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Strollerderby
More Than Half of Kids Will Someday Get Food Stamps
I know times are tough, but this is troubling news: Half of all American children are expected at some point to be on food stamps. That statisitic is based on research conducted at Cornell University, who analyzed the Panel Study of Income Dynamics. That study followed about 4,800 households in the U.S. over the course of 32 years.
Even more troubling, 90 percent of black families and 90 percent of single parent families will at some point be on food stamps, while only 37 percent of families with married parents and of white families will get food assistance. Getting food assistance is also strongly correlated with education — 62 percent of families whose head of household had less than a high school diploma got food stamps while only 31 percent of families whose head has more than 12 years.
I hear all kinds of nasty comments about people who get food stamps — “that person in line in front of me used food stamps and bought STEAK! I can’t afford steak!!!” But look, people speed all the time, and do we decide no one should have a driver’s license? No, we root out the people who abuse the privilege. Here are two facts I gleaned from the article: Only 60 percent of people who are eligible for food stamps apply for them because of the shame and stigma associated with using them. Also, the maximum income for getting them is only $22,000 for a family of four. I could barely sustain myself and a cat when I was making that in my first post-college job, and that was 14 years ago. The idea of keeping kids fed on that while still paying rent and, say, a car payment terrifed me.
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[...] and one in eight Americans overall. This is just a few weeks after a different report showed that half of America’s kids will rely on food stamps at some point during their [...]
1 in 4 Kids are Getting Food Stamps | Strollerderby commented on Nov 30 09 at 12:27 pmPlumbLucky commented on Nov 11 09 at 12:22 pmPart of me would like the “stigma” gone. The other part of me is angry after watching someone shell out $85 cash for cancer sticks and then pay for filet mignon with said food stamps. Okay, I was on unemployment, wasn’t getting food assistance, it was approaching Valentine’s day and I was buying the FM too…but the rest of the week we had very very frugal food as a result! (My big issue was the fact that I had just seen her count off a wad of cash for two cartons of cigarettes. If you can afford them, you can pay for your choicy meals from your cigarette money. Just sayin’) Yes, make sure that everyone has the right to healthy, nutritious food. But as in all circumstances – deal with the cheats!
jenny tries too hard commented on Nov 11 09 at 1:24 pmthe 22,000 maximum is a bit misleading, and so is the statement that “stigma” is what keeps most eligible people from applying for and recieving food stamps. The $22,000 (in Texas, at least, that I know of) can refer to the “adjusted” income when certain other factors like rent and child care costs are met, if you are not recieving subsidies for those. So, my sister-in-law could make 26,000 but pay 4,000 in unsubsidized housing and childcare and recieve food stamps, for example.
Or she could call up my mother-in-law, me, or assorted other guilt-trip-prone folks to “help out” with some groceries because she hasn’t got food stamps this month–not because of shame, but because she missed her appointment to reapply because she had a headache, or because she didn’t feel like dealing with the bus and/or calling me for a ride to the DHS office which is literally steps from my place of business.
Or because she showed up to said appointment without her paystubs, ID, childcare info, lease, etc.
I’m not saying my sister-in-law is representative of all food stamps recipients, but it sets my teeth just a tiny bit on edge to hear “shame” and “pride” set out as the main reasons people aren’t getting food stamps, WIC, Medicaid etc. It should be pretty plain that (most) people recieving subsidies are likely not on their A Game, because they are either young, going through a stressful time, or the sort of terminally irresponsible person who is poor because he/she won’t meet the requirements of a full-time job, or possibly all of the above, so it should be plain that a good deal of failure to apply/reapply for benefits can be chalked up to plain failure of recipients.
As far as food stamp folks buying steak, meh, it happens. WIC is great because it prevents that, but I can see how hard it would be to reconfigure the system for foodstamps to not pay for “rich” foods, so yeah. I hate for kids to be ashamed of their parents’ need to get food stamps or other benefits, but I also would hate to foster a totally unashamed sense of entitlement among able-bodied, able-minded adults. Maybe a focus on pride in achievement is more in order than a focus on reducing stigma? It’s a tough call.
Bluster commented on Nov 11 09 at 5:11 pmThis posting had to do with kids on food stamps, and in Kansas at least, kids don’t apply for food stamps, nor do they generally shop for steaks and they are prohibited by law from buying ciggs. Kids on food stamps. Okay. Kids on food stamps??? And by the way, our grocery chain has a section of their meat cooler set aside for meat that is approaching it buy by date. I don’t buy red meat, but I do look at pricing and have found that steaks are always in that section, priced well below the ‘healthy’ fish I buy.
Maybe we’re a different breed, but I personally think it’s great that a large section of our kids are on food stamps, and also qualify for the early morning free school breakfasts, take home boxes of free or very cheap food, and all those programs that help kids get nutrition. What their parents do is what their parents do. Looki out for the kids. Look-out-for-the-kids!!!!!
MOOOMMA commented on Nov 12 09 at 10:21 amI was on food stamps for about 2 years. My ex left me with a 12 month old and I was 5 months pregnant. I didn’t have a job-I was a SAHM. I had to swallow my pride and file for abandonment to get food stamps, and help until I could get on my feet again. I went back to school, worked at a gas station for 6.15 an hour. I worked my hiney off to get off of assistance because I was so ashamed to be on it. But I did it the right way-it’s there for those who need it. The people who abuse it should be ashamed-not those who are using it for a short while to get back on their feet.
divotdawg commented on Nov 12 09 at 7:27 pmSo what if the person in front of you buys steak with food stamps. Are you the food stamp police? No, I can’t afford steak either and if I was on food stamps, I’d certainly not be buying steak with it unless it was a special occasion. How do you know that it wasn’t for a special occasion, like a birthday or maybe a loved one is finally coming home from Iraq? The thing about food stamps is, once they’re gone for the month, they’re gone. They might have to eat peanut butter for a week for the pleasure of having a steak one night. Also, are they less deserving of steak than you are just because they’re poor? How do you know that the person behind you doesn’t resent YOU for buying something THEY want and can’t afford. You cannot control what people can and can’t buy with food stamps and if you have nothing better to do with your time than worry about some poor person eating better than you, then get a life. They probably live in abject poverty while you live in a townhome or $250,000 home. Let them have a few luxuries in their lives cos God knows you judgmental people aren’t going to give them crap! No, I am NOT on food stamps but wish I were. Food’s expensive these days, even hamburger!
Mudderland commented on Dec 06 09 at 2:33 pmMooomma it is people like you that make me wish I could go to another country. Let me get this straight, if someone drops out of school to birth multiple children, doesn’t work because they have an excessive number of children to care for, receives government assistance because of their ‘CHOSEN’ situation they somehow ‘DESERVE’ to eat the same types of food that I do even though I am working 40+ hours a week to support myself and (through taxes) that person as well?? The problem here is we, as a Nation, as a people have allowed the far Left Wingnuts to convince us that everyone ‘deserves’ the same things regardless of their responsiblity or lack there of. Helping people is one thing, supporting irresponsible behavior is another. Oh, and if the ‘resent’ me for being able to buy things with my hard owned money the should get a JOB!
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