Nearly 15% of america on food stamps now

[courts]

http://money.cnn.com/2011/08/04/pf/food_stamps_record_high/index.htm

Not mentioned in article: Up 74% since 2007.

[opebo]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

[Grumpier Than Uncle Joe]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

Bull......how about we stop spending 2 billion a week fighting wars?  Will that cover the cost opebo?

[memphis]

What's the income level of the 15th percentile? Maybe $12k/year or so? And how many of these folks are children and elderly? I suppose we should let them all eat cake.

[opebo]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

Bull......how about we stop spending 2 billion a week fighting wars?  Will that cover the cost opebo?

Actually, I'm sure you know that I don't mind the expenditure on food stamps, and would welcome doubling it tomorrow.  The war-fighting is, I agree, a negative and should be stopped but rather beside the point - the point I was making was that it is directly the fault of the globalized/neo-liberal economy, which is a race to the bottom in terms of wages, which has left us with a nation of millions earning the absurd wage of $8-12/hour.  We can subsidize this disaster (essentially we are subsidizing the slave-companies WalMart and MacDonnels) or simply avoid it be ending neo-liberalism and implementing more redistributionist and anti-competition economic policies.

[J. J.]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

No, farmers should.  This program is basically welfare for farmers.

[I spent the winter writing songs about getting better]

I feel like a rich now.

[opebo]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

No, farmers should.  This program is basically welfare for farmers.

Whatever.  It is welfare for farmers and McMart and Walldonalds and half of american companies.

[© tweed]

we need to stop incentivizing poverty and unemployment.  nobody will go back to work if the remaining hard workers of this country are taxed into oblivion to cushion the lifestyles of the idle.

[patrick1]

we need to stop incentivizing poverty and unemployment.  nobody will go back to work if the remaining hard workers of this country are taxed into oblivion to cushion the lifestyles of the idle.

Parody time, I presume.

[dead0man]

straw0man gives this thread his Strawman Seal of Approval^TM

[minionofmidas]

we need to stop incentivizing poverty and unemployment.  nobody will go back to work if the remaining hard workers of this country are taxed into oblivion to cushion the lifestyles of the idle.

Parody time, I presume.

No, no, this is palaeosocialist sentiment. The idle are the wicked rich Anglos. The hard workers are the oppressed Illegals.

[Snowstalker Mk. II]

we need to stop incentivizing poverty and unemployment.  nobody will go back to work if the remaining hard workers of this country are taxed into oblivion to cushion the lifestyles of the idle.

I bet poor people would love to beat your pasty rich ass to the ground.

[J. J.]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

No, farmers should.  This program is basically welfare for farmers.

Whatever.  It is welfare for farmers and McMart and Walldonalds and half of american companies.

Actually, I don't think Food Stamps can be used for fast food.

[All Along The Watchtower]

we need to stop incentivizing poverty and unemployment.  nobody will go back to work if the remaining hard workers of this country are taxed into oblivion to cushion the lifestyles of the idle.

Actually, what has happened is poverty and unemployment have become less incentivized over time.

People in poverty don't have a choice. Their incomes have been sapped away by regressive tax policies that subsidize the very rich.

[opebo]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

No, farmers should.  This program is basically welfare for farmers.

Whatever.  It is welfare for farmers and McMart and Walldonalds and half of american companies.

Actually, I don't think Food Stamps can be used for fast food.

J.J., please remember to read before typing - the whole point of the thread was that keeping these employees for low-wage exploiters like Walmart and MacDongals through food stamps is a subsidy of those exploiters.  If we ended food stamps and all their employees starved to death, well, wouldn't they be in a pickle?

[courts]

Companies which pay less than $15/hour should be taxed heavily to pay for this program, or better yet we should institute a $15/hour minimum wage.

No, farmers should.  This program is basically welfare for farmers.

Whatever.  It is welfare for farmers and McMart and Walldonalds and half of american companies.

Actually, I don't think Food Stamps can be used for fast food.

J.J., please remember to read before typing - the whole point of the thread was that keeping these employees for low-wage exploiters like Walmart and MacDongals through food stamps is a subsidy of those exploiters.  If we ended food stamps and all their employees starved to death, well, wouldn't they be in a pickle?

Dangerously close to "libertarian" thinking there Opeby (either variety). I suggest breaking out the smelling salts and getting a back rub later.

[stegosaurus]

I, for one, don't mind the food stamp program in theory but I am bothered by how carelessly recipients are allowed to use their benefits. People shouldn't be permitted to buy junk food and soft drinks with public money. When I worked at Walgreen's, I would see 300+ pound people charging several candy bars, bags of chips, and 12 packs of soda at a time to their EBT card. Not cool, fatties.

[Lief 🗽]

This number will only go up as we slip further and further into banana republic status (or maybe not. Austerity might mean it goes down and they just starve to death instead).

[opebo]

keeping these employees for low-wage exploiters like Walmart and MacDongals through food stamps is a subsidy of those exploiters.  If we ended food stamps and all their employees starved to death, well, wouldn't they be in a pickle?

Dangerously close to "libertarian" thinking there Opeby (either variety).

I'm not aware of any 'varieties' of that simple-minded philosophy, but my post above was not an argument for ending food stamps.  It is an argument for seizing and nationalizing these criminal organizations, such as Walmart, Macdonnels, etc.