Food Stamp Use Up 1.44 million in Just One Month

Hi. I'm one of those 48 million on food stamps. I am the working poor. I had no choice. I cannot find another part time job. There is nothing out there. I tried everything. I will keep searching and trying while working my other job, and taking care of my daughter.

Feel free to bash me. I'm one paycheck from being homeless. I have a bachelor's degree that has proven useless. No one is hiring. My school loans are due in the spring, and if something happens where my hours at work are cut I will be living in my car.

Please don't think for one moment that the $317 a month I'm getting is that much, nor does it last all month long, and we eat rather slim. My daughter eats first, I eat second.

I'm the working poor. Rather than bash me, Thank God that you are not struggling in my position. I once had a savings account that got depleted to pay bills. Everything I worked for, is gone. All of my possessions in this apartment, sold off aside from a tv, bed, internet (to look for work and send resume's), crappy computer, and the clothes and food. That is it.

My car may have to go next, and then I will have to walk to work in snow and ice, as there is no bus system in my town.

So much for living in my car, if I go homeless.

LOl now that i remember there are alot of people that get criticized at the grocery stores for using food stamps, like if they were felons.
And here I thought Americans were proud when helping other Americans, but it seems like they would rather spend their money on War and foreign aid than helping there fellow unemployed citizen with a simple meal

I guess it seems like you have to have very low income to qualify for SNAP (food stamps) and it's not just that. You also have to either be unemployed, 1 person working, disabled, etc. and have many children to also qualify. If everyone were getting them, people would really be saving money on food.

reply to post by jaynkeel

I like how some of the people in this thread think that my daughter and I should just starve. Is that what you would want for YOUR wife, husband, children, mother, etc?

How can you be so stone hearted? I'm amazed by the lack of human-ness that some people possess. I will pray for you to find compassion. I pray you never end up where I am.

reply to post by Starchildren


I hear you, and your not the only one that has to go through poverty its a hard thing to experience and someone that has never gone through poverty cannot say a word because they dont have a clue of what its like unless they have lived through it..
I dont think you should feel ashamed in using food stamps. And if someone criticizes you ignore them because its not like they will ever lend a hand to you, its not like they know what your going through, the truth is they really dont give a dam about helping others. they just help themselves, there only trying to feel better about themselves

reply to post by jaynkeel


I guess it seems like you have to have very low income to qualify for SNAP (food stamps) and it's not just that. You also have to either be unemployed, 1 person working, disabled, etc. and have many children to also qualify. If everyone were getting them, people would really be saving money on food.

Originally posted by Thepump

Originally posted by LadyGreenEyes
reply to post by Thepump

 

reply to post by sheepslayer247

 

To both of you....no one is stating that people should be allowed to starve. However, the government taking money from some to support others is NOT the best solution. There is such a thing as private charity. Food banks, churches with special funds set aside to help those in need - all supported by VOLUNTARY donations. Much better option. Having all the help come from the government is a sure road to disaster, and failure as a nation. Why?

That is ridiculous frankly...

Private charity is not going to be able to feed 48 million Americans, period.

You go to places like Haiti after their earthquake, and they struggle to feed several million, despite
international support from over 80 governments and several hundred charities.

I don't know if some of you are stupid (as in mentally retarded), just naive or selfish...

Your cases sounds like you are naive -

So do you honestly think American charities can pump out 144 million meals a day? Or do you reckon
one meal a day suffices?

If you are so kind as to admit that most people should eat three times a day do you think
HONESTLY think American charities can pump out the 5,256,000,000 meals a year that
would constitute feeding 144 million people three times a day?

5,256,000,000

First off, not everyone on welfare needs welfare. A LOT of people lie and cheat to get it. I know someone that really was in need, who went to apply for food stamps till they could get on their feet. Talking someone out of work, trying to get a job. While waiting, he got to sit and listen to some woman in really nice clothing, holding the latest smart phone, making drug deals the whole time, and in between bragging to some callers about how she was getting a food stamp increase, and wasn't that great? A DRUG DEALER, with more money that my family tries to live on, and nice stuff, on food stamps. That isn't an isolated case. We also have a lot of NON-CITIZENS getting food stamps in many places. They should get nothing. No handouts, and they would stop invading our country. Then there are the lazy bums that don't think they should have to work, even though they are physically fit, and capable. People that would rather collect from someone else, and sit around doing nothing. Seen that type, too. Take all those off the lists, and address the REAL needy.

Those really in need CAN and ARE helped, in many places, by local charities, that are provided for by voluntary donations. Each charity doesn't have to provide for everyone in the nation (DUH?), but for people in their specific area. Plus, this is not (yet) a third world nation. People will, if the government stops robbing them blind, have more to donate, and decent people DO donate, to charities. People that don't have a lot also donate, by the way.

Naive? Hardly. Never had any extra income. My kids haven't ever experienced a family vacation. We have used cars over ten years old, both paid for. My husband has spent years away from his family, and we can't get a decent wage. Yet we have donated when we could. We have also had help a time or two when needed, and NOT from the government - from a local church.

Stupid? Why, because the truth hurts? Attacking the person, instead of offering a valid argument, is a sign of losing the debate.

Selfish? I am not selfish because I think the income my husband EARNS should not be stolen from us and given to deadbeats. WE should decide where to offer help, not some smart-mouthed, rich, spoiled politician, who spends more on one TAX-PAID VACATION that we get in several years. Maybe if he would stop trashing the economy, and people could actually get jobs, so many would not need help.

....starting to wonder if some really do need a piano to fall on them to get the point.....

I love how when you mention Food Stamps quite a few people get the picture of a big fat woman with 6 kids standing in line complaining about whatever.....BUT, those are few...What you MOSTLY have is people like me. I have a job. But my job doesnt pay for all the stuff to live on. I have to have a roof..i have to have a car to get to job and insurance on that, then I have utilities, cell phone and internet (for job) and old credit bills and, and ,and...No money left for food. Hmmm... so sell your house....i cant the market put it upside down, sell your car...no car, no job...hmmmm....i have to pay utilities so I cant stop that???... WOW FOOD STAMPS....yes now I can feed my kids and me . So dont go labeling people with a broad brush.... So If I didnt have Food Stamps what would I do...well I have to feed my kids...so I guess I will steal your stuff to buy food....so Food Stamps are good when used properly.

Oh and to the people who 'KNOW" someone who is cheating,,,,Dont cry about it turn them in....i mean really..Your going to cry about cheaters but do nothing to stop it... typical

Originally posted by Starchildren
I like how some of the people in this thread think that my daughter and I should just starve. Is that what you would want for YOUR wife, husband, children, mother, etc?

How can you be so stone hearted? I'm amazed by the lack of human-ness that some people possess. I will pray for you to find compassion. I pray you never end up where I am.

No one is saying that people should starve. People are saying that it would be better to stop causing job loss, and make people able to support themselves. People are saying that SOME getting aid don't need it, and get it because they either lie or cheat, or are too lazy to work. You are actually trying. I have been in a similar situation, but I could not go to college. No money for that. Single mother (first husband abandoned his family), crappy car, crappy apartment, no cell phone or computer or internet (no one had those then), no luxuries AT ALL, and could not afford food. Guess what? I didn't qualify for food stamps. About 20 cents over minimum wage, and they said I made too much. The only reason we had food sometimes is because someone bought it for us. Plus, there are other ways for people to get help, as I have already pointed out.

There are a lot of people getting help that do NOT need it, though. Check a previous post of mine. Page 10. Do you think it's right that a drug dealer should get food stamps? How about a bum that can work, and won't? I KNOW a single person, physically fit, that refuses to work, and expects everything to be handed to them. There are a lot more like him, too. People not wanting to have their money spent on those doesn't mean they think people should starve. Nor is a government handout the best solution.

Get back to me when the Pentagon has to run bake sales to fund their black ops. In the meantime, food stamps prevent the inevitable crime wave that would result if 45 million people went hungry starting tomorrow, probably a majority of them children who live in marginally solvent households through no fault of their own.

If the money our government spends on committing violence all over the world were used instead to fund a changeover to a resource-based economy and green energy systems, we could have full employment in mere months.

Okay, I just want to say that the issue of food stamps is NOT about the money. Food Stamps for actual cost are a pittance to the overall spending of Government these days and are projected to stay that way well into the future. This is the budget board I made for Food Stamps and related food assistance programs to the poor.



The point in my mind which makes the Food Stamp numbers a problem isn't how many qualify for cost...it's how many qualify for THEIR OWN bad situation in life and shouldn't we maybe be focusing on getting that economy moving again to the EXCLUSION of all else? I mean the rest takes care of itself and the food stamp numbers will drop when unemployment and severe underemployment does.

While we're at it, there are a good number of U.S. Soldiers who are on food stamps within their families although too proud to admit it and I don't blame them...but that's a little something to write congress about when they babble about another billion dollar whatchamacallit for the Military which may not even have asked for one. A bit more pay to the guys little of that enormous defense budget is going to as it is, wouldn't be the worst idea.

Food stamps are vital for many families' survival, period.

I recently got off them, why is my number so insignificant in how many recently joined?

When I had my food stamps, they were extremely critical in our survival financially. Every single human being on this planet deserves the same rites under similar circumstances.

Soon as I could get off food stamps, I did. I can hold my own now, and I still donate to the local food banks.

The amount of people on food stamps does tell a story though.... Romney.
Out sourcing jobs sure does catch up eventually.

Originally posted by JibbyJedi
Food stamps are vital for many families' survival, period.

I recently got off them, why is my number so insignificant in how many recently joined?

When I had my food stamps, they were extremely critical in our survival financially. Every single human being on this planet deserves the same rites under similar circumstances.

Soon as I could get off food stamps, I did. I can hold my own now, and I still donate to the local food banks.

The amount of people on food stamps does tell a story though.... Romney.
Out sourcing jobs sure does catch up eventually.

I applaud your endurance to get off of them, because you could.Because you wanted to. There are those who dont though, for what ever reasons.

Romney wasn't the Answer, and Neither was Obama. I have to say that, as you brought up Romney, and Outsourcing.

Back to meat of the subject. Just think of how many Working poor are going to have to go on them, once Obama lets the Bush Tax Cuts, expire? The very ones who voted for Obama, are being used as a hostage chip, so a few wealthy people pay more Taxes. Do you think the Wealthy are not going to hire great accountants to hide or funnel their money someplace else? Do you think the wealthy can afford to lose some money, as they continue to live their lavish lifestyles? I am talking the Wealthy that can afford to burn money, like kindling. ALL of Congress are Wealthy. The President is Wealthy.


Obama couldn't get a Budget passed. EVERY Republican EVERY Democrat voted NO to his Budget. Many don't seem to even know this happened. Does anyone really think bipartisanship can happen under a President who has Polarized a Nation?

Here's the Facts to the Fiscal cliff, and why MORE are going to go on Assistance, due to an inefficient Congress, and President.

“All of the hype about the fiscal cliff, certainly the national media is making this sound like there’s Armageddon on Jan. 1. That’s not going to happen. But for low-income families, they’re going to feel it the worst at the beginning,” said Linn, who works for the nonprofit anti-poverty group Results and its education arm, the Results Educational Fund.

The working poor will immediately feel the pinch from smaller paychecks if the payroll tax cut goes away as scheduled at the end of the year, and annual incomes will be bruised with the loss of the earned income tax credit and child tax credit, Linn said.

In Iowa, the federal government would pay for child care subsidies for about 700 fewer children, according to a July fiscal cliff report by U.S. Sen. Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat.

A $4.6 million cut to the Head Start pre-school program could mean “156 Head Start jobs lost and 747 fewer children served” in Iowa, the report says.

Health care services for more than 25,000 Iowa women, children and families could end because of the $502,000 cut to Iowa’s maternal and child health program, the Harkin report says.

Tax credits that support low-income working families, and reduce the need for welfare, are set to expire at the end of the year. About 214,000 low-income Iowa households benefited from the earned income tax credit in 2010, and 154,000 benefited from the child tax credit, according to the Iowa Policy Project and Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Together, the two tax credits lifted about 38,000 Iowa children out of poverty each year from 2009 to 2011.

Iowa advocates say children would be most hurt by fiscal cliff

This is just Iowa. Imagine what this is going to do, around the Country.

I also know this. Most of the Working Poor, didn't vote for Romney............

This is just Iowa. Imagine what this is going to do, around the Country

Don't get me started about Iowa's waste spending. Too late....

They pay people to adopt, not foster, black/bi-racial children.

I'll just let that sit there for a minute or two.
Don't mean to derail, but Iowa has extremely wasteful spending and I know that 1st hand.

I have proof that my statements are true. Iowa "pays" white people to adopt black kids.
This story surpasses food stamps, But not in a big way.

There is another factor to this and it's a very real one I am watching develop on financials and that is companies doing whatever it takes to advance and clear out dividend payments with whatever else can be gamed by the end of the year to beat the new taxes. As I've had this explained, it will make for quite a slam on those same companies in Jan for the games being played now, but it's accepted as worth it. The overall impact by so many and such big ones playing these games is likely gooing to be a pretty hard slump in the market at the same time everything else hits.

It's going to be a crappy January, however anyone looks at it. Layoffs for Defense may be only notices sent out for fiscal requirements ...but many in strictly private companies are already happening and in rather painful numbers. That Unemployment figure isn't gonna be a happy start to 2013 I'm thinking. Not happy at all.

I think the points about this being both sides are 100% and absolutely right, too. It's not even Obama as a man or Bush as a man. This whole train wreck has rightly been decades in the making ...not mere years. The end game has been played out over the last 6-7 years but I'd say the last pieces to make this all the inevitable end came from around Nixon. Now we see it played out.

Originally posted by Wrabbit2000
The overall impact by so many and such big ones playing these games is likely going to be a pretty hard slump in the market at the same time everything else hits.

It's going to be a crappy January, however anyone looks at it.

Agree. The sad part is I don't think 3/4 of America, has a clue on whats going to happen.....

I am one of those collecting food stamps.

I am in Michigan, in my defense

8.00 (can't even start at 10 for that kind of work?) an hour landscaping jobs, 8.00 factory jobs (that used to start at 12 before the housing market collapse), slow advancement, and terrible treatment on job.

Very funny story

When I was roofing (started at 10.00, IDK if that one is normal or not) my boss told me to "run and go get that paper that flew out in the field" so I walked and got that paper that flew out in the field (duh?)... he got mad. Later that day, he punched me after having a beer while dropping us all off back in our town. He only got one punch in and his when his boss saw his injuries he told him that the whole crew jumped him long story short he pretended to fire him and keep me on, then hired him back on knowing I would quit (dangerous to work on a roof with that kind of person).

He tried to withhold my last pay check. I told him I would call the department of labor on him. He told me he was going to call my PO if I did that ( I have never been convicted of a crime, let alone probation). I got that check in the mail after he cussed and yelled a bunch.


Point is it is common practice to take advantage of felons in MI. If they act up - call their PO!
I would not report someone like that in MI though, because at least they are willing to give them jobs. It is still sick though.

I could tell more stories of abuse of the system and the economy by employers in MI, but only if someone asks.

You can't just call people lazy, it is simply not the case sometimes. Sometimes, it really is societies fault. Even not accounting for all the mistreatment, you have people that really just can not work.

So umm where are all the jobs?? maybe if we stopped shipping jobs overseas. Maybe if we stopped giving an edge to big business so there could be opportunities for the common man to open up a business.

We keep insisting that ONLY the RICH can provide jobs. Bullcrap The rich are the jackasses that ship jobs out of the country and decide to pay you crap so they can expand business with a crappy paying job.

How about they pay decent and stay in one region instead of paying crappy and expand. this could allow some onelse to open up a similar business in another region and pay decent.

BUT NO we want to allow a few companies to monopolize ALL regions. Then we are told to give them breaks to expand their low paying self serving business practice.

There are too many idiots who think people would collect welfare rather than work. They would work if it was worth their time. Why should they take a road of higher resistance for the same returns?? it would be asinine to do so.

t the people who are allowed to monopolize the jobs are not into business to make jobs they are into business to make MONEY.

If they make jobs they will be the lowest they can make them before they become slavery, I remember when my city kept allowing walmart open stores here saying they would provide new jobs. They conveniently left out how it killed homegrown jobs and how those jobs created were minimum wage.

If you want people off of welfare.. how about jobs pay decent.

reply to post by votan


When the average working man can afford to buy things and put back into the economy, we will be golden. That probably won't happen though, it is looking like the middle class is going away.

Middle class is taxed to death. Why does the middle class pay twice as much in taxes as the rich (percentage wise)?

I'll give you a hint, it has nothing to do with corporate interest!!! No never that....

The richest man from Mexico told everyone they need to retire later and work harder. I laughed for days.

With the fact that college is a gamble with the amount of taxes you will be paying if you manage to get that job and college is too risky for me right now when you factor in student loans.

Give it 20 years and we will end up like Mexico if we don't make something happen. Protest the vote next election is what I say, but people will never wake up to that scheme. "if you didn't vote you can't complain" is rinsed and repeated among college graduates. It is almost like they are being indoctrinated huh?

Originally posted by Starchildren
I like how some of the people in this thread think that my daughter and I should just starve. Is that what you would want for YOUR wife, husband, children, mother, etc?

How can you be so stone hearted? I'm amazed by the lack of human-ness that some people possess. I will pray for you to find compassion. I pray you never end up where I am.

@%%#@ those people you speak of, they can rot in the depths of hell.

I hope you and your daughter are safe and find better times, I love you and the majority of my American family,
bless you.