# food stamps



## jim-henscheli (May 4, 2015)

Hey folks, i recently heard an argument about food stamps. One side argued against them on principle of not taking charity/being a pinko bleeding heart comie. The other side argued for using food stamps, on principle that, if the man is going to STEAL from anyone with a payroll job ANYWAY, why not take what you can get? The same argumment works for.healthcare, sort of. But keep it in the plasticcrd soup.kitchen line. 




Also, to tbose who have noticed, i have random periods in almost all of my posts, i cant eplain them. My phone just drops them places, usually when i hit the space key, no i dont have big fat fingers, the touch screen is dodgy...


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I generally have no problem with assistance or food stamps as it was originally intended. A stop gap measure to help people who are suddenly out of work for instance. People that are citizens of these United States and in good standing. After all, I do have some compassion and I have been down and out myself. However, It is now a perverted system being worked by the lazy, the illegals, and the refugees, who milk the system for years if not their whole life. Typical of anything the government has initiated with good intent, it quickly becomes corrupt. It becomes thought of as a right and their entitled to it by birth. They become ticks on society and eventually milk the system dry until it collapses.They consider it free and theirs, I consider it my damn money that I work damn hard for.


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

Whatever happened to "a hand up, not a handout"?


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

sidekahr said:


> whatever happened to "a hand up, not a handout"?


exactly!!!!!!!


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

46 million people and $100 Billion per year? Laziness meets Craziness.

http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/datastatistics/keydata-august-2015.pdf


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## Seneca (Nov 16, 2012)

sideKahr said:


> Whatever happened to "a hand up, not a handout"?


That went away when the government got involved.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

Slippy said:


> 46 million people and $100 Billion per year? Laziness meets Craziness.
> 
> http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/datastatistics/keydata-august-2015.pdf


Unsustainable lunacy! When they run out of our money the Shit really will hit the fan.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

There needs to be some time limits put on these handouts. That way we can do away with the welfare rats while still helping folks that may need it. For a short time.

Here are some welfare rats and a pissed off taxpayer. Steak is for taxpayers! NSFW


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## Slippy (Nov 14, 2013)

I had a neighbor once who ran a successful small business. He and I were talking one day about the government and its wasteful ways and somehow Food Stamps came up. I made a comment about the people today and my neighbor got real quiet and when he finally spoke he told me his story;

Many years ago he was in a bad marriage, no kids but his wife took him for everything he had. He had just started a small repair shop and when his wife left him with nothing he applied and received food stamps. He was on them for 3 months until his business started to pick up. He is very successful today and he credits assistance for some of that. 

That is the intention of the program, not multi-generational assistance.


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## Arklatex (May 24, 2014)

Slippy said:


> 46 million people and $100 Billion per year? Laziness meets Craziness.
> 
> http://www.fns.usda.gov/sites/default/files/datastatistics/keydata-august-2015.pdf


!!! Wow !!! I've never really seen the breakdown till now. I'm speechless..

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

There are always stories to tug at the heart string...and the WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING card often gets played - BUT

The governments job is not charity... it never should have gotten into the charity business... Now people vote a certain way based on the charity they get.

It use to be that churches and other private groups would take care of the needy.. We did not have people dying of hunger in the 1840's, or 1920's

I view government programs like tax breaks... they are on the books so if you qualify then use them...HOWEVER I would like to see them all go away

I am not heartless - I use to be the Board President of a food pantry... I believe the government has no business in the charity arena


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

Good idea. Poor execution. It had problems from day one:

The 70-year history of food stamps in the U.S. began in May 1939, when unemployed factory worker Mabel McFiggin collected stamps to buy surplus butter, eggs and prunes in Rochester, N.Y. McFiggin was the first person to take advantage of the experimental program, designed to improve on Depression-era commodity-distribution systems developed to aid the needy and unload surplus wheat and other products bought by the government to support farm prices. Food stamps originally came in two colors: recipients bought orange stamps, which could be used for any kind of food, and they were given half that amount in free blue stamps, which could be used to buy designated surplus foods (all but the most destitute had to make some payment to receive food stamps until 1977). About 20 million people made use of the original food-stamp program, but its popularity dwindled as prosperity returned, and the program was stopped in 1943.

Advocates for the poor worked to revive the program over the following years. In 1959 - 50 years ago this month - Democratic Representative Lenore Sullivan of Missouri successfully championed a legislative amendment to launch a pilot food-stamp program to be run by the Agriculture Department. While the Eisenhower Administration showed little interest in the idea, President Kennedy's election the following year marked a major turning point: moved by the abject poverty he witnessed on the campaign trail in West Virginia, Kennedy authorized a three-year food-stamp program beginning in 1961. Following in McFiggin's footsteps, Mr. and Mrs. Alderson Muncy of Paynesville, W.Va., inaugurated the Kennedy-era program, buying a can of pork and beans on May 29, 1961, to help feed their 15-person household. The Food Stamp Act, making the program permanent, was passed by Congress in 1964; it swelled to a million recipients by 1966. Program enrollment and benefits continued expanding as national attention focused on the plight of the poor, especially in rural areas, spurred in part by the groundbreaking 1968 TV documentary Hunger in America. By 1975, nearly 20 million people were relying on food stamps.
(Read about what George Soros is doing to help get stimulus money for the poor.)

A major change to the program came in 1977, when Congress stopped requiring payment for food stamps and distributed them to all recipients for free (the price had steadily decreased over time, until it represented just a fraction of the face value). The move dismayed a number of observers, who had supported the program as a means to help the poor help themselves, not as a direct government handout (the Agriculture Department had insisted on selling food stamps for fear of undermining the dignity of recipients). The policy created a backlash - some middle-class shoppers indignantly complained that food-stamp users were eating better than they were - and a number of restrictions on the program, including stricter eligibility rules, were added by Congress during the Reagan Administration and again under President Clinton's welfare-reform bills of the mid-1990s. Some measures, such as those that barred many legal immigrants from the program, were later reversed.

Today, literal food stamps are a relic - purchases are made electronically, on plastic cards resembling credit cards. In fact, it's not even called the food-stamp program any longer; in classic bureaucratese, it's now known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. Recipients' incomes and property values must be below a certain level for them to qualify. In June, the average monthly benefit came to $294 per household and $133 per individual. Recently, officials have worked to make the program more convenient, distributing electronic benefit-card readers to farmers' markets so food stamps can be used there and encouraging more stores to accept them as payment (Costco announced this year it will take food stamps at some New York City stores on a temporary basis). As an experiment, CNN reporter Sean Callebs spent the month of February relying on food stamps. Spending $176 - the maximum amount awarded by the state of Louisiana, where he lives - Callebs found that he could buy enough food, but only if he avoided snacks and most name-brand items. "I can tell you my pants are much looser," he said after the month was over.

http://content.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1921992,00.html


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## sideKahr (Oct 15, 2014)

"Steak is for taxpayers!" Arklatex, that is priceless. Some people I know will be getting this link. Thanks, man.

-Edit- Look at that guy on the right. Scratching himself and barely able to stand up. So my guess is not just scratch offs, but drugs too.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

I still call them food stamps but I know they are like credit cards now. Used to be they had to stand in line to get them. Now it's an electronic transfer every month. Now it's to easy. no shame or guilt. I know because I am usually the one stuck behind the lady with 8 uncontrollable kids trying to pay with her food stamp card and various other credit cards with varying degrees of credit left on them along with all the coupons and sale papers. She of course, is dressed very well with plenty of high end jewelry and talking into the latest smart phone delaying the whole process further. She is probably talking with one of her 8 uncontrolled kids who also, all have the newest cell phone and notepad devices. after all this the whole bunch of them then go to the parking lot and get in a brand new Cadillac Escalade to drive off to what I am sure is their government subsidized home. Yea...we need these people.


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

If you can feed a family of 4-8 each month with only $100-$200 in groceries bought with food stamps you're a damn genius. I bought two thick rib eyes on the way home for me and my wife last night (had a craving) and it cost me $28. I can't imagine trying to feed my family for a month off of that little bit of money. I'll have to keep working until someone explains to me how that's even possible.


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## DadofTheFamily (Feb 19, 2015)

IMO this is one of the most dangerous components of multiple SHTF scenarios. That works out to about 7.5% of the population. In 2009 about 12% of my rural county population was on food stamps and I know our food pantry is always overwhelmed. I am sure today this number is probably closer to 15-18%. In some cities it 's 35+%. That's a ton of people going ape-s#&% within 2-3 days.


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

jdjones3109 said:


> If you can feed a family of 4-8 each month with only $100-$200 in groceries bought with food stamps you're a damn genius. I bought two thick rib eyes on the way home for me and my wife last night (had a craving) and it cost me $28. I can't imagine trying to feed my family for a month off of that little bit of money. I'll have to keep working until someone explains to me how that's even possible.


A number of years ago, between jobs and being foreclosed, I lived on $7 a week of food from Winn Dixie Supermarket. Grits CAN be a main course.
It can be done. And I have NEVER had any unearned government assistance of any kind.

When I see someone that is 100 pounds (or more) overweight, with tattoos, hair weaves, piercings, and the items on the grocery check out line separated between SNAP (food stamp) things, and the wine/cigarettes/beer/, quite frankly, I get hacked off.


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

rice paddy daddy said:


> When I see someone that is 100 pounds (or more) overweight, with tattoos, hair weaves, piercings, and the items on the grocery check out line separated between SNAP (food stamp) things, and the wine/cigarettes/beer/, quite frankly, I get hacked off.


I feel the same way, but then I try to remember that there are those who don't abuse the system, kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to eat, elderly folks who would go hungry, etc. Like anything else, there are those who milk the system. However, I don't want to get rid of it altogether. Instead, I simply want it limited to people who need it temporarily and those who simply aren't financially able to make it without it (retirees, working poor, unemployed, etc.). So much of my check disappears into various government coffers only to be wasted on Lord know what. At least I can feel sorta good about the few pennies that go to feed some really needy people even if it also feeds some who are just lazy bums.


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## Prepared One (Nov 5, 2014)

jdjones3109 said:


> I feel the same way, but then I try to remember that there are those who don't abuse the system, kids who otherwise wouldn't be able to eat, elderly folks who would go hungry, etc. Like anything else, there are those who milk the system. However, I don't want to get rid of it altogether. Instead, I simply want it limited to people who need it temporarily and those who simply aren't financially able to make it without it (retirees, working poor, unemployed, etc.). So much of my check disappears into various government coffers only to be wasted on Lord know what. At least I can feel sorta good about the few pennies that go to feed some really needy people even if it also feeds some who are just lazy bums.


This is all I am saying basically. Those that are in real need I have no problem with as long as they are citizens of this country. Based on need, circumstances, and conditionally timed. As it was originally intended. Pity it no longer works that way. I have no issues paying my fair share but I won't stand by quietly while year after year my taxes go up to pay for failed programs, liberal pie in the sky policies, and corrupt government services for people who do not deserve assistance in the first place. Life has never been fair and you can't make it fair by tossing more of our money at it. We simply can't take care of everyone.


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## Gimble (Aug 14, 2015)

Maine-Marine said:


> There are always stories to tug at the heart string...and the WE HAVE TO DO SOMETHING card often gets played - BUT
> 
> The governments job is not charity... it never should have gotten into the charity business... Now people vote a certain way based on the charity they get.
> 
> ...


I came here to say this and here it is. If the government didn't force me to pay charities that I don't support, maybe I'd have more funds available to support the charities that are in-line with my values.


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

I've heard that arguments against the government being in the "charity business," and the stories about how it used to be done (churches, neighbors helping neighbors, people being self reliant, etc.), but so much has changed since those days. Most people aren't affiliated with a church. Even if they were, I wouldn't be so inclined to believe that these modern day churches would forgo their jets and mini mansions for the preachers in order to do some real good for their parishioners. Relying on neighbors? Most people don't even talk to their neighbors anymore. I took a pie to a new neighbor a few weeks ago when I stopped by to introduce myself and they looked at me like I was some kind of throwback to the 1800s. I still haven't gotten my pie dish back yet. People are rude, ignorant, and selfish. I doubt the majority would be willing to help out a neighbor in need. Most find it easier to call them lazy and look the other way. 

On a side note, my wife and I still haven't gotten a thank you card for the gifts we gave my younger cousin and his new bride at their wedding over a month ago. Typically, they have up to 3 months to send them but I have the strange feeling that they won't. Etiquette and manners have gone out the window. And you think we could get this generation to help one another? I really doubt it.


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## Kauboy (May 12, 2014)

jim-henscheli said:


> Also, to tbose who have noticed, i have random periods in almost all of my posts, i cant eplain them. My phone just drops them places, usually when i hit the space key, no i dont have big fat fingers, the touch screen is dodgy...


You're likely tapping the space key twice, and not noticing it. A double space in most text apps causes an automatic period after the last word. Try it and see.

I have nothing to add to the food stamp discussion. I agree with Ark.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

jdjones3109 said:


> I've heard that arguments against the government being in the "charity business," and the stories about how it used to be done (churches, neighbors helping neighbors, people being self reliant, etc.), but so much has changed since those days. Most people aren't affiliated with a church. Even if they were, I wouldn't be so inclined to believe that these modern day churches would forgo their jets and mini mansions for the preachers in order to do some real good for their parishioners. Relying on neighbors? Most people don't even talk to their neighbors anymore. I took a pie to a new neighbor a few weeks ago when I stopped by to introduce myself and they looked at me like I was some kind of throwback to the 1800s. I still haven't gotten my pie dish back yet. People are rude, ignorant, and selfish. I doubt the majority would be willing to help out a neighbor in need. Most find it easier to call them lazy and look the other way.


So much has changed.... yep... government has PUSHED the private organizations out the door

I will bet that even today.. churches and other organizations still provide more support then the government.

AND the vast majority of churches do not have jets or mansions so you can put that little bit of slander back in your back pocket...For every super church you see there are 400 with under 50 people that are running food banks or soup kitchens.... the last 2 churches I had membership in.. both had under $5,000 in the bank and 1/4 of that was sitting there just for hardship events for local folk.

If you want to paint a picture, make sure your brush is the right size -friend....


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## rice paddy daddy (Jul 17, 2012)

Maine-Marine said:


> AND the vast majority of churches do not have jets or mansions so you can put that little bit of slander back in your back pocket...For every super church you see there are 400 with under 50 people that are running food banks or soup kitchens.... the last 2 churches I had membership in.. both had under $5,000 in the bank and 1/4 of that was sitting there just for hardship events for local folk.
> 
> If you want to paint a picture, make sure your brush is the right size -friend....


I could only hit the Like button once, but this is so true I had to repeat it.


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## Camel923 (Aug 13, 2014)

Its the abuse of the system by the able body/minded, life time and generational entitlement that are the problems. The general idea of giving one a hand when they are down or really unable to work as opposed to unwilling is not a problem. Requiring something in the form of work from the able bodied in return for assistance is not enslavement. We make too many excuses for the unwilling and irresponsible and thus enable them to continue or worsen destructive behaviors.


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

Maine-Marine said:


> AND the vast majority of churches do not have jets or mansions so you can put that little bit of slander back in your back pocket...For every super church you see there are 400 with under 50 people that are running food banks or soup kitchens.... the last 2 churches I had membership in.. both had under $5,000 in the bank and 1/4 of that was sitting there just for hardship events for local folk.
> 
> If you want to paint a picture, make sure your brush is the right size -friend....


You have to put things in perspective. In my area big, flashy churches with deep pockets are the norm. But like most communities, the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and the majorities are just average Joes who go through good times and bad. We do have some small churches but they don't have the resources to offer the type of assistance provided by the government (food, medical care, housing). If you believe that $1,250 will meet the needs of all of the local folks in your area, you're either delusional or low maintenance. Where I live, that may pay the rent of one person for one month or two and nothing more.

The last church that I visited that wasn't my own has about 20,000 members.

BTW.. Do you realize that people speak from their own perspectives and reality and not yours? If not, now you know.

BTW... What's up with your tone? You and a few others seem to jump on everything that I say as though I have ill intentions. I don't.


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

jdjones3109 said:


> You have to put things in perspective.


 I agree



jdjones3109 said:


> In my area big, flashy churches with deep pockets are the norm. But like most communities, the wealth is concentrated in the hands of a few and the majorities are just average Joes who go through good times and bad.


 IN YOUR AREA - ok.



jdjones3109 said:


> We do have some small churches but they don't have the resources to offer the type of assistance provided by the government (food, medical care, housing). If you believe that $1,250 will meet the needs of all of the local folks in your area, you're either delusional or low maintenance. Where I live, that may pay the rent of one person for one month or two and nothing more.


 I would like to now how you know what the resources are of those local churches??? You would be surprised how much money 50 peopple can come up with if needed. 
First you make a point of telling me that people speak from their own area and then you want to lecture me and call me delusional about thinking $1,200 would help anybody????? LOL... in my area you can rent a 3 bedroom home for $500 a month and not all resources are money.



jdjones3109 said:


> Do you realize that people speak from their own perspectives and reality and not yours? If not, now you know.


 I realize that however you were panting the church as if they ALL were like what you described... if you want to talk about your local church then clarify that .. as i said USE THE RIGHT SIZE BRUSH



jdjones3109 said:


> What's up with your tone? You and a few others seem to jump on everything that I say as though I have ill intentions. I don't.


 I was just pointing out that you were incorrect... you tried to smear all churches with a big glob of megachurch crap.

I am sorry you have had bad experience with churches.. try finding one that is bible believing Christ following and avoid the liberal ones that want you to have your BEST LIFE NOW....


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

double post


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## jdjones3109 (Oct 28, 2015)

Maine-Marine said:


> I am sorry you have had bad experience with churches.. try finding one that is bible believing Christ following and avoid the liberal ones that want you to have your BEST LIFE NOW....


I haven't had a bad experiences. I just don't have faith in their ability to do as much for as many people as the government. If that's not they case and they can, why don't they? I know they all do what they can on a much smaller scale (some more than others), but I wouldn't underestimate the number of people in our great country who can't live without some form of assistance.

For my part, I do crazy things like living within my means, saving, and... wait for it... prepping!


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## Maine-Marine (Mar 7, 2014)

jdjones3109 said:


> I haven't had a bad experiences. I just don't have faith in their ability to do as much for as many people as the government. If that's not they case and they can, why don't they? I know they all do what they can on a much smaller scale (some more than others), but I wouldn't underestimate the number of people in our great country who can't live without some form of assistance.
> 
> For my part, I do crazy things like living within my means, saving, and... wait for it... prepping!


Do you understand that you and me are being forced to pay taxes to provide this assistance... and the government is BORROWING money on your kids NAME to pay for these programs

I would bet.. that if the government stopped that people would give more to charities...and charities do things a lot cheaper then the government

AND my faith is never in peoples abilities and it sure is not in the governments ability

however at a local level you would see fewer lazy people getting aid if it was handled locally instead of my a system set up in a building in DC.. Local people know who is spending money on booze and drugs and they would soon get cut off

if you trust the government more then your friends and neighbors.. you are the reason we are screwed.. think about it... really think about how it would look if the government let people be people again and stopped forcing people to pay money to pay for the government to be charitable???

there are lots of hospitals, food pantries, soup kitchen that are run better then any government could do and for less


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## Smitty901 (Nov 16, 2012)

Those that truly need help should likely get more. However the problem is in Milwaukee 70% or more of the Food assistance , ends up buying everything but. Including drugs. They had a place last year taking the cards to buy cars. They can sell the card and pin number and get them replaced no question ask up to 3 times. Then do it again.
That is what hurts those that really do need help.


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## A Watchman (Sep 14, 2015)

jdjones3109 said:


> but I wouldn't underestimate the number of people in our great country who can't live without some form of assistance.!


JD, I don't underestimate this number, but I do acknowledge the percentage who live by this means of support, do so by choice with no plan to reenter a productive lifestyle. The system is broke and the end result will be at your door when/if (you choose the one you want to) a SHTF scenario happens. They will not be knocking at your door asking nicely for assistance. They will organize and plan a raid.

You are now forced to be proactive, either by recognizing the current state of affairs or preparing to defend your family. You are quite aware from my previous posts that I am not against charitable assistance, however it must have boundaries to insure the assistance does not become counterproductive.


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