was the start of the Neocon Coup of American Foreign Policy. None of my clients filed any complaint against me. This was all started by the bank, which, in the end, pleaded guilty and returned all the money they stole with a deal of no fine and no prison time for the bakers, as usual in NYC. The banks walk of water in NYC. As a lawyer told me why they are never prosecuted, “You don’t shit where you eat!” What I experienced changed me. I saw the beast from the inside out. The legal system is not worth saving.
Judge Lawrence M. McKenna was trying to protect me. So, the DOJ ordered the Chief Judge to switch my case to a pro-government former prosecutor, John F. Kennan. Not even Trump could have his case removed to a different judge in secret. Here is the docket with all of these entries sealed from my view and the world.
They illegally closed the courtroom and threw out the Associated Press, altering the transcripts to hide that. The only evidence I had was their press story. This, I believe, was all to cover up the attempted regime change of Russia blackmailing Yeltsin, which is why Yeltsin turned to Putin and said, “Protect Russia.” The Neocons are relentless. They are determined to conquer Russia. This is why they were all supporting Kamala.
What has been going on with Ukraine is the Neocons have taken over the press, and all they do is spin the story of how Russia is weak and that we can take them in just 3 days. It has been the Neocon Adam Kinzinger, who Pelosi picked to be on the January 6th Committee, was trying to prevent Trump from running again because they knew he would pull the rug out from under them. Biden gave him a pardon along with the other Neocon, Liz Cheney, whose father endorsed Kamala.
I was asked to be part of that administration if I would take the position of Chief Economic adviser in the White House, and I declined. Bush never picked anyone. They put in Cheney, and he launched the war to conquer 7 countries – Iraq, Iran, Syria, Lebanon, Sudan, Libya, and Somalia. He wanted to dominate every state that had been loyal to Russia.
Trump’s first term, they stuffed his cabinet with Deep State Neocons. That is why Trump picked his cabinet before he got to Washington, and they are qualified people not beholding to the Deep State. Today, everything you have heard about Ukraine is total propaganda by the Neocons to justify war to now conquer Russia. Trump knows what I know. This is the real war for the heart and soul of the United States, and I am not exaggerating. So many fools believe the bullshit they spin about Trump and never as WHY?
When I said 100,000 Ukrainians were killed in the first few months of Zelensky’s war on Russia, I got emails from brainwashed people claiming I was spreading Russian disinformation. That info came directly from Ukraine, and when Ursula gave that number, Zelensky made her take it out and claimed that it was “classified” because he was trying to pretend Ukraine was winning with no casualties. In every government, there are the obedient, brainwashed morons who just repeat what the government and the press tell them without thinking about anything. Sometimes, I have come up with specific information that even central banks would like to share, but they are restricted in their comments. This is the way it goes.
I am not the only one who sees through the corruption and lies. Former General Wesley Clark, who is about five years older than me, was the Supreme Allied Commander Europe of NATO from 1997 to 2000. Listen to his speech on the Neocon Coup that has taken over the United States’ foreign policy since 1999. That is when they charged me, Sepetember 13th, 1999, because I would not play ball. This was the start of the Neocon Coup that was never directed by Congress or even any president.
On January 30th, 1999, NATO Launched Operation Allied Force Against Serbia. This NATO operation marked a significant military intervention in the Kosovo War, marking a significant rise in Neocon power. This was NATO’s first offensive use of force and was NOT sanctioned by the United Nations Security Council. This was in violation of international law and was politically a usurpation of virtual dictatorial power by an unelected organization. They used the false claim that it was for humanitarian concerns, but it was a strategic calculation to expand their powerbase against Russia.
Hence, the Kosovo War presented a political opportunity for NATO to redefine its role in the post-Cold War era since it was created to protect Europe from Khruschev’s threats to conquer Europe and defeat capitalism. With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, NATO’s original purpose of defending Western Europe against Soviet aggression had evaporated. For fear of dissolution, NATO needed to regain its status and power and expand it.
Posted originally on Feb 24, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
French Economy Minister Eric Lombard is eager to lower the public deficit with an aim of 5.4% of GDP in 2025 followed by 3% into 2029. The European Union requires member states to maintain a budget deficit below 3% but only 17 of the 27 members have met that target. France is the largest European economy failing to maintain this goal as they grapple with ever-rising government debt.
“We are going to work with all the political parties … to discuss, to talk with us. We are going, also, to work with the unions, with the employers, in order to reach a consensus on the main policies that are key for the country, and policies on which we can make adjustments that will allow us to spend less in 2026,” Lombard said, later admitting that politics have had a “negative impact on growth.”
The economy experienced a 0.1% contraction during Q4. The Bank of France expects the economy to grow by 0.1% to 0.2% in Q1 of this year, while the IMF predicts the economy will rise by 0.8% for the year.
France is facing a fiscal crisis of its own making. The government has consistently failed to address the core structural issues, instead relying on higher taxes and superficial spending cuts, which only serve to undermine economic growth. The public deficit, now surpassing 5.6% of GDP, is spiraling out of control, and the government’s projections to bring it under the EU’s arbitrary 3% threshold by 2029 are nothing more than wishful thinking. History has shown that governments never truly cut spending—they merely shift the burden through taxation, stifling private sector expansion.
The reality is that France, like much of Europe, is caught in a vicious cycle of excessive government intervention, anti-business policies, and high taxation, all of which discourage capital formation. Pension funds are vanishing. Political instability and declining tax revenues have exacerbated the deficit, yet the solution proposed is always the same—more taxes, more regulations, and empty promises of austerity.
Nothing is more inflationary than war, and Macron is eager to send off French troops to Ukraine as he closely aligns with Brussels to spur on the next major war. Confidence will decline, capital will flee, and interest expenditures will continue to rise. France risks a debt crisis that will only accelerate the collapse of the EU’s financial system. As I’ve warned before, the trend is clear: governments refuse to reform until they are left with no choice. The question is not if, but when, France will face the reckoning of its fiscal mismanagement.
Posted originally on Feb 24, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birxhas come out to say that “the science” has “done wrong in public health.” Vaccine hesitancy rates have been rising since it was exposed that the mRNA vaccine did more harm than good. Birx has admitted that the COVID vaccine was never meant to be a preventative measure.
“The science” should not have forced the general population to take an experimental vaccination, Dr. Birx admits. The vaccine was initially designed, allegedly, to protect people “at risk for severe disease” and/or those over 65 with comorbidities. Even then, the vaccine did not protect any segment of the population from transmission and infection. So the most vulnerable in the population were not only still exposed to COVID-19, but they were then at risk for developing potentially fatal side effects brought on by the vaccine itself.
A December poll by Pew Research found that 60% of Americans would not take another booster vaccine. Every dataset shows vaccine hesitancy rates rising, but Dr. Birx believes that overall vaccination rates have fallen by 50%.
“The childhood vaccines, like many of the diseases, you get it once, you don’t get it again,” she explained. “And this is getting the children to have that disease without getting the deadly consequences. That is not what the COVID vaccine was designed to do. It wasn’t designed to prevent infection, and if you look at the vaccine hesitancy rates, they’ve doubled since COVID.
The public was aggressively told that the vaccine was the ONLY way to survive the pandemic. We WERE told that the vaccine would prevent infection and anyone who declined was putting the entire public at risk. Then the truth behind the Wuhan lab leak was exposed. Dr. Anthony Fauci admitted that there was no science behind social distancing, masking, and lockdowns. Public trust in the government has completely shattered.
There has been a resurgence in diseases like the measles as parents are understandably hesitant to vaccinate their children. I, for one, will no longer take the annual flu vaccination. It has never prevented anyone from contracting the flu, but they say, “Oh, don’t worry. The flu would have been worse if you didn’t take the vaccine.” Countless doctors have told me that I was wise for refusing the COVID jab since they have seen countless patients come in with side effects.
Posted originally on Feb 24, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Former Biden Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg chastised the practice of DEI initiatives while speaking to the DNC Chair. That’s correct – the same forum that blamed Kamala’s loss on racism and misogyny. Buttigieg recently moved to Michiga,n where he is expected to run for state governor. The Democrats are turning on the very policies they aggressively pushed after realizing the people will no longer vote for woke insanity.
Pete Buttigieg said: “What do we mean when we talk about diversity? Is it caring for people’s different experiences and making sure no one is mistreated because of them, which I will always fight for? Or is it making people sit through a training that looks like something out of Portlandia, which I have also experienced, and it is how, it is how Trump Republicans are made if that comes to your workplace with the best of intentions, but doesn’t actually get at what actually matters here.”
Apparently, DEI initiatives create “Trump Republicans” as people want to be judged on their character and qualifications rather than their race or sex. Pete Buttigieg is the DEFINITION of a DEI hire. He had absolutely no qualifications to lead the nation’s transportation sector. Biden cheered that Pete would become the nation’s first openly gay person to be confirmed by the Senate to a Cabinet position. Biden said he was appointing Pete to be in his “Cabinet of barrier-breakers” and openly said he was there “BUILD BACK BETTER.”
What qualifications did he have other than diversity? Some say that he helped handle some transportation issues while acting as mayor of South Bend, Indiana. Certainly, that could not be the BEST American for the job.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) recently lashed out at DEI quotas, partially blaming the program for the recent Delta plane crash. “You couldn’t fill the role rather than us just simply saying, we need the best and brightest individuals, and we’re going to hire you specifically on merit. We’re going to train you specifically on merit,” Senator Markwayne Mullin stated. As a result, class sizes shrank to 80% to 70% of capacity to maintain DEI required ratios. “So Pete Buttigieg carries no credibility. The only reason why he was there was probably because of DEI to begin with,” Mullin said.
Now, Buttigieg is pivoting his stance completely. Yet, as Transportation Secretary, he established the Advisory Committee on Transportation Equity (ACTE) to force employees to undergo civil rights and equity training; he repeatedly apologized for having too many White people in his office. During his 2020 campaign for president, he openly stated that he wanted minorities to vote for him. “I need help, so the black voters who know me best, the people of South Bend, helped return me to the office by an overwhelming margin,” Buttigieg begged.
Following more of his speech at the DNC Chair:
“If we were more serious about the actual values and not caught up in vocabularies and trying to cater to everybody only in terms of their particular slice of combinations of identities versus the shared project. Actually if we thought about it a little bit differently, things like diversity would be actually an example of how we reach out beyond our traditional coalition.”
Politicians will claim to support any agenda that garners votes. Pete Buttigieg moved up the political ranks as a direct result of DEI hiring practices and now he is criticizing his own party for becoming “caught up in vocabularies” and not focusing on “actual values.” Expect more “progressives” to switch their stance and pretend they never supported the woke madness.
Posted originally on Feb 24, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
QUESTION: Hi Martin,
You have mentioned over and over that J.P. Morgan had to bail out the US Government in the late 1890’s with gold, which was US money at that time. Can you explain to us how the US economy could be strong at that time when the US Government went broke collecting tariffs on imports?
Chaz
ANSWER: The economy was strong, it was the silver democrats who overvalued silver taking bribes from the silver miners. That led to the arbitrage silver was pouring into the USA and swapped for gold. The insolvency was not from domestic debt but from the overvaluation of silver, and gold was the international settlement – not silver.
Today, we are in a debt crisis. This is economically different. The Panic of 1896 was about foreign exchange and the Democrats trying to inflate the economy with silver as they are still trying today with endless spending and no accountability. This led to their attack on the gold standard and the 1893 march on Washington that became the Wizard of Oz. See:
Posted originally on Feb 23, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
COMMENT: Mr. Armstrong, Congratulations. Socrates was correct once again. Scholz’s unpopular Social Democrat government has the worst performance since World War II. Merz won, and Afd doubled its support, coming in second. If this was America, Merz’s less than 29% would have been a joke. Here, he will rule Germany and stupidly vow no coalition with AfD. He has not got the memo as you say that the people are shifting.
Thank you for Socrates. This is the only forecaster that is not biased.
Hans
REPLY: Yes, Friedrich Merz’s conservative opposition leader, what would not be even a headline in the United States. When you have so many parties fighting, you get very ineffective governments. That many Italians have told me keeps politicians arguing against each other and leaving the people alone. Indeed, as our computer projected, the Alternative for Germany nearly doubled its support, putting in the strongest showing for an alleged “far-right party” that had been against wholesale immigration since World War II.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz conceded defeat for his left-leaning Social Democrats. He said it was “a bitter election result.” Perhaps he should listen to the people rather than to Kaus Schwab. Marxism does not work. It has destroyed every economy it has ever been deployed because it is outright against human nature.
Merz vowed to move quickly to put together a coalition government but has vowed not to make a coalition with AfD all because the press has labeled them far-right, asking to be Nazis. Any coalition Merz created without AfD will only doom Germany to a continuation of the never-ending economic stagnation of Europe’s biggest economy thanks to Russian sanctions and the stupid net-zero climate change policies. Merz had pushed hard in recent weeks for a stricter approach, but with opposition to NATO against peace with Russia in order to remain relevant, will Merz fall in line with the EU war objectives?
Germany is the most populous country in the 27-nation European Union and a leading member of NATO. It has been Ukraine’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the U.S. Therein lies the problem. Scholtz promised Zelensky he would be his biggest supporter. Ukraine only takes. I never give up anything. The Ukraine government is the most corrupt government runs it in the world, and they are like a merchant who takes your money and declares all sales are final and have no returns.
Based on exit polls and partial counting, the projections put support for Merz’s Union bloc came in at around 28.5% and the anti-immigration AfD at about 20.5% — roughly double its result from 2021. Scholz’s Social Democrats collapsed to just over 16%, which was an all-time historic low even under the 20.5% from 2017. The Greens came in at an appalling just over 12%.
Merz made a huge mistake because of the press and dismissed the idea that voters wanted a coalition with AfD. “We have fundamentally different views, for example on foreign policy, on security policy, in many other areas, regarding Europe, the euro, NATO,” he said. Mertz has ignored the vote and he is just doing as directed by the EU and NATO. This does not speak well for Germany’s’s changing directions.
I do not see Mertz changing Germany’s economic direction. He must reject the EU and NATO and listen to the German people.
Posted originally on Feb 23, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
Zelensky offered to resign if Ukraine joined NATO, which he knew would start World War III. Sure, he will fly to Miami with his stolen billions and fund the Neo-Nazis of Ukraine to eradicate all Russians. You will never know the pure hatred of Russians in Ukraine. He ran on peace and did the opposite. The death toll in Ukraine has risen from 13,000 to over 1.1 million. This man many see as the anti-Christ whose purpose has been to create World War III.
I would cut off EVERY penny to Ukraine. If the people want to save their country, they better overthrow this dictator who dares to say the Ukrainian people do not want elections. I have not found a single Ukrainian to utter those words. We will never again have any representation in Ukraine, for under his laws, he can execute them for what I write on this blog.
Posted originally on Feb 23, 2025 by Martin Armstrong
I always had respect for the New York Post, but this cover has warned that this paper is no different from the rest of the fake news. First of all, they need to look in the dictionary what a dictator is – someone who is not elected. They might stumble upon the truth if they had any reliable source and stopped taking the fake news from Victoria Nuland’s sister-in-law running the Institute for the Study of War. Putin did stand for election, and he won overwhelmingly because the West spins nothing but hatred of Russia. I spoke to a Russian friend who we met in Tokyo 30 years ago, and she echoed the same question I get from Russians all the time:
Why does the West hate us so much?
Hillary instigated this relentless hatred of Russia with the lies that led to the RussiaGate affair that was concocted with John McCain, the grandfather of Neocons. I wrote the Plot To Seize Russia, and I was in the middle of that attempted regime change and was asked to put in $10 billion to fund it, and I would make $100 billion in return. I refused. That was why Hillary made up the Russia nonsense, claiming Putin interfered in the 2016 election in retaliation for the attempted regime change of 2000, which is why Yeltsin turned to Putin in the first place. But hey, as Churchill said, the truth needs a bodyguard of lies to protect it, and that is what has been taking place.
Zelensky fired the head of the military because he dared to question what Zelensky was doing. The military objected to invading Russia, but Zelensky was taking his orders from the Neocons in the hope that it would provoke Putin to attack NATO. My sources said that the troops were order to go to the border and had no idea that would invade Russia.
I suggest that Trump should reactivate the draft. Every one of these journalists who pump out this nonsense that Zelensky walks on water should be sent to Ukraine to replace his British and American bodyguard because after the last attempted assassination in May of 2024, he fired the head of his bodyguard and he does not trust Ukrainians for just as some Germans wanted to kill Hitler; the same is taking place in Ukraine.
Zelensky ran on peace – not war. The Ukrainian death toll when he came to office was 13,000. It is now exceeding 1.1 million, and both of the Ukrainians who worked for me have fled to Berlin and vow never to return. Over 8 million Ukrainians have fled their country while Zelensky cuts deals selling farmland to Blackrock.
Zelensky knew when Russia would cross the border. To make sure that would take place, the day before, he said Ukraine would rearm with nuclear weapons. That was the final straw, and Putin mentioned that in his speech to the nation. This was the Cuba Missile Crisis in reverse.
They knew Russia was on the border. The Neocons handed Kamala the cue card, and she stated Ukraine Should Join NATO as Zelensky stood up and said Ukraine will Rearm with Nuclear weapons.
The Washington Post found that Zelensky knew when Russia would cross the border and did not inform his people. Why? He told the Post it would have cost him $7 billion. This was one of my sources in Ukraine. Zelensky, who the US press loves, made it illegal under Ukrainian law to criticize him for daring to say that he and the West were doing everything to start this war.
Zelensky had Gonzalo Lira arrested, and I believe he was murdered just like Epstein because nobody will ever allow someone to have a trial that will expose the truth about what is taking place in government. When Zelensky was told to have an election, he said the Ukrainian people did not want an election. That, New York Post, is a dictator! Wake the hell up. You just lost my subscription. You are no different than the rest of the fake news.
Zelensky has even publicly stated that 50% of the money allocated for Ukraine is missing.
The New York Post ignores the fraud of the West in negotiating the Minsk agreement openly stating it was to buy time for Ukraine to build its army demonstrated that the West is the aggressor and has wanted this war from the outset driven by the Neocon’s endless quest for regime change to rule the world themselves. Moldavia and Romania will no longer even exist post-2032. This is a disastrous forecast coming from our computer. Those readers in that region should consider alternatives to migrate while they still have time.
Zelensky has been pushing for NATO troops and Americans to start World War III.
DO YOUR RESEARCH – just for once!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Have the Neocons bribed the NY Post Journalists to Push for World War III?
I have created this site to help people have fun in the kitchen. I write about enjoying life both in and out of my kitchen. Life is short! Make the most of it and enjoy!
This is a library of News Events not reported by the Main Stream Media documenting & connecting the dots on How the Obama Marxist Liberal agenda is destroying America
Centinel2012 