Soup forgot his password Posted July 10, 2012 Share Posted July 10, 2012 Oh, its felt in SF. Keep in mind that the minimum wage was $10 in 1968 after adjustment for inflation. Rent was cheaper, gas was cheaper, and food was cheaper then too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
injury Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 i see eye to eye with mercer on this. there will always be people who abuse the system, its human nature. rich people abused the system and thats how we ended up with the housing bubble and the subsequent international recession. poor people abuse the system and get $150 a month. which do you think im angrier about? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soup forgot his password Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 I'm shaking my head at you people. Its like you'd throw a bake sale for Nixon if he promised to donate less than 1% to poor people. That's what you're doing, except it's a bill made by agriculture lobbyists who promise to give a percentage towards food stamps while taking nearly a trillion dollars for themselves and jacking up the price of food so you need the food stamps to begin with. Food stamps shouldnt be in the farm bill to begin with. Food stamp programs shouldn't be designed by the same people who profit off the rising price of food. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Incognito Posted July 11, 2012 Share Posted July 11, 2012 dudes gotta start growin their own food. wish i had the property to do so, i've been obsessing over the idea of it for a bit now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
..romero.. Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 i've been on food stamps, and recently too. i won't say that some people aren't abusing the system, but their are still plenty of people out there that need them and need them desperately. the food stamps mean for someone who is truely struggling is a little bit less you have to stress over when you are already at the point of not knowing how you are gonna pay the rent or put gas in your car etc. and on the vurge of homelessness. alot of people might not be "starving" as some of you put it, but that does not equate to eating good either. if you are eating ramen noodles for breakfast lunch and dinner every day for years on end then yeah, you might be fed but that isn't healthy for you. thats how i grew up, ramen and cereal every day. thats no way to fucking live. it just seems like whenever they need to cut spending in washington the first place they go for is the people who are in the most need. i want to see some of these people who are proponents of welfare and SNAP's etc. make it on min wage or less in a city like new york or chicago or la or dc etc. they couldn't do it. people work 3 jobs just to live in the gutter while these people live lovely and don't have to deal with that shit. they're cut off from it. give them a month or two of that lifestyle with no help and see what they think then. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Soup forgot his password Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Romero, here, you and everyone in America on a budget will love this: http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/eib-economic-information-bulletin/eib96.aspx For everyone else, no matter how you slice it, food stamps do more to raise the price of food than lower it. Its an agriculture subsidy in a bill with a bunch of other agriculture subsidies that works just like an agriculture subsidity, except people don't understand how it works. Think about it. You dont have a problem using food stamps because it's not your money. If it was money you earned it would hurt more when it comes time to spend it. Its a fact that people spend money they earn better than money they're given. And even though the money is coming out of my pocket, because the government gave it to you, it never occurs to you to pay it back. I'm not blaming you. This is how the system is designed. This is 100% the system's fault. Now the agriculture industry is getting the same kind of deal. They're getting a trillion dollars in money from the "government" every year. Do you think they're spending that money wisely? Fuck no. They didnt earn it. This also means that food companies don't care how much produce they sell because they get money from food stamps. Same with people. If the government is giving you money you dont really need to work as much. If the goernment gives a food company money it doesnt really feel like lowering the price of apples, especially when the high price of apples is guaranteed to sell because poor people have food stamps. What would happen if you get rid of food stamps? The high price of apples wouldnt be affordable to tens of millions of people that were once on food stamps. That's tens of millions of apples that wouldnt sell. The apple companies would be forced to lower their prices of apples. Maybe they would produce more apples to recover costs. Maybe they'd start producing less apples and reducing farm sizes, which would open up land to new entrepreneurs to grow and sell and compete in the marketplace. Think about why people dont grow their own food like Mr. Incognito recommended. It's because they don't have. They have food stamps, but what would be more ideal, people growing their own food? Or people continuing to spend other people's money? Which one sounds more sustainable? Not to get religious but there are no guarantees in life, and subsidies are a guarantee. They guarantee that tomorrow you'll be able to afford apples, but how is that working out? Not that great, huh? Subsidies are a disturbance in the natural eb and flow. They hinder change and evolution, because they try to duct tape a broken system back together. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shai Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 The US is not exactly known for progressive/logical/compassionate social infrastructure. In fact, we've been way behind the curve in this respect for decades. I'm not advocating a welfare state, but if you are going to make it impossible for a rather large segment of society to achieve the American Dream by denying them the ability to make a living or the potential to own property they can farm, they very well may feel some sense of entitlement to at least a subsistence level existence. It's not rocket science. I think the whole system is rotten, but I don't have any ideas on how to fix it that don't involve pissing someone off. You folks can take it from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
isayedGIT! Posted July 20, 2012 Share Posted July 20, 2012 In the East Bay, Calif. bananas are ON SALE for 75 cents a pound, bread at its cheapest is $3, usually around twice that. Milk is $5 a gallon at its cheapest. This isnt wholefoods either. Forgot I bought a twix bar too and bam, $15. None of this makes sense to me because (in theory at least) we're a totally self sustainable state. We grow enough produce and raise enough cattle so you'd think that the price of gas and subsidized goods from other states wouldnt factor in so much. So go figure. Sir, you're spending too much on groceries! Some friendly advice, if I may . Milk is 3$ and bread is 2$ at safeway right now. Bananas are 19 cents a piece at trader joes the last time I went, 50 cents/LB or so? Hope this helps. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
abcs Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 ts too bad that a lot of americans are just that broke. Im more upset by how much we spend on defense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vour Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 LONESTAR OR CALFRESH WHEN IM IN THE WEST.:D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsmbfan Posted August 10, 2012 Share Posted August 10, 2012 ever since i lost my job i've done everything in my power to recoup the money i've paid in to the government. -- education grants -- food stamps -- free hospital call me crazy, but i think basic living essentials should be given and not earned. 20 inch rims should be earned. food should be provided. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mr. Incognito Posted August 16, 2012 Share Posted August 16, 2012 yeah, you're crazy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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