toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose

[Nathon Detroit]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for November 27th, 2012 10:07 AM

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

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[Lon]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for November 27th, 2012 10:07 AM

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

I don't know. I honestly don't. I have a lot of questions for a thread like this and hope it can rise to the occassion and answer a few of them.
I've never really been an economist so economy ethics are really beyond me BUT I think they are beyond most of the populace too so it'd be nice to get some healthy feedback here:

What stats do you have for this? Is it, for instance, population growth proportionate?

Then, how many of these are working families (it is my understanding that working families qualify now).

Next, is there a disproportionate # of millionaires to populace than prior? Are the wealthy keeping too much and not concerned enough about thier bottom end employees?

In such a case, I'd see welfare as needed but might tax that particular guy beyond what he's paying out. For intance, should we even have billionaires let alone trillionaires in this country? I agree with freedoms, but are we free to exploit employees without recourse?

 

[Sherman]

The TheologyOnline.com TOPIC OF THE DAY for November 27th, 2012 10:07 AM

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

.

There's a number of factors: Laziness, poorer quality education, illegal immigration and an economic slump. There are folks out there that don't want to work--they especially don't want to take the effort to study or take the training to get a skilled high paying job. A low quality education is partly to blame. Kids are not taught a work ethic and not given the tools to help them gain a skilled job. Public education has failed to meet the challenge of helping to prepare kids for life. That's the job of parents.

There is the illegal immigration problem. By law Illegal Immigrants are not eligible for food stamps, but there are loopholes in the system. One of them is that the government rewards homes that have illegals in them! The presence of the illegal alien in the home skews the math making the household eligible for food stamps. Example: A home with 4 people in it that makes 36,000 a year apiece might not qualify. Take out one of the legal folk and replace him with an illegal alien that makes 27,000 or less and walla! you got food stamps.
Source

Obama's bailouts and programs have done nothing for the economy. It gone into a slump, making finding jobs harder. That means more people on food stamps.

 

[sky.]

I don't know if this was the case in the past but college students qualify for a bridge card. There are tons of college students who have them. A lot of them think it's funny. They waste most of the food or they have big parties and serve steak.

People abuse the bridge card. I know of many people who as a favor will give the person who has the bridge card cash and then go to the store with them and use the bridge card to buy food for the person who gave them cash.

Also with a bridge card they are allowed to get a certain amount of cash from it.

 

[PureX]

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

More Americans are out of work, or are underpaid at work than any time since the great depression. So of course, all forms of public aid are being stressed, including food stamps. During the depression we had soup lines. Food stamps are the modern equivalent of those old soup lines.

 

[Granite]

More Americans are out of work, or are underpaid at work than any time since the great depression. So of course, all forms of public aid are being stressed, including food stamps. During the depression we had soup lines. Food stamps are the modern equivalent of those old soup lines.

Pretty much sums it up. It's tough out there, it's desperate times for a lot of folks, and much of the available jobs simply don't provide a decent living. There's no quick fix to any of this.

For anyone out there who read the hypothetical afterword of Griffin's Creature From Jekyll Island, the current state of affairs is downright eerie. Quick summary: after a major economic catastrophe the trend of American life, and culture, begins to drift towards an increasingly pronounced split between marginally middle class and working class individuals. A kind of economic balkanization, with fewer and fewer dollars to spare that highlights the growing distance between whatever remains of the middle class and those on the rung below them. Creepy stuff, if only because it's...pretty accurate.

 

[Nathon Detroit]

One factor might be the Obama administration removing the work requirement for food stamps.

 

[Stripe]

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

Because people tend to get comfortable with what is available regardless of what it is that is available.

Introduce almost anything as a government and, given enough time, the people will tend to become reliant upon it and see no other means of surviving were it to be removed.

 

[PureX]

Pretty much sums it up. It's tough out there, it's desperate times for a lot of folks, and much of the available jobs simply don't provide a decent living. There's no quick fix to any of this.

For anyone out there who read the hypothetical afterword of Griffin's Creature From Jekyll Island, the current state of affairs is downright eerie. Quick summary: after a major economic catastrophe the trend of American life, and culture, begins to drift towards an increasingly pronounced split between marginally middle class and working class individuals. A kind of economic balkanization, with fewer and fewer dollars to spare that highlights the growing distance between whatever remains of the middle class and those on the rung below them. Creepy stuff, if only because it's...pretty accurate.

What's really spooky to me the increasing cognition gap between the middle and upper middle classes and the working and working poor classes. It's as though they are each living on different planets. In many cases they work side-by-side, and yet those in management don't seem to have any idea to what degree their own laborers are struggling, or even care why. It's as if they have selective vision. I think they're afraid that to even acknowledge how badly laborers are being treated these days because it would put their own privileged positions in jeopardy. And they're probably right. Exploitation has become the norm, now, in American business, yet to dare speak of it is to point out the elephant in the room that must never be acknowledged.

 

[bybee]

What's really spooky to me the increasing cognition gap between the middle and upper middle classes and the working and working poor classes. It's as though they are each living on different planets. In many cases they work side-by-side, and yet those in management don't seem to have any idea to what degree their own laborers are struggling, or even care why. It's as if they have selective vision. I think they're afraid that to even acknowledge how badly laborers are being treated these days because it would put their own privileged positions in jeopardy. And they're probably right. Exploitation has become the norm, now, in American business, yet to dare speak of it is to point out the elephant in the room that must never be acknowledged.

And yet one small union put over 18,000 people out of work.

 

[PureX]

And yet one small union put over 18,000 people out of work.

No it didn't. Years of mismanagement did that. The workers simply decided not to take an 8% pay cut because of it. Keep in mind that the "union" is just the workers acting together. The poor market position of the corporation had nothing to do with any labor decisions because the laborers don't get to make any of those kinds of decisions.

The solution to corporate mismanagement isn't to blame the laborers because they refused to pay the consequences of management's bad marketing decisions. If the product they were producing isn't earning enough to pay for the labor involved in producing it, and profit the investors, then they should have tried new products, or new marketing strategies. Or sell the company to someone who will. But blaming it on labor, who have no say at all in the marketing of the products they are making, is just chicken ***.

 

[Zeke]

No sustainable jobs, the few that do exist will also be fading as this planned implosion take its coarse, But why the surprise every prison feeds its inmates, and also have some who are allowed to work for extra privilages, so you may think your sitting on some moral perch looking down on the other inmates you perceive as lazy or worthless but your just as dependent on the goverment as anyone else.

 

[chrysostom]

high unemployment is a key factor

that should be obvious

 

[bybee]

No it didn't. Years of mismanagement did that. The workers simply decided not to take an 8% pay cut because of it. Keep in mind that the "union" is just the workers acting together. The poor market position of the corporation had nothing to do with any labor decisions because the laborers don't get to make any of those kinds of decisions.

The solution to corporate mismanagement isn't to blame the laborers because they refused to pay the consequences of management's bad marketing decisions. If the product they were producing isn't earning enough to pay for the labor involved in producing it, and profit the investors, then they should have tried new products, or new marketing strategies. Or sell the company to someone who will. But blaming it on labor, who have no say at all in the marketing of the products they are making, is just chicken ***.

So be it!
Nothing is better than something so long as you can feel superior about it.

 

[Granite]

So be it!
Nothing is better than something so long as you can feel superior about it.

They were being screwed and decided not to go along with it anymore. You can only push people for so long and take advantage of them for so long before enough's enough.

 

[bybee]

They were being screwed and decided not to go along with it anymore. You can only push people for some long and take advantage of them for so long before enough's enough.

True. Of course, now the taxpayers pick up the bill.
Are you sure they were being deliberately screwed?
I guess the only way to have decentcy and uprightness is to have labor leaders take over the running of companies!
What kind of wages were they earning?
What were their benefits?
What are they now?

 

[Lighthouse]

toldailytopic: More Americans are on food stamps than ever before, why do you suppose that is?

Because unemployment is being lowered by raising the level of underemployment.

walla!

*cough* voila *cough*

:noid:

 

[Granite]

True. Of course, now the taxpayers pick up the bill.

What "bill" are we paying because Hostess is bankrupt? It's not like--hmmm--Washington bailed them out, bybee. Or would you have preferred that?:think:

Are you sure they were being deliberately screwed?

Yes. I've looked into this. Have you? Hostess has gone through two bankruptcies in less than a decade. They rewarded their executives and continued to gouge and gash their workers. Typical.

 

[chrysostom]

They were being screwed and decided not to go along with it anymore. You can only push people for so long and take advantage of them for so long before enough's enough.

did you look at the work rules?

products like Wonder Bread and Twinkies were not allowed to ride on the same truck

 

[bybee]

What "bill" are we paying because Hostess is bankrupt? It's not like--hmmm--Washington bailed them out, bybee. Or would you have preferred that?:think:



Yes. I've looked into this. Have you? Hostess has gone through two bankruptcies in less than a decade. They rewarded their executives and continued to gouge and gash their workers. Typical.

The greed at the top is disgusting. It percolates down through the corporate layers and all are infected.
Greed is greed.
The unions are as guilty of malfeasance and mismanagement as the company management.
One thing about you Granite that can always be relied upon, You always have the last word because you do not grant intelligence or concern in your opposition. Further, it is just stunning to me that you are always right.
What a guy!
What a pain in the a--!