I think that eliminating Food Stamps would help the economy. (generations, Alabama)
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Actually, if you utilize the internet, it's not. You do realize no everyone in the US has internet access, right? One cannot learn everything about gardening from the internet.
15 years ago, I had a black thumb and could not keep a house plant alive. I started out in the corner of my yard with a pick axe and a half dozen tomato plants.
Not everyone is blessed with highly fertile soil, or even any soil at all.
They thrived and I got a huge crop from just six plants. Next year, I enlarged (with the pick axe) and added beans, the next year cukes, etc. etc. I also spent weekends helping local farmers for a pittance ($5.00 anhour), and a ton of knowledge and experience. Not everyone lives in an area where farmers are present, and willing to teach.
I now have a half acre in vegetable gardens (we bought land at tax sale). I not only feed my family (I can and freeze), but I make a tidy profit on the side selling my vegetables locally. Where there's a will, there's a way. It's not ignorance, it's laziness maybe?
I am so happy for you, you are highly blessed.
I have 5 acres under cultivation right now, we have chickens, ducks, turkey, cattle, goats and would love nothing more than to be entirely self-sufficient.
Unfortunately, one cannot grow wheat in Florida, so I have to buy flour, sugar, yeast, coffee, salt, the list goes on and on.
My point is, not everyone can do as we, or you do, or is able to.
So, its neither laziness or ignorance in some cases.....
The fact that so many households with children get food stamps is the #1 reason I am against them, especially since so many single parent households get them.
The worst trend in our country is how many women are having out of wedlock children and then going on welfare. Many of today's women choose bad boys to have children with instead of good stable family oriented men. These bad boys will leave the woman, it's in his nature. Lower class/less educated women in particular have a very crude preference in men.. If food stamps didn't exist women would choose a decent man, get married , and raise a family.
Plus many of these kids aren't so innocent. They have their fathers rotten bad boy DNA. It's also a fact that many children growing up in single parent welfare households grow up to become criminal monsters..do we really want to pay taxes to make our next generation of criminal predators well nourished and strong?
Trust me when I say this. There are very attractive, lovely looking twisted, criminally minded, rotten females..... look sweet and innocent etc. that seek out stupid males to manipulate. Funny how people will pass judgement on children and males but when it comes to judging a female then ...........the mommy factor plays the role. I've been guilty of this too.
There needs to be a huge crackdown on people who are on Welfare for life and also people who use it, along with foodstamps as a way of life. That's the problem.
There are plenty of needy and deserving people out there who are very grateful to have their monthly foodstamps and they get blamed due to these bad apples who blatantly take advantage of the system. I'm including people who have WORKED but now have MS or Parkinson's or some other disabling or incurable disease. Also elderly people who have worked their entire lives but have encountered problems, maybe medical, maybe work related, you never know what will happen, they deserve help. There are also people who are temporarily in a bad place, whether due to job loss or something else beyond their control.
As for gardening--yes, go ahead and have a garden if it's allowed where you live and you are able bodied. Housing projects do not allow gardening. Most apartments do no allow gardening. A few tomato plants maybe but that's all.
I think community gardens are great and there should be more of them because most poor people don't own land and are not allowed to have a garden. Your garden may get you through the summer.
One town that I lived in had a community canning center! Now that makes sense and people used it. To preserve your produce better and retain more nutrients, you really also need a large freezer, something which few poor people can afford or are allowed to have in their apartment.
So here's my 2 pronged attack:
For the welfare and foodstamp lifers -- Throw the bums out! Foodstamps are not for LIFE unless you are very disabled or elderly.
Organize MANY more community gardens and teach more people how to garden and preserve their own food. Have centers for canning and drying of food. Freezing food--is necessary so what to do? Even if a person fills up their refrigerator freezer from their garden, that won't last very long. Community freezers? I don't know.
I was on foodstamps for a while and I don't know how else I could have bought orange juice, milk, pasta, flour, eggs, sugar,etc. My apartment allowed a tiny garden so at least I could grow beets and their edible greens, tomatoes, a few strawberries, onions, and squash. Had a few garlic bulbs too but space was really limited.
Still, this was only good from July to September -- it gets too cold after that. So the gardening definitely helps but most people, especially low income people, can't grow everything. (I don't know of any apartment that allows chickens or a cow!!!!!)
BTW, you can now purchase SEEDS with foodstamps. This is good.
I'd love to see a great crack down on the free loaders and then an equally great push to enable low income people to have space to garden and to teach them how if they don't already know.
Meanwhile the elderly sit in their hovels and eat cat food because all the money goes to feed the children of people who do not care enough about themselves or their kids to take the INITIATIVE to make a better life for them.
I LIVE in the midst of these people. They are capable of caring for themselves, they are capable of stealing, and lying and murder, so don't tell me that these poor unfortunate wretches need help.
They need a kick in the a$$ is what they need.
20yrsinBranson
Nice to know of your undying affection and devotion to the people of the Missouri Ozarks, I can say with some authority on the subject that I know exactly how they feel about you.
There are plenty of needy and deserving people out there who are very grateful to have their monthly foodstamps and they get blamed due to these bad apples who blatantly take advantage of the system. I'm including people who have WORKED but now have MS or Parkinson's or some other disabling or incurable disease. Also elderly people who have worked their entire lives but have encountered problems, maybe medical, maybe work related, you never know what will happen, they deserve help. There are also people who are temporarily in a bad place, whether due to job loss or something else beyond their control.
As for gardening--yes, go ahead and have a garden if it's allowed where you live and you are able bodied.
HA!!! I am far from middle class. I made $9k last year!!
is it now a "middle class lifestyle" to want basic furniture? a clean bed? dishes? a normal sized fridge? to live in a location that isn't just the Midwest/deep South/Rust belt?
I made quite a few sacrifices when I moved to Chicago, including living in some of the most crime ridden, dangerous, low amenity neighborhoods this city has to offer (Back of the Yards, West Humbolt Park, Pilsen) and commuting nearly 2-4 hours each day to get to work. pray tell, what sacrifices am I failing to make? am I supposed to sleep on the floor? move to Montana where my degree would be useless? move to the South where I won't be able to breath due to humidity? there are only so many sacrifices anyone can make before it gets to the point that it is unlivable for you. heck, Haiti is cheap and has a low COL. why don't YOU move there? or any other 3rd world country. give up your "middle class lifestyle" and move on down to rural Mexico where you could likely rent a room for pennies on the dollar!
my friend moving from SF to NYC was AGAIN, an example to counteract your claims that moves are super cheap, not as an example for my main point.
you are refusing to see, can't force you to. again, I'd like you to give your proposed costs for a NY-NEB move that you consider "proper".
Wow. You discount whole areas of the US because of humidity?? Seriously? People really need to check in with some of our recent immigrants who are willing to sleep on floors, in turns, in the slums of the slums, work 2, 3,4 jobs to get ahead. Not sure humidity is a concern for them.
Let's say we eliminate food stamps.... Now we have 43 million people that don't have money for food... we just boxed them into a corner. Do you think they will just sit quietly and die as survival of the fittest takes over? Seems 43 million might be in the streets rioting or stealing to survive... ever consider that? What do desperate people do? Do you think your precious economy would survive the turmoil?
The Soup lines of the 30's were in a time people were nicer and more considerate, do you think they will react the same?
We remove food from the equation of inflation. so we can sit and think our inflation is lower than reality. trust me people on $133 / month know what foods have gone up in price.
We have politicians that do little to help the people. Our Senators become lobbyists for banks so they can make millions and use their influence to screw the people that previously elected them. The president hires those that were so integral in the economic meltdown into roles where they can continue to help their friends and reap 10's of millions. This is what is disgusting. That a Vice President hires a firm so he can get his stock options and make a fortune. martha Stewart goes to jail because she saves $30,000 on an inside trade and Cheney makes 30 million and gets nothing... WOW isn't America great.
And the douchebags actually think it's ok ... and the people turn a blind eye
Let's say we eliminate food stamps.... Now we have 43 million people that don't have money for food... we just boxed them into a corner. Do you think they will just sit quietly and die as survival of the fittest takes over? Seems 43 million might be in the streets rioting or stealing to survive... ever consider that? What do desperate people do? Do you think your precious economy would survive the turmoil?
The Soup lines of the 30's were in a time people were nicer and more considerate, do you think they will react the same?
We remove food from the equation of inflation. so we can sit and think our inflation is lower than reality. trust me people on $133 / month know what foods have gone up in price.
We have politicians that do little to help the people. Our Senators become lobbyists for banks so they can make millions and use their influence to screw the people that previously elected them. The president hires those that were so integral in the economic meltdown into roles where they can continue to help their friends and reap 10's of millions. This is what is disgusting. That a Vice President hires a firm so he can get his stock options and make a fortune. martha Stewart goes to jail because she saves $30,000 on an inside trade and Cheney makes 30 million and gets nothing... WOW isn't America great.
And the douchebags actually think it's ok ... and the people turn a blind eye
You and a lot of people totally miss the point. A lot of people aren't against the concept of welfare/social programs. The basic concept is help. I believe that we'd all like to help each other, but the problem is that too many people are lifers with these programs. People cheat the system, pass that knowledge down to their kids.. so on and so forth.
I want them to reform it. Make it strict. Make it so we are helping people, but we are not their bank account. Look at Unemployment. Yeah, you get extensions.. but you have a time limit. What if these programs were 2-5 years with NO chance of extension? Oh wait, that would be wrong..
Let's force people to grow up and act like adults who take care of themselves.
Let's also help good people who come down on their luck. Those people will thank the program, and go on to bettering themselves and their lives.
How can ANYONE honestly support people being on welfare for LIFE? The only way I can think is if it's YOU or a close family member.
NO, but you can rent a room for $500 per month. Charming apartment, 2 beds available in a 4 bed! (http://boston.craigslist.org/gbs/roo/2378585538.html - broken link)
20yrsinBranson
Sure. Right. Myself and 2 elderly parents in one room.
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