This is merely another example of a more fundamental problem in the US,
namely, the general belief that if you are poor, you are "defective."
Americans have always viewed poverty as the result of some of "defect"
- most often laziness. (Ask the average GM worker and that's what he
will tell you UNTIL he is suddenly out of work with no prospect of
finding a job at a similar wage and suddenly his view of the entire
matter changes). This bias against the poor and the concomitant belief
that anyone trying to get welfare is attempting to cheat the system is
uniquely American. It is echoed in the Sociology of Deviance which has
believed, since the beginning of the 20th c. that all the deviants in
American society are from the lower class.
CHAD
[email protected] wrote:
Jim writes:
IMHO, official statistics on food stamps vastly understate the nature of
the problem (as do official statistics on poverty) for at least two
reason: 1) there are substantial hurdles imposed by the government to
getting food stamps or other forms of aid and many people, although in
need, can't surmount them and 2) good ole American rugged
"individualism" - "I ain't goin' to take no charity, no matter what."
I once had a house-guest for a couple of years who was on welfare & food stamps.
So, I got a close look at the whole scam. I found out two things: first the
process of applying for welfare and food stamps involves literally hundreds of
pages of paperwork. According to my friend, this was mostly because they assume
you are lying and are trying to catch you at it by having you tell a consistent
story twenty different ways. She was an intelligent, literate woman who labored
for hours and hours filling out the paperwork. What about those applicants who
are not so bright and who are not literate?
Second, the food stamp entitlement is not all in food stamps. About half of it
is in coupons that you can only redeem by buying processed foods. And that is a
scam too. For example, you get $4.00 for orange juice; but you don't get to
spend those $4 on oranges and squeeze them. And, if the orange juice costs
$3.00, you either buy 2 (using food stamp money for the extra one) or you lose
$1.00 of the coupon money. There is also a huge subsidy to the dairy industry,
which doesn't sound so bad until you realize that many african-americans are
lactose intolerant.
My basic conclusion after seeing the system up close and personal was that the
"welfare for the poor" part was a small slice of the package the justifying
veneer for an enterprise that mostly subsidized white-collar functionaries,
administrators, and the processed food industry.
I hear they have lately "reformed" this package by allowing food stamp
recipients $5.00/week to spend at a farmer's market. Kid you not.
Joanna
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