Okay, let's talk
about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as the Food
Stamp program. I will be saying a lot of things I have said before, but maybe
it's time.
One thing I have
mentioned before is that there were a few conservative writers I would read
regularly, because it's important to be exposed to other views, but that they
were getting much worse. I remember that with Rich Lowry, the turning point was
when he wrote an article on gun control where he used an anecdote and said he
didn't care what the statistics said.
Stories are
powerful, and I get that, but they can also mislead. Statistically, SNAP has a
low incidence of abuse, and a good track record for being a temporary program,
helping people through hard times and then they get off. Even the beach bum
band guy says he is setting up his career, which would theoretically result in
him paying taxes later. But why pay attention to statistics when you saw
someone with a manicure using that card!
And that is truly
the train of thought. People complain about people who have tattoos, or who
look like they work out, or who went into a Subway, or who bought cookies, or
who have cell phones and cars.
Remember, the idea
of the program is that you help people get through a time of low finances so
they can end up doing better financially. Many of the people on SNAP are
unemployed, and job hunting. One thing that is helpful for job hunting is have
a way for potential employers to contact you. I personally am against
eliminating land lines in favor of cell phones, but I know a lot of people have
done it. I also know that even if you have your land line, using the cell phone
number that is only for you and that you always have with you may be better for
job hunting purposes.
Those are the
thoughts that I have had on my own. Reading more about the subject, I have also
read that a lot of people job hunting get temporary use phones, and there are
programs that help with this. I was also reminded that you may not be able to
easily get out of the contract that you signed when employed.
That leads to
another key point. Sometimes you have things before you lose your job, and you
still have them while unemployed. This includes tattoos. A person with a tattoo
paying for groceries with a SNAP card does not mean that the tattoo was
purchased with SNAP funds, or afforded because using SNAP for food meant they
could blow their other money on tats.
Consider the car.
Paul Ryan would like to eliminate people who have a car worth more than $5000
from the program. Here's something else I was reading about - economic recovery
has been moving faster in cities where you have mixed income housing and
businesses close together, because people can get to jobs. Great news for those
cities, but perhaps a chilling reminder for areas with a lot of sprawl. For
someone who needs to obtain a better income, is handicapping them by making
them sell their car really a good idea?
There can be
explanations for anything. Maybe when you see that manicure, a friend did the
nails, or she saved up for a treat, or thought it would help for a job
interview. Or maybe they are abusing the program. My sisters went to school
with someone who doesn't work, and honestly she probably could, at least a
little - the denial of her disability claim seems to imply that.
Unfortunately,
somehow that seems to translate into people's minds that it is a bunch of users
and abusers and exploiters, you know, like the families of active duty
soldiers, and people who work really crappy jobs.
Actually, that is
the biggest problem right now, and it is not a failure of SNAP, but of society.
People who work full-time at many jobs can't afford to feed their families.
Active duty military can't feed their families. A program that is designed to
help people through hard times loses effectiveness if hard times don't end.
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