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As a lad, I shamefully took food stamps (during a few hard months of my many years as a hardcore liberal) and remember being amazed at how much food you could get for a few bucks if you concentrated on staple foods, which are really cheap. For example, ten bucks will buy one enough grits or tortillas to feed a family for a month, and even processed foods like mac & cheese, tuna, and cold cuts are inexpensive if you stick to store brands.

I'm not saying being poor is a barrel of laughs. I'm saying that it is impossible for an adult in possession of his or her faculties to starve to death in America today as a result of joblessness. Besides food stamps, there's federal WIC, various missions, homeless shelters, night shelters, and food banks to turn to -- not to mention churches and private individuals. Hell, if it came down to it a person could knock on any door in my neighborhood and say "I'm hungry" and they'd get fed!

To the queue-standers, I say "Instead of wasting all day standing in line for free food, folks, why not spend the day looking for a job? Even a crappy job at minimum wage is better than nothing."

Bottom line: "If any one will not work, let him not eat." [2 Thess 3:10 RSV]

(This applies only to those capable of working, of course. Little kids, the aged, and the truly infirm deserve our generous support).

"As a lad, I shamefully took food stamps (during a few hard months of my many years as a hardcore liberal) and remember being amazed at how much food you could get for a few bucks if you concentrated on staple foods, which are really cheap. "

Were you ashamed because you took charity, or because you knew you could do better and just didn't?

My daughter and her husband had food stamps for a year or so, when they absolutely had to have them. Then my son-in-law worked three jobs at once for a while and got them past the rough spot. (My daughter didn't work much at that time because she had, IMO, more important duties - staying home and raising their baby.)

I see no shame in food stamps if someone really needs them, for a short period. It's the people that stay on them for generations that should be ashamed.

Also, my daughter said the same you did. She had no problems at all feeding the three of them with their food stamp amount. The basic staples worked just fine for them, too.

If one is lucky enough to live where there is room for a garden..you have the vegetable food group conquered. I believe the President was also allotting 3 grand to those out of work if they needed education,moving expenses,child care etc., while job hunting...find work and the rest is money for an emergency fund.