Food Stamp Program

The Republicans, Scrooge, And Food Stamp Cuts

Ronald 7 Comments

The Republican Party, particularly in the House of Representatives, has declared war on the Food Stamp program, pushing for a vote to cut about $40 billion from the program, in a vote due later this week.

This cut would come over ten years, and would deny basic food sustenance to poor people, with 76 percent of the beneficiaries being children, senior citizens, the disabled, and war veterans.

As Michele Bachmann said, if one does not work, one does not eat! Isn’t that the “Christian” thing to do? Of course, Jesus Christ would approve, or would he? Anyone sane and moral and ethical knows the answer!

And particularly, when Bachmann and her husband gain federal support for their program to help gays become straight, one of the biggest examples of corruption imaginable!

Meanwhile, corporations get supported by government, and the elite wealthy continue to become wealthier, at the expense of everyone else!

How could anyone with a heart, a sense of decency, vote for these Scrooge (Charles Dickens novel) like characters who do not give a damn about those less fortunate, whether for food stamps or health care or anything that makes lives easier for those who have miserable lives through no fault of their own?

Republicans In Congress Reach A New Low With Elimination Of Food Stamp Program In House Vote!

Ronald 6 Comments

So now the Republican Party in Congress, specifically in the US House Of Representatives, have decided that the Food Stamp Program should be eliminated. They have decided that basic needs for food and nutrition among the poor and the disadvantaged are not something government should be engaged in! They have decided that children, the elderly, veterans, the disabled should shift for themselves, if they happen to be disadvantaged! They think it is God’s will that all fetuses be born, but once here, it is not the job of government even to make sure people have adequate food and nutrition!

What could be lower than this vote, with only 12 Republicans having the decency to vote with all of the Democrats in the House of Representatives against legislation that has zero chance of being reconciled with the Senate bill in conference committee?

What kind of message do Republicans feel is being sent by their vote? Does it indicate that the party has any concern for anyone who is not wealthy and powerful? What is wrong with their heads and their hearts? How indecent can any group that calls themselves “legislators” become? The GOP should hang its head in shame, and Speaker John Boehner should denounce his own caucus and announce his resignation, as he will not be party to the total destruction of the party of Lincoln, TR, Ike, and Reagan!

The few moderates that remain in the Republican caucus in the House of Representatives and those reasonable, sane members of the party in the Senate, and those Republicans in the states who realize what the Tea Party lunatics have done, need to stand up now, and demonstrate their principles and renounce what has happened, and that they are ready to form a new political party based on the respectable Republican Party of the past.

This is a new civil war for the future of American democracy, against the power of the religious Right and the extremists, who hate immigrants, minorities, women, labor, and the middle class that they have helped to decimate in the name of a false patriotism!

As Republicans Push For Cuts To Food Stamp Program, Poverty Rises, Particularly In Red (Republican) States!

Ronald 1 Comment

The Republican Party is determined to cut the Food Stamp program as a boondoggle, wasteful spending, and used by recipients, it is claimed, in an abusive manner.

The reality, however, is that about one out of five Americans in polls have stated that they cannot afford their necessary food supply in the midst of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

And the irony is that inability to afford food, and the need for food stamps therefore, is most prevalent in the RED or Republican states of the South and Border states–including Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Tennessee, West Virginia and Louisiana!

So it is RED states that suffer from hunger, and the reality is that about 50 percent of the food stamp recipients are children, and another 8 percent are elderly.

Statistics show that 18 percent of recipients have no income at all; 41 percent have half the poverty level income; and only 14 percent have incomes above the poverty level. Also, less than 10 percent get a welfare payment along with food stamps. And the assets of these poor souls is less than $100 in savings per family!

Is this the best we can do, and is this what the Republican Party wishes to stand for–to undermine the groups and states that vote for them in state and national elections?

This is a disgrace, which is an understatement!

The Truth About The Safety Net: Full Of Holes And The Worst In The Developed World!

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Mitt Romney claimed two days ago that we have a “safety net” for the very poor, and that, therefore, we don’t have to worry about them.

What a distortion of the truth, as we have the absolutely WORST “safety net” for the very poor in the developed world. It is not enough to say how fortunate our poor are as compared to Africa and parts of Asia and Latin America, as this is America!

Here are the facts:

The official US poverty rate is 15.1 percent, and it does not include the millions of the middle class who have been impoverished by the Great Recession and its aftermath.

One out of five children lives in dire poverty in America, and if one is born into that background, the odds of escaping it are far less likely than for other children.

Our Food Stamp program provides $1.44 per meal to each of its recipients.

Medicaid only covers the poorest children, of parents working at 63 percent of the poverty line, and 37 percent of non working parents. The new health care law would cover the gaps, but Romney endorses repealing it.

Only one in four poor renters get housing vouchers as assistance to pay the rent.

Supplemental Security Income helps the impoverished elderly and disabled, but only 27 percent of this group receives such welfare assistance, while in 1996, 68 percent received such aid. And SSI at its best only lifts those families to 75 percent of the poverty level.

Any person who wishes to be President should have the decency and the compassion to recognize that the “very poor” are not well treated in a society which believes in mobility, and that we MUST do better, and stop having conservatives and so called “religious” people continue to condemn and deplore the poor, and not give a damn about their ability to survive and advance in society, with a sense of dignity! This is a MORAL cause above all!

The Attack On The Food Stamp Program

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The Food Stamp program of the Agriculture Department has been the lifeline for millions of Americans, more so now than ever before, with the terrible economic conditions since the Wall Street crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession!

And yet, conservatives and Republicans condemn the Food Stamp program, and Newt Gingrich calls Barack Obama the “Food Stamp” President derisively.

One would think the Food Stamp program is abused, which is an urban myth!

No one becomes rich on the Food Stamp Program! It is only $130 a month per person on it, far from enough for anyone to eat for a full month. A person to be eligible must make under $11,000 per year, or under $22,000 per family.

It is also interesting to point out that half the recipients of food stamps are children, and ten percent are elderly. And 68 percent of the recipients are white, while most of the rest are African American, with only small numbers of Hispanic, Asian American, or native American participation in the program.

The Food Stamp program issues credit cards that can only be used for certain food items, not liquor and cigarettes, for instance!

It is no fun for anyone to be on food stamps, and it does not mean that anyone is gaining full nutrition monthly on $130 per person for the month.

The conclusion is that there are conservatives and Republicans who would rather have people starve, than feed children and adults who are living in squalid conditions in poverty.

This is Scrooge to the extreme, and disgraceful behavior!

Sad Commentary: Rising Food Stamp Usage, Especially By Children

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The Food Stamp program, often seen as a sign of the scorned word “welfare”, has become a lifeline in these difficult times for one out of four children in America, and overall, one out of eight Americans.

Conservatives once tried vigorously to wipe out the program, but now all kinds of people, not just the chronically poor, are utilizing the program desperately. This is a safety net program that has survived, no thanks to the conservatives who don’t care about hunger in America. They see the situation as Social Darwinism as first enunciated in the late 19th century Gilded Age.

In 239 counties, a quarter of the population or more subsist on food stamps for basic staples. This includes big cities and rural pockets hidden from most Americans. People of all ages and races and different social class backgrounds are victims of the crisis.

Major urban areas such as St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans, Phoenix, Las Vegas, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati face major portions of their population needing this aid. Many surburban areas in Florida, California and other once prosperous areas now burdened with foreclosures have also seen a tremendous rise in food stamp use. In areas of white Appalachia, on Indian reservations, and in Eskimo inhabited areas of Alaska, more than half of the people are on food stamps.

A study shows half of the American people at some point by age 20, at least briefly, are forced onto food stamps, but African American children have a rate on food stamps at some point by age 20 of NINETY percent!

28 percent of African Americans, 15 percent of Latinos, and 8 percent of whites depend on food stamps, and there are certainly many who are still too proud to ask for help, although many reluctant people in the past have given up their pride and asked for help.

But the Heritage Foundation, a conservative group, can only criticize and say food stamps are a “fossil of the war on poverty” and should include a work requirement.

Where are the Republicans calling for action on this issue? They are, not surprisingly, silent, as they have always been, but never saw a weapons program they would condemn.

How can we be proud of our nation as we see many politicians refusing to see a crisis that ultimately undermines us more than any external enemy can possibly do on their own? This situation is a national disgrace that calls for strong action, instead of stale Social Darwinism rhetoric!