Posted on 11/21/2012 9:59:30 AM PST by AngelesCrestHighway
More Americans will use food stamps to buy their Thanksgiving dinner this year than ever before, according to a new report from the nonprofit government watchdog group The Sunlight Foundation.
The Food Stamp Challenge, which challenges higher-income families to live as if they are on food stamps, estimates that a person on food stamps has a budget of about $1.25 per meal. In other words, a family on food stamps must buy an entire meal per person for less than the cost of an average cup of coffee.
Usage of food stamps among low and no-income families has spiked since the collapse of the U.S. financial system four years ago. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, average participation in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or food stamp program, has increased 70 percent since 2007. And economists have warned that usage of food stamps won't go down until unemployment improves.
The libs have successfully removed serious eligibility standards to qualify for a SNAP card. No stigma either, they’re just a government-paid super discount coupon that can be used for anything.
A damn shame but true. Split the country up and let that half go to hell run by liberals...
$1.25? Raaaaaaght...
Is that why those paying taxes for the foodstamps are in line with their hamburger helper
waiting for those with the EBT card in front of them to purchase their steak and shrimp?
They plan on remaking it “closer to their hearts” after it crashes.
Incredible! What propaganda filth this government spreads about food stamps. No point in going to work. Just let all of us working support the voters who vote for more freebies! F this bullshit!
SHTF... pronounced “shift” around our house.
But The Poor can certainly afford beer, booze, cigarettes, drugs etc., so they must be doing great on that meager amount per meal. This is particularly true if the children are being fed at least two meals per day for free at school.
I worked as a cashier back in college, and I saw those every day. It got to where I could tell at a glance which payment method people would be using.
(I never said it out loud, of course. Just kept a little scoresheet in my head.)
Only once did I get it wrong. A woman came through with a cart full of things like oatmeal, flour, fresh vegetables. Her 2 kids were well-groomed and very polite, and when she handed me her EBT card she couldn’t meet my eyes.
I’ve often wondered what happened to her. I’m guessing she didn’t stay on food stamps for long.
Interesting. What are your thoughts on all this? I’m one of those working poor folks that lives quite well on not that much.
I would always trade work for food stamps, since their benefits are so generous!
I’m really curious where they pulled that $1.25 number from, because other than that one woman, I have never seen a skinny person using EBT.
Food stamps might be generous, but a person needs more than food. There’s something in the human spirit that yearns for that pride that comes with accomplishing something on your own, I think that’s why so many people on entitlements are angry all the time. There’s something missing and they can’t name it, so they just keep demanding more and more.
I’ve had several medical issues over the years that have kept me from working for months at a time. And while I’ve never qualified for government benefits, I can tell you that it chafes to have to take charity, even from family. I’d rather be working. Dignity is something nobody can give.
Yeah, agree with you wholeheartedly. I’m really not sure what the solution is - the folks who care about food stamps are the folks who aren’t taking the help - many of them folks who need help.
You can’t judge peole with disability signs by the way they look.
Food stamps just serve to hide the bread line.
There are nearly 50 million people in today's 'bread line'.
More Americans will use food stamps
Obama’s Fault
There was a FReeper who had a good idea about that, I forget who it was. But the idea was to use the surplusses caused by farming subsidies to create a food that would be cheap, and would have the nutrients necessary for survival, but would be as tasteless as can be. Then, make that food readily available to anyone who wants it, whether they’re Warren Buffet or homeless on the streets. That way, the truly poor would be able to get enough to live on, but at the same time it wouldn’t make “poverty” so pleasant as to take away the incentives to get out of it.
Even if that food giveaway were abused it would still cost less than the food stamp program is now.
A $1.25 average price per meal is quite good ... when you figure that your typical Breakfast and Lunch fall well below that amount leaving a good amount for Dinner.
Breakfast , 2 eggs ($0.30) , juice (6 oz. ,, $0.20) , bagel ($0.20)
Lunch , PB&J , bread $0.08 , PB $0.15 , Jelly $0.15 , milk 8oz. $0.22
total so far $1.30 ,, @ $1.25/meal that means $2.45 for dinner ..
Dinner ,, 2 chicken legs ($0.60) rice ($0.10), can of veggies ($0.59)
Besides Food Stamps are “supplemental” nutrition .. they aren’t meant to be your entire food budget..
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