Posted on 11/28/2009 5:27:37 PM PST by reaganaut1
With food stamp use at record highs and climbing every month, a program once scorned as a failed welfare scheme now helps feed one in eight Americans and one in four children.
It has grown so rapidly in places so diverse that it is becoming nearly as ordinary as the groceries it buys. More than 36 million people use inconspicuous plastic cards for staples [...].
Virtually all have incomes near or below the federal poverty line, but their eclectic ranks testify to the range of people struggling with basic needs. [...]
While the numbers have soared during the recession, the path was cleared in better times when the Bush administration led a campaign to erase the program’s stigma, calling food stamps “nutritional aid” instead of welfare, and made it easier to apply. That bipartisan effort capped an extraordinary reversal from the 1990s, when some conservatives tried to abolish the program, Congress enacted large cuts and bureaucratic hurdles chased many needy people away.
...
[T]he program is now expanding at a pace of about 20,000 people a day.
There are 239 counties in the United States where at least a quarter of the population receives food stamps
...
In more than 750 counties, the program helps feed one in three blacks. In more than 800 counties, it helps feed one in three children.
...
Although the program is growing at a record rate, the federal official who oversees it would like it to grow even faster.
“I think the response of the program has been tremendous,” said Kevin Concannon, an under secretary of agriculture, “but we’re mindful that there are another 15, 16 million who could benefit.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Instead of the brand being named, “Largesse,” I’d prefer, “Paid For By Your Neighbors.”
Outsourcing has failed.
they’re isn’t any manners.
To them it’s all about them and what they can get for nothing while they do nothing.
They’re raising kids to scam the system as they were taught off momma to scam the system.
The projects near where my wife comes from is filled with non English speakers and lay abouts who sit around all day doing nothing and yet make a living out of welfare.
(How on earth do they get a house when they can’t speak English anyway?)
They get better food than I.
They have a better car than I.
They have better clothes than I.
Their kids eat better than my kids.
WHY?
Because I pay my way through life even if I have to work over 80 hours a week. Meanwhile they sit around on their front porch or play x box all day.
yes they do and in big numbers.
see their local community center or so called church gets a buss and takes them out to vote.
None.
there’s a store where my wife comes from in Quincy MA.
The store is owned by a pakistani family and has been for years.
Down the road (5 to 10 min walk) is the projects by the ocean.Yes projects which are houses not apartments and they have their own beach and ocean(check them outhttp://www.quincypublicschools.com/images/maps/snugharbor.gif: )
check the local school and their programs for the projects families.http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.quincypublicschools.com/images/maps/snugharbor.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.quincypublicschools.com/schools/snugharbor/main_page.shtml&usg=__2CigU3DQDgIfV3fF_SbWR3CqDjQ=&h=400&w=400&sz=12&hl=en&start=17&um=1&tbnid=gKdcvY98zB2eeM:&tbnh=124&tbnw=124&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsnug%2Bharbor%2Bma%2Bprojects%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Doff%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26sa%3DX%26um%3D1
family day trips, free food, baby sitting etc
Anyway go to that shop and you will see folks using their food stamps to buy cigs, beer.
Here is how they do it.
They get the cigs but the pakistani bills something which is the same price or similar price.
That way the Govt doesn’t know what is going on.
Try calling about it to the Govt and you get no where as the woman on the other end couldn’t be bothered looking into it or approves of it.
How do you get signed up. I would like a steak.
I see your point but I don’t think food stamp recipients actually vote
Well, you are partially right. I don’t think food stamp recipients actually vote only once per election.
These people, particularly the professional leeches, are not stupid. They vote in droves for everything with a D after the name. That is their one job. They understand voting for a D every 2 years is their livlihood, and will do nothing to threaten it.
check these projects out near where my wife comes from and can you see the beach, nice space between the houses. get baby sitting and everything you could ever need and many who live there don’t even speak English they’re all Asians and Arabs/middle easterners
click on aerial view and then zoom in.
makes me sick, some even have boats for crying out loud, granted not big ones but still it’s a boat to go out on
Imho, that's a part of the reason why the government wants to control 1/6 of the US economy by taking over “health care”. And it is also the reason they are encouraging illegal immigration (need more workers to pay for SS). There is some benefit and/or payoff/profit to be had by the US government that will enable them to kick the can down the road a little longer.
Birth control as a condition of welfare is not immoral.
Be careful about that. The People’s Republic of Maryland charges a large penalty if you don’t withhold enough, as determined by your final tax bill.
The feds also charge a penalty if your withholding is not high enough. If you do not pay 90% of your taxes in withholding throughout the year there is a penalty. In our case it is a couple hundred dollars. I gladly pay it to have use of MY money throughout the year, then write a fairly large check to the govt at the end of the year.
I am blessed to have a fairly good income, as does hubby. HOwever, we are at the point where even with 2 and possibly 3 kids in college (no financial aid to you) I am looking at cutting back. At our marginal tax rate, with the alternative minimum tax and rollbacks on the deductions, it is not worth the effort to work harder. Any extra I make goes over 50% to the govt. And we don’t make THAT much, trust me.
Many of the people I support through my taxes live better than I do. I think the thing that really hurts was when our kids were young. I worked part time and hubby and I did handsprings with our schedules so we did not have to use day care. The money I made was about what we paid in taxes - in other words, if we could have kept the money hubby made, I would not have had to work at all. Instead, I had to work to pay for other peoples kids.
I can tell you among those of us hit by the tax rates, almost all are looking for a way to reduce their earnings and cut back. It just isn’t worth it anymore
/rant off
I think the government should get out of it entirely and let charity go back to what it should be. Local churches and neighborhoods should band together and take care of the truly needs among them. It would be local, quick, and with the much better use of the money than govt programs.
Also, too many Christians let the government take care of their charitable obligations - we should be doing it ourselves in Christ’s name, not letting people get their goodies in the government’s name. No wonder so many people worship Obama.
agreed and that is one reason why Huckabee will never get my vote.
He thinks that the Govt should supply the churches with Govt money so the church can give out our money.
Like you said let the church get their own money through their own work and then they can distribute their charity as they seem fit.
Right now many churches especially black churches can get tons of money and then use that to get their bus .
Once they have the bus they use it to go and get voters in their area to vote.
Plus it’s a way of paying off votes.
You are preaching to the choir. I worked in the grocery business for a good number of years. When the first of the month rolled around, the moochers would be coming in to get their T-bones and NY Strip steaks. The people who actually worked at the store could only afford Hamburger Helper.
Amen sister. Our company has a wage freeze, but I still managed to negotiate a uniform for myself— it is one less thing I have to spend my money on and the government can’t tax it, except for the profit it generates to the uniform company.
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