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Hipsters on food stamps (Meet the 0bama Voters)
Salon ^ | 3/15/2010 | Jennifer Bleyer

Posted on 11/12/2012 12:47:47 PM PST by mojito

In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore — equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird — Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric....

“I have $80 bucks left!” Magida said. “I’m so happy!”

“I have $12,” Mak said with a frown.

The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for...food stamps.

Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding...to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house...and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away....

Mak, 31, grew up in Westchester, graduated from the University of Chicago and toiled in publishing in New York during his 20s before moving to Baltimore last year with a meager part-time blogging job and prospects for little else. About half of his friends in Baltimore have been getting food stamps since the economy toppled, so he decided to give it a try; to his delight, he qualified for $200 a month.

“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”

(Excerpt) Read more at salon.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Extended News; Politics/Elections; US: Maryland
KEYWORDS: ebt; foodstampnation; foodstamps; obama; obamanomics; snap; takers; welfare
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To: Chuzzlewit

Heck, we ate Hamburger Helper without the Hamburger.


21 posted on 11/12/2012 1:13:51 PM PST by dfwgator
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To: mojito

“but it’s great that you can get anything.”

Self respect?


22 posted on 11/12/2012 1:15:35 PM PST by listenhillary (Courts, law enforcement, roads and national defense should be the extent of government)
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To: The Working Man
raiding other people’s gardens for food.

In Baltimordor?

They might be raiding people's gardens for weed ... not so sure about food.

23 posted on 11/12/2012 1:16:22 PM PST by ArrogantBustard (Western Civilization is Aborting, Buggering, and Contracepting itself out of existence.)
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To: dfwgator

We used to call ground beef Hamburger Helper Helper.


24 posted on 11/12/2012 1:17:55 PM PST by Peter W. Kessler (Dirt is for racing... asphalt is for getting there.)
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To: mojito

ugh

living large on YOUR dime


25 posted on 11/12/2012 1:18:39 PM PST by GeronL (http://asspos.blogspot.com)
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To: TexasFreeper2009

Yup, get everything you can. Lets ram that iceberg at flank speed.
I’m now convinced there is no saving the od Republic.


26 posted on 11/12/2012 1:22:29 PM PST by Kozak (The Republic is dead. I do not owe what we have any loyalty, wealth or sympathy.)
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To: mojito

You want a quick education in the conscience of a young nation? Read the comments that accompany the article.

You would think that people would be outraged and calling for an end to this. They’re not. They’re just chatting about how it is and how to get it.

Mooching is now a virtue. Up is down.


27 posted on 11/12/2012 1:23:40 PM PST by lurk
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To: mojito
“I’m sort of a foodie, and I’m not going to do the ‘living off ramen’ thing,” he said, fondly remembering a recent meal he’d prepared of roasted rabbit with butter, tarragon and sweet potatoes. “I used to think that you could only get processed food and government cheese on food stamps, but it’s great that you can get anything.”

Yeah it's great that this U of Chicago grad (how much did that education cost? Apparently he never took any econ classes...) is just living large off the fat of the land, and proud to be featured in Salon.

28 posted on 11/12/2012 1:36:04 PM PST by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: dfwgator
Heck, we ate Hamburger Helper without the Hamburger.

LOL! That's rough!

29 posted on 11/12/2012 1:39:04 PM PST by Rummyfan (Iraq: it's not about Iraq anymore, it's about the USA!)
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To: Kozak

The only way “out” is “through”.
We can’t go back - this last election showed that.
The “taker” vote outnumbered the “maker” vote.


30 posted on 11/12/2012 1:41:38 PM PST by MrB (The difference between a Humanist and a Satanist - the latter admits whom he's working for)
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To: mojito

Sounds like Orwell in `Down and Out in Paris and London,’ before he went to Spain and got a good look at the Soviets in action and eventually wrote `Nineteen Eightyfour’.
They’re both taking Vitamin S(tupid): “Useless eaters,” as the fascists phrased it. A person who won’t work should not eat (2 Thes. 3:10) Even Lenin agreed with that thought.


31 posted on 11/12/2012 1:42:02 PM PST by tumblindice (America's founding fathers: All armed conservatives.)
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To: mojito

It’s like these moochers are the new “mobsters”. The takers stealing from the makers while bragging about it. I keep thinking of the line in the movie “A Bronx Tale” where “C” (Lorenzo) tells his dad, “Sonny was right, the working man’s the sucka”.


32 posted on 11/12/2012 1:43:41 PM PST by freeperkiki
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To: subterfuge

We saw a lady at a grocery store yesterday that had that much in two carts and paid for it all with the SNAP/grifter card. Nary a hint of shame either.

Did you see any shame in the (Obama phone lady) during the election??? This is the “go get yours, they owe it to you” attitude


33 posted on 11/12/2012 1:46:23 PM PST by BobinIL
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To: mojito

“The working man’s the sucka”
True now more than ever.


34 posted on 11/12/2012 1:54:18 PM PST by I want the USA back
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To: mojito

If they are truly eligible I see nothing wrong with them deciding to spend their allotment on more expensive food provided it is healthful food and they understand that once the allotment is gone it is gone. Better than buying junk like potato chips and snack cakes.


35 posted on 11/12/2012 2:06:43 PM PST by lastchance ("Nisi credideritis, non intelligetis" St. Augustine)
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To: mojito

Lazy bums. Cut em off.


36 posted on 11/12/2012 2:10:36 PM PST by Darren McCarty (If most people were more than keyboard warriors, we might have won the election)
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To: MDspinboyredux
Powered off-brand Mac-n-cheese here. . . . When I had a few extra dollars, I’d add canned chili to the mix and have “gourmet chilimac”

I once worked with a guy who ran a gold mining operation in Arizona. One day he hired a drifter (great welder) who was living in his car. He let him sleep in an old trailer used to store parts. The next day the guy asked for a few bucks for groceries to tide him over.

He came back with some boxes of Kraft Mac 'n Cheese - and a couple of cans of Alpo. Said they made a GREAT casserole and offered some to the owner. He declined.

And now I read of these slackers dining on gourmet rabbit.

37 posted on 11/12/2012 2:12:16 PM PST by Oatka (This is America. Assimilate or evaporate.)
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To: mojito
art school graduate...
38 posted on 11/12/2012 2:20:58 PM PST by 4Liberty (Some on our "Roads & Bridges" head to the beach. Others head to their offices, farms, libraries....)
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To: mojito

go back to giving them actual stamps for food


39 posted on 11/12/2012 2:31:57 PM PST by stylin19a (Obama ->The Jayson Blair administration)
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To: subterfuge

Is there a difference between food stamps and the access card?


40 posted on 11/12/2012 2:44:54 PM PST by angcat
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