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In August 2011 before the 2012 election, the Secretary of Agriculture (Dept of Agriculture administers food stamp program) was on Morning Joe. He said food stamps stimulate the economy. He said, "The reason the number of recipients has increased is that the federal government has been working more closely with local governments to get more Americans on food stamps."
The only thing food stamps stimulate is Democrat voting by putting more people on government entitlements.
Only days after the election, there was a vote to cut back the number of people on food stamps. So to sum it up, put a whole bunch of additional people on food stamp rolls so they vote Democrat to keep their freebies, then cut the same number of people off the food stamp rolls to make it look like you are cutting spending and that it happens AFTER Election Day.
This is why people like me don't like the program. It's pure political manipulation for the Democrats to stay in power.
And here's another thing, although maybe it's more of a question - if the taxpayers are feeding more and more kids in school, is the government decreasing the household allotment of food stamps? I haven't heard it if it is happening.
Then there is the cost of food stamp fraud which, by the way, is not just individuals but stores, too. That doubled in 3 years. I'm assuming, more people receiving them, more fraud. Did you know that if you are caught commiting food stamp fraud you are only kicked out of the program for a year? Second offense - 2 years. You have to be caught 3x to be permanently kicked out.
You can't pick up a paper today or read a news website without reading about some food stamp scheme. I remember one I read about government employees committing food stamp fraud in my state. Here, read this older story, and these are just the ones they caught:
Only days after the election, there was a vote to cut back the number of people on food stamps. So to sum it up, put a whole bunch of additional people on food stamp rolls so they vote Democrat to keep their freebies
People at the bottom of the wealth pyramid are much less likely to vote, there are plenty of the sociological literature on that, if you care to double check wisdom of talk radio gurus. You can't get more votes from the people who don't vote one way or another by giving them $200/month in Food Stamps, that doesn't excite low income voting masses, sorry. Democrats push for food stamps to score points with their voting base - liberal middle class that strongly believes in the meaningful social safety net, partially it's because (lower) middle class folks are one job loss away from applying for food stamps.
I don't know about Illinois either. The family I'm talking about lives in Mississippi. And he did work all the time, but minimum wage jobs. Meanwhile they were producing children, one after the other. I'm not sure how they can get away with it year after year. Good question.
A few years ago the husband was going to go back to school. Great! But what happened? He dropped out after a semester. Zero drive.
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That would be my question. I know the family I have posted about can't afford cable, or internet even though they really do need the internet access to take classes, and look for better paying jobs. They just do the best they can with using the library. I don't know how this family you write about can get enough money to afford their lifestyle. I don't believe that is the norm at all, most of the working poor that the family knows are all struggling and have no luxuries like cable TV, or big screen TVs. All of their meager earnings go toward rent, food, and keeping the heat on.
Sad how many people think there is a difference between an elected democrat and an elected republican.
Check out who stand to gain from the usage of food stamps, JPChase Morgan, farmers, and major grocery chains.
Place like Wal-mart benefit twice from food stamps. They can get away with paying their employees very little because they are subsidized, then, they get those very subsidies back from the employees (and other subsidized consumers) which keeps them profitable.
Personally, I think all able bodied adults should be given a job if they want assistance. Show up at DSS, get a shovel, an address, and at then end of the day, you get a livable wage.
Congress should do it's job and regulate commerce in a way that benefits everyone, such as jobs for low skill and medium skill people.
There are a number of ways this can be done, but this is not the place for it.
Stigma. Why is there a stigma? Is it because you are taking something you haven't "earned"? Billionaires do it all the time.
Charles Schwab, of the bank that shares his name, a Billionaire, receives farm subsidies to plant rice specifically to attract ducks for him to hunt.
Do you think he feels any stigma when he gets his government check? I doubt it.
A great number of business would fail without government, aka, taxpayer money. Why is there no discussion about that?
Don't the rules of capitalism state that a business that can't run on it's own is a failure and should be treated as such?
Pretty sure it does. Do you think that the multi milionaire ceos are stigmatized? Hell no.
I'd rather pay a bunch of scamming food stamp recipients, so long as the many needy are taken care of, than one billionaire who wouldn't be so without the very same tax payer money.
The main reason is that the food stamps go right back into the economy. Can we say the same about John Q Billionaire? Probably not.
Ideally, no one would need assistance, but they do. You should be ashamed of yourselves for kicking people when they are down.
The stress of being poor alone is enough to drive a person to depression. Add in stigma and damn that's rough.
"Well he should work harder" I tell you what, the harder the job is, more often than not, the lower the pay is. Go work for a fast food place for a week, tell me it's an easy job. It's not.
Hard work has gotten me nothing but more work.
You have to work smart, and a lot of people aren't smart.
"Well he should go to school" Ok, are you going to pay for it? No? Didn't think so. If you're poor, you can't very well go to school. Sure you can get a grant, but working a full time job to pay the other bills takes your focus off school. Believe me, I did it. It's not easy.
If you have to work two jobs, which is quite often the case, forget about it.
Let's say he took out student loans. Entry level work right out of college tends to pay very little. Paying loans and regular bills is enough to put you below the poverty line, relatively.
Why shouldn't this person seek assistance until the loans are paid or he moves up the ladder?
What about the people who had skilled jobs that disappeared? Now they have to go to school for 2+ years to maybe get another job. Why shouldn't they seek assistance? I fell into this category as well. I was running cnc machines, and various other machines at a cabinet factory when the recession hit. I ended up quitting a day before I was to be laid off. I had to quit because I could not afford to get to work. Driving 45 minutes each way and only working an hour is not profitable.
Should I apply for assistance whilst I find another job or if I don't make as much as I did and can no longer afford my bills?
Luckily for me I had a back up job to go to. Not a lot of people do.
Hell, I am in Vegas now and if I didn't have a clean record, driving record, urine, and appearance, I wouldn't have the cab job I have. Been applying for 3 months. Nowhere is hiring those without extensive experience. All my experience is in other fields that no longer exist.
There are numerous reasons one needs food stamps these days. Very very few people are abusing the system. It would literally cost more to flush them out than it costs to keep supporting them.
Quit watching talking heads, look at the evidence, use logic and reason, stop judging others.
It's true about the tax refunds being like a big payday for the poor...that's when you see everyone buying big televisions, computers and all kinds of other stuff. I know people who go on about how they would never take any kind of government assistance or handouts and in the next breath they say they can't wait for tax time so they can buy new wheels, or a stereo or whatever.
If you've ever gotten back more from the government than you paid in taxes, you don't have the right to complain about people on food stamps. You're doing the same thing they are, it's just a more socially acceptable form of handout.
My experience with the "Bridge Card" (what they call it here in Michigan) is from standing in line at the grocery store behind women with multiple children (and often pregnant with another) who are using them. I'm sure there are some people who are otherwise financially responsible, but have fallen on hard times. But I'd also be willing to bet that most people abuse the system. They were probably on government assistance before they got pregnant with their first kid. We as a country encourage this irresponsible behavior and it will be our downfall (already is!).
I think highly of the food stamp program. It's very efficient. It allows people to choose what foods they want. People vary in what diet works best for them... or sometimes they choose what doesn't work best for them, but I think it's a lot better for people to be able to freely choose what to purchase with the allotment than have the govt decide for them. (which incidentally is a conservative idea, yet I've heard so much whining over the years from conservatives complaining about people using food stamps to buy steaks or junk food, oddly)
Sedivec, thank you for bringing up invisible disabilities. The heartless ignorance of so many people can be really hard on a person with an invisible disability. I am not a great example, but here's one example of my experience: as if it's not sad and embarrasing enough to be young and yet occasionally need to use a wheelchair in public, and use food stamps, I get dirty looks (mostly from middle aged women, I don't know why) and rude behavior from other people for it. Like it's not bad enough to suffer all your life with a serious illness, you spend all your life around people who judge you as being lazy, 'welfare cheat', etc.... how is it possible to feel like you're a proper part of society, or even want to be a part of society, under these circumstances? People can be really judgmental, jealous, (they think your life is so easy, being sick all day rather than able to have a job!) greedy, ("why should my taxes pay to support these lowlifes?") etc...
And worry about my own family's lot is exactly what I have done. I have never taken one dime from anyone to care for my family. When I had children, I knew it was MY responsibility to support them, and that is what I have done. Why should taxpayers also support the families of people who don't want to work?
Here's another example of a poster taking their perception of one or two people receiving SNAP benefits (or maybe just plain old heresy) and using that tiny, miniscule dab of experience to make sweeping generalizations about every poor person and person who receives SNAP benefits in every town, every state, throughout the entire country. Why, why, WHY do some people think it's okay to do this to poor people? Are rich people all the same? Are men all the same? Are women all the same? White people? People who live in Nebraska? LGBT people? Christians? No, they aren't. And to think otherwise is ridiculous.
Simply put, luzianne, you are wrong. The vast majority of SNAP recipients DO work. They work very hard, in fact. They just work crappy minimum-wage jobs that don't pay enough to get them and their families out of poverty. Something like 92 percent of SNAP recipients are families with children, the elderly, and the disabled. And as far as that other 8 percent goes, states are increasingly requiring able-bodied adult SNAP recipients without dependents to work at least twenty hours per week or lose their benefits, and have their benefit amount adjusted downward because of the income they earn. Those are not generalizations. They are facts that can be easily verified on any government website, should you care to check them.
Furthermore, I have a very hard time believing that you have never needed or taken a helping hand from anyone, anywhere, at any point throughout your life. But, if that is really the case, then you are the most fortunate person I have ever heard of, luzianne, because in the world I know, people stumble, people fall, bad things happen, and helping each other is part of the social contract.
Sedivec, thank you for bringing up invisible disabilities. The heartless ignorance of so many people can be really hard on a person with an invisible disability. I am not a great example, but here's one example of my experience: as if it's not sad and embarrasing enough to be young and yet occasionally need to use a wheelchair in public, and use food stamps, I get dirty looks (mostly from middle aged women, I don't know why) and rude behavior from other people for it. Like it's not bad enough to suffer all your life with a serious illness, you spend all your life around people who judge you as being lazy, 'welfare cheat', etc.... how is it possible to feel like you're a proper part of society, or even want to be a part of society, under these circumstances? People can be really judgmental, jealous, (they think your life is so easy, being sick all day rather than able to have a job!) greedy, ("why should my taxes pay to support these lowlifes?") etc...
You are so right. I don't know why people like that never seem to stop and think "hey, there could be a story here that I don't know." Navigating the constant pitfalls and red tape of government assistance combined with the endless doctors' appointments, loss of autonomy, and suffering involved with a disability is a truly horrible experience, and one certainly not preferable to plain old working! I always tell myself that when people that don't know me judge me or hate on me for any reason, that their actions actually say nothing about me, but speak volumes about them.
You just hold your head high, keep on keepin' on, and to heck with them!
stigma??what stigma??? it's more like entitlement...the more they can get, the more they will take.....food stamps, medicaid, section 8, cash assistance (stupidest damn thing I've ever seen...they just buy gum and get $50 in cash as change and buy smokes and beer)
the whole system needs revamping..no able bodied single person should ever get a govt handout. If you have a child and get food stamps, you should be going to a food bank and they decide what you're going to get...not YOU. And you should be on mandatory birth control and any child born while on assistance doesn't qualify you for more assistance.
the card here in Florida has a picture of the American Flag..( all stores that take EBT have a large pic of the card) it's easy to tell the EBT card from a back card.
When I was a chld, my mother got Food Stamps --- yes, the actual paper food stamps. She was not a loser or lazy or anything else. She was working 40-50 hours a week, standing ALL day, while battling cancer. She was making a small amount over minimum wage. My "father" was a freaking BUM who did nothing all day but sit around, drink beer, smoke, and then drive around in my mother's car looking at and whistling to women.
So, your theory that "no able bodied person should ever get a gov't handout" is bullshiit. My mother was able bodied, worked, and was trying to support a household (including her bum of a husband). If she hadn't gotten food stamps, we wouldn't have had any food in the house.
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