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  1. #1
    Bloodsail Admiral Rendia's Avatar
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    Proposed Cuts to Foodstamp Benefits - US

    http://prospect.org/article/food-stamps-get-licked-cuts

    Why is it always welfare programs and schooling that get cut first by politicians and not the over-bloated DoD?

    Some interesting numbers from the article:

    The House bill would cut $20 billion over five years from the program’s $80 billion-a-year budget. The Senate's version would trim $4.4 billion from food stamps. The House bill gets most of its cuts by getting rid of program that allowed states to streamline the ways they provide assistance to the poor; the Senate bill would make changes to the program that would cut some people off food stamps.
    47 million people have been enrolled in the food stamp program in any given month, or about 13 percent of the population, and even more cycle in and out of the program throughout the year. The number of people on food stamps is smaller than the 18 percent of families who, according to FRAC, reported that they struggled to afford food last year.
    Before the mortgage crisis, only about 54 percent of eligible households received them. During the recession, the participation rate rose to about 75 percent. That means a substantial number of people are living in poverty but forgoing help.
    All of this is happening at a time when advocates who work with the poor say people need more help, not less, despite the recession’s official end. A majority of the jobs created—58 percent—have been in the low-wage service sector. That means people are working at places like Wal-Mart or chain and fast-food restaurants, where their wages keep them below the poverty line. The reason states have been raising the income limits for programs like food stamps is that incomes—even those above the outdated federal poverty line—no longer cover basics like food, shelter, and care for children. More than half of the families with children who receive food stamps are working, and 90 percent had worked in the previous year.
    Right now, the maximum food stamp benefit for a family of four falls $100 short of covering what the government considers a healthy diet. That’s if the family can shop at a supermarket. When the small stores and bodegas poor families are more likely to have access to were taken into account there was a $200 gap.
    The House’s cuts are $4 billion more than the agriculture committee cut food stamps last time. In a Pew poll, more than 70 percent of people support increasing or holding steady the amount of money the government spends on aid to the needy.
    Major reform is needed within the budget, this is true, however not at the expense of our people. Cut funding from the DoD as well as from all the salaries of the politicians.
    "There is no teacher but the enemy. No one but the enemy will tell you what the enemy is going to do. No one but the enemy will ever teach you how to destroy and conquer. Only the enemy shows you where you are weak. Only the enemy tells you where he is strong. And the rules of the game are what you can do to him and what you can stop him from doing to you." -Mazer Rackham - Ender's Game Orson Scott Card

  2. #2
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Kind of stingy about the department of defense being cut.

    However, I don't agree with cuts to SNAP. Soely because the increased costs is because more people have become dependent on it due to the continous structural unemployment in the United States.

    If the situation concerning structural unemployment shows improvement, meaning less people are dependent on it, then lets talk about cutting it. But as of now, the economy is stagnent and showing a laggy recovery. Cutting off peoples methods of attaining food is a terrible idea.

    There was a republican that quoted the "A man that does not work should not eat" in the house during the debate. And I have never been that pissed at a Republican before. He failed to mention the fact that people CANT FIND WORK to GET THE MONEY NEEDED TO EAT. (Ironically Mitt ROmenys backbone during his campaign.)

    /End rant

  3. #3
    I think this would change the number of Americans without medical pathologies starving to death from zero to zero.

  4. #4
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Spectral View Post
    I think this would change the number of Americans without medical pathologies starving to death from zero to zero.
    Just because people aren't literally dying in the streets doesn't mean they aren't suffering.

  5. #5
    Foodstamps needs to be cut far deeper than that.

    The system needs to be scrapped and rebuilt. It supports poor eating and shopping habits, there is more fraud than they admit, how many drug addicts and alcoholics does it enable

  6. #6
    The whole thing needs to be overdone. They give out unicorns if you lie about being mexican and then put salt water taffee on your wife's reproductive organs for free.

  7. #7
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    Foodstamps needs to be cut far deeper than that.

    The system needs to be scrapped and rebuilt. It supports poor eating and shopping habits, there is more fraud than they admit, how many drug addicts and alcoholics does it enable
    Start with making the most unhealthy foods out there NOT THE CHEAPEST and then we can start talking about that.

  8. #8
    Ask anyone from EU posting here the results of this broad stroke cuts. How fucking hard is it to reduce fraud and abuse? I am not religious, but the only thing that would make me is the hope that some of these heartless ass holes will burn.

  9. #9
    Quote Originally Posted by Bigzoman20 View Post
    Start with making the most unhealthy foods out there NOT THE CHEAPEST and then we can start talking about that.
    We're going to do the thing where we pretend that it's expensive to eat a reasonably healthy diet? I suppose that's more or less necessary in these kinds of threads. I always forget how oatmeal costs $13/pound now.

  10. #10
    The Undying Cthulhu 2020's Avatar
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    http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201...socialism.html

    Apparently "socialism" isn't evil, as more people in Norway are more willing to leave cushy corporate jobs to create start-up businesses and become successful because the amount of safety nets make failure a much less scary thought. Where in America, the costs of healthcare and the punishment for failure are much more severe, and if we go any farther in the other direction, will only get worse.
    2014 Gamergate: "If you want games without hyper sexualized female characters and representation, then learn to code!"
    2023: "What's with all these massively successful games with ugly (realistic) women? How could this have happened?!"

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Bigzoman20 View Post
    Start with making the most unhealthy foods out there NOT THE CHEAPEST and then we can start talking about that.
    So the solution is to just make everything bad for you more expensive?

    How's that working for you smokers?

  12. #12
    Quote Originally Posted by Bigzoman20 View Post
    Start with making the most unhealthy foods out there NOT THE CHEAPEST and then we can start talking about that.

    It goes deeper than that, there are healthier things you can buy cheaply but you have to prepare them, when people say the healthy food ex expensive they qoute prices for organic produce and such.

    Things like snack foods, prepared sandwiches (Blimpie taking foodstamps is an example), and things like crablegs/lobster need to be ineligible items.

  13. #13
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Decklan View Post
    http://www.inc.com/magazine/20110201...socialism.html

    Apparently "socialism" isn't evil, as more people in Norway are more willing to leave cushy corporate jobs to create start-up businesses and become successful because the amount of safety nets make failure a much less scary thought. Where in America, the costs of healthcare and the punishment for failure are much more severe, and if we go any farther in the other direction, will only get worse.
    The severe risk/ oppurtunity cost reduction you speak of also greatly contribute to unemployment rates and has commonly been cited as the reason why unemployment in Europe has remained higher then the U.S

    ---------- Post added 2013-05-20 at 01:38 AM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Monstercloud View Post
    So the solution is to just make everything bad for you more expensive?

    How's that working for you smokers?
    It's to make healtheir altrenetives cheaper.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    and things like crablegs/lobster need to be ineligible items.
    In Alaska and Maine, crabs and lobster are some of the cheaper forms of healthy protein available.

  15. #15
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    It goes deeper than that, there are healthier things you can buy cheaply but you have to prepare them, when people say the healthy food ex expensive they qoute prices for organic produce and such.

    Things like snack foods, prepared sandwiches (Blimpie taking foodstamps is an example), and things like crablegs/lobster need to be ineligible items.
    Not a health freak, but I always thought Crab/Lobster was healthy if cooked properly

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Spectral View Post
    In Alaska and Maine, crabs and lobster are some of the cheaper forms of healthy protein available.
    What about in the other 48?
    $7.99 a pound here for crablegs last time I checked.

    You can get some shrimp for $9.99 a pound at a seafood market ($5.99 anywhere else) here, pay them with foodstamps then pay $1 cash to have them cook it. Seems like a loophole to me.

  17. #17
    The Lightbringer Issalice's Avatar
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    Major reform is needed. This system is greatly abused at the cost of the taxpayers. There is a difference between helping those that need it and throwing money blindly at those asking for it. It is a shame that people who really do need the help and who aren't abusing are going to end up suffering at the hands of those that are abusing the system.

    I'm not sure if the current system supports poor eating habits as someone mentioned before. Food isn't cheap, and the healthiest foods are more often than not the most expensive. I do think they need to be drug testing everyone that receives benefits. If they can afford to take drugs they should be able to afford to feed themselves and their families. Looking into preventing fraud is another much needed step. I can't count how many times my boyfriend has come home to tell me about another person wondering into his restaurant trying to sell his food stamp card for cash.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by drwelfare View Post
    What about in the other 48?
    $7.99 a pound here for crablegs last time I checked.

    You can get some shrimp for $9.99 a pound at a seafood market ($5.99 anywhere else) here, pay them with foodstamps then pay $1 cash to have them cook it. Seems like a loophole to me.
    My point was that I don't like one size fits all solutions.

  19. #19
    Scarab Lord DEATHETERNAL's Avatar
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    Just block grant the program entirely to the individual states so they can worry about it, and each state figure out the best solution for itself.
    And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
    Revelation 6:8

  20. #20
    The Unstoppable Force THE Bigzoman's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Issalice View Post
    Major reform is needed. This system is greatly abused at the cost of the taxpayers. There is a difference between helping those that need it and throwing money blindly at those asking for it. It is a shame that people who really do need the help and who aren't abusing are going to end up suffering at the hands of those that are abusing the system.

    I'm not sure if the current system supports poor eating habits as someone mentioned before. Food isn't cheap, and the healthiest foods are more often than not the most expensive. I do think they need to be drug testing everyone that receives benefits. If they can afford to take drugs they should be able to afford to feed themselves and their families. Looking into preventing fraud is another much needed step. I can't count how many times my boyfriend has come home to tell me about another person wondering into his restaurant trying to sell his food stamp card for cash.
    Do you have any data that supports that claim?

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