Food Stamps up 1% month to month, 14% YOY

[Sooner5030]

Yet another blow to the “War on Poverty” and our projected entitlement expenditures for FY 11. adding 395k folks a month is not a sustainable pace.

USDA (http://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/29SNAPcurrPP.htm)

From 43,200,837 in Oct-10 to 43,595,794 in Nov-10.

More from a Zero Hedge post: (http://www.zerohedge.com/article/bernankes-poverty-effect-foodstamp-recipients-jump-400k-november-hit-new-record-436-million)


Much has been said about Bernanke's wealth effect and how it impacts a whopping 1% of the US population (traditionally, those very same bail out recipients who would be insolvent had Gen Ben not rescued the entire financial system at the expense of the DXY, which at last check was below 77 again). Unfortunately, a little less time has been spent discussing the equal and opposite effect: that of the poverty effect. Luckily, every month we get an update on this just as useful metric. And as of November, the SNAP program had 43.6 million participants, an increase of 400k from October, and a 14% increase, or 5.3 million from a year prior. We are confident that this 15% of the US population will be delighted to know that their rapidly diminishing dollars will end up acquiring increasingly less and less stuff.
The chart below says it all.


http://www.zerohedge.com/sites/default/files/images/user5/imageroot/von%20havenstein/Food%20Stamp%20Feb_0.jpg

[EnragedOUfan]

Its hard to know who to blame. I personally think our country went to sh%t during the summer of 2008 when gas prices rose to almost $5.00 a gallon. Everyone suffered then. Absolutely everyone and everything suffered, from businesses to produce to the prices of groceries due to transportation costs...... From there, crap just went downhill.

[olevetonahill]

No the Country started going to hell when Able bodied Peeps decided that getting sompun fer nuthin was a great way to go
Folks may have needed help before but they only stayed on Public assistance long enough to get back on their Feet.Now they would much rather sit on their asses and have **** gave to em .

Hell I chick I know ( and NO i aint hittin it ) She is more than capable of working, What does she do? She, applies for and gets Food Stamps, ;)

[bonkuba]

No the Country started going to hell when Able bodied Peeps decided that getting sompun fer nuthin was a great way to go
Folks may have needed help before but they only stayed on Public assistance long enough to get back on their Feet.Now they would much rather sit on their asses and have **** gave to em .

Hell I chick I know ( and NO i aint hittin it ) She is more than capable of working, What does she do? She, applies for and gets Food Stamps, ;)

Spot on. I don't want my money going to folks that won't or can't find (bull****) work.......**** 'em.

Now, that being said....how do you determine who really needs it? I really don't know, but I can see many all over the place....why can't the gubment?

Again, I just want to say **** 'em....find a job or starve....even if it is flipping burgers or cleaning ****ters....I have done it and I promise you I did ANYTHING to keep my family afloat.

This **** really does **** me off.

[XingTheRubicon]

Now, that being said....how do you determine who really needs it? I really don't know, but I can see many all over the place....why can't the gubment?


Easy to determine, the ones who really needed it will die...just like the last 5,000 years.

[SanJoaquinSooner]

There's one grocery store I frequent quite often - three or four times a week - for the last twenty years. I've never given any money to anyone who stands outside the door asking for donations. There is usually some person or another asking. One regular has an oxygen tank with tubes running into his nose, looking all sickly and helpless, but takes cigarette breaks around the corner every now and then. Fat chance I'm giving him money. I do give at the office and la iglesia de mi esposa.

But about a month ago, I'm getting my cart and a lady comes up to me and says, "I'm not asking for any money. But I can't make it to the foodbank today to get some food for my kids to eat. Can you buy me something for their dinner and breakfast?" So I reluctantly said yes. I'm not sure why I said yes.

She gets a cart and follows me in. She gets the five pound economy size ground beef package, some giant flour tortillas, a bag of shredded lettuce, cheese, a couple gallons of milk, and giant bag of cereal. Each time she comes asks me if its okay to buy this or that. I say yes to everything except for a packet of damned picante spices*. She gets a few more items and I direct her to get in front of me in the check-out line. Her food runs around $70, I pay for it and then pay for mine.

She starts crying and thanking God and wants to hug me and I would just as soon she doesn't.

The checker knew the lady, so after she left, I asked the checker if what I did was a good idea, or was I taken? The checker said I did the right thing.

We can think about the two extreme cases: developing countries where kids routinely beg and scam on the streets to bring food home and at the other end of the spectrum the cradle-to-grave welfare countries. Neither is desirable.

I think we should minimize welfare as much as we possibly can and lean on family, religious organizations, non-profit organizations, etc to carry more of the load. Instead of checking a box on our tax returns for presidential campaigns, we should have boxes to check for food stamps and welfare. Drugs complicate this issue because people lose patience in helping dope heads - even if they are family or neighbors.




*jk

[oumartin]

white man keepin' me down

[bonkuba]

Easy to determine, the ones who really needed it will die...just like the last 5,000 years.

Uh..........huh? Heh

[Prodigal]

Here is what I do know: The federal government should not be giving any money to anybody for nothing in return. People who need and are appreciative of what they are given will be willing to sacrifice to get it, just like the example above.

Anyone living in a small community (except maybe some western Oklahoma farm towns) has seen their share of people who live off of the rest of us and think it is their right and they deserve it because other people have more than they do so someone should give to them to make it even. if you are active in the community and in giving of your time and money, you can see that this is destroying a lot of our society.

[Sooner5030]

I just looked at the graph again. How do we go from 26 milllion to 42 million in four years? What sucks is both the leech society and the plutocracy (walmart/grocers) benefit from this. It will never change even though any prudent (and independent) person that can analyze this would come to the conclusion that something is terribly wrong.

[Sooner5030]

I also think the snappy EBT cards that are auto recharged every month make food stamps more attractive to some that might shy away due to pride.

[soonercruiser]

There's one grocery store I frequent quite often - three or four times a week - for the last twenty years. I've never given any money to anyone who stands outside the door asking for donations. There is usually some person or another asking. One regular has an oxygen tank with tubes running into his nose, looking all sickly and helpless, but takes cigarette breaks around the corner every now and then. Fat chance I'm giving him money. I do give at the office and la iglesia de mi esposa.

But about a month ago, I'm getting my cart and a lady comes up to me and says, "I'm not asking for any money. But I can't make it to the foodbank today to get some food for my kids to eat. Can you buy me something for their dinner and breakfast?" So I reluctantly said yes. I'm not sure why I said yes.

She gets a cart and follows me in. She gets the five pound economy size ground beef package, some giant flour tortillas, a bag of shredded lettuce, cheese, a couple gallons of milk, and giant bag of cereal. Each time she comes asks me if its okay to buy this or that. I say yes to everything except for a packet of damned picante spices*. She gets a few more items and I direct her to get in front of me in the check-out line. Her food runs around $70, I pay for it and then pay for mine.

She starts crying and thanking God and wants to hug me and I would just as soon she doesn't.

The checker knew the lady, so after she left, I asked the checker if what I did was a good idea, or was I taken? The checker said I did the right thing.

We can think about the two extreme cases: developing countries where kids routinely beg and scam on the streets to bring food home and at the other end of the spectrum the cradle-to-grave welfare countries. Neither is desirable.

I think we should minimize welfare as much as we possibly can and lean on family, religious organizations, non-profit organizations, etc to carry more of the load. Instead of checking a box on our tax returns for presidential campaigns, we should have boxes to check for food stamps and welfare. Drugs complicate this issue because people lose patience in helping dope heads - even if they are family or neighbors.
*jk

Basically, you are a good person.
If everyone put that little bit of effort helping others, the world and the country would be a much better place. ;)

[soonercruiser]

I just looked at the graph again. How do we go from 26 milllion to 42 million in four years? What sucks is both the leech society and the plutocracy (walmart/grocers) benefit from this. It will never change even though any prudent (and independent) person that can analyze this would come to the conclusion that something is terribly wrong.

Walmart???!!!!
Duh! How about the Demoncratic Party??
The party of death and dependence!
Give me your vote; and I'll give you a "hand-out". :rolleyes: