Food Stamps For All! How hard could it be to get done?

[otherone]

I propose that every citizen receive food stamps. Those that do not use their food stamps can receive a tax deduction. Everyone wins, everyone profits!

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Wrong approach.

Everyone gets a livable minimum guaranteed income, enough for food, minimal housing, etc. No food stamp or "welfare" bureaucracy.

But that's too simple by at least 3 orders of magnitude.

[otherone]

2. thanks for the reply

peace and low stress..

[Bonx]

9. What if I spend it all on taffy ?

Who's going to pay my rent & light bill ?

[Jackpine Radical]

11. Who's Taffy?

And is she worth it?

[SammyWinstonJack]

15. heheheh

[upaloopa]

3. Why stop there? Free houses for all!

Free clothes for all!
Free basic necessities for all!
Now let's just raise your tax rate to pay for it!
Or let's find jobs for all and unions for all and living wages for all so that there is a return on our investments.
You can give a man a fish for today or you can teach him to fish.

[otherone]

4. we need a return on our investment

no doubt..

[LanternWaste]

5. and watch Wall Street force him to pay exorbitant rates for the lake, the rod, his time and the fire

" or you can teach him to fish..." and watch Wall Street force him to pay exorbitant rates for the lake, the rod, his time, the fire to cook it over, and the air used to assist the fire.

Although I do realize that simplistic platitudes and bumper-sticker wisdom is often the best many have to offer.

[upaloopa]

8. Ok let's look at it another way

I need to go to the doctor today, I'll have him send you the bill.

[Gormy Cuss]

7. Teaching someone to fish is useless when there's no access to the water where fish live.

There are so many structural barriers to universal self-sufficiency now that a fresh approach is needed. Universal health care access, for example. A minimum wage that is a living wage as another. Want jobs for all who seek them? Lower the number of hours in the work week. Stop soft discrimination in the form of credit scores, bias against those who have been convicted of crimes and have served their sentences. Stop age discrimination. Encourage OJT. Encourage workplaces with supportive services such as on site daycare, paid family leave, paid sick time, and at least 4 weeks of paid time off per year.

[Vashta Nerada]

13. My fish's water was poisoned by fracking waters

[KurtNYC]

16. A government issued credit card with no limit and that you never have to pay off!

Think of how much THAT would stimulate the economy! Sure the US dollar would crash within a week or two but hey "everybody wins".

Seriously, the cost of food isn't the reason people are broke. The fact that people struggle to afford relatively cheap food shows how much everything else is sucking out of their net worth -- taxes, insurance, rent, mortgages, gasoline, cars. Most personal bankruptcies in the US are due to health care costs.

[bobalew]

6. Yeah, I already KNOW how to fish:

Problem is, there's some big-Ass CORPORATE boat out there taking ALL of the fish... And leaving none for the rest of us... NOT paying their fair SHARE of the taxes..... IN fact AVOIDING that ALTOGETHER... And Charging the rest of a PREMIUM for the Damn Fish MEAL, to PAY for the Boat, and a REALLY BIG SALARY for the Captains!

[Warpy]

10. I would prefer giving my food stamps away

because they don't provide adequate nutrition to kids, especially. The combination of WIC and food stamps has lowered overall mental retardation rates, a huge success to humane people but a failure to Republicans who want docile cannon fodder and underclass workers.

What we need to do is reset the minimum wage as a living wage with food stamps issued to people who are temporarily or permanently unable to join the workforce. We also need to index it to inflation, the market basket of goods and services restored to what it was before Greenspan fucked it up to deny senior citizens proper COLA increases on their social security.

Those will work a lot better than your idea.

[LoveIsNow]

12. I have had this same idea.

Everyone pays a specific tax for it and everyone gets something back, which for almost everyone would be more than they paid.

Moreover, the government could add subsidies and restrictions to improve the public health (i.e. you can't use them to buy soda or candy, but your food stamps are worth double towards fresh produce, brown rice, etc.)

Now,I don't think this is feasible, because people are so scared of socialism in this country, but I think it would be effective and would reduce the resentment people have towards food stamps recipients (people love Social Security and Medicare because they all get them). It would frame it as a floor beneath which no one could fall, rather than a safety net that only kicks in for the poor. Maybe, however, some rogue liberal state could get a waiver and do it on the state level.

[otherone]

18. perhaps Vermont

::

[aikoaiko]

14. That dish is pretty much all that food stamps can buy, isn't it?

[Tuesday Afternoon]

17. No thanks. I'll pass.

[pipi_k]

19. Don't

Need them and would feel guilty using them

Would give them to a family member who needs them more

[playthegame]

20. I'm all for it!

Pretty ridiculous we have so many starving in a country like ours!

Our tax money goes to a lot worse things, like stupid pet projects and ear marks that over pay and under deliver.

$250 Per person would be be right IMO.

[otherone]

21. thanks for the reply

http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20140419/NEWS/404190315
Newburgh food pantry shares Easter spirit

Over three hundred families needed help in Newburgh this year..