What would you do?

[Shaggy98]

Kraft why do you always defend the ones who are abusing the system, weren't you the one who was bragging about spending your subsidies on a vacation? There were some very interesting points in the previous posts. Are all SNAP recipients "Crack Heads", no not by any stretch of the imagination. Are all farm subsidy recipients wasting their payments on vacations and other luxury items? Same answer, not all of them. I agree completely with the previous posts, We have been a contributor to 3 different food banks over the years as well as generous donators to various other charitable organizations, "United Way" just to name one. Every year when I see recipients driving nicer and newer vehicles than mine, and they are covered with tattoos and smoking $5+ cigarettes, does it make me want to continue to contribute? The answer is not really, but we continue to do so hoping the goods will reach an actual needy and appreciative family, not someone wasting a generous handout.

[kraft-t]

I'm not defending anyone. I'm just questioning his remarkable ability to pick a crackhead out of the crowd. If you were poor asnd hungry and in that grocery line would you want to be assumed to be a crackhead?

That is the better than thou attitude that Hobby farm identifies, Those of us self righteous ahole that berate the welfare whores while we enjoy the direct deposits and at the same time condemn USDA for their crop reports.

BTW I would rather go on record defending those that need food stamps than millionaire farmers that think they are superior.

[Kay/NC]

Actually, there are some pretty telltale signs of crack abuse, as well as some other types of drugs, including alcohol. He may or may not have been stereotyping.

We all need to own the fact that we get our share of what government gives us. If it was my DP/CCP paymenst that covered our property taxes on the Virginia farms this year, or the cost- share for EQIP practices we instituted on this one in NC last year, we banked it and used it.

I can give you what. I feel are good public rationales for each and every pivate direct deposit. In truth, I do not feel guilty, or even marginally conflicted for taking the moneywe get from USDA. Honestly, I do not begrudge anyone Medicaid, SNAP, or WIC, either.

You are right that when one finger points, three are pointing back.

[buckfarmer]

Around here if a late teenage early twenties person has no teeth I'm going to assume they are a "meth mouth". Probably similar to picking a crack head.
As far at receiving government assistance I've never like the lifelong welfare recipients. I have stop accepting any payments, for now. I do get upset by not even being able to get a topographic map from NRCS while my neighbor gets $10000 to build a pond on his five acre lot. And don't get me started about the tobacco buyout!

[Kay/NC]

Tobacco is something america has had a love/ hate relationship with since. Jamestown in the early 1600s. If not for its economic value, the nation may never have gotten off to a start.

I have raised it, as a child of a tobacco farmer, and young adult, farming with my husband. I held and leased my quota until the buyout, and then took marginal payments for the buyout for ten years.

When the government dismantles a whole economy and way of life for its own purposes, it ought to buy the vested interest of the former producers.

[buckfarmer]

Lots of people around here who never raised tobacco or had bases got lots of lime spread, grain augers bought, fences and corrals built. My dad who was working at the chemical plant and could sign up the first week got nothing.

[idalivered]

BA, instead of the snap card and the possibility of fraud, lets just go to govt. feeding centers. It could be a warehouse type situation, where all types of essential food products are dispensed. Milk, hamburger, rice, sugar, etc. this would be the only option. No one should go hungry. Policing the amounts people hauled out could be a problem. this would also eleiminate the need for local food banks.

[Kay/NC]

There are fairly frequent " commodity distributions" at some locations in our county. It can be as simple as a dump truck full of sweet potatoes being dropped in a town parking lot. There is no checking on how much and who takes what, as far as I have been told. The info seems to go out by carrier pigeon.

[BA Deere]

Hey Ida, my liberal friends tell me that "there is more fraud in crop insurance than there is in food stamps" I don`t know.  There is no question that I am a Rightwing extremist, but if I was a Republican politican it would be hard for me to cut SNAP, because I come at it from the direction that if someone can humble themselves to ask to be fed, we should be decent enough to feed them. I am sure that there are 20-something hipsters that see SNAP and local food pantries as a way to get a loaf of Wonder bread and a can of soup and that is money they will have to spend on more "important" things like video games and Zig-Zag papers to wrap their marijuana cigarettes.  🙂

I think 25, 30 years ago the government gave out free cheese at give away stations, I would imagine that a situation like that where people could fill out paperwork and get a card that`s good for 6 months or so at food stations would help cut fraud and bypass grocerie stores completely.  the stores could be encouraged to donate recently expired food to those stations as well.

I think in the last few years that honor has been stripped from the American people, bankruptcy and flashing a "ETB card" no longer has a stigma in American society.  This is why I rail against America`s loss of living wage jobs.  The cost of that cheap crap that we buy from WallyWorld has a far greater cost than what`s shown on the shelf.

I posted this on the loonie page (Forum)  http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/collecting-donations-for-wal-mart-employees-that-cannot-...   See basically the US taxpayers are subsidizing those that work at below cost of living wages and even that doesn`t cover it anymore and they are reduced to flat out asking for donations.

[dennymal]

Ba;

   Colin Peterson from D-Minnesota stated these facts at the farm bill hearings-crop insurance fraud is 5 times more prevalent that food stamps-The snap program he stated also has the lowest error rate of any govt program. Whether you believe it or not no one including Republicans disputed these facts. As a farmer I'm sure you know how easy it is to screw the crop ins program if you wanted too. Where the problem lies, is what people that get food stamps can buy. Energy drinks, pop, chips cupcakes-I'm sure this was the not the intention of the snap program.