I say yes, you say no, OR People are Strange

bluedahlia

RetiredLibby

My Name Is Jason, I’m A 35-Yr-Old White Male Combat Veteran…And I’m On Food Stamps

http://thesterlingroad.com/2013/09/19/my-name-is-jason-im-a-35-yr-old-white-male-combat-veteran-and-im-on-food-stamps/

By Jay Kirell

My name is Jason.  I turned 35 less than a week ago.  My first job was maintenance work at a public pool when I was 17.  I worked 40-hours a week while I was in college.  I’ve never gone longer than six months without employment in my life and I just spent the last three years in the military, one of which consisted of a combat tour of Afghanistan.

Oh, and I’m now on food stamps.  Since June, as a matter of fact.

Why am I on food stamps?

The same reason everyone on food stamps is on food stamps: because I would very much enjoy not starving.

I mean, if that’s okay with you:

…Mr. or Mrs. Republican congressman.

…Mr. or Mrs. Conservative commentator.

…Mr. or Mrs. “welfare queen” letter-to-the-editor author.

…Mr. or Mrs. “fiscal conservative, reason-based” libertarian.

I do apologize for burdening you on the checkout line with real-life images of American-style poverty.  I know you probably believe the only true starving people in the world have flies buzzing around their eyes while they wallow away, near-lifeless in gutters.

Hate to burst the bubble, but those people don’t live in this country.

I do.  And millions like me.  Millions of people in poverty who fall into three categories.

Let’s call them the “lucky” category, since conservatives seem to think people on welfare have hit some sort of jackpot:

Those living paycheck to paycheck?  They’re a little lucky.

Those living unemployment check to unemployment check?  They’re a little luckier.

Those living 2nd of the month to 2nd of the month?  *ding* We’ve hit the jackpot!

The 2nd of the month being the time when funds gets electronically deposited onto the EBT card, [at least in NY] for those who’ve never been fortunate enough to hit that $175/month Powerball.

I fall into the latter two categories.  But I’ve known people recently - soldiers in the Army – who were in the first and third.  They were off fighting in Afghanistan while their wives were at home, buying food at the on-post commissary with food stamps.

And nobody bats an eye there, because it’s not uncommon in the military.

It’s not uncommon – nor is it shameful.  It might be shameful how little service-members are paid, but that’s a separate issue.

The fact remains anyone at a certain income level can find it difficult from time to time to pay for everything.  And when you’re poor you learn to make sacrifices.  Food shouldn’t be one of them.

The whole concept is un-American.  People living here, in the greatest country on Earth, with the most abundant resources,  should be forced to go hungry because of the intellectual notion of fiscal conservatism and the ideological notion of self-reliance.

Are you fucking kidding me?

I didn’t risk my life in Afghanistan so I could come back and watch people go hungry in America.   I certainly didn’t risk it so *I* could come back and go hungry.

Anyone who genuinely supports cutting food stamps is not an intellectual or an ideologue – they’re a bully.

And nobody likes a bully.  Except other bullies.

It’s time for regular Americans to stand up to these bullies.  Not cower in the corner, ashamed of needing help.  Because if there’s one thing life has taught me, it’s that you never know when you’ll be the one in need.

-------------------------------end

So, THIS is the face of food stamps in America.  Regular people, doing the best they can.  49% of the families receiving SNAP have at least one person employed.  Food pantries and churches can't cover all the need that there is. 

According to the Census Bureau's American Community Survey Brief on poverty in the U.S., (click on the link to go to the report) released yesterday, between 2000 and 2012, the percentage of people in poverty increased from 12.2 to 15.9 percent, while the number of people in poverty increased from 33.3 million to 48.8 million.  One interesting fact to note, for the first time since 2007-2008, the poverty rate did not change between 2011 and 2012.  2007-8 was the worst of the recession, and the ripple effects of the crash of the economy and the mismanagement under the Bush administration kept rolling through the economy.  President Obama finally got the economy stabilized and slightly improving enough so that the poverty rate didn't increase from 2011 to 2012 - in spite of the massive obstruction and paralysis created by the regressives in Congress.  

As far as food insecurity, USDA's report on Food Security in the United States in 2012 (released this month), says that food insecurity has remained essentially unchanged since 2008 (when it sharply rose at the depth of the recession).  17.6 million households, or 14.5% of the households in the United States, were food insecure - i.e., they had difficulty at some point in the year providing enough food to all of their members because of lack of resources.  Children were food insecure in 10% of households with children, or 3.9 million households. 22.7 percent of children under the age of six are living in food insecure households.  Just look at that number for a second.  22.7 percent - nearly ONE QUARTER - of children in the United States are living in househoulds where at some point during the year people had difficulty providing enough to eat to all members of that household.  http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/err-economic-research-report/err155.aspx#.UjxqC_LD-70 - this is the link to the USDA's jump page for its food insecurity report.  Warning - it is VERY slow.  A lot of people are accessing it today because of the shocking vote yesterday.

And they want to cut food stamps?  And there are people pursing their lips and nodding and talking about "massive fraud" and "I read a story about someone buying lobster with food stamps" and "I saw someone in line buying soda with food stamps" and "I heard..." and "Someone told me ...."

The fact is that the SNAP program has far lower fraud rates than most government aid programs - including FARM SUBSIDIES, ever beloved by regressives (especially regressive members of Congress) who invest in industrial farms.  Today's prize for vicious hypocrisy goes to Rep. Stephen Fincher (R - Tenn.) who uttered the infamous quote (from the Bible no less) “The one who is unwilling to work shall not eat.”  According to the Environmental Working Group's database (www.ewg.org) Representative Fincher collected $3.48 milion in farm subsidies from 1999 to 2012.  In 2012 alone, he received a $70,000 direct payment. Direct payments are issued automatically, regardless of need, and go predominantly to the largest, most profitable farm operations in the country.  The average 2012 SNAP benefit was Tennessee of $1,586.40.

So ... read it and weep.  And for all the hateful people who think it is OK to let those lazy poor people go hungry - I hope one day you walk a mile in their worn out shoes to the food bank down the street, where sanctimonious people sneer at you for being lazy.

L

Anonymous

libby - I couldn't get your link to work

wanted to email to friends.

RetiredLibby

STand by - I will find it and post the regular link.

RetiredLibby

http://thesterlingroad.com/2013/09/19/my-name-is-jason-im-a-35-yr-old-white-male-combat-veteran-and-im-on-food-stamps/

here you are!

Bren-2007

Hi Libby,

Thanks for posting the article.  I read something similar on FB written by a woman and her daughter who were given the "snake eye" at the checkout line for using their EBT card.

I'll see if I can find the article again and post it.

I wonder how many cancer patients need to use food stamp cards because they can't afford their medical bills.  I wonder how many of those adults are going to lose their benefits when the 4 billion dollar cuts come into effect.

It makes me sick to read about this soldier and the woman and her daughter at the grocery store.

I live in a very rural, poor area.  Unemployment was at 24% ... lots of adults and elderly people around here need those benefits.

Bren

http://progressivepopulist.org/2013/09/14/food-stamp-recipient-writes-epic-letter-after-being-harshly-treated-and-judged-by-customer/?fb_action_ids=10151861649219555&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%7B%2210151861649219555%22%3A220295208129562%7D&action_type_map=%7B%2210151861649219555%22%3A%22og.likes%22%7D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

I hope the link works.  The link looks really long, but it works.

gardengumby

Libby - thank-you (as always) for your marvelous post.  I was sitting in a restaurant this morning with my husband and saw the scroll that the house passed the bill to reduce food stamps.  I do not now and never will understand the tiny little hearts of people who want to deny others FOOD.  The "I saw someone buy lobster" or "I saw someone by soda" or whatever.  ya know, maybe they did.  Maybe it was a really special day and they denied themselves for weeks to be able to splurge and have something special.  Why shouldn't they?  Are they not people, too?  It reminds me of people who complain about someone using disabled parking.  The famous "they look perfectly healthy to me" - of course the person uttering that complaint is completely unaware of the facts in the case - as if they could detect a heart problem by simply gazing on someone!!

Is there fraud in the system?  Yeah - there's always some fraud.  But this idea of the "welfare queen" living high on the hog has been a lie since the first time it was uttered - and the lies have only gotten worse and louder.

IllinoisLady

RL great, great piece and I can't sing loud enough about the very last paragraph.  To my way of thinking....the GOP is digging a mighty big hole.....they are going to stuck in it for centuries if they don't wake up.  So sad.....

Jackie

IllinoisLady

And the brutally stupid remian so............http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/government-shutdown/

Jackie

IllinoisLady

Good repeat

and may I thank Sun for always reminding us how great it can be when you use your ignore/block buttom.  Ah, sweet peace.

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady

These have likely been on here before, but I'll put the link in again just in case.                             Jackie

http://www.factcheck.org/2013/09/obamacare-myths/?utm_source=FactCheck.org&utm_campaign=0da90d5e5c-FactCheck_Newsletter_9_20_20139_20_2013&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_3294bba774-0da90d5e5c-47840353#

RetiredLibby

RetiredLibby

President Obama writes school excuse note for the 5-year-old daughter of a wounded warrior in the East Room of the White House today.

This is a good man.

crazy4carrots

Obama Reminds GOP: I Beat The Guy Who Promised Obamacare Repeal

As he blasted House Republicans for passing a bill that aims to defund the Affordable Care Act, President Barack Obama said Friday during a speech in Kansas City, Mo. that voters rendered a judgment on the law when they chose him over Mitt Romney in last year’s election.

RetiredLibby

I particularly like that, C4C.  The delusional simply canNOT wrap their heads around the fact that MORE than 50% of people who voted (in spite of regressive attempts at voter suppression) elected Barack Obama president TWICE.  He is the first American president to be elected TWICE with more than 50% of the vote since Dwight Eisenhower ... and the first Democrat to be elected twice with more than 50% of the vote since Roosevelt.  In spite of the steady stream of hate, lies and obstruction directed at him, THE AMERICAN VOTERS chose him over the alternative.

scuttlers

TOO FUNNY TO NOT SHARE...

Anonymous

what RL said:

He is the first American president to be elected TWICE with more than 50% of the vote since Dwight Eisenhower ... and the first Democrat to be elected twice with more than 50% of the vote since Roosevelt.

And thanks to C4C - that says it all too!!!!  B. H. Obama is the President of the United States - and we HAVE Obamacares. 

Jackie - ain't that the greatest button.  Makes the world SO much nicer.  As it shold be.

Scuttlers - so good to see you.  Hope you're doing well.  Love the cartoon.

QuinnCat

I was just looking at California's health exchange for Obamacare.  It looks like, given my retirment income (and current deductions), I can get better premiums (subsidized) than I'm paying currently and for slightly better health care coverage.  My out-of-pocket catastrophic would be $2200 versus the $5000 I pay now.  Otherwise, the copays, hospital and med benefits are about the same.

It appears, those who would find it difficult to fork out $600 plus a month for self (and I assume family) coverage are going to find Obamacare very helpful.   A gf of mine cleans houses.  She makes too much to get Medicaid, but doesn't make enough to pay $600-$700 a month for a decent health insurance plan.  She's in desparate need of hip replacement surgery and is holding on for Obamacare.  

What would the GOP do for her?  Nada, in the health care dept.  She wouldn't even be insurable (pre-existing condition) under their non-existent plan. 

Bren-2007

Scuttlers ... love the picture!  So good to see you.  How are you doing?

hugs,

Bren

QuinnCat

Scuttlers - you have a big birthday in 4 days!!!  You are the one who invited me to this thread, but honestly, I don't see you here too often. Hope you are doing ok?  xxo

suzieq60

Scuttlers - I had forgotten we were almost twins - only a year apart - looking forward to our birthday

crazy4carrots

From Raw Story:

President Barack Obama warned Friday that America would become a “deadbeat” nation if conservative Republicans refuse to raise the government’s debt ceiling by next month and throw the economy into crisis.

Obama traveled to a car plant in Missouri to slam Republicans who are threatening to make an increase in the $16.7 trillion borrowing limit contingent on ending funding for his cherished health care reform law.

“If we don’t raise the debt ceiling — we are deadbeats,” Obama warned in a fiery speech, saying Republican tactics on the House of Representatives were “the height of irresponsibility.”

“This is the United States of America. We are not a banana republic, this is not a deadbeat nation. We don’t run out on our tab.”

The president took pains to explain that raising the debt ceiling — providing the government the money to pay its obligations — was not the same as adding to the annual budget deficit and did not include new spending.

He accused Republicans in Congress of risking a “tailspin” for the still recovering US economy, and for putting partisan zeal ahead of the good of the whole nation.

“If Congress doesn’t pass this debt ceiling in the next few weeks, the United States will default on its obligations. That’s never happened in American history. Basically, America becomes a deadbeat,” Obama said.

***********

I'm fairly certain that a vast number of Americans do not understand that raising the debt ceilng is for paying the bills on programmes that Congress has already approved.  Instead, they think it's to approve new spending.  Oh brother!

gardengumby

I've heard people compare it to raising their credit limit - which it isn't anywhere close to.  If you raise your credit limit, you have not yet spent the money.  This money is already spent.  If Congress doesn't want to raise the debt ceiling then they need to stop spending money.  The problem is that each side wants to stop what the other side spends while keeping spending what they want to spend.  Thus an upwards spiral.

The President does not now and never has authorized spending.  Congress does that. 

There has been/is a lot of waste under both Dems and Republicans.  I fully understand that Congress does not want a line item veto in the hands of any President.  But until/unless they do that, the President cannot really be blamed for the state of our debt.  He/(she someday) may propose, but it's kinda like marriage.  You can propose, but you aren't going to get married unless the other person agrees.  Congress has to agree before any money can be spent.

bluedahlia

Yup, I like this Pope!

http://www.classwarfareexists.com/pope-francis-leave-abortion-and-homosexuality-alone/

QuinnCat

The GOP seems to have a habit of using extortion politics, but only with Democratic Presidents.  Funny, if Reagan/Bush and Bush had balanced their budgets, our debt would be close to zero.  We would have more flexibility in pulling this country out of the recession caused by Bush 42.

IllinoisLady

IllinoisLady