Posted on 11/12/2012 12:47:47 PM PST by mojito
In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore — equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird — Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric....
“I have $80 bucks left!” Magida said. “I’m so happy!”
“I have $12,” Mak said with a frown.
The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for...food stamps.
Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding...to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house...and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away....
Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore last year with a meager part-time blogging job and prospects for little else. About half of his friends in Baltimore have been getting food stamps since the economy toppled, so he decided to give it a try; to his delight, he qualified for $200 a month.
“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”
(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...
Heck, we ate Hamburger Helper without the Hamburger.
“but it’s great that you can get anything.”
Self respect?
In Baltimordor?
They might be raiding people's gardens for weed ... not so sure about food.
We used to call ground beef Hamburger Helper Helper.
ugh
living large on YOUR dime
Yup, get everything you can. Lets ram that iceberg at flank speed.
I’m now convinced there is no saving the od Republic.
You want a quick education in the conscience of a young nation? Read the comments that accompany the article.
You would think that people would be outraged and calling for an end to this. They’re not. They’re just chatting about how it is and how to get it.
Mooching is now a virtue. Up is down.
Yeah it's great that this U of Chicago grad (how much did that education cost? Apparently he never took any econ classes...) is just living large off the fat of the land, and proud to be featured in Salon.
LOL! That's rough!
The only way “out” is “through”.
We can’t go back - this last election showed that.
The “taker” vote outnumbered the “maker” vote.
Sounds like Orwell in `Down and Out in Paris and London,’ before he went to Spain and got a good look at the Soviets in action and eventually wrote `Nineteen Eightyfour’.
They’re both taking Vitamin S(tupid): “Useless eaters,” as the fascists phrased it. A person who won’t work should not eat (2 Thes. 3:10) Even Lenin agreed with that thought.
It’s like these moochers are the new “mobsters”. The takers stealing from the makers while bragging about it. I keep thinking of the line in the movie “A Bronx Tale” where “C” (Lorenzo) tells his dad, “Sonny was right, the working man’s the sucka”.
We saw a lady at a grocery store yesterday that had that much in two carts and paid for it all with the SNAP/grifter card. Nary a hint of shame either.
Did you see any shame in the (Obama phone lady) during the election??? This is the “go get yours, they owe it to you” attitude
“The working man’s the sucka”
True now more than ever.
If they are truly eligible I see nothing wrong with them deciding to spend their allotment on more expensive food provided it is healthful food and they understand that once the allotment is gone it is gone. Better than buying junk like potato chips and snack cakes.
Lazy bums. Cut em off.
I once worked with a guy who ran a gold mining operation in Arizona. One day he hired a drifter (great welder) who was living in his car. He let him sleep in an old trailer used to store parts. The next day the guy asked for a few bucks for groceries to tide him over.
He came back with some boxes of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese - and a couple of cans of Alpo. Said they made a GREAT casserole and offered some to the owner. He declined.
And now I read of these slackers dining on gourmet rabbit.
go back to giving them actual stamps for food
Is there a difference between food stamps and the access card?
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