Fox News doesn’t know jack about economics.

Today - 45 million Americans depend on food stamps just to have enough food to eat.

A fact that makes Conservatives crazy - not because it’s a national tragedy that so many Americans are in need - but because our government is giving so many poor people what Republicans call “hand-outs”.

But besides the moral obligation we have to make sure millions of citizens living in the wealthiest nation on Earth don’t starve to death - food stamps - known as the SNAP program - are ACTUALLY one of the best economic stimulus programs out there.

As Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack noted:

When you talk about the SNAP program, or the food stamp program, you have to recognize that it's also an economic stimulus. Every dollar of SNAP benefits generates $1.84 in the economy in terms of economic activity. If people are able to buy a little bit more in the grocery store, someone has got to stock it, shelve it, package it, process it, and ship it. All of those are jobs. It's the most direct stimulus you can get into the economy during tough times.

The Congressional Budget Office agrees with Secretary Vilsack - so does the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities - so does the Economic Policy Institute - and so does Moody’s - and so do virtually all or every serious or nonpartisan economist.

But Fox so-called News… and the Republicans Party - they beg to disagree.

Gretchen Carlson: The spin of this program now is that actually people who are on food stamps stimulate the economy because every dollar generates $1.84 into the economy. You buy more groceries if you're on food stamps. Do you buy that? Do you buy that as a stimulating part of the economy?

Do you buy that???

You just said the numbers yourself - every dollar spent on food stamps generates $1.84 in economic activity… how is that not an example of economic stimulus?

But go on…

Brian Kilmeade: So if you give people money that they didn't earn, and you tell them to go spend it on stuff they normally couldn't afford, everyone is better off.

That’s exactly right Kilmeade - aside from the condescending tone.

If you give people money to buy stuff - then guess what… they BUY STUFF!

And buying stuff stimulates the economy - it creates demand - which increases the need for more stuff - which means some people have to get hired to grow or build or manufacture, and supply more things to sell - which means more jobs and more paychecks - and pretty much everybody doing much, much better.

It’s called economics 101.

But let’s see what the other guy on the couch has to say…

Eric Bolling: Can I say something very quickly? Jay Carney earlier this week or last week came out and said unemployment benefits are stimulus as well. This is -- this is an administration that just doesn't get it. It's really -- it's socialism.

Of course - any help for poor people is SOCIALISM.

But - as the old saying goes - you’re entitled to your own opinions - but you’re not entitled to your own FACTS!

Unemployment benefits - food stamps - and other forms of government spending that end up in peoples' pockets have been proven time and time again to help the economy - as this data from the Chief Economist at Moody’s - Mark Zandi - shows:

Government Spending is Stimulus
$1.00 spent on infrastructure = $1.59 economic stimulus
$1.00 spent on unemployment = $1.64 economic stimulus
$1.00 spent on food stamps = $1.73 economic stimulus

Government spending DOES boost the economy - every one dollar spent on rebuilding our infrastructure creates $1.59 in increased economic activity.

A dollar spent on unemployment benefits - or what Fox News calls Socialism - generates $1.64 in increased economic activity.

And as for food stamps - every dollar spent on them - creates a whopping $1.73 in increased economic activity - making it the most effective stimulus program at the government’s disposal.

Yet - all of these programs are programs that Republicans - and their mouthpieces at Fox so-called News - rail on as extension of the “nanny-state” - and government waste.

So if food stamps and unemployment benefits don’t REALLY stimulate the economy - then tell me Fox News - what does?

Eric Bolling: They're pointing right to being socialist. The more you give, the more you stimulate? No. Sorry. It's got to come from the private sector.

Right… it’s gotta come from the private sector - that same private sector that’s sitting on $2 trillion worth of cold, hard cash but is not spending one dime of it - not hiring people, not investing in new equipment - and not expanding their business… of course, except for in Asia.

But if we just give them a bunch of tax cuts - then everything will be right, right?

Wrong.

Moody’s economist Mark Zandi also looked into the stimulative effect of tax cuts - and here’s what he found out:

Tax Cuts are NOT Stimulus
$1.00 of corporate tax cuts = 30c economic stimulus
$1.00 of capital gains tax cuts = 37c economic stimulus
$1.00 of Bush tax cuts = 29c economic stimulus

Every one dollar spent giving corporations a tax cut creates only 30-cents in increased economic activity.

Every dollar spent on giving billionaire hedge fund managers a capital gains tax cut creates only 37-cents in increased economic activity.

And what about the Bush tax cuts?

Every dollar spent on the Bush tax cuts - generates only 29-cents of economic activity - just 29-cents - probably because the other 71 cents vanished into some billionaire's Swiss Bank Account.

Again - you’re entitled to you own opinions about food stamps - but not your own facts.

So why is it that tax cuts don't stimulate the economy like government spending does?

Because supply-side economics - or what some call trickle-down economics - DOES NOT WORK - it never has - it never will.

The idea that if you just give billionaires a bunch more money and then they'll magically turn themselves into job creating fairies is absurd.

The idea that stocking shelves with stuff will entice people to buy that stuff - when they don't have the money to buy things - makes no sense.

People buy stuff when they have money - that's how economics works.

Demand drives economies - we've known that since ancient Sumeria 7000 years ago.

When Republican strategist Jude Winniski invented the phrase "supply side economics" in the late '70s, it wasn't for economics - he wasn't an economist - it was for political positioning.

It was a way to sell to the American people the idea that it was okay to hand a bunch of tax dollars collected from working people - or borrowed from overseas - to the multimillionaires who were and are the main funders of the Republican Party.

George Bush: This is an impressive crowd - the haves and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite; I call you my base.

So I say it's time to stop taking advice from Gretchen Carlson - Brian Kilmeade - and "Socialist-obsession" Eric Bolling over at Fox so-called News - and start taking our economic advice from lessons learned in history.

Lessons learned from the Great Depression when Franklin Roosevelt helped poor people get back on their feet again by stimulating the economy and took unemployment from over 25 percent to 14 percent in just three short years.

We need to kick the supply-side economic hucksters out of Congress - and out of the media - and get back to the basics of economics - making sure people have enough money to spend to meet their basic needs - and not making sure billionaires have enough money in their Swiss Bank Accounts.

That's The Big Picture.