McConnell and Ryan say Food Stamp Program needs to end

[iluvtennis]

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

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We all knew this was coming. And then medicare, medicaid, and social security.

[AJT]

1. A lot of military families use food stamps.

[Merlot]

5. So do a lot of people who work at walmart.

[grantcart]

34. So do a lot of firemen working in national forrests

[George II]

58. Given their way, national forests will be eliminated, too.

[Eliot Rosewater]

110. All national parks and government land is going, all of it.

As to harming the earth, environment, you aint seen nothing yet.

Surely though, this is better than having someone who ....ooops, you see how easy it is for me to relapse?



I will NEVER let ANYBODY forget how this was ALL

A V O I D A B L E

[George II]

115. But T H E E M A I L S ! ! ! !

[maddiemom]

104. Grocers certainly don't mind "food stamps," ( especially in current "card" form).

It' the same income as cash, after all. Maybe a little more is involved, but the loss would be theirs, as well

[lunasun]

136. Yes this will hit food providers along with food recipients,Medicaid will hit medical clinics

all these cuts do trickle up !

[haele]

138. 30% of Wal-Mart grocery profits are in food stamps.

The time the Tea Party put cuts to food stamps were on the table back in 2011 (if I remember correctly), Wal-Mart pushed back big time. Now, since Citizen's United, I don't think they have the push they used to...

Haele

[Codeine]

174. EBT cards keep small grocers alive.

It’s an enormous percentage of sales for stores in poorer neighborhoods.

[workinclasszero]

46. So do a lot of Trump/republican voters

So far that's not helping democrats stop the killing of the poor and working class.

[Skittles]

64. and a lot of red state voters

[maddiemom]

106. Especially red state voters.

[residentcynic]

183. And they can't all be minorities

According the the usda.gov, "In Fiscal Year 2015, SNAP provided about $1.11 billion dollars in food benefits to a monthly average of 768,882 people in Kentucky." - There are only about 4.2 million people in Kentucky and only about 11% of those are minorities of any kind - well below the number of people getting food stamps. Let's see if they still vote for Trump when he's taking food from their children.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Who gets to decide what people can and can't eat?

That argument has always pissed me off. "We" decide people can't buy certain things with food stamps because "those people" will abuse them and buy steak and lobster and Twinkies instead of broccoli and kale. So that means maybe they can't buy a treat for their kid, or a special meal for a holiday? Let's see how many ways we can come up with to make being poor suck more than it already does.

[inanna]

17. Thank you!

God forbid someone buys their child a birthday cake or shortbreads at Christmas time. Right?

[democratisphere]

18. The GOP Starvation Panels of course.

The GOP Death Panels have already been assembled.

[workinclasszero]

48. GOP death squads coming

Trump and Ryan's thoughts and prayers are with you America as you and your kids slowly starve to death.

[DoubleAgentOrange]

153. Typical GOPlutocrats and Evangelicultists

Doing to Americans with starvation what they did to Salvadorans with bullets.

[workinclasszero]

220. Yep they can't get away with bullets...

yet.

[Angry Dragon]

168. Palin did say they were coming

[workinclasszero]

221. Yeah republicans will make health care for the rich only

and Palin and her "pro-life" republican pals will kill off us useless eaters by starvation at first.

[burnbaby]

23. nice post ditto nt

[RKP5637]

26. Thanks for posting this!!!!! n/t

[Blue_true]

38. I watched CSPAN last night.

Alice Waters and the guy who fed people in Puerto Rico, Jose something were on. They were talking about high quality food and food quality. Alice Waters pointed out that she buys a high priced chicken, but makes four meals for 4 out of that chicken. Jose figured out how to make six meals out of the same chicken. The point should be how many people does a steak feed, not that someone bought steak.

[haele]

68. The unspoken problem is what food is available in areas where a high amount of food stamps are used.

Food Stamp recipients in rural areas may be served by one convenience style store that sells primarily canned, packaged, or frozen goods; a chicken or ground beef and fresh produce can be harder to find. Poor urban neighborhoods can have maybe a corner store - or liquor/tobacco/convenience store that can be anywhere from down the block to a mile away walking - especially in depressed areas where jobs are non-existent and petty crime is a constant threat.
Chips, "fruit snacks", and sodas are often the majority of the affordable "food" available in those areas.

Haele

[Blue_true]

73. I was recently riding shotgun in my brother's pickup as he drove through a rural area.

I saw names that looked strange, like referring to poverty and struggle. He explained how some of the names came about, really poor people settled those areas and things like money and food were hard to come by, most hunted a lot of food that they did get. Anyway, we passed this convenience store where the signage made it look like the owner bought busted up canned goods and sold them at reduced prices, so to me, people in those areas still seem to be struggling and are getting second rate food.

[sarah FAILIN]

82. You've never went to a half off store?

I haven't either, but that is exactly what happens. Food that has expired or is about to expire is bought by these places and then resold for a fraction of the original price. My husband thought he had found the mother load of slim fast drinks and bought a ton of them... He didn't even think to look at the expiration date.

[Blue_true]

94. My oldest brother is really, really, really cheap.

He loves those stores, even if he throws away half of what he buys. Sometimes I look at him and laugh at the futility, but he is a good guy. My brother who I was in the truck with is more modern.

[sarah FAILIN]

108. My husband is super cheap too

He will stop when he is driving around on the job in that town, but I told him he has to check the dates and only get what he can use up quickly because he is the only one that will use the stuff. He did take our teen son with him when they were out and he came back in with a huge box of candy bars for basically 10 cents each. Super nutritious, lol.
Now that I think about this, we don't have any stores like this in our town that I know of. Our town has an extremely low unemployment rate and huge economic growth over the past 20 years. The town that has several of these stores does have regular grocery stores, but not as much in the way of jobs and industry.

[Blue_true]

196. The model for stores like Dollar General and Family Dollar is to locate in economically depressed

areas. We have plenty of them in the South, but most voters here still don't realize that the republicans they vote into office routinely screw them. The most economically vibrant parts of my state of Florida all vote blue and have been for many years.

[Marthe48]

144. Sometimes expiration dates are legal protection

The expiration date isn't regulated. Companies use it to protect their reputation, according to one of the links. Here is a link to a site that tells you what is safe to use after the use by, best by or expiration date:

https://food.unl.edu/food-storage-chart-cupboardpantry-refrigerator-and-freezer

It is a damned shame that people have to buy their food and worry about food safety.
It's nice to know that Worcestershire sauce doesn't expire. We can put it on all that steak the rich turds don't want the poor to have.

[haele]

121. My MiL used to live near a small Alabama town named "Slapout"

As in "Slap out in the middle of Nowhere" - even though it was 45 miles or so from Montgomery.
Other than the smallish general goods/small grocery/gas station at the crossroads about five miles distance, the nearest town that was large enough to have even the "3Ws" of the Southeast - Waffle House, Walgreens and WalMart - was a good 25 miles away.

And yes, the time I went in there, everything food related seemed to be very close to it's "sell by" date - especially the dairy and meat products. Anything fresh was rather pricy. The eggs were local; my MIL was expected to bring back her egg cartons if she wanted a small discount. There was basically a 2 end-cap area with a small selection of fruits and veggies - which was probably bought wholesale once a week in Montgomery.

My MIL and all her neighbors had their own home kitchen gardens for herbs and anything that could be pickled or canned, and several of her neighbors had freezers they filled during hunting season.

They were better off than the urban poor in the area, but the food selection was still very limited.

Haele

[PinkTiger]

184. No, that is the "perceived" problem.

The real problem is, that to pay for the tax cuts for the wealthy, poor people will lose benefits. And they lack something the wealthy people have - dollars to enforce their desires through donations to politicians.

[Solly Mack]

43. Thank you.

[IronLionZion]

44. The invisible hand of the free market

while Trump's cronies collecting generous tax cuts of course

[Bear Creek]

91. They forget

That Adam Smith thought that The Theory of Moral Sentiments was more important of his books.

[sarah FAILIN]

76. The same people that decide what you get to buy on WIC

There are only certain foods allowed in the WIC program and certain brands of those foods. You see the labels on grocery store shelves next to the price.

There are ways around the old "birthday cake once a year" argument too. They could give you an coupon the month of a child's birthday to buy a cake from the bakery.

We grew up beyond poor, so I do know about being poor and it is just part of life. We never qualified for food stamps because my dad had inherited a little bit of land to farm that was maybe a quarter mile from the little bit of land he built his house on, which had also been given to him by the same relative. Since we had a little block house on one scrap of land and another scrap to grow a garden on, we were too well off for assistance even though he made $3.35/hr and was on strike at one point getting $35/week from the union. We would have had to sell one of the bits to qualify for food stamps.

I think it's worse for wealthy people to think about being poor than it is when you are actually living that life. We made do without any assistance, but there wasn't a week that passed that I wasn't jealous of the people that did have food stamps and were getting tons of lucky charms cereal and sandwich meats. We ate cheap hot dogs sometimes with a half a slice of bacon wrapped around it on good weeks or split a can of beef stew 4 ways and put it on rice for supper. We were lucky enough to have a vegetable garden. Meat was more of a flavoring than a main dish. Desert was rare and either stir up a home made cake from scratch or before I learned how, we bought 1 box of snack cakes a week and split them 4 ways. You got to choose when you ate your share and it wasn't a big deal. I didn't realize how bad we had it till I got out in the world and realized others weren't the same way.

If reps don't end the program all together, there could be reform to the assistance programs to end the purchases of sodas and candy along with putting limits on what could be bought to keep it under a certain price point per pound and people that really needed it would still be glad to get the help while people that hate the program would think they won.. I'd like to see the list of foods allowed be limited to American farmers products the way the commodities program was so that the money stayed inside the US also.

[DLevine]

114. People on SNAP should be permitted to make their own food choices.

Give people the amount they qualify for and let them spend it as they wish.

[sarah FAILIN]

116. Your opinion.

I have my own that I developed through a lifetime of being poor with no help.

[DLevine]

118. Obviously it is my opinion.

I also have been poor all my life. Now I am an old lady living well below the poverty line. It really sucks, as I'm sure you know. It sucks even more, in my opinion, when people try to micromanage poor people's lives. I say treat poor people with dignity.

[sarah FAILIN]

137. I don't see anything undignified about the current WIC program

https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-food-packages-regulatory-requirements-wic-eligible-foods

I think all feeding programs should have guides such as are already being used in the
WIC program to make sure that the food is a good quality nutritionally to support a person. I also think the foods can be required to be produced by American farmers and not imported foods so that the money stays in this country instead of say, supporting the Chinese chicken industry which I am leery of anyway.

As long as the disbursement of the cards continues as is, I don't see how guidelines are lacking dignity. The way the reps are acting, they want to take the program away completely.

[notdarkyet]

171. I could be you, poor, older, not good health and I agree with you. I am episcopalian

And when my ladies guild raised money for needy families we just gave them the money and let them do what they wanted or needed to. If they wanted a bottle of wine for Christmas we said,”who cares, it’s Christmas!” (We usually have wine at our church dinners)

[Oppaloopa]

188. Most of the produce in my area comes from Chile

[LanternWaste]

199. projecting our own experience onto an efficient and collective answer is fallacious at best.

We often hold opinions predicated on personal experience at the expense of real numbers; e.g., many people believe Climate Change is a hoax because of their own experiences in long, brutal winters.

But projecting our own experience onto an efficient and collective answer is fallacious at best.

[sarah FAILIN]

202. What efficient and collective answer are you meaning

I have not seen one.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

83. We were at one of those make your own pizza and take it home type places and my boyfriend..

... made the mistake of telling his freeper sister that it took so long because the person in front of us was using a food stamp card.

Of course that set Her off.

I said what's the big deal they're taking home super cheap pizzas on a Friday night to treat the kids (they had kids in the car).

Of course the Christian had to go into a tirade about why should she have to pay for that person's kids. I shut her up when I asked if that's what they preach at that mega church she goes to .

[IronLionZion]

95. It is what they preach at the mega church

prosperity gospel is that God wants you to be prosperous and give money to the pastor.

There are other churches that guilt people into donating money for the poor and sick but those churches are losing membership.

[Marthe48]

148. repukes are depending on churches to aid the poor

They obviously haven't listened to Joel Osteen. Or read the New Testament. Nor do they have basic human decency.

[Oppaloopa]

189. Good for you

[dflprincess]

170. As long as there have been food stamps there have been people making that argument

A 100 years ago when I was working in a grocery store I never saw anyone using food stamps high end cuts of meat or fish. I have not doubt that is still true.

I'm just glad that now they have the cards to swipe so it's not as obvious to other customers that they're using SNAP. Way back when there was always an asshole around who thought it was his (and it was always a man) right to try to shame the person using food stamps (usually a woman, most the customers were then, no matter how they were paying).

[StarzGuy]

182. For Repukes the ways are endless

This is just the opening salvo. The most egregious is yet to come. Say goodbye to Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security. Us poor just need to _ _ _ and get out of the way so the rich and super rich can take what ever is left over. You see, it is all about the all mighty dollar. They want it all. So, just _ _ _...already.

[ShadowLiberal]

213. The low amount of food stamp money already heavily limits what they can eat

Unless people on food stamps are willing to chip in extra (of the little money they already have) it's not easy to feed yourself/a family on a food stamp budget.

In the US (and some other countries) it's actually the poor who are more likely to be overweight rather than the wealthy, and food costs are at the heart of it.

Fatty foods that are more filling per dollar spent tend to be the cheaper foods. Healthier foods tend to cost more, which puts it too out of reach for people poor enough to be on food stamps.

[Merlot]

8. Who says that people who use food stamps buy twinkies?

I think that's a myth right up there with welfare moms driving cadilacs.

[Bear Creek]

96. No they buy crab legs and steaks

[Cha]

131. Not all people on food stamps

buy those items. Many are vegetarians and vegan.

[Bear Creek]

133. No avocados for you

[Me.]

140. Quite Right

JUst because people don't have scads of money to buy food, doesn't mean they don't know what's what.

[Cha]

142. Precisely.

Mahalo, Me.

[LanternWaste]

200. Is that a standard practice or a statistical aberration?

Is that a standard practice or a statistical aberration? Your objective source for that allegation being...?

[maddiemom]

113. But you CAN buy Twinkies and other junk food with food stamps.

I've always thought household necessities such as soaps and toilet paper would be more appreciated by many recipients.

[Bear Creek]

130. True

When they actually had paper you could get change back and get enough to get a bar of soap or some dish soap or really splurge and get a roll of scott toilet paper

[Me.]

11. How Will You Determine What Food People Buy

without becoming the food police?

[sarah FAILIN]

89. The food police already exists. This is the link to the WIC food requirements already in place

https://www.fns.usda.gov/wic/wic-food-packages-regulatory-requirements-wic-eligible-foods

It has limits on sugar per ounce which I really like. The guidelines are already in place if they were used and expanded to cover all food options

[Bear Creek]

132. Last year

Hamburger was almost $8 lb and ribeyes were $5. People concerned about what other people eat are idiots. They dont want poor people to eat fresh fruit or vegetables. Remember Grassley said middle class and below do not deserve money they will just use it for movies, acholol and women.

[Me.]

139. People Should Lay JUdgment Aside

in these matters. So while I won't call people who for the most part mean well, idiots, I think a reality check is needed. And you're quite right about the prices no longer being relative to value. This all reminds me of Bloomberg wanting to regulate so much of what people ate, it's very Nanny state.

[demmiblue]

21. ...

[RKP5637]

3. Exactly what happens when people vote in sociopaths and sadists! Damn Americans are

so stupid, I seriously wonder if there is any hope for this country after these psychotics finish off the country.

[Willie Pep]

185. I would say mean even more than stupid.

A lot of Americans are going to be thrilled at the idea of taking food stamps from those "damn welfare bums who are eating lobster and steak on my dime." That is the attitude of millions of Americans.

I don't think anything will change until more middle-class people start to feel the pain, like if the GOP cuts Medicare and Social Security. Then maybe people will get mad. But Americans love to punch down on poor people.

Where the stupidity aspect comes in is the inability of so many Americans to see that the Republicans won't just stop at the poor and working-class. Eventually more comfortable people will be targeted for destruction. But by then it will be too late. Americans don't understand that protecting the poor protects them because once you throw the poor under the bus then the plutocrats move up the ladder until everyone but them is reduced to ruins.

[RKP5637]

191. Exactly!!! "then the plutocrats move up the ladder until everyone but them is reduced to ruins."

There is warfare going on in this country, and millions and millions of Americans can't comprehend they are being used as stooges and pawns. And as portions of this society cave in, they are on the list too. Sadly, I don't see a happy end to this, as far too many are far too aloof, complacent and/or complicit. I've always thought there was a perverse/sadistic element to Americans ... maybe to all countries ... like those that take pictures of someone being raped/murdered and don't bother to call 911, but stand and watch.

[Botany]

4. And all those rural Trump voting fools in KY, WV, TN, OH, PA, and NC who get ....

.... food stamps and medicare are going to be fucked.

https://apnews.com/ee19ceb7cf0d4af4ab73c393708148bf/In-the-heart-of-Trump-Country,-his-base's-faith-is-unshaken

"She rattles off all the things the community stands to lose under this administration: The region relies on programs like the Appalachian Regional Commission and Economic Development Administration that provide federal money for job-training, anti-poverty efforts and beautification initiatives aimed at transitioning to a tourism economy. Trump proposed a budget that wipes out those programs. Many depend on food stamps, disability coverage and health insurance through the Affordable Care Act — all of which could be upended."

[Merlot]

12. Also, all those who work at walmart won't be able to afford to work there

And don't food stamps subsidise the farmers?

[Botany]

19. Not to worry they will be able to work @ the coal mines and all the supporting businesses that ....

..... Trump promised will come back.

Fox News, Pastors, GOP Politicians, hate talk radio, PR from big energy companies,
and poor public education has polluted their minds w/toxic lies.

[Merlot]

24. Retail jobs are dissapearing anyhow, no wonder trumpft's bringing back coal jobs

[RKP5637]

29. Yep, jobs are disappearing all over the place for many reasons. Even those feeling safe

and secure in lofty jobs will find them gone too, eventually. The US operates like it was back in the 1800's. It's a fallacy to think hordes of jobs are coming back, which are the economic engine for the US. TPTB need to get their heads out of their butts, but no, because they don't give a fuck about the country or the people. And millions and millions of Americans are so damn brainwashed they can't even comprehend what is going on now or the future.

[maddiemom]

154. Not only are jobs disappearing, and have been for quite a few years now,

more and more jobs that are still around pay only minimum wage. I have never understood how Republicans continually complain that people "don't want to work" and "need to get a job," then turn around and make all those campaign promises about bringing jobs.

[RKP5637]

156. Yep! n/t

[Botany]

33. Trump is not and can not bring back coal.

The utility companies have spent millions and millions of dollars switching their
power plants from coal to gas because it is:

Cheaper
Cleaner
Easier to use

If we can make it the predictions are something like >60% of our electricity will be
coming from renewable green energy sources in the next 10 to 15 years.

[Merlot]

37. Yes, I know that, but his supporters don't.

[Botany]

41. I think many of his supporters know down deep that coal is dead* but to them ...

... liberal tears are sweet and climate change is a myth. In many ways they are
proud to be stupid. Besides it is the environmentalists fault too.


* If gas costs $1.50 a gallon at one gas station and $3.50 at another station
across the road you don't think that those "coal boys" would get the gas for their
pick 'em up trucks @ the cheaper place? The same economics goes for coal vs gas in the
production of electricity too.

[maddiemom]

159. Having lived in three of the "coal mining states,"

I KNOW the people are smart enough to realize the mining jobs aren't coming back. Still, most of them swallowed Trump's promises hook, line and sinker. I could see the wishful thinking in that regard, and the unwillingness to follow Hillary's plan for renewable jobs for the region (too much patience required?). I can't understand a region that once revered the Kennedys for their programs, which were real, could somehow confuse Trump with someone who actually cared about improving their lives. Taking him at face value without even much research required to see what an untrustworthy phony he is?

[cstanleytech]

77. Plus alot of the retail grocery chains will lose money and lay off more people so

really the Repugnants in the House and Senate did not give any consideration to their supposed tax bill other than what it would do for their own pockets.

[xxqqqzme]

112. SNAP dollar generates

Mark Zandi, of Moody's Economy.com, confirmed the economic boost in an independent study that found that every SNAP dollar spent generates $1.73 in real GDP increase. "Expanding food stamps," the study read, "is the most effective way to prime the economy's pump."
Jul 18, 2012



Charts: the Hidden Benefits of Food Stamps
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/10/food-stamps-statistics-snap-economic-benefits/

[maddiemom]

160. But "trickle down" economics WILL WORK this time, dang it!

[roamer65]

70. Good. Fuck them.

[womanofthehills]

212. I live near a rural town in NM - no food stamps would close the grocery store

Our grocery store just reopened after not having a grocery store for over a year (90 miles to nearest grocery story) and a huge part of the income for the store is from food stamps. Without food stamps the store cannot make a profit.

[Ferrets are Cool]

6. Let them eat cake. nm

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. Not that, it's too much like Twinkies.

[Merlot]

25. I always felt like Marie got a bum rap on that one

off topic, but I think Marie was to sheltered to understand poverty and hunger. Outta bread, eat cake, duh!

[sarge43]

71. That came from an anti-monarchist pamphlet, circa 1780's

No evidence at all that she ever said that.

[byronius]

78. Thanks for the heads up. Did not know that.

[AJT]

10. My guess is all "welfare" monies will go into a block grant for each state.

[Merlot]

14. Letting each state decide how it's spent.

We've seen how well that works with the ACA. The red states will spend the "food" money on executive lunches just to make sure they're none left for people who need them.

[AJT]

16. Yep. It will go to private companies to run the programs.

[Xolodno]

32. Pretty much.

They'll claim its more "efficient" at the state level instead of the "cumbersome federal government". Plus as a line item in the federal budget, heck of a lot easier to cut and use the savings to their "pet projects" to punish other states.

Of course one of the big problems with using a "grant" system, its very hard to claim mismanagement from corrupt officials. A situation could very easily occur where a Governor appoints a buddy to be administrator with a seven figure salary to administer a food program. But why stop there? Create a voucher system that only allows you to obtain certain products...products from a specific food industry of which will be enriched as a result....or limit other options. For example, vouchers for fruits from California get limited...but surprise, surprise, you can buy all the hot dogs you want since the manufacturer is located in the state and donates to GOP causes.

[turbinetree]

13. These two assholes are not public servants, no where close, but I remember a man who was

What Inspired Robert F. Kennedy’s Fight Against Hunger

In 1967, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-NY) traveled to Mississippi to check on the progress of the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964, better known as the War on Poverty. What he found, writes Peter Edelman in his book So Rich, So Poor, was “children, thousands of them, hungry to a point very near starvation.” Kennedy was “deeply moved and outraged,” Edelman writes, and made relieving hunger a top priority. These photos illustrate the lives of poor African-Americans in rural Mississippi around the time of Kennedy’s visit — images likely similar to the ones that inspired him.

http://billmoyers.com/content/what-inspired-robert-f-kennedys-fight-against-hunger/


https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/trump-food-stamps_us_593b62f3e4b0240268799ddf

In 1968, CBS showed a baby die on national television.

The hourlong “Hunger in America” program opened with a doctor using his thumb to try to pump air into the lungs of an emaciated baby. Viewers might have assumed the child was starving in some remote, developing country until the narrator assured them otherwise.

“He was an American,” the narrator says as the infant’s shoulder sags. “Now, he is dead.”

The show aired when there was an intense focus on hunger. Congress had held hearings on the issue, and the year before the CBS report, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy (D-N.Y.) made a high-profile trip to the Mississippi Delta to draw attention to the plight of starving children (and to himself, since he would soon be a presidential candidate).

On his visit to the delta, Kennedy saw a 2-year-old girl sitting on the floor in the backroom of a windowless shack. “This little kid seems not to be able to stand up, but seems old enough to be able to stand up,” Peter Edelman, a Kennedy aide who accompanied the senator, recalled in an interview. “So he kneels down and spends, who knows, five minutes maybe ― it seemed like a very long time ― trying to get a response from this child.”

[maddiemom]

117. Old Joe Kennedy might not have been a very good guy...

but he sure raised his kids far better than Fred Trump did his.

[turbinetree]

120. Yepper, spot on

I liked Robert Kennedy a lot, because of what he did when he went into Mississippi and the Appalachian hills.................and he never looked down his nose at the people never, with the attitude that he was better than them, never

[democratisphere]

15. Not only will we be dying in the streets, now we will be starving in the streets.

[dalton99a]

20. The poor must die in the gutter

And that is how you make America great again

[SHRED]

22. The food and ag industry will fight this

[MissB]

36. This.

It’s not only welfare for the poor.

[SHRED]

40. Food goes to the people

Revenue goes to the industries.

[elleng]

27. McConnell and Ryan need to end.

We can do it, at least Ryan's demise is on the horizon. The Anti-ryan, Randy Bryce, is likely the only candidate to whom I contribute, can't possibly afford EVERYONE who deserves it.

Let's DO IT!

[smirkymonkey]

35. Yes! I hate these fucking bastards with all my heart.

How can they be so cruel? The rich deserve tax cuts, but the poor and desperate don't even deserve food? How dare they! I hope they both burn in hell!

[Guilded Lilly]

107. You have the absolute right idea!! Yes, lets DO it 👍🏼

[notinkansas]

204. Yes for Bryce

Although I do not live in Wisconsin, I also donate to Randy Bryce.

I actually would like to have one of his 'Repeal and replace Paul Ryan' stickers. Ryan's agenda is crazy.

[Baitball Blogger]

28. Both are pigs who are getting rich, by killing off the poor.

[SummerSnow]

30. TRUMP-VOTING STATES MOST UTILIZE SNAP (FOOD STAMPS)

https://www.hungerfreeamerica.org/blog/trump-voting-states-most-utilize-snap-food-stamps

[ProudLib72]

31. How many missed meals till anarchy?

I tried Googling it, but I find anywhere from three to nine meals. Why not just skip the anarchy and go straight to hanging McConnell and Ryan?

Here is why their brilliant plan is so moronic:
1) Remove food stamps, let people starve
2) People formerly on food stamps begin to steal food or money to buy food
3) Those people get caught and sentenced
4) Guess who pays to give those convicts three meals a day while they are in prison

Removing a welfare program does not incentivize people to get better jobs or budget more wisely. These people are already working and budgeting.

[shanti]

62. modern day poorhouse

they want us back to that.

[Bear Creek]

86. Double That

With total automation. Already no jobs and there is going to be mass layoffs. Will be in a few years or less. That was one of the main points of the tax bill.

[ProudLib72]

100. Prisons are all going to be privatized

And GOP congress critters will own shares in them. Get caught stealing a loaf of bread, and you're going to prison to make the GOP richer. THAT is the incentive.

[Bear Creek]

129. Not to mention

That hard times usually means an increase in acholol and drug abuse. The law enforcement controls the drugs and the judges usually owns the rehabilitation centers.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

39. So let's say the GOP get their way and eliminate all social programs.

No food stamps, TANF, Medicare, CHIP, Medicaid, Social Security, SSI, Section 8 housing assistance, LIHEAP, or WIC; the ACA is gone so no affordable health insurance; no Head Start, no Pell grants, no free school lunches, no unemployment compensation, no legal services, no public defenders. Nothing. What would this country look like then? Charles Dickens' London? Beggars in the streets, like in Calcutta? Is that what they really want? How can you have a functioning society where there is rampant poverty?

[shanti]

59. My belief

is that the reps want to destroy all of the federal social programs so that if a person needs help, they have to use churches and other forms of charity for that purpose, as it was in the past.

[Volaris]

79. They must have forgot how well that worked...

(Hint..it fucking DIDNT; churches knew it and that's partially why these programs exist in the first place).

[mr_lebowski]

101. The Rich will simply move away and/or hire security forces, both personal and neighborhood

And probably spend a lot of time on their yachts, and in other countries that are still functioning.

[maddiemom]

161. Still plenty of good land in South America!

Just ask the Bushes.

[MarcA]

172. Some will succeed at this but breakdown of societies

have a nasty way of doing away with the authoritarians, plutocrats,
and oligarchs as well, since it becomes every Randian for themselves.
Not all Nazis made it to South America, East Germany and of course
the lovely Ceausescus. Maybe Ryan, McConnell et al need to be reminded
of this and the fact that the "leaders" are only around as long as the
wealthy need them.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

42. SNAP gets one of the best ROIs of any government program. Which just goes to show that it really

isn't about the "business sense" with those frauds. It's all about punishing and shaming people.

[appalachiablue]

122. For the record, Fed. Govt. USDA background info. on SNAP implementation,

credited to Ag Secy. Henry Wallace during the 1930s Depression Era, and FOOD STAMPS first initiated during the Kennedy administration in 1961 to a West Virginia couple.
Times have changed radically in the last 40 years with the steady deterioration of govt. assistance systems for those in need and the relentless, deliberate pumping of distorted information about safety net recipients, govt. services and real agendas.
Lacking some 'miracle' intervention to lessen the painful impact of this drastic new legislative movement, the country will experience a mass assault on the working and middle classes, esp. in many Red States, with brutal conditions and casualties not seen in generations. Understatement.
My grandparents and parents survived during very hard times, the Spanish Flu Epidemic of 1918-19, polio and the lack of antibiotics. They also lived through the Great Depression and World War II. My father was one of 8 children, 10 originally, whose Appalachian parents made sure they made it. To see the country come to this is incomprehensible and a nightmare..
---------------
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
- A SHORT HISTORY OF SNAP

Last Published: 11/28/2017
The idea for the first FSP is credited to various people, most notably Secretary of Agriculture Henry Wallace and the program's first Administrator Milo Perkins. The program operated by permitting people on relief to buy orange stamps equal to their normal food expenditures; for every $1 worth of orange stamps purchased, 50 cents worth of blue stamps were received. Orange stamps could be used to buy any food; blue stamps could only be used to buy food determined by the Department to be surplus.
Over the course of nearly 4 years, the first FSP reached approximately 20 million people at one time or another in nearly half of the counties in the U.S.--peak participation was 4 million--at a total cost of $262 million. The first recipient was Mabel McFiggin of Rochester, New York; the first retailer to redeem the stamps was Joseph Mutolo; and the first retailer caught violating the program was Nick Salzano in October 1939. The program ended "since the conditions that brought the program into being--unmarketable food surpluses and widespread unemployment--no longer existed."
 


- Henry A. Wallace, US Vice Pres. (1940-1945), Sec. of Agriculture (1933-1940), SNAP Program, New Deal Progressive.

- PILOT FOOD STAMP PROGRAM - May 29, 1961-1964
The 18 years between the end of the first FSP and the inception of the next were filled with studies, reports, and legislative proposals.
Prominent Senators actively associated with attempts to enact an FSP during this period were: Aiken, La Follette, Humphrey, Kefauver, and Symington. From 1954 on, Congresswoman Leonor K. Sullivan strove unceasingly to pass food stamp program legislation. On Sept. 21, 1959, P.L. 86-341 authorized the Secretary of Agriculture to operate a food stamp system through Jan. 31, 1962.
The Eisenhower Administration never used the authority. However, in fulfillment of a campaign promise made in West Virginia, President Kennedy's first Executive Order called for expanded food distribution and, on Feb. 2, 1961, he announced that food stamp pilot programs would be initiated. The pilot programs would retain the requirement that the food stamps be purchased, but eliminated the concept of special stamps for surplus foods. A Department spokesman indicated the emphasis would be on increasing the consumption of perishables. Isabelle Kelley, who was part of the four-person team that designed the new program, became its first director and the first woman in USDA to head an action program.
>>Mr. and Mrs. Alderson Muncy of Paynesville, West Virginia, were the first food stamp recipients on May 29, 1961. They purchased $95 in food stamps for their 15-person household. In the first food stamp transaction, they bought a can of pork and beans at Henderson's Supermarket. By January 1964, the pilot programs had expanded from eight areas to 43 (40 counties, Detroit, St. Louis, and Pittsburgh) in 22 States with 380,000 participants.
http://www.nytimes.com/1979/10/20/archives/first-food-stamp-families-remember-1961-eight-test-programs-first.html
More: https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/short-history-snap

[TexasBushwhacker]

45. Fine. Then raise the fucking minimum wage

Food stamps, Earned income tax credit, subsidized housing, etc, primarily benefit families with children. Employers who do not pay living wages are essentially being subsidized by the government benefits being paid to their employees.

Walmart employees are paid BILLIONS annually in government benefits while Walmart uses extra cash on hand to buy back stock and raise the share price. Since 51% of Walmart stock is owned by the Walton heirs, these greedy winners of the genetic lottery are the primary beneficiaries of rising stock prices. The Walton family's wealth is more than that of the bottom 40% of American households, and now they will get to pass on their wealth to their children and grandchildren without paying any inheritance taxes!

[L. Coyote]

49. Minimum wage would be $19 an hour today if it kept up with producvtivity.

We should have a $15 an hour nation minimum by this time.
We don't because the Rs rig elections, suppress voting, stall immigration reform, deny Dreamers, voter ID, etc.

[whathehell]

57. +100. n/t

[Freethinker65]

47. Well, I guess that is one way to kill Walmart.

Walmart workers will no longer be able to use SNAP money to shop at Walmart.

Honestly, I volunteer at a food pantry and there is no way charities can absorb all of the supplemental need if SNAP/“food stamps” is ended completely.

[workinclasszero]

50. Starvation of the sick, old and poor children brought to you by the "pro-life" party folks

Never forget those filthy bastards for this!!!

[Bear Creek]

93. Around here

The grave yards are expanding. In anticipation?

[Maynar]

179. I'd suggest crematoriums

instead, they being much cheaper to utilize than a headstone and grave.

[C_U_L8R]

51. Becuz Republikkkan Jeezuz would let 'em all starve

I'm starting to question what deity the GOP actually worships to.
Could it be....

[workinclasszero]

55. It's this loathsome creature for sure........

Followed closely by this construction of the evangelical reich.......

[MFM008]

187. Rand was a parasite

A soulless, emotionless creature who thankfully smoked herself to death.

[workinclasszero]

219. She was evil

and the republican party loves her stinking philosophy

[FiveGoodMen]

75. Could it be ... ... SATAN!?!?!??!?!

Yup.

If the thing they worship is real at all, it's the devil.

In actuality, there's no fallen angel ruling underground.

The GOP IS the devil.

And we should cast him out!

[C_U_L8R]

109. Sure seem like they embrace anti-christ-ian values

[whathehell]

52. I had to go on food Stamps once as did

Senator Tammy Duckworth & her family. Fuck them and every miserable thing they stand for.

[maxsolomon]

53. Why this will play well in Working Class White America:

RESENTMENT.

People JUST above the cut off for SNAP, even those who may has once used the program, think those who receive the benefits are parasites who don't deserve handouts. They're even more likely to think that if it's brown people who they believe are innately bone idle. Just like Disability payments.

"Oh sure, I was raised on Food Stamps, but that was different. It was me and I deserve it."

[TexasBushwhacker]

60. Remember Craig T Nelson?

[maxsolomon]

63. You can't fix Stupid

Fox is made for Stupid. It enhances it. and Trump knows how to appeal to Stupid.

[muntrv]

54. First, end congressional pay for McConnell and Ryan as well as their health insurance.

[LuckyCharms]

56. Ah, of course it does.

OF COURSE IT DOES.

[Turbineguy]

61. Well, in a way, they are right.

But then we'd need an economy with less inequality. So, it will never happen.

[kydo]

69. That's what I was thinking too.

I would love to see the end of food stamps and many other programs that help the needy.

Not because these programs are not needed, they are!

But seeing the end, at least in my opinion, would mean there was no longer the need for such programs because there were no longer people in need of the services.

We beat poverty! And there was much rejoicing. With beer and cake even.

But until the day that we have found a way to end poverty, we desperately need these programs.

Only people that are heartless would think other wise.

[Leghorn21]

65. I cant find anything on Fox News that mentions McConnell and Ryan agreeing that the

food stamp program needs to come to an end. ? Can anyone find a link to this?

No doubt they would love this...but right now, I can’t find a reference of their saying this on the fox site - ?

I get SNAP benefits, btw, and am so grateful to have them!

[PatSeg]

66. The current incarnation of the republican party

needs to come to an end and very soon.

[mainer]

67. Hey, this Allen Marshall guy has a great twitterfeed

Thanks for including his tweet. Now that I've discovered him, I'm following.

[WiseElder]

72. Gotta pay for those rich people tax cuts.

How many people on food stamps make political contributions. No brainier.

[Turbineguy]

80. That was always the fear of conservatives.

People would vote for politicians who gave them what they wanted.

Oh wait.....

never mind.

[Martin Eden]

74. Republican Jesus commands the faithful ...

... to comfort the rich and afflict the poor.

Oh, and also to poison the environment which sustains life itself in order to increase short term profits for polluters.

[Cryptoad]

81. ,,, and hurry the Endtimes!

Damn Poor Folk let them eat rocks,,,,,,,

[jmbar2]

84. The documentary linked above should be required viewing for every elected official

It left me speechless.

There are those who say we really don't have poverty because people have TV sets. The film explains this very well. When you have no future, you live only for the moment.

This URL should be sent to every member of Congress.

[LenaBaby61]

85. Filthy, disgusting, thuglicans working towards ...

Completely obliterating any vestiges of a Middle-Class we have left here in the USA by making sure that we have a permanent PEAR-SHAPED economy, yes "ridding" the country of "Free-loading" programs like Social Security, Medicare (Even though we've all paid into Social Security, Medicare), Food Stamps, Meals on Wheels etc.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

87. How many in Kentucky are on food stamps?

It's not a state that's doing well.

[lark]

88. They want to kill off the middle class, turning them poor.

Then they want the poor to work hard for slave wages with no medical care and die quick if injured or sick. They want to make us fascist Russia where the oligarchs are some of the richest in the world and working class people can hardly buy bread. The Russia/Repugs are out to steal our country's riches and devastate us, want to destroy our constitution and way of life.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

90. I know what we should do...

Pile all the dead bodies at their homes...on the front lawns.

[smirkymonkey]

123. Eat the rich!

A modest proposal. I can't really say what I would really like to happen to these people.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

150. I got no qualms.

I’ll have my meat tenderized, Thanks.

[videohead5]

173. That reminded me of this

[mr_lebowski]

92. Man, Liberals are never satisfied ... here we have the GOP trying to protect the Earth ...

Addressing our concerns about over-population, climate change, fossil-fuel energy extraction, fertilizer runoff, inhumane practices with the raising of Cattle and Pigs ... all in one fell swoop ... by reducing the world population through mass starvation ... and not one of you guys are happy about it.

I say we applaud the Republicans for this attempt at Responsible Environmental Stewardship ... the more people that DIE, the better it is for the Environment.

I mean, I think it's a great talking point for next year ... 'Actually, Us Progressives Would Like to Thank the GOP for this valiant effort to fight Climate Change and Protect the Environment from the problems created by Human Overpopulation'.

Make their tiny little pinheads explode ...

[Saviolo]

97. This showed up on my Twitter feed today:

Link to tweet

For the cost of the GOP tax cut you could fund the entire food stamp program, which feeds 1 in 10 Americans, for two decades.

Turns out their war on poverty is just a war on poor people.

[geardaddy]

98. ...

End the government subsidized health care for these creeps.

[n2doc]

99. Somehow I think they will try to sell it so that it only cuts Food Stamps to 'the others'

Not to those fine upstanding pale-skinned Trump supporters.

Or at least, that's what the MAGA morons will believe.

[Lithos]

102. This is also a farm/dairy subsidy program

How do you think this and the Free School Lunch program were spun and setup?

So, wondering how this can be played out in Ryan's home state of Wisconsin.

L-

[Corgigal]

103. Crime rate is going to go up

So that big savings on broke people who can't eat, can now go into law enforcement.

We're going to be robbed in grocery store parking lots. Damn, this country is full of guns and I hope the starving people know who is trying to kill their kids. Not us, we want them to get social help.

[Eyeball_Kid]

105. It's bad enough that the new tax laws will flatten or lessen consumer spending,

which is what drives the economy. Disposable income defines consumer wealth. Increases in medical costs due to a weakening of the ACA subsidies WILL decrease consumer spending in spite of nominal tax savings for the middle and working class.

Gutting Food Stamps will further depress the economy as those who use them will have a decrease in disposable income. The same will happen if/when Soc. Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are gutted-- all to finance huge windfalls for the rich.

This is common sense. But common sense takes a back seat to greed and hubris this time around.

[Raster]

111. yeah, well, Comrades McTurtle and Irish Undertaker....

...not everyone has the koch-sucker brothers as their own personal safety net, nor do we have a drug-running Chinese gangster for father-in-law.

[Runningdawg]

119. In part, I believe they say these things

to force armed confrontation in this country. Call it a race war, class war, civil war or a coup. I have heard rwingers say more than once, just get 'em to start killing people and then we can go in and do what needed to be done 100 years ago. Water the tree of liberty, turn this country back to God...MAGA
Using logic, reminding them THEIR people will die? They don't care. If you aren't a landowner, business owner or broodmare, you are dead weight in their eyes.

[DeminPennswoods]

124. When's Ryan going to repay taxpayers the money

they spent to support him and his mom after his dad died when Ryan was a kid?

In fact, someone ought to calculate the total amount SSI paid out to Ryan and what that comes to with compounded interest. When he attacks the social safety net, the first question he should be asked is when will he be repaying x amount and why he thinks he deserved help and other people don't.

[DeminPennswoods]

125. In fact, let's call Ryan what he is: A Welfare King

Has he ever held a private sector job? If not, then he's been feeding from the public trough his entire life.

[maddiemom]

205. The "Wienermobile!" nt

[Golden Raisin]

126. Ayn Rand meets Charles Dickens in Republican Land.

"Are there no prisons?"
"Plenty of prisons..."
"And the Union workhouses." demanded Scrooge. "Are they still in operation?"
"Both very busy, sir..."
"Those who are badly off must go there."
"Many can't go there; and many would rather die."
"If they would rather die," said Scrooge, "they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population."

They want to deconstruct ALL social programs and do not care if people literally die in the street. I guess they'd care a little if any of the peasants were rude enough to inconveniently starve or die near one of the Repubs' elite Gated Communities or Country Clubs.

[samnsara]

127. food stamps are the first safety net...when i worked as a school counselor...

...many teachers used food stamps.

[Bear Creek]

135. It helps

The children in school. And eating different types of food expands synapses in the brain. But I think the republicans are with the companies just wanting barly functioning people because they can cheat them.

[elfin]

128. They are going to hear from Coke, Pepsi, Lays, etc. Donors who are enriched by poor diets

And of course, limiting choices is a dreaded regulation. Those are only to be used against fertile females.

[Lee-Lee]

193. When I was a deputy it was common for an entire months SNAP allotment

To be spent the day it cane on soft drinks.

Those soft drinks then got resold to gas stations and small restaurants.

That’s a very common rural poor white abuse of the system. In some areas it’s very systematic.

I always figured if they ever actually clamped down on the real fraud- both from recipients abusing it and even more so from merchants abusing it- they could fund a lot more good for those really in need. But when we tried to take information on it to the people responsible for investigating that kind of fraud they were not interested in pursuing it.

[lpbk2713]

134. Corporate welfare will be the only welfare allowed.

They are entirely in favor of that.

[bdamomma]

141. The assault on Americans continues

so when they complete their mission of taking away everything from Americans... will we be out in the streets?

McConnell has he done anything for his own constituents??? A big NO.

[FiveGoodMen]

143. There are two ways to get rid of the rich

1) Taxes or other confiscation of wealth

2) Elimination of rich people, themselves

In any case, we must get rid of them.

[Kimchijeon]

145. It'll happen, they just play on the hatefulness of the public

"Oh those horrible poor people, getting lobsters and steaks and living it up on their Foodstamp money"

The propaganda pushers know the audience well, plenty of nasty people would rather all those on EBT/SNAP just die and starve to death as punishment.

In their mind, they think those less fortunate deserve punishment, not "treats" like being able to purchase what they want (ie, punish them so they can't buy steak or Diet Coke or candy, maybe force them to only purchase "bad" tasting bland food) - Never mind the obvious logic that being so destitute to get Food Stamps/SNAP in the first place is punishment enough!! Benefits have been cut drastically in past years and people have to jump through crazy hoops just to get a little pittance of spare change to buy groceries.

Frankly you'd get more funds to spend just panhandling for a few hours, but these hateful people want to "punish" the poor.

They are really nasty pieces of shit - and they don't even have the brains to realize, they most likely will suffer as well when social programs are entirely cut off. VA benefits, Social Security etc. Get ready to suffer yourselve So petty and spiteful.

[TheFrenchRazor]

147. un-f-ing believable. as if the obscenely rich aren't already rich enough. nt

[Pepsidog]

149. When did they say this? You just cant throw this out there without reference or link

[Leghorn21]

162. I just checked again for a fox link, dog, for about the third time today...I still got

nuthin on this story, from fox or anywhere else - ? I dunno.

[Pepsidog]

175. Well thanks for checking. Read about Ryan going after entitlement reform under reconciliation rules

while Mitch was down playing it. The balls of Ryan complaining about the debt and trying to cut entitlements after tax cut. Wow the lack of shame is utterly stunning

[Plucketeer]

151. These clowns stay in office is what needs to come to a close!

"Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan both agreed today on Fox news that the food stamp program needs to come to an end."

How in the HELL do these two sleep at night?

[McCamy Taylor]

152. I say lets eat the GOP. It is all they are good for.

[Irish_Dem]

155. Elimination of the poor, the sick, the old. No profit centers in those groups.

Only keep alive healthy adults who can work and pay taxes.

[rickford66]

157. They just want to punish people.

I've read that food stamps return more to the economy than what it costs and it's probably the highest return of any program. Tax cuts return less than they cost.

[MaryMagdaline]

158. Rot in hell the both of them

[bitterross]

163. Fine, replace it with a living wage.

And minimum basic income. Of course, that will never happen.

[Bear Creek]

192. The answer

Jobs are becoming scarce and automation and robots will take over what is left. Sooner than most think
http://www.gocomics.com/joelpett/2017/12/23

[pbmus]

164. They havent seen protests yet...stop the food stamp program....

[Jane Austin]

165. Jane Austin says . . .

Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell ought to end - their careers.

[rwsanders]

166. Just can't wait to officially bring back serfdom can they?

[Angry Dragon]

167. the soulless creatures need to suck more money

[Honeycombe8]

169. Cruel, greedy, heartless, anti-Americans.

They have no respect for the common man, the average worker, the honest but struggling waitress or waiter or desk clerk.

We MUST take back the country in 2018. We just must.

[videohead5]

176. Food Banks

Even with food stamps food banks are still having a hard time keeping up with demand and they want to end the food stamp program?...they are heartless.

[tclambert]

177. Hey, if poor people can't get bread, let them eat cake.

[Jakes Progress]

178. Because Jesus said to "starve the poor children"

"hate your neighbor"

"do horrible things to others - just because"

Those are in the bible. Right?

[FiveGoodMen]

201. If only Jesus would have a talk with these guys

[Jspur]

180. The rich will

get taken out in this country once poverty reaches third world levels. I'm very cynical that even with a democratic president we are going to eventually get to third world levels of poverty.

[Initech]

181. I'd much rather have McConnell and Ryan end. can we do that?

[MFM008]

186. There go my

2 weeks worth of eggs, milk , bread and lunchmeat......

[MissB]

209. If you would just stop buying avocados for that yuppie avocado toast....

It sucks. The meanness in them sucks. I just don’t understand them. Food stamps help 10% of our population overall- directly. Indirectly it helps much more than that in terms of supporting agriculture and retailers.

[MFM008]

217. Avocados are safe

I know...first they cut them 14 dollar's.
Now they want all of them.
I got under 130.00$$ to begin with.....

[duforsure]

190. Their attacks only beginging

What the KGOP and Putin using Trump want to do is destroy all health care, Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, and tell everyone they have to do it. Then go after wages , and unions to privatize to lower wages, reduce workers rights, and ship more jobs overseas while making us pay more to do it. Their tax scam is already designed to hurt the seniors and trump supporters the most, and now welfare and people with disabilities. They're coming for all safety net programs we pay for and claiming its the deficit after they ran it up, again. What we need is everyone to register to vote, and vote these treasonous criminals out of office. Unless you believe its good they want you to work until you're 70. They'll then after privatizing programs, with it tied to the stock market, they watch it all go away when it crashes, and they pick everything up for pennies on the dollar, the ultimate robber baron move to steal even more.

[BillyBobBrilliant]

194. Not only is it a slap in the face to the needy --

mainly children, but to the farmers that benefit greatly.

[harun]

197. Exactly, which is why I don't think they will touch it.

It is to the benefit of everyone to make a few things lopsided in terms of supply and demand. We make a lopsided supply of housing and food because the alternative get's ugly, very ugly. Housing through massive tax breaks and benefits to developers and investors of real estate (REIT's, etc.). Food production through the use of food stamps, land preservation programs, tax benefits for farmers and food producers etc.

[DownriverDem]

195. And so it begins

This was all part of the plan. Give massive tax cuts to the rich so that there in no money for the programs that Americans need and use. Now my husband and I will keep working since we don't know what trump and the repubs will do to us. Cutting food for folks in immoral. I abhor repubs and those who vote for them.

[pandr32]

198. They want a desperate population

Then they will offer slave wages and company stores again. We will have a new self-appointed noble class of conservative sell-outs and their rich benefactors. We should all remember the choking smoke of our cities and the plight of people who were murdered by hired guns (like Pinkerton) when they tried to stand up for their rights.

[Thrill]

203. All those poor white folks still love giving these pieces of shit their vote

[louis-t]

206. Never mind that the government actually makes money

from the food stamp program. This is about ideology. It's about "I'm not paying for your..." I got that saying from a Republican who I was doing work for. She blurted out those words, then she stopped. That's the only part of the rhetoric she could remember.

[mr_lebowski]

207. Though it wouldn't surprise me that this could be reasonably argued ...

Would you happen to have a link to the numbers/evidence that food stamps show a 'net positive', in dollars, for the federal gov't? Keen to know the details on how that works so I can bust em out at parties and/or the water cooler ... I'd be much obliged

[louis-t]

208. I have a great chart. I'll try to post.

Maybe a link will work.

[louis-t]

210. I have a chart saved but I don't post photos. Here is the

link. Scroll down about half way on the right, you will see a graph in green that says "Economic benefits of various stimulus provisions". That's the chart. You may be able to find a clearer version. Mine is in red.

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;_ylt=A2KLfSe6WEVaO44AkBdXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByMjB0aG5zBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMxBHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzYw--?p=food+stamps+moody%27s+chart+rating&fr=ymyy-t-999

[mr_lebowski]

214. THanks. But That's not showing that the government has a net gain on $$$ spent on SNAP ...

Not that net economic value is not still important anyways, I thought that you were saying the actual government makes money in the net by giving out food stamps, similar to what the Tax-Cut advocates claim about ... tax cuts. I.E. the government money lost to these cuts ... will be replaced and exceeded ... via increases in economic growth.

So, I was wondering what the mechanism(s) involved would be if, in fact, this Food Stamp claim you appeared to be making ... was true.

[louis-t]

215. Every dollar the government spends on food stamps

brings in $1.73 back to the government. How is that NOT a net gain? Everything left of the line on the chart is a net loss. Notice how all conservative ideas are near the bottom. My point is, conservatives operate from an ideology of "I'm not paying for your..." They will bankrupt the treasury every time to fulfill their stupid ideology.

[mr_lebowski]

216. My impression was it was "Government $$$ Spent vs Economic Benefit"

Not specifically 'amount brought back to the Government', but rather the impact on 'the Economy in General' ... is there an article you read that elaborates on exactly what this chart means, is that why you say it means "brings in $1.73 back to the government"?

Not doubting you but the chart alone simply says 'effect on Economy', not Fed Budgets & Cash Inflow.

[louis-t]

222. Ok, "Impact on economy in general."

[brooklynite]

211. Perhaps someone will introduce them to the Red State farm voters...

...I'm sure the meeting will go well.

[ecstatic]

218. Interesting.

Please proceed, rethuglicans...