Re: [Pen-l] 31 million on food stamps

[123hop@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Jim writes:

IMHO, official statistics on food stamps vastly understate the nature of 
the problem (as do official statistics on poverty) for at least two 
reason: 1) there are substantial hurdles imposed by the government to 
getting food stamps or other forms of aid  and many people, although in 
need, can't surmount them and 2) good ole American rugged 
"individualism" - "I ain't goin' to take no charity, no matter what."

I once had a house-guest for a couple of years who was on welfare & food stamps.

So, I got a close look at the whole scam. I found out two things: first the process of applying for welfare and food stamps involves literally hundreds of pages of paperwork. According to my friend, this was mostly because they assume you are lying and are trying to catch you at it by having you tell a consistent story twenty different ways. She was an intelligent, literate woman who labored for hours and hours filling out the paperwork. What about those applicants who are not so bright and who are not literate?

Second, the food stamp entitlement is not all in food stamps. About half of it is in coupons that you can only redeem by buying processed foods. And that is a scam too. For example, you get $4.00 for orange juice; but you don't get to spend those $4 on oranges and squeeze them. And, if the orange juice costs $3.00, you either buy 2 (using food stamp money for the extra one) or you lose $1.00 of the coupon money. There is also a huge subsidy to the dairy industry, which doesn't sound so bad until you realize that many african-americans are lactose intolerant.

My basic conclusion after seeing the system up close and personal was that the "welfare for the poor" part was a small slice of the package the justifying veneer for an enterprise that mostly subsidized white-collar functionaries, administrators, and the processed food industry.

I hear they have lately "reformed" this package by allowing food stamp recipients $5.00/week to spend at a farmer's market. Kid you not.

Joanna

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