Radical GOP governors; feeding children is bad policy

Classic argument of give a man a fish, he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish, you feed him for a lifetime.
I know some parents fall on hard times and there should still be something to help those families during those hard times. it should never be a permanent thing!
This is a tough one since know one wants starving children.
Also it’s kind of a joke.
This program would give families $40 per month per child during the summer. How is that helpful??

Nebraska Governor Stands By Rejection Of Federal Funds To Feed Hungry Kids

 

It’s crazy to think that people can get used to a life where money is given to them by the government so they never do anything to improve their situation or lifestyle and get off that assistance?

I have seen and talked with 20 year olds who looked and acted totally healthy on social security disability come to me for a mortgage. Almost never can they qualify for anything due to the lack of sufficient income. I obviously can’t tell them to get a job but I will say the loan needs more income. I have had multiple people tell me they can’t get a job because then they would lose the disability.

 

I've told the story on here before but I had an employee within the last year that made $21 an hour, full time. He was still on EBT and the reason I know you can buy Red Bulls with an EBT card. I watched him do it. It isn't my business so I didn't ask any questions, but clearly there are some flaws in the system that need to be addressed.

 

You can get a lot of food with $40 a month especially if you’re being smart about it. A loaf of wheat bread? As cheap as two dollars. 3.50 for a bag of apples. 1 dollar for frozen green beans and this doesn’t count smart shoppers doing 2 for 1s etc. for a family with very little income that 40 bucks could be the difference between lunch and no lunch. Breakfast or no breakfast. But yeah, it’s a tiny program. Only 18 mil out of 1.5 bil in federal spending on the state. So it’s stupid to cut. The state sends more money to a single farm in some instances to make the food but we aren’t ok giving 40 a month to poor people to buy the food being paid for by federal dollars? Seems mean and stupid.

 

I'm aware that cash is the most efficient form of welfare. But I'm not sure efficiency is what we need. Welfare doesn't need to be easy. It needs to exist so we don't have people dying on the streets, but outside of that it can be bare bone essentials, imo. I understand the harshness of this opinion, but it doesn't change my feelings on it.

Edit: and I think the biggest detriment to my opinion is food deserts in poor neighborhoods.

 

Okay, now that we've had two pages of weeping and gnashing of teeth of how horrible GOP Governors are, let's see what this really is:

1. It's an extension of a program instituted for COVID relief. So, as most organisms do, government wants to grow and perpetuate itself. What was a "temporary" benefit now becomes firmly imbedded into everyday life. And, not continuing a temporary program = starving children. Okay, right
2. It's not "free money." Anyone who believes that is being foolish. Where does the money come from? It appears that so many folks believe that government money is like "manna from heaven" in Exodus. This is money being robbed from future generations who will pay it back + interest.

The OP is owed respect for his consistent, hyperbolic caricatures of GOP. If the GOP was really so horrible these threads would not be needed.

 

Healthy 20 year olds on disability? (aka committing patently obvious fraud). Sounds like that would be an easy crime to solve. Did you tip off law enforcement?

Unfortunately this comes off a bit like the idea of seeing “all those” welfare queens driving around brand new Escalades.

 

The needs for health insurance or care is a completely different story.
Of course the people I have met is nothing to the amount on disability. Of course most on it really do need it to some capacity.
It doesn’t change the fact there are likely ten of thousands (I’m sure even more) out there who really are not disabled and getting it who won’t attempt to get a job because it means no more free checks.

I have always been ok with assisting those in hard times. I have never been ok with it becoming a permanent thing.

For example, why are democrats against those who are unemployed receiving unemployment passing a drug test (marijuana should be excluded)?
I have even seen democrats argue that those unemployed shouldn’t have to prove they are actively seeking employment.

 

This is why all those expanded school lunch programs I see as generally a very good thing. Even if the quality isn’t the best, at least you know 100% they can get 2 meals and some basic nutrition. No kid should even have to worry about that at all in this country.

Saw a thing years ago comparing our school lunches to other countries, and it was crazy all the junk food we serve in our cafeterias compared to… pretty much everyone else. It’s not like it’s anything new, I remember the cafeteria food being bad. But I imagine with cutting corners and cost cutting it’s probably even worse and more processed now. If the quality was improved on average (and I have no idea how that could happen) having schools serve food is an excellent choice. But I think even with the more standard cafeteria fare it’s still better than nothing.

 

I think it is really tough to understand alternative political perspectives, otherwise those forum probably wouldn’t exist.

It seems weird to me too. However, there are some very thoughtful people, such as Thomas Sowell, who argue that a major driver of racial socioeconomic disparities in the US is the welfare system. He certainly could be wrong, but his argument isn’t devoid of reason.

 

I mean… I just don’t see why cheap welfare programs are always on the gop chopping block. We spend literally billions per year to subsidize farms to make food we say is essential and then as a country we throw away nearly $450 billion in food annually. Instead of subsidizing people to make money we should be helping poor people to access it. Some of that waste is household waste and retail waste, but still. Grocery store waste is still huge in this country. Go check the stats.

 

Somewhere along the way farm insurance became farm welfare. But you are correct it’s crazy GOP grandstands over a pittance while hundreds of billions line the donors pockets. Come to think of it, it’s not really crazy at all, it’s all just basic corruption 101. The food stamp stuff is just another one of those distractions to keep the social warriors/rubes from thinking too hard about the bigger picture.

 

maga will let children in poverty go hungry. Maybe they are high-fiving their big win after Sunday church service today.


“This program would bring $18 million to the state annually to feed more than 150,000 Nebraska children and reduce their food insecurity. Yes, it will cost Nebraska $300,000 annually to administer the program with a 60-fold benefit to improve the health of children.”


https://nebraskaexaminer.com/2023/1...-from-receiving-supplemental-nutrition-funds/

 

Desi turned down this same funding for Fl.

 

Winner. I should post some of the pictures I have from grocery store dumpsters that are customers of mine.

 

Health care is a whole other problem. With that said, Again, people who have disabilities that prevent them from working, I agree they need assistance.

Most Americans don’t use mortgage interest as a deduction because most people file standard deduction being most of us have no way of showing more than 24k in itemized deductions.
Its really only used by wealthy people.

Doesn’t change the fact people should prove they are not on drugs as it helps prevent state money being used to buy drugs.

I know there is a work requirement. I just stated that in the past democrats have tried to argue there shouldn’t be one.

Perhaps part of our economic mobility problem is due in part to people being on welfare with no desire to improve their economic situation?
I think our biggest issue is education. I do think college education is way too expensive. I also think not enough people get into good paying blue collar jobs. It’s only going to get worse as gen z mostly want to be influencers lol.

 

Your vision is 100% accurate - they're not ("always on the gop chopping block.")

Name 3 welfare programs that have been eliminated in the last 25 years by the GOP. Really, where have you seen a decrease in government spending?

Like this program was a "special COVID program" most discussions of GOP chopping block have to do with zero based budgeting. Example:
Program is $1B and proposed "budget" is 20% more or $1.2B.
GOP says - Okay, let the program continue but only at $1.1B, which is a 10% increase over the current program. Next headline you see:
GOP slashes budget for funding of _____________ by 50%!!! Activists decry GOP "with no heart."

Yes, the GOP cut the increase by 50% but the program itself still increased overall by 10%. To slayerzing's post above - this is why you literally don't see cheap welfare programs on the gop chopping block. The programs often still exist and are expanding...just not as rapidly as others would want. The need for faux outrage implies that reality is much better than we're willing to admit. NOTE: and I said the same to flgator's post about crime in Washington DC: the increase of 84% was recent over a COVID influenced year; but, the rate of crime compared to the 1990s is significantly lower.