-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.
@Mike Spindell
Here is what I don’t understand, why would you assume the negative even though you have zero reason to do so?
Do you actually go through life basically calling everyone a liar if they can’t provide evidence to things they tell you?
Plus, I brought up something of common sense,…what do I actually gain by making stuff up like this?
Plus, its not as if its far fetched, its basic stuff.
I could see if I said something like people buy airline tickets from crooked travel agents with their food card or put a down payment on a new car.
But yah, do you actually go through life indirectly calling total strangers a liar or are you so sheltered from the real world that you can not comprehend a drug dealer taking food items, personal hygiene products, stolen goods, etc for drugs?
Michael Arm as I explained to you your story doesn’t make sense to me and without some corroboration I don’t believe you have the facts right.
Nick: I was a big supporter of breakfast programs for kids until I learned about the high carb processed food being used
Oh right, better to let them starve.
Carbs don’t make a difference if you are malnourished, you burn them. Carbs only make a difference if they end up stored as fats in the body. If a child is lean and malnourished ANY calories are good calories, they are consumed as fuel. It is why marathon runners can eat 7000 calories of carbs and not put any fat on; they burn them all.
Michael Arm,
You may want to read up on the Florida drug testing experience. It cost them more than they saved. The talking point of those on welfare are overwhelmingly drug and alcohol abuses is a fiction.
@nick spinelli thanks for the vote of reassurance.
I just do not understand how people can be so blind to this subject.
Someone was suggesting drug tests, and even in Florida, they are doing this, but what happens is if you fail a drug test, you only loose the right to collect the stamps and you can actually elect a family member to receive them for you, well its what I read, I could be missing something though because I do not see how that actually changes anything.
In the end, our Gov robs us blind and spends billions on foolishness, so I don’t actually care that people do abuse and scam them back.
What I do care about is the kids who are supposed to be fed with those food stamps but it goes to the drug addict parents instead.
That, i wish our Gov could fix, but I really can’t see how, and even if the kids are taken, they usually end up worse off by put in much more horrible situations.
🙁
off topic, why the heck is it so hard for me to post?
I keep getting “facebook sign in expired”
Even when I log out of facebook and back in, over and over.
clear cookies etc, then eventually my post goes through.
Thank you Rick, sounds like an excellent idea!
Otteray Scribe, You have thoroughly proved the point that being overly emotional represses analytic thought!- babe, Keeping these poor communities in a perpetual state of poverty is tantamount to slavery-
I happen to live in the real world, Unlike the author of this article- I owned a small business in Inglewood Ca.- The food stamp fraud runs rampant in this area- We were solicited daily, by sellers, who would offer their cards for cash value- Big discount of course- We were also offered their free cell phones at a cost-
yada yada
The cry of fraud is only one of several structured hoaxes created by Frank Luntz and other spin doctors for the right wing machine. They test these catch phrases and claims with focus groups. To use an old Madison Avenue catch phrase, “They run it up the flagpole and see who salutes.”
Fraud is a hoax issue. So is death panels, insurance is stealing, and so forth. I have a list far too extensive to put in a single comment. Those issues are bogus, but don’t underestimate their power among those who want to believe. Once a lie takes hold as some kind of truthiness, it is hard to dislodge. Research done decades ago at Yale shows that if you can get someone to commit to a belief, they become ego-invested in it despite the most obvious evidence to the contrary.
Is there going to be some loss? Of course. Every storekeeper will tell you there is going to be shrinkage despite security. Some people cannot keep their hands off other people’s money. For a horrible example look at the big banks. But if every storekeeper shut down the business because there was some loss to shoplifters, we would be back to growing our own food.
Um…there are always going to be pests rummaging around in the cabbages and tomatoes. Running any human endeavor is going to have to allow for some errors and shrinkage. However, the teabaggers say they want to cut off food and health insurance to all poor and elderly people because there is a 1% loss rate. At the same time, they support big banks and big corporations that pollute the environment getting tax breaks and protection from oversight. How Christlike of them. Not.
Obesity by the poor is from poor choices of eating processed and fast food, in large part. Lack of education and cultural influences are also in play. They eat poor breakfast and it goes downhill from there. I was a big supporter of breakfast programs for kids until I learned about the high carb processed food being used
Nosy, There is an expert here that assures us the fraud is minimal. Now, pay your taxes and be quiet.
Before, I read your opinion on drug testing, I have to say I was for it. Never even considered the cost associated with doing so, Mike. I came on this site’ as I had been unable to use my debt card. Fortunately I was able to purchase my milk, but I was thinking on my walk home, of people with children. Then I read Tina’s post, what a kind and wonderful thing for her to do. But after all the posts, I have come to this conclusion, there will never be a sure fire way to stop the fraud. I am going to compare it now to prostitution, as long as someone is willing to buy, someone will always be willing to sell, tack it up to good ole human nature. Rich or poor, young or old. How many people out there who have good paying jobs, who steal from their employers, and just recently in the news a man in a prominent position giving family members jobs.and as for someone’s earlier comment about obesity in the poor, could be because of the lack of regular meals
Michael Arm, You have to wade through those folks. Just hang in here. Make comments that are honest and sincere, and good folks will agree w/ those points that make sense to them. Some folks think they are better than you. It’s tough, but just roll w/ it. Believe it or not, some of the sanctimonious ones are really improving a bit.
I find it very disturbing that some people here act like complete know it alls and are behaving like preteens with their mocking attitude towards others.
Everything I said in my previous posts is 100% true and happens all the time.
How about show some respect for others?
Good day.
if my memory serves me…. without reading through all of the posts again… you were one that I disagreed with and thought was acting quite childish… closets and mirrors michael…
“Everything I said in my previous posts is 100% true and happens all the time.”
Michael Arm,
I believe that from your perspective you think it’s true, but sans actual evidence there is no way of knowing that the assumption you make and the conclusions you draw are the reality.
“It is well known in that sort of community” (Shannon)
‘That was absolutely uncalled for and the reason our country is turning to shit” (Shannon)
It sucks when someone passive aggressively or directly questions your veracity. I too use my real name and offer opportunities for people to challenge me. But, that doesn’t work w/ people who just like to shoot from the hip, calling you a liar. Karma, my man! Karma is a mofo.
Food stamps, SNAP has always been a vulnerable assistance program. In 1972 my college town was flooded. Our apartment was covered in mud. We were eligible for a free trailer but would have been required to live in a refugee camp outside of town, none of us had a car. So, we lived in filth, cleaning out our apartment by hand, w/ help from the landlord via rent credit. We also were eligible for Food Stamps, which we took. It was a lot of money for 4 people. It didn’t take much work to find deli’s grocery stores, etc. that would “accept” Food Stamps for beer, ringing it up as food. The only thing that prevented us from buying beer and wine was Pa. was a State Liquor Store commonwealth. SNAP cards are as good as money for booze, and there’s little that can be sone to stop it.
People are not starving in this country. no one starves to death here, except for those w/ eating disorders. We are the most obese nation in the world, the lower the income, the fatter..a reversal of milleniums habits w/ the rich being fat. I stand by my dedication to this program for those who need it. But, knowing full well any government program has abuse. The Utah testing is a big laugh. You can hardly buy a drink in that Mormon state, much less drugs. Test in Ca., Mi, NY, etc. and the results would be MUCH different. However, I don’t agree w/ testing for assistance.
When folks realized the guilt tripping radio ads were part of this program was just within the past year or so. When complaints started, the ads ended.
While this thread has been contentious, I think the guest bloggers have improved in their personal gang attacks, but still have a way to go.
I don’t think pdm likes me. I hope I’m able to sleep tonight. I wear some people’s scorn as a badge of honor. pdm quickly joined that elite group. Kudos pdm, I’m just hoping to see some positive comments. I am not holding my breath.
Shannon, maybe you should get off the computer and take care of your daughter that is hanging out with the drug dealing food stamp crowd…. before… she becomes..hmmmm “one of those” in “that community”… When you judge people Shannon…. you may want to FIRST look in your own closet.
Shannon says: “Being observant does not give anyone the right to call names or make assumptions regarding our lives.”
The problem isn’t your observance of the rules of your imaginary immortal friends, it is your lack of observance of what is happening to the actual mortal people around you. Perhaps because you are so willing to swallow anything that tells you what you want to hear, which is how you became so god awful “observant” in the first place.
As Gene said, error is inevitable in any human system, and fraud should be punished if it is found out, but when well over 95% of the benefits end up buying calories consumed by people that DO need help in subsistence, we are doing a good deed. Based on your posts here alone, YOU aren’t even 95% successful in your “observance” of the Commandments of your supposed religion with your eternal soul on the line. Neither are your fellow parishioners. By your claim, should the Church be abolished because of its imperfections? If it fails to keep parishioners from becoming drug addicts, adulterers, thieves and murderers, should the whole damn thing be shut down as a fraud? How about the many pedophiles it has employed (and covered up) in the guise of priests?
Or do you think that despite its flaws and the flaws of its “flock,” your Church is still doing good on balance, and should work to correct such flaws as best it can but deserves to remain in existence to continue the good work it CAN do?
well said.
lottakatz:
your 5:15 am post on subsidies was very good.
there is a very real problem in America with these sort of subsidies which have disconnected the producers from market signals.