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Online mystery-ak

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http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/03/the-most-important-thing-to-remember-about-americas-food-stamp-boom/274443/

The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
The reason a record number of Americans are on food assistance is that a record number are in poverty.
Jordan Weissmann Mar 28 2013, 1:42 PM ET

The Wall Street Journal is out with a long article today exploring why the number of Americans on food stamps isn't falling along with the unemployment rate. As of December there were 47.8 million people enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, up more than a million over the year. So what's going on?

It's a complicated answer, and the WSJ does a good job teasing out the story's different threads. But I want to focus on the simple part of the issue for a moment, because in the big picture, it's also by far the most important part. So repeat after me: There are record numbers of Americans on food stamps today because there are record numbers of Americans in poverty (records begin in 1959.) 

As of 2011, there were 46.2 million men, women, and children living below the U.S. poverty line. There isn't much reason to believe that the last year of mediocre job growth has dented that number. And until it plunges, the food stamp rolls are going to stay full -- plain and simple.



It's true that not all food stamp recipients are technically impoverished. As part of welfare reform, the Clinton administration let states relax all sorts of rules about who could qualify. Today, families that are living a bit above the poverty line or have some savings can benefit, whereas twenty years ago they'd have been excluded. Then there's the issue of "categorical eligibility," which has been a giant bugaboo for some conservatives. It lets states automatically make residents eligible for food stamps if they receive benefits from programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program (better known to most as post-Clinton welfare). And because the definition of "benefits" is fairly loose -- in some states, it might just mean the family received a brochure printed and mailed with TANF money -- some have accused states of using it as a loophole to sweep as many families into SNAP as possible.

But here's the thing: Of all the social welfare programs the U.S. has, we should probably be worrying about food stamps the least. Its beneficiaries are overwhelmingly needy. In 2010, about 87 percent were at or below the poverty line and almost half were children. Only 3.5 percent had incomes higher than 130 percent of the poverty line. Meanwhile, the program arguably encourages more work by letting unemployed parents take the first job they can find, even if it won't pay enough to feed their family on its own. It's also hyper-efficient stimulus. The money has to be spent instead of saved, meaning it cycles quickly back into the economy.

Our food stamp rolls are eye popping, but they're not the problem. Poverty is.
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Online mystery-ak

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #1 on: March 29, 2013, 12:41:26 pm »
http://www.newsmax.com/PrintTemplate.aspx?nodeid=496796


Newsmax
Economy Rebounding, but Record Number Still on Food Stamps
Thursday, March 28, 2013 02:17 PM

By: Lisa Barron

While the economy continues to show signs of recovery, the size of the government’s food-stamp program is expanding.

Since 2008, enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP as it is called, has jumped 70 percent, reaching a record 47.8 million people in December 2012. Budget experts believe it will increase again this year, according to The Wall Street Journal.

That is largely because of the sluggish job market and a rising poverty rate.

“While the perception may be different, the actual raw numbers, almost 50 million people [under the federal poverty level], is certainly one of the principal reasons why we see the enrollment increases in the SNAP program,” Kevin Concannon, undersecretary for food, nutrition, and consumer services at the Department of Agriculture, told the Journal.

Concannon acknowledged that a bigger push by states for people to enroll in the federally funded program, along with an easing of eligibility criteria, were also factors. In recent years, the law has allowed states to ease asset and income tests for applicants, allowing people with relatively higher incomes and savings into the program in order to help them avoid financial disaster because of foods costs.

The Congressional Budget Office predicts that while unemployment will drop to 5.6 percent by 2017, down from 7.7 percent as of February, enrollment in SNAP will only fall by 4.5 million people from the current level of 43.4 million.

Last year, the government spent a record $74.6 billion on food stamps, roughly equivalent to the combined budgets of the Homeland Security, Justice, and Interior departments, according to the Journal. That was more than double the $30.4 billion spent on the program in 2007.

The huge increase in just five years has critics calling for changes. The new House budget introduced earlier this month includes $135 billion in cuts to the program over the next 10 years.

Congress will take another look at SNAP later this year when a bill authorizing Department of Agriculture expenditures expires. Republicans have reportedly said they will seek new limits on who can receive food stamps and end the ability of states to ease restrictions on the program.


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Offline alicewonders

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #2 on: March 29, 2013, 01:25:37 pm »
More & more people on food stamps......

Economic recovery...............................

One of these things is not like the other.
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Offline mountaineer

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #3 on: March 29, 2013, 01:54:55 pm »
Quote
But here's the thing: Of all the social welfare programs the U.S. has, we should probably be worrying about food stamps the least. Its beneficiaries are overwhelmingly needy. In 2010, about 87 percent were at or below the poverty line and almost half were children.
That's significant - in theory. In truth, however, too many people receiving food stamps spend them on junk food. They should be limited in what they can purchase with SNAP to certain basic items, no potato chips.

 Further, too many recipients don't use them on food at all, least of all for their children, because they convert them to a means of getting drugs and alcohol, e.g., buying up expensive cuts of meat at Walmart and returning the groceries for cash refunds.

This is why you see children going without meals on weekends and during school holidays. The parents who are supposed to feed them, don't. The kids survive on free school breakfast and lunch. My church participates in a program to give such children bags full of food to take home every Friday afternoon (canned pasta, granola bars, fruit cups, etc.) to get them through the weekends while their irresponsible parents sleep off another binge.

Food stamps do help some people. Others - even those below the poverty line -  abuse the system.

 This is what I witness in my economically-depressed small town, anyway.
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Offline massadvj

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #4 on: March 29, 2013, 02:03:41 pm »
I hate to have to be the one to ask this, but if food stamps are going up because poverty is going up, and the government has been "fighting poverty" for over 50 years, then why isn't poverty going down?

Offline Lipstick on a Hillary

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #5 on: March 29, 2013, 02:09:54 pm »
Quote
My church participates in a program to give such children bags full of food to take home every Friday afternoon (canned pasta, granola bars, fruit cups, etc.) to get them through the weekends while their irresponsible parents sleep off another binge.

THAT is a really good idea.  Kudos to your program.

Offline mountaineer

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Re: The Most Important Thing to Remember About America's Food Stamp Boom
« Reply #6 on: March 29, 2013, 07:13:25 pm »
THAT is a really good idea.  Kudos to your program.
We have 34 gradeschool kids now; will be adding as many middle school kids next month.  :(
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