-Submitted by David Drumm (Nal), Guest Blogger
The Food Stamp program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), is a target for Republicans who voted to cut $40 billion from the program. The reasons that Republicans have given are so divorced from reality that one can reasonably suspect their true motivations lie elsewhere. The primacy of fantasy in the GOP has been recently evidenced by Michele Bachmann who sees signs of the End Times, a wished-for global apocalypse.
First up on the list of fantasies is by Rep. Rick Crawford (R-Arkansas) who said “the food stamp program [grew] exponentially because the government continues to turn a blind eye to a system fraught with abuse.” In reality, SNAP participation closely tracks the long term unemployment rate, prolonged by Republicans. The sale of SNAP benefits for cash, called “trafficking,” has been cut to $1 in every $100 of SNAP benefits. The reality is a one percent abuse rate, the fantasy is SNAP is “fraught” with abuse.
The next fantasy is that able-bodied people are getting food stamps instead of working. The reality is that 83% of all SNAP benefits go to households that include a child, an elderly person, or a disabled person. The average individual gets $133 a month in SNAP benefits. It is ridiculous to imagine that a person is going to quit their job for $133 a month that can only be spent on food, but Republicans bear ridicule well.
The next fantasy is that SNAP recipients use their benefits to buy cigarettes and alcohol. The SNAP program uses Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards, similar to debit cards, that can be used in the supermarket checkout line only to purchase food. The Right likes to point to Jackie Whiton, a Peterborough, New Hampshire, store cashier who declined to accept an EBT card as payment for a pack of cigarettes. In reality, the EBT card contained state assistance money, not SNAP benefits, which can be used to purchase tobacco products. The store she worked for has a policy of accepting EBT cash benefits. In reality, Whiton was fired for violating the company’s policies.
The Republican war on programs that benefit Americans in need isn’t based on a philosophical commitment to small government. If it were, the $20 billion in farm subsidies, a welfare program for agribusiness, would be near the top of their hit list. According to a Greenberg report, the Republicans “are very conscious of being white in a country that is increasingly minority.” The report goes on to say that the “race issue [is] very much alive.” There you have it. Obama is taking their money and giving it to “Those People.”
H/T: Dave Johnson, Paul Krugman, Dottie Rosenbaum, Amanda Marcotte, Brian Tashman, WMUR.
PMJ admits: Tony, I am also guilty of making cheap shots at you,
Right, and you started it, so if you can’t finish the fight don’t get in the ring.
bfm,
It’s odd what one can be criticized for doing. People were talking about the percentage of fraud/trafficking in the SNAP program. Some said that according to the latest government study that the percentage was low (1.3%). Someone said the last study done was released in 2012 and that it wasn’t about trafficking. Because of the government shutdown, some agency websites are down. I thought I’d see if I couldn’t find the study in a Web cache–which I did. How terrible is that! Imagine posting a link to the study that people were discussing. What a government dupe I am.
@Elaine M. “It’s odd what one can be criticized for doing.”
Funny, you don’t look like an enemy of the people.
I hope they are at least paying you well for all these agitation and propaganda activities of yours.
One of these days you will have to tutor me how to query in that Web cache thing – unless that’s some classified NSA secrete.
Thanks again.
Geez, Mike S., I think I would have liked you back then, but I don’t know that I would have wanted to ride in your car.
i once knew how to spell “shepherd”
Gene
he once taught a german sheperd to bark in spanish
@Elaine M.
Thanks Elaine, very considerate.
I really thought I would have to wait till the government reopens to read “The Extent of Trafficking in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: 2009–2011”.
What ever the quality of the report (trying to be properly skeptical here), it seems right on point for several of the questions in hot dispute here.
Now if somebody says I don’t know what I am talking about, I can tell them I don’t have to know I’ve got a government report to explain it all.
Seriously that 1.3% trafficking number is looking pretty interesting right now. How do they estimate that?
Thanks again
gENE h:
then please explain it.
Thanks, Gene.
Mike S:
That is true, according to a web link by Oro Lee, the benefit was only about 200/month or less for one or 2 people.
Bron,
I’m not sure you fully understand the idea of a holographic universe either. If it turns out to be holographic and Susskind is right, that doesn’t make it any less real. Just a lot stranger.
Elaine,
Ahhhh. I see what happened there. 😀
Elaine:
I havent read the study and dont plan to. I know from your past postings, I wont agree with it. I also know that if I dont agree with it, there are others who dont as well. Some of whom have produced studies antagonistic to the material in the one you posted.
Do I really need to prove that to you? If the shoe was on the other foot, I would conceed your point without hesitation.
Gene,
Mike’s comment got caught in the spam filter.
Gene H:
I look out the window and see the trees, I know those are real. The rest is easy. Consciousness must be conscious of something, so there you have it.
some people think we are part of a holographic universe, now those people are in trouble.
There you go, Mike A.
For some reason the moderation filter got you.
Bron,
I provided links to the government report and some articles. What are you suggesting…that I shouldn’t have?
“So what about a study proving your opinion of this or that, I can find 10 other studies saying the exact opposite.”
Go ahead. Be my guest. Link to your ten other studies that say the exact opposite.
I just had a comment disappear in the ether. What’s going on with wordpress?
Apparently not Bron if you’re having trouble telling what is and isn’t real and/or the idea of subjective reality versus objective reality.
Bron:
There are in fact many societies organized on the basis of a sharing of material resources based upon need without regard to social status or hierarchical importance. They are called religious orders. Many have existed for hundreds of years. They survive because all of their members are committed to a core of values that eschew materialism and greed. There is nothing frightening in the phrase “from each according to his ability; to each according to his need.” However, that type of society cannot be imposed; it can only thrive through the purely voluntary consent of its members. There are, of course, other problems associated with such organizations, but the idea of common ownership is certainly not contrary to reason.
MikeS, Get some sleep and take some paranoia drugs. I just gave the stereotypical northerner retiring to Florida. You have poor mouthed yourself saying you couldn’t afford the beach, so I guessed golf course. Chrissake, get a grip! There must be a million retired northerners living on golf course in the Sunshine State. I could give a rat’s ass where you live. But I’m really sorry you can’t afford to golf. The exercise would be good. Maybe we could start up a collection. Hell, I used to caddy, I’ll volunteer my service and kick in some dough. Don’t accuse me of doing something I DID NOT DO. And, never threaten me again. You just did what you w/o any cause accused me of doing. That is classic projection. Now, go to bed. I am. The world will be here tomorrow for you to save.