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Originally posted by soficrow
....If you really were concerned about truth majic - you wouldn't find it necessary to flame someone who's trying - you would help and teach.
Originally posted by dgtempe
ARE YOU HUMAN? If you were, you'd care if "our" children were being properly nourished- I guess you dont. (that makes you worse than a liar) [...]
YOU CAST THE FIRST STONE AT ME. A "Liar" is a pretty strong word- I dont know who you think you're talking to, I dont particularly care for your personal attacks.
Originally posted by lmgnyc
I just quickly reviewed the state-level stats, but it seems that Texas, Louisiana, Tennesee, Ohio, Michigan, Georgia, Florida, and Arizona had the biggest increases. I might have missed some, but the link is above. Any ideas?
The typical food-stamp family grossed $640 a month and received $185 a month in food benefits, as of fiscal year 2003. A family of three could receive a maximum of $393 in food-stamp benefits while a family of eight could receive up to $898.
On average, 21.3 million people nationally living in 9.2 million households received food stamps each month in fiscal year 2003.
51 percent of recipients were children. Another 9 percent were age 60 or older.
More than one-fourth of families worked. Less than 17 percent received traditional welfare, or cash assistance, from the government. That's down from 42 percent in 1990.
Officials with the state, which administers the federal food program, tout the increase as a sign of progress. They point out that federal and state legislation extended food stamps' availability to groups such as legal immigrants, who used to be excluded from the program. Meanwhile, outreach -- a publicized statewide help line and prescreening by phone -- has made slogging through the bureaucratic process more tolerable. And common-sense changes, such as combining the food-stamp application with other federal nutrition programs, has cut down on the paperwork families must fill out.
But others worry the upswing in recipients reflects a stagnant economy that has left some families scraping pennies to buy food.
"Since 2001, we've got a pretty weak economy," said Ellen Vollinger, legal director for a national public-policy center on food and nutrition. "Some of the increase in the [food stamp] caseload, hopefully, is that we're reaching some of the eligible. But it's probably also that we have a larger pool, in part because there's such a strong need."
An average of 21.3 million people in America -- more than half children -- received food stamps each month in fiscal year 2003, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
Yet 36 million people, including 13 million children, went hungry or worried about where their next meal was coming from, Vollinger said, quoting a federal hunger report.
From 2003 to 2004, Charlotte County, devastated by Hurricane Charley, had a relatively small increase in the number of people on food stamps--5.3 percent. Compare that to Collier and Lee counties, where there was less damage: the number of people on food stamps in Collier was up 29.7 percent and in Lee, it jumped 35.9 percent.
...For all the rebuilding and repairs going on - Floridians should be just raking it in. But they're not. Instead, the use of food stamps has gone up 53%.
...Hmmm. Why I wonder? Not like there's no work. Hey! I have an idea! Let's blame the victims! We could just say they're lazy and they don't want to work. Problem solved. No muss. No fuss. No bother.