The Houston Chronicle, which stuck the story about the Duggars’ 18th lil’ miracle in its “Bizarre News” section , does note that the Duggar patriarch “has not been specific when asked how he supports such a big family” but adds that Jim Bob’s mysterious accounting system “blends finance and religion.”
And, they fail to mention, donations. No family of 20 could get by on a single income—something any reporter who’s ever collected a paycheck ought to be able to surmise. In truth, the Duggars subsist on food donations from Sysco; supplement their bank accounts with contributions from other evangelical Christians and their church; and built their 7,000-square-foot “dream house” with donated supplies and decked it out with appliances donated by the Discovery Channel. Once it was built, the Discovery Channel sent the whole family on a trip to Disneyland. They also reportedly pay the Duggars for their participation. That’s not frugality—it’s welfare. The more babies Michelle Duggar has, the more free stuff she and her family get. The Republicans had a name for that… if only I could remember what it was.