Powerful reflections re: the working poor.
Thank you for posting that. I was much closer to working poor than my children are. I hope they understand how lucky they are.
I get the feeling it’s more of a performance piece.
It’s harder nowadays to misuse food stamps, but some of us older folks remember the days when they were used as currency in an underground economy so people could buy liquor and cigarettes, as well as some illegal things. You used to be able to use them to buy unhealthy party food like soda and potato chips too. When my own D was in Head Start, I was surprised how many toddlers in the program had hair extensions costing several hundred dollars. So there most certainly have been abuses of government programs, but I agree it’s wrong to generalize and assume that everyone is just milking the system.
My mentally ill son (24) is on food stamps and I’m very thankful for the program. That plus monthly Social Security payments and subsidized housing means he can be “independent.”
What’s wrong with poor people buying soda or potato chips?
Maybe this is fiction. The author graduated from UCLA. I agree with a lot of the sentiments, but the details seem unrealistic to me.
What details seem unrealistic to you, @hunt?
Article reflects the accounts I’ve heard from older childhood neighbors who lived through the Depression as children/young teens.
It also similar to what my own parents and older relatives experienced during the Second-Sino-Japanese War, Chinese Civil War, and Taiwan during the '50s.
One example related to food include accounts of being lucky to have one bowl of extremely watered down rice gruel with a few grains of rice each day or every other day. Bonus points if one had some salt or better yet…fried watermelon rinds(yes…rinds…the stuff most of us nowadays normally throw away after eating the watermelon).
Another was my father’s account of being a full ride(including all expenses) student at the #2 university in Taiwan in the early-mid '50s. Dorm cafeteria food consisted of cooked soybeans which were made so badly and served every meal during his 4 years in college.
Food was so bad and monotonous that when he went off to do his mandatory 2 years of military service as a conscripted junior officer afterwards, he felt the Army food…including '50s era C-Rations was culinary bliss.
When you’re spending someone else’s money–money they didn’t give you willingly but was taken from them in taxes–it’s bad form to misuse it. Food stamps are designed to meet people’s nutritional needs so they don’t starve.
“yes…rinds…the stuff most of us nowadays normally throw away after eating the watermelon”
Pickled watermelon rinds are super tasty - and I’m sure were born out of necessity when nothing went to waste.
From an economic utility standpoint, isn’t it better to have food stamps be good on everything (minus perhaps alcohol and cigs) than to engage in a costly bureaucratic program of determining which foods are ok and not?
A few months ago an aunt started to experiment with this after my uncle/her husband passed way recently.
She wasn’t able to do it while he was alive because it was a strong negative reminder of the harsh horrific memories of the Imperial Japanese invaders and the destruction/misery they wrought on the Chinese people…including kids like himself.
One could say the act or even mentioning the idea of cooking watermelon rinds triggered in him what we’d call PSTD flashbacks to horrific memories of seeing Japanese invaders coming into his hometown as he and his family were fleeing in terror or seeing bayoneted/shot bodies of civilians who offended Japanese military personnel in some way.
Aunt was too young to remember as she was still a baby/toddler whom older siblings effectively shielded from the worst effects/sights of the war.
I suspect foods are tagged as WIC and food stamps eligible in the computerized systems stores have–just like health items are labeled on the receipt for tax purposes. I don’t think it’s that big of an administrative deal, which is why now they control the purchases more.
H was very happy to join the school swim team and finally get hot showers everyday at school.
A flushing toilet at school was an improvement.
Ate bologna and cheese sandwiches on white bread with ketchup everyday because he could eat many of them to fill up. Cafeteria food was too expensive but absolutely delicious to him.
Family drank hot tea with a little sugar and milk as their treat.
Was heartbroken when his dad sent the church basket back with Thanksgiving dinner because he was too proud to accept it.
We ate oatmeal daily for breakfast and peanut butter & jelly sandwiches for lunch for many, many decades. It helped us be able to pay our other bills and to this day, am no longer fond of peanut butter nor jelly. Poverty which requires very limited nutritional consumption is very tough, especially on growing children.
Someone - undoubtedly a government employee - needs to decide that a certain food is acceptable for WIC and is food stamp eligible before it ever makes it into the big box database. I don’t have any faith that the government is making good decisions for our health. Who thinks government cheese is a healthy choice? I don’t think people want to be on food stamps, but sometimes there is no other option.
I grew up poor like that for a few years, rice with ketchup, macaroni and margarine, retreads coming off the tires and stranding us (when we had a working car). I don’t recommend it if you have a choice, but that choice is missing from most peoples’ lives. A large part of our factory floor is refugees from SE Asia living on Ramen noodles, heading to a second job when they leave this one. An 11 year-old boy, son of one of our employees, died because his parents couldn’t afford the $1000 co-pay on an ER visit with our lousy insurance.
As to food stamps, S2 needed three 2-liter soda bottles for class today. It was the first time I bought soda in 10 years unless you count my ginger beer habit for Moscow mules. At 89 cents per 2-liter bottle, it is cheaper than a 16 oz bottle of water, and at 8 calories /cent, about the best bargain in the grocery store.
I was on food stamps in undergrad and have never felt an ounce of shame. Not did I feel bad when I bought pop.
Everyone in this country is subsidized at some level. Food stamps are such miniscule subsidy that to shame people for using them is down right laughable.
How is it misuse to buy soda or potato chips? The idea that it’s wrong to buy things is the idea I’m questioning here. Food luxuries are comparatively cheap and still provide calories. There is this weird idea floating around that anyone receiving government low-income benefits (the middle class ones don’t count, of course) shouldn’t be buying anything that makes their lives better or enjoyable. It’s a weird form of economic puritanism.
Also, a quick look at [url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supplemental_Nutrition_Assistance_Program]wikipedia[/url] suggests the original purpose of food stamps was to sell surplus food production.