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Today, America's Foodstamps Program Gets A 6% Haircut: What Happens Next?
Today, one of America's best-known welfare programs with 47.6 million participants or 15% of the total population, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program also known as "foodstamps" or EBT, is due for a substantial haircut: beginning Friday, there will be a phased in $5 billion reduction (6% of the program) for the 12 month period starting November 1st 2013. So what happens next?
Nick Colas of Convergex explains.
The U.S. Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (a.k.a. Food Stamps) is the largest means-tested social support program in the country, with $6.3 billion in direct monthly cash transfers to individuals for the purchase of food. Some 47.6 million people (15% of the total population) are in the SNAP program as of the most recent data (July 2013) and these individuals receive an average of $132 per month. This support is set for a cut on Friday, with a $5 billion reduction (6% of the program) for the 12 month period starting November 1st 2013. From a Wall Street perspective, these numbers may seem small at 0.0003% of GDP. From the perspective of Main Street, however, is means a cut of $36/month for a family of four receiving full SNAP benefits. Record levels for stocks, record level for SNAP participants… An odd societal disconnect, to be sure.
We’ve written about the U.S. Supplemental Assistance Program (SNAP, also known as food stamps) in these pages over the years even though the topic bears no direct relationship to corporate earnings, interest rates, the Federal Reserve, or any other recognized business topic. The reason for this focus is threefold:
- It is a very large visible government program with monthly data updates. There are, for example, 47,637,407 Americans in the SNAP program as of the most recent update (July 2013) from U.S. Department of Agriculture. A total of 23,074,914 households receive an average monthly benefit of $272.51. This amounts to $6.3 billion in monthly support. As a percent of the population, this is 15% of all Americans and +20% of all households in the program.
- It is a good measure of how deeply the economic recovery in the U.S. is reaching through the socioeconomic strata. Qualifying for SNAP means you make no more than 130% of the poverty line and generally have limited assets. Those 47.6 million people in the SNAP program are, for all intents and purposes, a record high for food stamp participation once you exclude months where the program includes disaster assistance.
- It generates a large amount of hate email direct to my inbox and voicemail from both ends of the political spectrum. From the right comes criticisms over certain parts of the US population using EBT cards (the debit cards used to distribute the program’s payments) to buy beer and potato chips. This, yes, does occasionally happen. From the left, we get missives that feel a lot like that guy who told the world to “Leave Britney alone!” Food stamps, these folks argue, are part of living in a just society, which doesn’t allow anyone to go hungry. Half of all the people enrolled in SNAP are children, so it is pretty easy to see their point of view as well.
In the spirit of bringing our two warring readerships together, I would propose the following statement: “Something has changed about America since the Financial Crisis, and the still widespread popularity of the SNAP program is emblematic of that shift.” Or, in the words of Bill Parcells, “You are what your record says you are.” The American economic record, based on the Food Stamp data, is still pretty lousy:
- Before the Great Recession of 2009, enrollment in the SNAP program ebbed and flowed with the state of the U.S. economy. There are links to the data after this note, with the high water marks in 1976, 1981, 1992-4 and cyclical lows in the late 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
- From 2004 to the present day, SNAP enrollment has doubled from 23 million people to more than 46 million. The cost of the program over that period has moved from $25 billion annually to $75 billion in 2012.
- The notional economic “Recovery” which has helped domestic equities more than double from their March 2009 lows is entirely absent from the U.S. food stamp data. As mentioned, enrollments are still essentially at record highs.
- Sometimes big numbers are hard to visualize, so here’s a few ways to think about the size of the SNAP program. For example, if every SNAP participant lived in one state, it would be 20% more populous than California. If every person in the program linked hands, human chain style, they could circle the Earth (assuming a 3 foot reach per person).
We’ll sidestep the inevitable political discussion for a moment longer, and point out that things are about to change in the food stamp program. On November 1st, everyone in the SNAP program will see lower payments. Here’s the hows and whys:
- Monthly payments increased because of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, but these increases expire on Friday. The jumps were substantial – the average benefit per person increased to $125 in 2010 from $102 in 2009 and topped out at $133/person in 2010 – 2012.
- The change cuts $5 billion out of the program for the November 2013 – 2014 period, on a base of $75 billion (based on the latest run rate of $6.3 billion/month). The USDA estimates that this will be a $36/month reduction in benefits for a family of four.
- The Center for Budget Policy Priorities, using USDA data, stated in a recent note that 80% of SNAP households live below the Federal poverty line ($19,500 for a family of three) and 40% live in households making less than half that amount. The SNAP program helps feed 25% of all US children and over 9 million seniors.
Let’s see if we can dodge the political bullet for one more paragraph, with a few more fact-based points:
- The SNAP program is explicitly NOT designed to provide the only income available to economically distressed Americans for the purpose of purchasing food. There’s been a raft of celebrity and CEO ‘Live on SNAP benefits’ challenges, where these economically fortunate individuals chose to live on $133/month in food purchases. This ignores the fact that the program is intended to be “Assistance” rather than 100% support.
- There are further cuts in the program coming in 2014 – 2016, to the tune of $11 billion over the period. It is an odd quirk of the SNAP program that its funding is part of the annual Farm Bill in Congress. That means these future cuts could be overturned as House and Senate consider this legislation. For right now, however, these proposed reductions would take the SNAP program down to $60 billion from the current $75 billion run rate. Truth be told, the pressure within Congress is to cut these payments further, rather than to increase them.
- If you are looking for a capital markets impact, retailers in southern and western states are one place to look. There are 13 states with over 1 million SNAP participants: Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. The economic “multiplier” on food stamp purchases is about 2:1, so the $5 billion reduction in 2013-2014 looks more like $10 billion in the real economy.
To sum up (apolitically, of course)… The amount of money 15% of the U.S. population uses to purchase food is about to go down, and by enough so this group will notice its absence. It may not matter to the economic data on which Wall Street hangs its fedora, but it is certainly enough to spark a political response. How this plays out, I honestly have no idea. We are in uncharted waters here, as the historical record clearly shows.
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The social program actual macro-result is to greately increase the birth rate of lower intellects, and greately reduce the birth rates of the ones qualifying for a college education. Exactly like the movie 'Idiotiocracy'.
Owebama's propoganda apparatus, e.g. the 'New York Pravda Times', is going nuts on this news. You can never ever ever take away a temporary entitlement bump or tax increase, folks.
Cut TSA, save the poor.
They were cut a little today in LA.
can't wait for this un-taper
They'd like to eliminate medicare advantage, but they're too greedy, the elderly healthcare system would collapse without their contributions.
Very young people at Zero Hedge.
No one has mentioned that before SNAP, EBT and Food Stamps the Federal Government handed out actual food to the hungry.
The hungry would go to food centers and they would get: peanut butter, dry milk, processed cheese, dry navy beans, dry split beans, rice, corn meal and oatmeal.
No junk food, soda, beer or cigarets.
wow! what a primitive system!
Yes, they believe they will never grow old. I can't wait for the future youth to tell Them they need to just lay down and die.
This is the answer, staples like orez mentioned much cheaper to allow than "gator aide" and "ding dong" cakes! JMO
i applied for unemployment insurance in 1983 in nyc. i had to go down everyweek to the unemployment service office and show up with newspaper clipping of jobs i had applied for. the subtle aspect was, i HAD to show up and be relatively presentable, they asked questions and occasionally said things such as - 'this might be a job for you, we want you to go talk to them'. i wasn't on for more than a month or so, it was an interesting sociological experiment for me.
i benefited from unemployment again in 2009 as an old man after an investment bank blew up. i went on line, answered a few questions and MAGIC - i was issued a chase debit card where money appeared each week after i went on line and certified that i had been looking for work.
if we don't bring back human interaction and responsible behaviour and people having to toe a minimum line of presentability - we just keep issuing what is basically $$ electronically to support people (and TBTF) - it's over. but, we all know here, it's over.
And before that, non federal soup kitchens, private charity, local groups mostly. "Do gooders" as they called them.
they call it "commodities" and they still do it in certain places. big ol blocks of cheese etc., the origin of the term "govmint cheese"
orez65 - i remember that. dad was out of work for a while and mom's neighbor friend figured out how to get her in. dad got a job, it went away. it wasn't great stuff, but it helped them. and they didn't go to walmart for it. walmart doesn't like your memorys.
Well, I just saw a plane fall out of the sky, so there's that.
It annoys me to no end the excuses of "why are we cutting foodstamps when banksters get X". Can't we be outraged about two things at the same time?
There are other problems in our society besides QE, and the parasite class is one of them. The entitlement parasites in our society are a big reason why we have QE to infinity, it's the only way it's going to be paid for. As much as I would like to have every problem solved at once, i'll take an improvement wherever I can get it. Cutting food stamps, even a little bit, is at least something.
We're not going to have change in this country until the junkies are made to go cold turkey.
That is how they play the game. Everything is equal and there is a new crisis or distraction every week. Fix it as we come to it and keep moving forward is the only way, but we know it won't happen.
No. Food stamps should be the last "non-essential" program that libertarians cut on the way back to a minimal state. Cut out the useless wars, cut the surveillance state, cut the ridiculous and excessive armament of police, cut corporate welfare, cut spending on people who can afford it, cut excessive regulation so business can grow ... THEN when there is a nationwide labor shortage start cutting essential poverty programs, trusting that there will be plenty of good-hearted people with means to take up the slack. Do not cut foodstamps first.
More food for me! and hopefully lower prices.
Deer meat and a big garden....a creative cook can feed a family quite well....and much healthier to boot....
I'm biased because I grew up that way....hillbilly as fuck....that and a Jesuit education have served me quite well. My pops would have shot us all and saved the last shell for himself before he took welfare....I'm quite OK with that now.
FUCK YOU BERNANKE!
These days you cannot separate welfare from the system so even though you may have a job and feel good about your independence the fact is that that job, any job, would most likely not exist without the present system which is dependent on govt welfare. There's probably 2 people in the whole fucking country that have jobs independent of the welfare programs.
The only thing equivalent between the makers and the takers is we are all going to suffer. The system is rotten from top to bottom but just because we are participating doesn't make us equally responsible. There are plenty of takers out there that have made a choice and not simply "victims".
So BobCarlos, what's your suggested path forward? I get that there is a lot of gov't money flowing to a lot more places than the SNAP program. And, yes, it's a good portion of the GDP calc but are you saying that Mr ButtoMcFarty should forget about being independent and just line up with the rest of the "victims" of all this societal unfairness? Or, perhaps he could do what his parents most likely did. That would be doing your damndest to pull your own weight and do what it takes support your family. I'm guessing his parents weren't the type to stand around and ask when or what the government (at any level) was going to do to help them if something went wrong. Probably didn't sit and ask when was somebody going to "give" them a job.?
So, what's the point of my rant? The more folks like MrButtoMcFarty there are, the closer we'll be to getting out of the mess we're in. The more there are folks that think they have no chance of making it without help, the more we'll see of what we have now and worse. Count on it.
Back to killin' snakes...
His parents might remember a time when not everything you purchased had a made in China sticker on it. They might have belonged to a "Union" (yeah dirty word right?) that at least slowed the progression of wage destruction and helped to insure that you got a lunch break and an unlocked fire exit. They may even remember a time when their was at least a short space between wars. They may even remember the jobs that were created by such publicly funded projects such as the Interstate system, NASA, and oh my God the very vehicle by which we are posting these comments, the internet.
At times me thinks this site has a lot of young punks on here who do not remember or experienced or participated in fighting for individual rights, workers rights or any fucking rights. They learned to hate somewhere. Hmmmm, listening to holy trinity of Rush, Hannity and Beck maybe.
It is easy to be holier than thou. Which will make being humbled a bitch!
They might have belonged to a "Union" (yeah dirty word right?) that at least slowed the progression of wage destruction and helped to insure that you got a lunch break and an unlocked fire exit.
You can't be serious. Are you serious? No, I don't believe you are. There's no way anyone can believe that drivel.
Take a look at some pictures of Detroit and tell me unions are good. You stupid fuck. Sorry, there I go calling names again. No place for that here in FIGHT CLUB. Unions helped pave the way for the destruction of manufacturing in America which led to wage destruction as all the jobs fled over seas for lower wages...you stupid fuck. I apologize for the name calling.
Actually you flatter me. Being called a stupid fuck by somebody who is obviously ignorant about the history of unions and workers rights is flattery in it;s highest form. Got an idea for ya before you display even more ignorance. Read a freaiking history book. Thank You.
My apologies. I was one beer over the line last night...and a little fed up.
Nice attempt akarc but you missed by a mile.
This "punk" is well into his fifth decade. First job at 15. Before that, mowing lawns for a few bucks here and there. Been pretty humble all my life. You see, humble folks don't think they are owed a living (or anything for free) just because they draw breath. We expect a modicom of civility and respect (Except for on ZH)and to have the freedom to pursue life as we choose to.
I honestly hope you can get past all the terribleness that keeps you from finding some success in life 'cause gosh, there's just no way that your situation could be the result of any or your own doing. Living as a victim all your life must really suck.
Back to killin' snakes
Sorry dude, self employed, receive no handouts and ask for none, own two homes. Give more than I receive. Which is of course the secret. That and shedding light on the bullshit that allowed corporate American to enslave the nation.
Holy fuck, batman.
If you allowed the fruits of hunting game to become a staple the woods would be empty in a month. In my neck of the woods anyway.
Kids don't eat much.
Can tell you're not a parent.
I'm not either but most people I know are, I've fed their kids & I can tell they eat good'n' plenty.
I'll go a little HuffPo on this one.
As much as there is abuse, and it become a lifestyle for some, as noted, about half the people getting the "free" food are kids - can hardly blame them, and to the extent Fundamentalist Liberatarians would let them starve, I'd invite the FL's to go fuck themselves and appreciate why they aren't ever going to affect American politics.
A phase-out/wind down of these programs would likely require much better, radically different public education, and again - many people here wouldn't want to pay for that. Those poor inner city kids should just do what Will Hunting did, I guess. Well, I'd fund the fuck out of public education, smash the union, and use modern neuroscience to impact the structure of the school day - enough of these fuckwads with graduate degrees in Education. Worthless cunts who worry about cultural sensitivity but not how to get Jonny to remember to carry the fucking 1.
I suppose paying for good public education because I'm a pragmatist, and an American nationalist - it's in the public interest to have a highly educated citizenry, and until the private sector can do the job, the Libertarian view on the matter is simply counterproductive bullshit that does nothing but make the country dumber and, therefore, more subservient to the government an the corporate media.
Agree with this or not, but another element is how much the stark figure of the "nigger" bilking good, decent white folks out of their hard earned tax money is a fantastic way to keep our eyes on what amounts to trivial pilfering, instead of the very real, massive, systemic extraction of wealth by the Fed, the large banks, and the moneychangers in general {I mean investment banks, credit card companies, etc.}.
In other words, if you spend your time and energy worrying about the petty thefts of blacks and latinos on welfare, etc., you're basically paying attention to entirely the wrong fucking things, which, I suspect, is the idea.
The government and those who run it have a good thing going. When the SHTF, they have a way to control the urban poor, and they can keep the white suburbanites rage focused on same.
Meanwhile, the poor and middle class of all races who were dumb enough to join up are almost without doubt going to be sent to die in another needless war{s} in the near future to prop up the dollar, establish some new private central banks that will obey the BIS, etc., and, last but not least, for Greater Israel. Indeed, the tenacity and evil fuckery of the warmongers knows no bounds, and the fact they keep getting away with their fuckery boggles the aware mind.
Mano,
you wrote alot of shit that is plain "tupid, By being on assistance from others those on those on assistance are at the whim of those "who dispense that very same assistance".
You git it right?
I didn't think so. Another brain dead lib who thinks that government is the answere to everything.
Here is my question to you - in the years prior to EBT/SNAP, welfare and WIC, etc... how did those that were poor get by?
With all of that said, why don't you identify yourself so that we can cheer you on as you give ALL of your FUCKING wealth to the poor since you seem so concerned about them. I didn't think that you would do it, you fucking piker. Now get off of this site you friggin troll and be somewhere else!!!
NGAFY
*** Now get off of this site you friggin troll and be somewhere else!!!***
Listen ASSHOLE the great thing about the site is that we get a wide assortment of diverse opinions without censorship. Some of them you'll agree with others you won't. State your case against those you disagree with. If you give it you better be able to take it. However, telling people you don't agree with to get off the site is an ASSHOLE response.
Yeah but Wamo got seven upticks for wanting to do away with anyone that doesn't confirm his irrational bias. Hmmmmmm.....?
...and by the way. I FRIGGING JUNKED YOU FOR BEING TOTALLY RETARDED!
Agree with most of what you said, except for "fund the fuck out of public education." America already spends about twice as much per pupil as the rest of the "industrialized" world and gets less for it than anybody. The problem with the educational system isn't funding. Part of the problem is distribution (too much for wealthy suburbs, too little for inner cities), but most of it is that the money is simply being misspent - armies of administrators instead of teaching materials.
Then we demand and fund accountability for the dollars spent on education. Because education is key. But alas I have again succumbed to delusional thinking as I mentioned "demand accountability". My apologies.
Top Ramen for the kids, dog food for granny and tap water for all. Is that gonna really gonna cost more than say $100 per month?? Nope, and Obama Care is gonna be there when they all come down with illness and disease. God bless.
The Chinese have revealed the secret of recycling concrete into babyfood, so Granny will not have to worry so long as she lives next to a bridge.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZI5t7w2U5g
I predict that the demand for flaming hot Cheetos is going down
This is an outrage. Traders and Wall street get trillions and the EBT gets cut, at least bankrupt wall street at the same time at the minimum.
Booze and weed will become EBT eligible now to inspire the troops to squeeze out more welfare cases.
Darth Mul: "As much as there is abuse, and it become a lifestyle for some, as noted, about half the people getting the "free" food are kids - can hardly blame them, and to the extent Fundamentalist Liberatarians would let them starve..."
No problem.
Obama needs to just fire off another decree. Bitchez need to suck more dick.
Problem solved.
hahahahahahahaha
Executive Order muthafukkerz.
All welfare should be local. If you have to rely on somebody for sustenance, you should at least have to look that person in the eye. In fact, I'd go further with that. Bring back community gardens on a big scale. If you cannot afford basic food, I'm sure there are people who would provide you with the knowledge and seed to start producing for yourself. Hell, once I have a few landraces going, I'd happily donate.
yes! I just wrote the same thing without seeing this. I totally agree. Part of the problem is people seeing EBT as an entitlement and not charity. There's nothing wrong with charity, it's just that the government confiscates our wealth through taxes and then redistributes it in a way that benefits politicians. They don't pick the recipients based on traditional charity metrics
"They don't pick recipients based on traditional charity metrics"
Accept Jesus as your personal savior and my church will be happy to give you some charity.
Good thing I don't need any charity - I can't accept a religion based on fictional stories written by serial liars.
I'm sure the actual Jesus guy was nice, and fully mortal, no son of any god that doesn't exist, but getting followers to twisted liars for leaders because they were poor and hungry is what helped start the religious apocalypse we have today.
I'm sure there are AND I've already found a lot of people on youtube willing to share this knowledge for free for everyone.
This rapidly enables everyone to learn who can teach and share some experience, ups & downs. http://www.youtube.com/ldsprepper has some very good results with the Mittleider gardening method. Goes over it in great detail & there's a book and a micronutrient pack. The recipe is free online but for $14 or so last I checked there's enough to prep up a decent food garden for 2 years.
I married my wife in a church cereony, so in the eyes of god she is my beautiful loving spouse. Out of principle, I refused to go to the courthouse and obtain a license to be married from the county for which I live. Together my wife and I have three beautiful children making a household of five. I have experienced an annual ass raping from the IRS because I file single, and earn an income in excess of the limit allowing me a child tax credit for my three children. I am having my unemployed wife file for this EBT bullshit, and my family shall now on eat on the government's dime. Maybe, this way I can get some of the money back that the IRS steals from me every year. I apologize to everyone, but the government still comes out ahead by a large margin.
I will maybe enroll her in Obamacare too, then I won't have to pay the $1,100.00 per month insurance premium for medical insurance for my family. I am no fan of Obama, but heck I might as well cash in while I can!
In Canada if you are single and live in the same household as one of your children you got a tax deduction that was equiavalent to married. That made getting married a financial penalty. Revenue Canada may have changed that now but it was about $7k off your taxable income.
Hopefully every dollar you take to eat on will be be one less dollar that goes to a defense contractor. I know, delusional thinking. But for sure no apology needed.
Like oBUMMER weasel said..."We're all in this together." Fork em. The sooner we take it down, the sooner we can rebuild for those kids.
Well, as long as you apologize, and as long as GOD thinks your wife is beautiful and loving, then I suppose I can forgive you for taking my tax dollars, because of your principle, to feed her. Fuck your principles. I have principles too, but they don't entail cheating the system so everyone else can pay for my food, even though my wife is hot and my kids are cute. You are not an exception due to beauty. My family is fucking gorgeous but I don't use that as an excuse to be a leach. Take your leaching ass down to the courthouse and get a fucking license and stop having beautiful kids for all of us to support.
There's this thing called birth control, maybe you've heard of it. Maybe not, since you think the Government will "come out ahead anyway" right? By all means, you deserve my money, for......what exactly?
See, you fall under the category of "problem", not "solution". You exemplify what is wrong here...and I thank you for setting the example. Three kids and a wife that you can't support so you don't "legally" marry your hot wife (so God says) so that we, the taxpayers, can support them for you. Your food comes from my mouth, and you don't even allow me the decency to chew it up and spit it out first. Your kids food comes from my kids mouths. Enjoy.
You owe me.
As for all you bleeding hearts here, this is who you are defending. Horrible situation he is in isn't it? I feel so sorry for him and his hot wife and three beautiful kids.
You compain about being raped in the ass when it is exactly what you asked for...and what you deserve.
Oh, and FUCK YOU, I want my money back.
Please send me a check to:
The Joker
666 Insane Asylum St.
Moochville, USA
Thanks.
only 94% more to go. let charities and families help take care of the poor - people would appreciate the help more from local people than from a faceless government. attention taxpayers - have you ever been thanked for your "donation" (confiscated taxes) to the poor? I didn't think so
what is the agenda. why would .gov cut the anti riot programs and harm walmart's bottom line?
Make food stamps redeamable for only Moochshell Obama officially approved items.
Well, that was an interesting thread.
Eat the rich.
Too bad for the people who actually need this assistance that the current Republican Party has put its next few election cycle hopes on voters who are bitter and whose bitterness is stoked by a republican party that demonizes and dehumanizes those who actually need this assistance.
The DEMS are shit too, in the same way but under the guise of the compassionate side. Don't get me wrong.
This is all about votes next November. the DEMS will point their fingers and say, Look at how mean the Republicans are and the Repubs (especially in those Repub primary challenged districts) will point to the incumbants as Big Spenders etc and so on.
What a fucking disgrace. We're talking abouit food here. It grows, its renewable. Its life and somehow fiat money (readily conjured for the purpose of killing for non-renewable energy flow control) becomes too precious to waste on those useless fucking sloths who don't just pull themselves up by their boot straps.
We have more resources right now than we need by far to assure food security and the sane in society are sitting back when something like financial help to by food is used by politicians to stoke anger in those who're rightfully angry, but so much so they'll be led to hate absolutely the wrong camp in all this.
Train Wreck!
It is the moral hazard dude. That is what repubs dont like about food stamps. It has become a lifestyle.
like banking fraud has become the business model for wall street, complete with rules that legalize criminal behavior? you mean like that kind of moral hazard.
Ok man. I got my second wind. It is on like donkey kong.
I am in favor of ending all welfare whorage and moral hazard, banking queens and ghetto queens.
You got a problem with that?
Say it to my face!
Welcome back Carl. It is amazing what a little caffeine and (other) ingestive materials can do for a depleted psyche.
One might wonder how that lifestyle came to be. Guessing people aspire to living at subsistance level. I go to the grocery store, no food stamps, and every week ask myself, how the hell does a family of four do it? What the hell do they eat? Then again they probably don't know any better right?
If they killed brown people in other countries for food stamps the repubs would gladly back it.
Good thing there's no moral hazard in killing people for money.
Oh wait...
Which camp would be the right one?
US.
Federal government is NOT the answer. Local government, local charity; they can feed the people who need it. The feds do not need to be involved. Cut the whole damn program. Locals can FEED these people -if all they want is food.
The feds don't need to be involved.
The state doesn't need to be involved.
The locals don't need to be involved.
Where is the line in your logic come from? Why the locals but not the feds?
The people who need it can feed themselves. This is what is wrong with the world today. People can't fend for themselves.
"the locals can feed THESE people". JESUS. THESE people. You mean the worthless people that haven't a clue how to take care of themselves, that made the wrong decisions in life, that couldn't put a stick through a deer or grow a potatoe to save their own lives? Fuck them. Why should I, a local, FEED them?
moar rope for this one.
(sarc) This whole problem of joblessness and hunger could be solved if governments would just legalize marijuana and hard drugs for the urban cesspools.
Urban gangs could be eliminated by simply licensing drug running and drug pushing in the jobless urban areas. Urban politicians could turn these feral murderers into taxpaying, license-carrying, respectable citizens, who could be paying much more in campaign contributions and bribes than they are currently paying the urban politicos and police for protection.
The sales taxes paid by licensed sales of formerly-illicit hard drugs and dragging former underground feral murderers onto the tax rolls could build new government indoctrination centers (public schools) The local jails, state, and federal prisons could be largely emptied by freeing all the new drug running and drug pushing entreprenuers onto the streets to enjoy the new freedom.
The current crop of political criminals infesting our executive and legislative governmental institutions would have an entirely new, fresh-faced, crop of entreprenuers to collaborate and conspire with in pillaging and impoverishing the general non-drugsucking population.
The new drug taxes and license fees would provide the funds needed to build thousands of new modernized drug-rehab centers where the millions of drug addicted, mental-defectives could be quietly, peacefully, euthanized and their remains, along with their drug-addicted, mentally-defective newborns, could be inexpensively cremated without depressing rituals and ceremony. This could reduce the need for more controversial abortitoriums wherein the newborns must be held down and chopped and hacked into pieces to complete the act of murdering them before anyone can acknowledge their humanity by even hearing their cries of protest.
There are many, many, more social benefits that could be added here, but would require many tomes to be complete. All we have to do to reap these benefits is to turn loose of our futile hopes for a better tomorrow, sacrifice our children and grandchildren into the insatiable maw of a Godless progressive/totalitarian socialist system that just brought about the institutional murder of hundreds of millions of human beings in the past century and all will be well.
Aren't you forgetting something?
People can charge money for home-made suicide booths!
What you say is 100% correct
WITH one special condition:
unrestricted global migration for every human.
No problem on helping the needy, but we are developing generational dependency. we have families on welfare and thats all they have ever known. Not everyone is sick and cannot work, these folks know how to game the system.
I dont think i even want to step into this quagmire. Just too tired for any more fights today.
Too late puss. Why even make a statement like that? You think anyone cares if you are not going to step into it? Are you that self centered that you have to comment that you aren't going to comment, because you are too tired to fight, in fucking fight club central? WTF? You should sit back, relax, and listen to the sweet sound of Tschaikowsky, perhaps in a bubble bath filled with Calgon. Get the fuck out of here and don't come back until you are rested up....Mr. "Just too tired".
What the fuck is happening to this place?
This, despite whatever kind of rabble it's attempting to rouse, is a good thing. Did anyone specify if this is the 'food' food stamps or the Cash foodstamps? I hope it's the cash.
This is the food. The "cash" part of EBT is from other programs.
Nobody wants anybody to starve. So why not provide the basic staples. Rice, beans, sugar salt, vegtables, some meat, ect. No processed foods, booze, cigaretts. Make basic food just that , basic. Not just some credit card and say buy what you want. Everyone could agree on that, right? Instead it's a political football.
Speak for yourself pal. I want people to starve. It's called natural selection and overpopulation. Empathy is foreign to me. Sympathy...fuck you. The interference with natural selection is what has made homo sapiens so weak these days. Back in the day, 10,000 years ago, if you couldn't get the "basic staples" for yourself then mother nature said "FUCK YOU". And I agree with her. Look around at all the pudgy motherfuckers on this planet. It makes me sick.
I agree, Jimbo.
Maybe some people have never seen a hungry kid, but I can't stand it. I don't give a shit what their parents did or didn't do to put them in that situation it's morally untenable to me.
Even if you choose to look at it in pure financial terms a small investment early could prevent malnurished children from becoming chronically unhealthy, mentally stunted adults putting further strain on the system and prepetuating a cycle of dependency.
And, yeah, unprocessed foods all the way.
For many Americans the choice is not so clear. Some of us at some time have had to choose which was more "morally untenable" seeing my neighbor's hungry kids, or facing my own hungry kids at the dinner table without enough food to go around because the evil self-serving morons in D.C. confiscated so much of my earnings that we didn't have enough left to feed our own children.
What is also "morally untenable" was forcing my wife, when we had small children to raise, into the work force to supplement an ever-diminishing paycheck because the FED has been destroying our currency/income and the progressive jihadists have been sucking more and more out of our earnings to support our indolent neighbors and ever-growing illegal alien invader population, along with a moneysucking bureacratic oligarchy that has been systematically eating out our substance for over a hundred years.
This governmental mindset must be removed and this burdensome totalitarian progressive monstrosity that has been laid on our backs must be dismantled or we are doomed to collapse and calamity like we have never seen and from which we cannot easily recover.
Starve The Beast.
keep in mind your country destroyed the families & economies of these other nations, like Mexico, so they had no choice but to migrate to feed their children instead of seeing them starve.
Mexican corn farmers were demolished by illegal subsidies from the US government to the US corn farmers.
The problem with your passionate feeling thought is this attitude leads toward further progressive liberalism. Pretty soon, those basic neccessities become more then staples. You only have to look at history. The current program was once just that, basic neccessities for the needy. And now look at what it is.
Great. Obama is gonna get a shitload of letters about how terrible the SNAP cuts are and he's gonna read them outloud over his fucking teleprompter. He will garner support and probably add more to the program. Bread and circuses.
That depends.
To write a letter, how much more of the alphabet do you think these people know that don't go into 'EBT' and 'SNAP'?
dat bee rayciss!
I want people to starve.
How's about this. Monsanto claims to do such a great job for farmers increasing yields. How about they be forced by legislation to fork over cash to the farmers for the produced yield & fork over the food PAID FOR in that manner TO the poor.
It's not a great solution but put it on Mon-Satan for now & see what happens.
Keep cutting benefits until they start to protest or find a job to support their lives.
A number of food stamp recipients have jobs. But then maybe you have not yet felt the effects of wage destruction. Note the word "YET". Your Eligible Too!
"But then maybe you have not yet felt the effects of wage destruction"
You are so correct. Even with wage destruction I will be just fine. Why you ask? Because i have always lived frugal within my pay and have no debts. I just have never spent more than what I make. I see those food stamp people at wallyworld that are dressed way better than me that have their iphones and drive nicer cars. It is one of those problems that giving a free lunch to people is addictive. Why work if you can just sit at home and do nothing. Granted there are those that need help, but my guess is that 90% are free loaders.
I agree with you. But there are and will be people who (when the fed money is gone) need food and assistance. That is where the local people can help.
This whole thing is such a farce. Everyone is STILL looking toward the federal government to provide ("otherwise, who will?) food, jobs, medical care... What in God's name ever happened to the pride of looking out for yourself?
When the dollar, and this empire finally collapses, I hope there is enough sanity and good will to give another shot at liberty; freedom to succeed or fail and suffer the consequences.
To dream the impossible dream.
this pride you speak of can't even be imagined by a person born into a world with police who murder them for sport, a world where their highest hope is to overdose on good drugs or get shot in the head, not the abdomen, so their death is quick.
like in Greece where the #1 job is selling sex for 5 euro and the #2 job is firebombing the police almost daily?
In other news, French Nobility reduces bread and rations from the King's warehouses as they wine and dine in Versailles.
I predict an increase in the appropriation of "others peoples" items and belongings, aka robberies
having 1 weeks less of groceries per month is going to have a major impact
European civilians are rioting against wage, job, benefit and government employment cutbacks, termed "austerity" by the bankers, in return for which their nations are to receive loan extensions, advances and guarantees, ostensibly to prevent bank and gov't. bond failures and total national financial collapse.
American SNAP beneficiaries, for their part, now get a 6% cutback, with food prices rising at least 4%/year, for a 10%-plus reduction in food card benefits.
Social-justice issues aside, imposed European-style "austerity" is hiding-in-plain-sight, right here in the small remaining semblance of a once prosperous America: notice how 0 and his presstitutes manage their 'talking point' approach to EBT reductions, not to mention ObamaScare policy cost increases, without ever having to encounter and publicize any mention of 'austerity', the word which is creating increased civil disobedience in Europe, and will sooner rather than later result in the return of pitchforks and pistols to American communities.
Yes, and to top it off, we get to pay for a military to police the world, wether we like it or not.
therevolutionwas: ......"to police the world"....You mean to police, antagonize, and alienate the world.
pitchforks and pistols? HA HA. You'll take your austerity and like it young man.
"Today, America's Foodstamps Program Gets A 6% Haircut: What Happens Next?"
What happens next? They go back to work.
At what jobs?
Construction, painting, cleaning, dishwashing, dog walking, babysitting, landscaping and numerous other jobs that are UNDER THE TABLE.
constructing what? All the people that can afford a home have one, all the ones who can't afford one will soon need to learn to construct lean-to's and a fireplace out of a garbage can.
more hungry people means more hungry & abandoned pets too.
Try walking those dogs in Detroit. Oh right, they have no owners. How friendly do you think they'll be running wild for who knows how long?
Your answer shows you didn't think about the real problem before you wrote.
Mugging pizza delivery men.
At least the SNAP money paid into the economy is adding to the GDP and provides jobs to the industries that it supports. Even if it ultimately is corporate welfare for the processed foods industry. At least there is some money velocity created from those expendatures. The same can be said for Social Security recipiants, Medicare and Medicaid recipients, the consumption of the military industrial complex, NSA spying programs, Medicaid programs, IRS agents, Homeland Security officials, FEMA, Department of Transportation. What did I miss? How much of the GDP is all of that? What about the State and Local tax expendatures. I think that we actually need more illegals here to keep the flow going to show positive GDP growth. Who cares who pays for all that stuff they get for free because the profits float up. Who cares if their under table wages get expatriated. At least they help keep the kleptocrats well oiled from their fascist corporate sponsors and bankers from thin air loan portfolios from default.
"At least the SNAP money paid into the economy is adding to the GDP and provides jobs to the industries that it supports."
amen to that.
:)
You forgot to read the rest of his comment you stupid #$%^%^&. See, if you would have, you would realize he was being sarcastic. OK, maybe you did, and you just picked that sentence to regurgitate the split green pea soup you've been sucking down all your life, I get that. It's not clever or funny or insightful and in fact only exposes you for the socialist you are, but I get it. Kerry on, my bad.
"You forgot to read the rest of his comment."
wish that applied to my reading of yours.
:)
p.s.
You stupid #$%^%^&.
Sorry, there I go calling names again. No place for that here in FIGHT CLUB. I apologize for the name calling.
:)
This is a test. When the SHTF they will spike the tax rate and make these kind of token cuts in the benefit programs. Just like the political trial balloons, this will be a chance to see how the people accept this cut.
Today, America's Foodstamps Program Gets A 6% Haircut: What Happens Next?
Some people will be more hungry than they used to.
More people will be homeless as they will not make the rent causing an increase in the supply of low income housing.
Unemployment will rise.
Profits at Wal-Mart and Target will take a hit as well as others upstream in the supply chain.
Crime will rise.
Neighborhood watch groups will grow.
More people will contribute local to food development and charitable distribution.
The average weight of the cohort in SNAP (47,637,407) may drop causing a reduction of rate of growth in type 2 diabetes.
The number of people using SNAP will continue to grow, although the benefit level may drop to a new baseline of expenditures unless the eligibility criteria is changed the gain on the 6% drop will be quickly eaten by expansion of eligible and more willing to accept beneficiaries.
Urban gardening will continue to expand and a missing link in the chain the ability to fully reap the harvest, store and use the outputs improve. Consequently, companies that deal in canning supplies will grow.
State and local governments will become more active in food security and consequently increase their power with people relative to federal entities.
There will be a huge sock puppet wrestling match played in the MSM with high viewership.
The price of gold and silver will skyrocket to the moon! /Sarc - ;>)
Whatever the conclusion one outcome is sure to happen: the red and blue teams, left and right will all get together and party down at top restaurants and clubs, patting themselves on the back saying what a good job they did on the dime of their sponsors.
All in all expect our situation to trend on the positive for most.
Why does this non-story get raised to the top all day other than to allow the ZH menagerie to go all right column? It is so amazing what people will do to get shit on, or shit on someone else, if they think it's something else.
Up the SNAP program and send the B-2 bombers and Abrams tanks to the museum.
Because of automation and demographics we are faced with an over supply of labor. Of course, we could all use a slave or two or at least the smug pleasure of those on assistance having WOGS, in caps, on the back of their jumpsuits while picking up garbage. The pennies out of the taxes I pay for this program do not concern me.
It's called "chum", yofish.
As a fish you should be hip.
Food stamps help many:
--the deserved poor who need them to eat
--the corrupt administration who uses it as a vehicle to convert debt into immediate consumption
--the democratic party who use it to capture/enslave more voters
--the republican party who use it as a weapon against hyped fiscal irresponsibility
--Big box stores who use it to boost profits
--The 1/10th of 1% who use it to keep the mob from rioting
From 2009 to 2013, SNAP benefits were 22.5 - 30% higher than 2008 due to a provision in Obama's March 2009 Stimulus plan.
During the same period, Social Security benefit increases for the years 2009 - 2013 were 5.8%, 0%, 0%, 3.6% and 1.7%.
I'm a self-employed 72 year-old (still working)receiving Social Security benefits. As a result, I still pay taxes on my meager earnings, and because Al Gore, sitting as Prsident of the Senate, cast the tie-breaking vote to require that 85% of Social Security be taxed, I even pay taxes on those benefits. In addition, to add injury to insult, because I'm self-employed, I still pay the full 15.3% Social Security and Medicare tax. Not sure why I still work and pay wages to my employees, who together make more than I do.
Hey Bart, Thanks for sharing your view. I'm 13 years behind you age wise and find parallels to your story in my life. I took on an extra job to keep a company of mine going because; for one I may make a profit in the long run and recoup my investments, but also to keep my employees working, food on their family table. Perhaps one reason you still work and pay wages to your employees who make more than you do is because you care about them?
Because you are a good person.
Thats why you doit.
Because your not a monster like these fuck-tards in government..
Thats why you doit.
black-market & barter? At 72 maybe that's no longer an option but when you think about the cost of not doing it...
Governments always need to be placed under constant scrutiny. They should be made to explain the what why and wherefores of everything they do and plan to do. Transparency should be forced upon them, they should be pressured to answer the hard questions.
This used to be the job of the mainstream media.
The MSM has been a total failure in the USA, they have tossed away their responsibility and got on their hands and knees for the never ending cock sucking of Congress, POTUS and the oligachs.
The same corruptness that owns the media are owned by those that control POTUS Whitehouse and Congress...... there is nothing left but a few hold-outs and on-line non-MSM...
Do people forget that politicians are chosen by the public to manage their afairs for them....just as a business owner employs managers to run things for them......Is the owner allowed to know what the manager has been doing....the what why and when of the business operations??
Citizens are the owners of the country....politicians are elected to be their mangers/representatives in the management of the business. There should be NO question about transparency and them being accountable in all respects to the public..their owners.
Except when the criminals get control of all the levers...then you are fucked...there is no returning when the criminals control all the means.
The citizens of the USA are done for...there is no means to retain control now...bit by bit all rights and liberties will be taken away ... by stealth and blatantly....because who is going to do anything...who is going to warn or inform the public? Nobody.
And when the system crashes...it will be a controled crash so the same groups stay in charge.
The US needs a WWIII that it LOSES... for any chance of the public regaining some controls.
wait, we can't take government at their word?
So it was raised for no rational reason by the Obamanation, and now cutting it back to where it was is an issue? Especially when who knows how much, maybe 50%, is used as general income and not for food at all?
FTA: The economic “multiplier” on food stamp purchases is about 2:1, so the $5 billion reduction in 2013-2014 looks more like $10 billion in the real economy.
No, I don't think so. There is no multiplier on government handouts, because the acquisition of that money to hand out has a divisor effect that is at least as great.
Bingo...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pnNuRKE-3Yw
You ever wonder why those folks on welfare and food stamps sittin on their ass watchin price is right drinking diet coke would maybe, plant a vegetable garden? Imagine if everybody merely planted seeds across all of their lawns and fed them well all across the U.S... We wouldn't 'need' to worry about this inevitable correction if we had the means to subvert the consequences of systemic collapse. Primarily, provisions. People will be killing each other over food at wal-mart.
The free shit army will be back. And in greater numbers.
Plant a garden? are you mad? you must be a terrorist.
We are americans, we borrow money from the Chinese and pay Chinese workers to plant our gardens.
We are exceptional, we don't need to feed ourselves, thats what we borrow money for.
That's a big difference between the US and many Pacific Islands. They have food growing everywhere. front yards,back yards, along the road, in the jungle. They will never go hungry because part of their culture is to just stick things in the ground so they will grow.
Growing is illegal and the Zoning Commission SWAT team would raid your garden, taser you and arrest you for disrespecting the state by farming. None of that shit when you could buy it at Walmart instead.
You can grow a garden in Detroit because the Man has lost power there.
cannabis is edible therefore that's a garden.
Just remember that Social Security and Medicare are something that you are PAYING for now so that you will get it back at retirement. SNAP is a free shit army freebee. At least that's the way it's supposed to be. Please don't confuse the two.
You're right of course sailor, but they are all "pay go" programs so the funding mechanism is no different...
The FICA that you pay today is designed to pay beneficaries today; it doesn't go into an account with your SSN on it.
If you think otherwise, you're delusional.
Thinking that you pay FICA tax, and thus are entitled to a stream of payments in the future, is like saying you pay into NASA and thus are entitled to a ride on the Space Shuttle.
Re. 6% Foodstamp Haircut - what happens next?
Hmmmmm.....
- In a Clintonesque Feel-Your-Pain show-of-solidarity moment, a newly chastened & cost-conscious Millionaires Pay-To-Play Club (aka US Congress) votes to reduce its next pay raise by 6%?
- In a symbolic show-of-sympathy, Moochelle gets a Moohican ?
- JPM increases its Food Stamp Processing Fees to make up for the pro-rata percentage reduction in same?
- To allay any 'hunger fear-mongering', Obamacare web-site funtionality expanded to include Express Reponse To Malnutrition pop-up feature?
...
Haircuts for everyone!
Forward!
Of course, I am not subject to haircut rules-Bath House
The economic “multiplier” on food stamp purchases is about 2:1, so the $5 billion reduction in 2013-2014 looks more like $10 billion in the real economy.
Preposterous. Please explain the math behind that. You sound like Nancy Pelosi...
Farmers just got a 6% cut in direct deficiency payments and no one seems a bit worried about any social unrest. But then again it is the oldest welfare project in America and a harbinger of what happens when a victim group loses population and political control.
Oh well, maybe they can get some EBT money?
Thug life baby. The Thug community organizer in chief will ride to the rescue of his Thug Obamanation and order Bennie to print some more Benjamins for his Thug supporters and stimulate the Thug life one more time - after all - shouldn't everyone prosper equally under the Great Recovery???
I have relatives that are 4th generation welfare babies, this is all they know of life. There are no worries about being taken care of with regards to housing, food, and health care. Doesn't matter if there are cuts because at some level the benefit is there, and furthermore there are other safety nets available in the case of food-Local Church and food shelf. What I have come to realize is the only way people will stop taking government assistance is when the individual decides to stop taking the assistance, and make their own way. For some people self-sufficiency is such a foreign concept it cannot even be considered. I realize there are people out there that really need help they are working two and three jobs and can't make ends meet-I get that. However, getting help is one thing and living a life of government dependency is another.
Abolish all forms of welfare beyond 6 months. Let the worthless bastards starve! Especially the dark ones!
dat's racist! Unless by dark you meant depressed.
Giant Fukushima Mutant Turtle Finally Captured By Japanese Military
http://homment.com/fukushima-turtle
Free beer!
In my very humble opinion, it is probably better to buy (strike that, be given) the beer than to buy (strike that, be given) the processed nutrition-free 'food'.
The pursuit of happiness does have advantages.
The potatoes I grow are absent of pesticides and herbicides and, for that reason, are in very high demand.
The price is right too. I want people to have food without it costing an arm and a leg.
The warehouse for arms and legs is full. I don't need any more anymore.
The demand for (and price of) food will diminish by at least a couple of percent which will take some of the edge off it. Some grocers might offer discounts for food stamp users where is it is legal. Price reductions will follow up the supply chain. Food stamp users will also become more prudent. It should be no big deal unless someone tries to make a big deal out of it - which they probably will.
Food Stamps get 6% haircut? Good less money for Walmart and JP Morgan
The past is catching up with O.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/16/democrats-may-cut-food-st_n_683281.html
Quit debasing the money sysytem. Stop giving bankers free money. Then you can stop giving the free shit army free shit.