Archived Maine Wants Candy, Soda Excluded From Food Stamps (Wall Street Journal) (archive.is)
submitted ago by cpoakes
Posted by: cpoakes
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Archived on: 2/12/2017 1:51:00 AM
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Archived Maine Wants Candy, Soda Excluded From Food Stamps (Wall Street Journal) (archive.is)
submitted ago by cpoakes
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[–] erietemperance 1 point 2 points 3 points (+3|-1) ago
This is the only rational answer,
We live in a wealthy society, nobody here should go hungry. So we should feed them. We shouldn't just hand out free money, we should feed the hungry.
Put together a weekly pack of food that = ~ 10,000 calories then have people deliver the packages as part of community service. Or better yet, for as long as you receive the food, you are required to deliver the food (after you are off the program).
Right now 1 in 6 people in the US receive SNAP funds, if instead of a debit card full of free money, you got a box of powdered milk, generic hot dogs, and some canned peas every week, I would bet that "magically" a few million people would all of a sudden not need the food anymore.
It would save billions a year.
I personally know / have known at least 30 people who had a "Bridge Card" (Michigan SNAP) and not one of them needed it. Not one. None of them were wealthy, and most of them were slightly down on their luck, but they all could afford some rice, beans, water, pasta, canned food, etc. Not one of them would have starved to death if it weren't for SNAP. And I would bet my nuts that none of them would have taken the powdered milk / hot dog box if it were offered.
A safety net should be exactly that, a safety net, or something there to save you when you are going to die. Not something that everyone just "gets".
If you haven't been to a soup kitchen, or a food pantry, then you are not remotely close enough to death to require a "safety net"
[–] green_man 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Yep, pretty much what I was getting at except you threw in a delivery service.