Time to take a bite out of food stamps?

I think one of the hardest things about the Government and the state of the world now is that, regardless of your political leanings or affiliations, we are past the point of no return.

There is no more easy, simple, or clear cut way to come out of the unbelievable amount of debt we carry, keep welfare/food stamp benefits, raise the minimum wage, lower taxes, and have a generally happy America.

People will need to suffer for this, people always do. Sadly, it will be the poor. There may be one than 1 family who ends up starving to death before we come out of the slump we're in. More than 1 family in America will lose their home, compounded with the thousands that already have.

We cannot fix this without the suffering of millions of poor in America. Now do they deserve it? No. Would the rich be a better target? Yes. But we can't hit them can we? They control the world, and aren't likely to give up what they have.

So I'm sorry food stamp users, you are on the target list, as are Wal-Mart employees, and the minimum wage force.

@ LiberalTed
I was lifted out of poverty by food stamps. I remember searching my whole house for food when I was a kid, eating cream of mushroom soup and beets from a can with a spoon because it was the only thing I could find. We got food stamps when I was about 12 and I put on a lot of weight, became a good athlete and excelled in academics. Now, with a graduate degree and a very good income I complain alot about my taxes, but foodstamps are one of the last things I would cut. It wasn't my fault my parents struggled so much in life. Thanks to all you taxpayers for feeding a hungry little boy.

the elderly/disabled who live in subsidized housing or have section 8 get only $10 to $20 a month and during the cold winter months when they are paying out over $100 a month in heating costs their food stamps do not increase which means they have to decide do they buy meds/food or pay the heating bill. My family gets a small amount and for me that's milk, eggs and bread for most of the month.

Food stamps, school meals, and other benefits. Who voted these leaders in? Next will be Hillary.

The once great America, is on its knees being spoon fed, and we're a nation of beggars.

I wish someone could prove me wrong.

Badger,

There were times I too worked 3 jobs just to stay off taxpayer dime

It was worth it

And the right thing to do

I thank you for doing what is right and not believing it is mitt Romneys responsibility to pay YOUR bills.

Badger55 said: Maybe the people that have a job need to get another one. or two. I work one full-time and 2 part time jobs. it's 70 hrs a week on average.

That's sad badger no wonder your so angry at the guberment, you should spend more time with your family, oh that's right reaganomics has forced people to work 70 hr weeks similar to the industrial revolution where children worked that many hours. This is the conservative dream everyone man woman and child working to enrich the CEO's who work 500 times harder than you.

Shaun,
Maybe the people that have a job need to get another one. or two. I work one full-time and 2 part time jobs. it's 70 hrs a week on average. but guess what? It keeps my family and I off of welfare. And, saves it for people who actually need it. It is no secret that people abuse it and would rather live off the government than work for a living.

@Chris B. How will eliminating aid to people who are already desperate improve the economy? In your black and white world you must think people are living the good life off food stamps.

How will cutting these people off from food help the economy? Getting a job isn't necessarily the answer because a lot of people on food stamps already work at places like Wal-mart. They are called the working poor.

Carson
"To get food stamps require them to work a regular eight hour shift and a full forty hour week. "

@atl134
So in an economy with not enough jobs for all the unemployed you want to turn this into a thing where only those who can manage to find work can get help with food as opposed to the ones who need it more (you know, because they don't have a job)?

A lot of weeds and litter on all our Roadways, put them to work on these kind of jobs and have them earn their food stamps!

I have no problem with college students getting stamps, which is about half the total. The cost of education is so high, they need some help. After they get educated, they start contributing a lot more than they ever took out. If the choice is between eating and going to school, who would go to school? Then the poverty cycle simply gets worse. That's the problem with conservatives -- they make it impossible for people to move ahead in life.

Shaun nailed it, I don't know of anyone who is proud to be on Food stamps, but as thrive pointed out, go into the offices in Provo, and look at all the BYU married students getting aid.

How about drug testing the needy? (because conservatives know the poor spend all their money on drugs too)
less than 1% tested positive for drugs (FL) use at the cost of millions for the tests.

8 hour shifts, so if we treat them as a slaves class especially those with disabilities we could humiliate the least of us into a minimum wage (non-livable wage) job?

and the GOP draws a shallower breath.

Then there's the matter of companies like Walmart who pay wages so low their employees qualify for food stamps, which they generally turn around and use for Walmart. We're subsidizing companies while they pay their workers the bare minimum. But nah... the workers are just lazy right? Maybe they should just get two jobs instead (nevermind that we don't have enough jobs for everyone to have one, part of why we have more two income households than ever before).

@Carson
"To get food stamps require them to work a regular eight hour shift and a full forty hour week. "

So in an economy with not enough jobs for all the unemployed you want to turn this into a thing where only those who can manage to find work can get help with food as opposed to the ones who need it more (you know, because they don't have a job)?

@birder
"and carts full of junk food"

Junk food is cheap. Healthy food tends to be more expensive.

@Chris B
"When the cost of these programs go down, the economy will improve."

Not like this it won't. Forcing poor people to have to shift money to paying for food rather than... anything else means the rest of the economy loses some of the money that would otherwise be put into it. That harms the economy, not helps it.

If the economy improves the cost of these programs go down because fewer will need it, not the other way around.

After reading some of the comments on this and other stories in this paper about food stamps, welfare recipients, etc., I wonder if there's anywhere else in the world where people are so envious of the poor that they even begrudge them a bag of potato chips. But it's not just potato chips. No. You'd think the poor were all living it up on champagne and caviar, while those who are better off grind their teeth in envy.

The system might be abused by a few, but it's better that a few abuse it, than to have those who really need it go hungry because there is no system at all.

But it's always the same old story. The rich are industrious and virtuous, and the poor are lazy and immoral and have it much too good. How can it be, then, that "blessed are you who are poor, for the kingdom of God belongs to you" and that "it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into the kingdom of God"?

According to Republicans, Obama has put the economy in shambles... so if everythings' so bad why are we kicking the poor?

@shaun,

When the cost of these programs go down, the economy will improve.

I am always amazed that people are jealous of people who are on food stamps. The economy is in shambles and a rise in aid is what keeps children fed and crime down. Once the economy improves the cost of these programs will go down.

To get food stamps require them to work a regular eight hour shift and a full forty hour week. Deduct any shifts missed off of the amount of food stamps they get.

I cashier at a nice store on the east side of Salt Lake County. I have to watch what I buy, and have eliminated many things from my personal grocery list because of the high cost of food. Yet the food stampers who come through my line are still able to buy sushi, high-priced deli food, and carts full of junk food - all on the taxpayer's dime. Many of these people are young and appear to be perfectly healthy and able to work. I should not judge, but. . . come on!

This is barack's biggest "success" probably

I look around at my neighbors on food stamps. Weeds grow in what was once a garden. I guess there is little incentive to grow your own food, when uncle sam can steal from others and deposit their money into your ebt card.

It's amazing how tattoos, alcohol, cigarettes, cable tv and cell phones are "basic needs". If you can afford to have those items, then you don't need food stamps. What you need is an adjustment in your mindset that puts your food at a higher priority than "body artwork".

How many people have been lifted out of poverty living on food stamps?

Disclaimer- Actually I do pay for my own groceries.
I grow my own garden and bottle a lot.

However, many of my neighbors can't, why?
I guess the government just can not stand for people to use their own money without them having hand in it all.

Maybe if they didn't tax the working poor to death, we could pay for our own groceries?

Democrats will never go for reducing food stamps or any other entitlement because that's how they win elections!