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 ...
I hear you. I'm posting on a six year old HP desktop.
Just incredible :^(
A 6 year old HP laptop? Mine is a Staples Averatec that hasn’t given a bit of trouble since I bought it. I was on the road today and stopped at Panera’s Bread to grab a bite and some wifi. In the daylight, it looks really decrepit and the display is going. It will become a glorified file uploader when it gets replaced, hopefully this month. I am apparently going to be travelling a lot more on business. I saw a few good deals at BB for a basic travel machine. All I need is internet, DVD RW, and decent performance.
What year? And were scanners/food stamp debit card used?
What does that link have to with anything.
Desktop.
Who would bite the hand that feeds them?
If it is free then it must come from benevolent sources, right?
Your freedom is in good hands, Americans.
It’s late and I’m slipping a bit. My tower is 5 years old but has 3 year old guts in it and with 2 GB of RAM, runs just fine though. I am glad I can fix my own gear.
I also think those that are felons should lose the right to vote.
The Founding Fathers cared about the QUALITY of the vote, not the quantity. They wanted those with a poker in the fire to vote, which is why they developed a republic instead of a flat out majority rules democracy. The reason is they knew it wouldn't take long for the lazy to vote themsleves a bunch of "free" things.
Isn’t there a 5-yr lifetime limit to food stamps? In other words you can not receive food assistance for more than a total of five years in your life. No? I heard that somewhere...I think!
and they have no respect for themselves
they even laugh at the thought of getting handouts
I agree. Thank a Democrat for the destruction of The Black American Family. I lay the devastation at their feet.
It still is!
And so welfare queens won't be 'stigmatized' they are using cards that look like a regular credit card. I don't see them slowing up on dropping more kids who automatically become another generation of welfare cheats.
Liberals have created a birth to grave welfare mentality that keep people on the liberal plantation their entire lives.
Milton Friedman called it back in 1980 in his Free to Choose series.
In PA at least, there is a program whereby welfare recipients can get a free cell phone.
Loved the man!
“If you put the federal government in charge of the Sahara Desert, in 5 years there’d be a shortage of sand.” ~ Milton Friedman
Just looked up PA’s food stamp program. It’s called SNAP (supplemental...nutrition...something!) You have to sign up for some kind of employment seeking program. Workfare.
The rule book is many, many pages.
Yep. It’s pretty important that people wake up. Luckily, we have a Pres__ent that is bringing our blood to a boil...and quickly!
Conservatives always seem to need a swift kick in the backside to get moving, LOL!
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