Psst! GOP: Wanna get folks off food stamps?

[kpete]

A Census Bureau report released on Tuesday found that the program had kept about four million people above the poverty level and had prevented millions more from sinking further into poverty. The census data also showed nearly 47 million people living in poverty -- close to the highest level in two decades.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dan-froomkin/writing-a-neutral-story-a_b_3963057.html

Here's my budget:
by Dave in AZ - for Living on less than a Living Wage

1,000.00 - take home pay
- 750.00 - 1 BR in city center (I need good access to public transportation, car died
- 150.00 - average monthly utility coast
- 30.00 - monthly Suntran bus pass
- 200.00 - monthly food cost (since that what I got on SNAP, I'll use that
_____
- 130.00 - negative monthly cash flow, even before telephone, clothes, shoes, etc.

Sorry, Mr. Boehner, I'd go broke.

Dear Republican Congressmen Idiots: Getting food stamps isn't stopping able bodied adults from being productive, responsible adults and working full time. They are working full time, and they still need food stamps to make it because the minimum wage isn't a living wage! [font color=red]Wanna get folks off food stamps and reduce the size & cost of the program? Raise the minimum wage! If the federal minimum wage laws had kept up with inflation, the minimum wage would currently be $10.74. That would be somewhere to start. And, if you guys would throw in a jobs bill or two, that would be really swell.[/font]

more:
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/09/20/1240192/-Psst-GOP-Wanna-get-folks-off-food-stamps

[SummerSnow]

1. Best post. Simple and to the point. A no brainer. Oh but the GOP do not have brains....or souls

[stonecutter357]

2. K&R

[Voice for Peace]

3. even 10.74 isn't a living wage..

[Lancero]

7. It's a lot more

Livable then the current minimum wage.

[Boom Sound 416]

4. 1,000 per month take home?

[csziggy]

9. Arizona minimum wage is $7.80 an hour

For a 40 hour week that is $312 or $1248 for 4 weeks before taxes, FICA, etc. are taken out. $1000 is maybe higher than a minimum wage worker would take home.

[Boom Sound 416]

22. Thanks

I didn't know if missed a detail in the example.

[kpete]

18. back in the early 70's

while mr. pete was in school, I worked at a printing company and made not quite $750.00 a month.

Rent was only $450 and I rode my bike to work, but after taxes, gas and electric, tuition and books, we had $13.00 left over for food. We applied for and got Food Stamps. Also back then, we would get a can of butter, some powdered eggs and milk. For my 20th birthday, mr. pete gave me a 3 Musketeers bar.

40 some years later, neither of us forgot that help we got.

We were by no means lazy, we worked odd jobs, took walks for entertainment and read to each other rather than going to a movie.

We no longer need that kind of assistance, but both of us KNOW that we would not have been able to achieve the life we have now without food and shelter.

We are not embarrassed that at one time in our lives, we needed help, asked for it,
and got it.

kp

[Boom Sound 416]

21. That's a great story

Why did my post motivate you to tell it

[kpete]

23. your sig line

Steer by your head, not by the boat

reminded me of mr. pete
he has never steered me wrong

PEACE,
kp



peace to you Boom Sound 416

[Boom Sound 416]

25. Peace

It's the family motto.

Me the same

[shenmue]

5. Maybe passing a jobs bill would help

But then, they'd have to stop being obstructionists, and that's their favorite game.

[icarusxat]

6. If they voted to increase the minimum wage...

where would they find the time for a 47th vote to defund the affordable care act?

[Tigress DEM]

8. SNAP! A living wage - what a great idea!!

SNAP isn't making poor people lazy.

It's subsidizing Wal-Mart et all to have INSANE profitability while paying their employees slave wages.

The rethugs have already "fixed" the system to "work" for them and be "broken" for everyone else.

TIME TO END CORPORATE WELFARE and create an economy that WORKS - PERIOD.

[Laelth]

10. Good advice. I doubt the GOP is listening, however.

-Laelth

[Downwinder]

11. index the minimum wage to inflation.

Start out with $1.00/hr. in 1960.

[oldandhappy]

12. Job and living wage

That is how we get people out of poverty. Jobs, Mr. Speaker. JObs.

[proReality]

13. The Republican response to Dave might look something like this:

Stop leaving your lights on all the time and use a microwave for cooking instead of your electric stove, your electric bill will go way down. Also, if you walk to work you'll save on that bus pass.

Really? Clothes and shoes? Certainly you could shop at one of those places, like Goodwill, to save even more money. And if you'd stop buying all that lobster and caviar you wouldn't need to be on food stamps!

[NewJeffCT]

14. not to mention, changing to a diet of

instant Ramen noodles, which are really cheap at your local Costco or Sam's Club if you buy in bulk.

And, you can get one of those free Obama phones to take care of your phone bill (yes, I know it was Reagan that did the initial "free phone" program, which was expanded by Bush... but, Republicans call it Obama's free phone program.)

[The Wizard]

15. How would the Pope

evaluate these heartless money grubbing thugs who relish in taking food from the hungry?

[pffshht]

19. It's 2013, not 1013. Why should anyone care what the Pope thinks?

The Pope doesn't legitimately speak for God. No human ever has.
He's just a relic of a time when the Church tried to be yet another imperial, worldly monarchy.

And the vast majority of self-described Christians do not pattern their lives after Jesus's example even the slightest bit. If there is such a thing as Heaven, I would expect an honest Satanist to have a better chance of going there than a phony Christian.

[Uncle Joe]

16. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the thread, kpete.

[Wounded Bear]

17. They did pass 30 jobs bills....

of course they all involved lowering taxes so the 'job creators' could get to work creating more jobs.

[TNNurse]

20. Apparently

the Republican members of the House and Senate do not use logic, basic math or any sense of fairness and common decency when they make decisions about other people. They do pretty well for themselves. Their healthcare, gym membership, parking and some of their travel expenses are paid in addition to their salary.

Some of them are just heartless, not all but you know which ones I mean.

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. Cost of that apartment in 1995 was about $375.

[RoccoRyg]

26. damn straight

I actually work at a welfare office, and I find worthless paychecks in the mail all the time. Mcdonalds, Walmart, Home Depot... these people are getting paid peanuts. Raising the minimum wage would eliminate the middle man and make my job a lot easier.

[SheilaT]

27. Raise the minimum wage.

Pass a real jobs bill.
Raise taxes on high incomes.
Don't let corporations shift profits around so they don't pay taxes in this country.

Those thing will just get us started. We also need a return of strong unions.

[easychoice]

28. As I recall $16.00 p.h. is about right in Seattle if you are single and living alone.

Here is a calculator from M.I.T. for the U.S.A.:

http://livingwage.mit.edu/

and for Washington:

http://livingwage.mit.edu/states/53/locations

[Cha]

29. And, Pass President's Obama's JOBS BILL!

[Enthusiast]

30. Kicked and fucking recommended! *

[Cleita]

31. I was going to say, give people a job at a living wage, which today would be somewhere

between $15 and $20 an hour. We have all those public work projects Obama wants to put people to work doing that he has begged Congress to pass the bill for. That would get most people off of food stamps and stimulate the economy as well.