Alabama: Food Stamps decline 85%.. Get to work (leader, economic, money)

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by legalsea

Here is my understanding:


Alabama has 67 counties. Generally, the law is that an able-bodied adult with no dependents were limited to three months of SNAP during a 36-month period, UNLESS they were working or participating in an approved training program.


However, the '13 counties' were granted a waiver, due to high unemployment rates in said counties. In other words, if an able-bodied adult with no dependents lived in one of said 13 counties, then they were not limited to the 3-month SNAP restriction.


As of January 1, 2017, that waiver ended, and said counties are being treated the same as the others.


As of May 22nd, the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent:


'Open for business': Alabama unemployment reaches lowest level since the Bush administration - Yellowhammer News

In the state, the unemployment rate is 5.4, in those counties, its as high as 11%.

from the OP's Al.com Link

As of April 2017, the highest jobless rate among the 13 previously excluded counties was in Wilcox County, which reported a state-high unemployment rate of 11.7 percent, down more than 11 percentage points from the county's jobless rate for the same month of 2011.

and here is the BLS for each county

https://data.bls.gov/map/MapToolServ...nty&seasonal=u

That group of counties basically looks like the US did around 2011.

[BaptistFundie]

Originally Posted by BentBow

Thirteen previously exempted Alabama counties saw an 85 percent drop in food stamp participation after work requirements were put in place on Jan. 1, according to the Alabama Department of Human Resources.
The counties – Greene, Hale, Perry, Dallas, Lowndes, Wilcox, Monroe, Conecuh, Clarke, Washington, Choctaw, Sumter and Barbour – had been exempt from a change that limited able-bodied adults without dependents to three months of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits within a three-year time frame unless they were working or participating in an approved training program.




13 Alabama counties saw 85 percent drop in food stamp participation after work requirements restarted | AL.com


https://www.infowars.com/13-alabama-...nts-restarted/

In Illinois they will start checking it come January 1. I'm all for it. Nothing wrong with asking people to work for their living.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by middle-aged mom

You are spot on.

An able- bodied, non- senior adult with say 3 kids will continue to recieve benefits for the kids and the kids will continue to be eligible for school meal programs which in some places includes up to 3 meals a day and a summer program. Then there are the private local charity backpack programs that load up kids' back packs with non perishable microwaveable packaged food, like mac and cheese to tide them over the weekends.

No one starves in the US. Much ado is made about the " food insecure" in the US. 35% of children and 75% of adults are overweight/ obese.

People who live in or near big cities dont understand that rural areas dont have the same luxuries . I live in an alabama county with 220,000, but only one food bank/shelter.

I assume these poorer counties are the same, if not worse.

Yes, people do indeed starve in the US.And no, he wasnt spot on.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by kevinm

If you can't earn a living where you currently live..........MOVE!!!!! Nothing to stop daddy from buying a bus ticket to where the jobs are and mailing money back home.

Move where and with what money ???????

The cost of living in some of these counties would be relatively low, these people may be able to get enough odd jobs to pay rent, but that wouldnt work in a place like say Madison, Mobile, Lee, Jefferson or Montgomery Counties.


you are also now talking about paying rent in 2 cities/towns instead of one< in what world does that work ?????

[Malloric]

Originally Posted by London Girl

Exactly. Not to mention uprooting children, finding new schools, finding childcare, leaving behind any support network of family and friends.............it's very easy to say "just move" but it's not a simple (or cheap) process.

Sure.

It's easier to drop out of school and go on the dole. I don't think anyone is questioning that.

[dsjj251]

Originally Posted by Malloric

Sure.

It's easier to drop out of school and go on the dole. I don't think anyone is questioning that.

If we were talking about a specific person and they told you they dropped out of school, you would have a point, but we are talking about a region of a state that is as large as New Jersey with people of all educational backgrounds.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by freemkt

oh, p.s. Alabama has an astonishingly high incidence of diabetes. Anyone think there might be a connection between "taxing food" and "diabetes incidence"?

Can anyone see the connection to taxpayer provided junk food and a high incidence of diabetes? Perhaps we will see that drop now as well.

[Toyman at Jewel Lake]

Originally Posted by dsjj251

It was at 22%, it has apparently dropped to 11%, while that is a big drop, its not enough to justify dumping those people off the program.

Here is a legitimate case for having food stamps(chronic unemployment), and yet people are still kicked of the program.


Lets remember that 11% is U3, U6 is probably around 19 or 20 right now.

And the counties listed are all a cluster, that means you cant just move to the next town to find work.

NO ONE was "kicked off the program". They chose to leave rather than show up for either work or a training program.

[westcoastforme]

Originally Posted by dsjj251

The article has nothing to do with abuse. THe people who were on this list where there because according to the AL.Com link, the counties had unemployment rates as high as 22%.


THats not abuse, that is a horrible economy in that area, and now you are saying those people should starve .

Don't work. Don't eat.


Simple

[MPowering1]

Originally Posted by Toyman at Jewel Lake

NO ONE was "kicked off the program". They chose to leave rather than show up for either work or a training program.

That was my take, as well, but people don't seem to care.