President Trump Proposes Major Changes in Food Assistance Programs

[Richard]

So, should we do the same thing for the general food assistance program? After all, the move from the government directly supplying food to those in need to our current EBT based program was also privatization.

The prison privatization also involved supplying and cooking the food,which was a disaster just like the prison for profit mess,when they say private companies with ebt it is already established and groceries would be ordered and deliverd online ,wal mart,Amazon,Aldi would probably be good because you really cannot taste the difference in their house brands and they really only stock the basics.But in smaller packaging,so not much savings.

I can imagine the same set up as used in stores already to reject non ebt items will still be in place,they will just add more.

Easy enough to pick the basic food groups and go from there,I do not think potato chips would be considered a part of the starch group.

Not gov supplied but because it was cheaper,we grew up on powered milk and corn flakes for breakfast and it was nasty.

[Canadian Visitor]

I'm always at a loss that this program, in its current form, exists at all.

I'm more perplexed still at people who want to take its worst aspects and magnify them.

***

If someone is so poor that they realistically can't afford enough healthy food to eat, the problem is not lack of food, but lack of money.

Period.

That lack of money [[when measuring income) is not a function of how they spend their money; its a function of lack of employment, under employment and/or low wages.

Period.

While we might all broadly agree, that anyone unemployed should find work; someone underemployed should find more work and someone w/low wages should persuade their boss to give them a raise, or go find a better job; we all know its not that easy.

Even where it is 'easy' in relative terms, its rarely so quick that it addresses any urgent needs in respect of malnutrition.

A program to rectify low-income should provide sufficient income so that the person can realistically manage [[albeit frugally).

Belabouring the program w/endless conditions, may only be spent on food, only this type of food, only at these stores, only if you have a job, only on Tuesdays, when its raining, between 4-7pm is so much nonsense.

Its expensive to administer, its complex, it adds costs, it obstructs people's ability to use the money for the things they need most, to prioritize for themselves and ameliorate their own situation.

***

There are lots of 'conservative' ideas that can help those who are poor, and lots of Liberal ones that don't.

But making programs cumbersome, complex and prescriptive is rarely the answer.

You want to help people make good choices w/their money, and for their health, put meal planning, budgeting etc. into the middle school curriculum.

You want to help the current post-school generation w/same; offer those programs for free, on weekends, or evenings.

You want to help people get better jobs, let them go back to HS and/or get their GED for free; offer them free assistance w/resume writing/production [[paper) and posting [[online); along w/job interview training and and job search assistance.

Those things help a lot more, then endless infantilization of poor folks; and micro-management by the state.

[oladub]

It makes sense to provide a variety of options to feed the poor. Home delivery makes sense if someone can't get out. Otherwise, vouchers for healthy food are probably much cheaper than government doing most anything. The Postal Service could even be contracted to make home necessary deliveries especially in rural areas.

But most mass feeding programs, educational, and housing programs are powers delegated to states, not the federal government per the 10th. Amendment. The federal government is already $20T in debt [[$30K/American) with nothing being done to limit that debt even under Trump. That isn't going to end well. Many states do have constraints on running up debt, particularly long term debt, which is a practical reason for states to take over necessary things like feeding the poor. I support raising state taxes if necessary to do so.

[aj3647]

I'm always at a loss that this program, in its current form, exists at all.

I'm more perplexed still at people who want to take its worst aspects and magnify them.

These programs subsidize the existence of a low-wage corporate workforce. WalMart and McDonalds don't have to pay their workers a living wage because the government picks up the slack via social safety net programs like TANF, WIC, SNAP, and Medicaid. Without these programs, many of the lowest-paid workers wouldn't make enough money to survive or take care of their families, even working full-time.

[Richard]

^ I thought that was the whole purpose of immigration.

I am with Canadian visitor on this one or the give a man a fish and feed him for a day,teach him to fish and he can feed himself for life.

There are a lot of programs out there for training and advancement but they are small scale and not geared for the masses.

I have an acquaintance that has a large school that teaches barbers,and hair salon related,it is the majority supported by government grants and school loans,a lot of the graduates go on to open their own salons,that is a good payback in many ways.

I think long term country as a whole it is more beneficial to spend more short term to provide training and further education and keep the low wage jobs as entry level like in the past as it is all we are doing is subsidizing our systematic failures.

Because nobody has brought up the disabled,mentality ill,elderly etc. we are all agreeing that those programs are doing what they were designed for which is a non issiue.

[Richard]

Was watching the local to me news this morning and they highlighted a local Organic community farm,non profit.

For snap users they use a government subsidies to offset the purchase,if you use snap and your total is $40 the program covers 50%,so you pay $20 towards a $40 purchase.

I guess the drawback is because it is in a rual location they are probably limited as to those that they can serve.

[bust]

Like so much else put out by the Trump administration, the "Harvest Box" idea is just a distraction from the real changes they're making outside the spotlight. According to many people, including administration officials themselves.

Trump’s ‘Harvest Box’ Isn’t Viable in SNAP Overhaul, Officials Say
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/13/u...od-stamps.html

"In reality, administration officials on Tuesday admitted that the food-box plan — which the president’s budget director Mick Mulvaney compared to the Blue Apron grocery delivery service — had virtually no chance of being implemented anytime soon.

Instead, the idea, according to two administration officials who worked on the proposal, was a political gambit by fiscal hawks in the administration aimed at outraging liberals and stirring up members of the president’s own party working on the latest version of the farm bill. The move, they said, was intended to lay down a marker that the administration is serious about pressing for about $85 billion in other cuts to food assistance programs that will be achieved, in part, by imposing strict new work requirements on recipients.

“I don’t think there’s really any support for their box plan. And, I worry that it’s a distraction from the budget’s proposal to cut SNAP by some 30 percent. That’s the real battle,” said Stacy Dean, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a progressive Washington think tank. “The dangers are these other proposals to cut benefits. But all anyone is talking about today are the boxes.”

Senator Debbie Stabenow, the ranking Democrat on the agriculture committee, doubted the motives behind the plan.

“This isn’t a serious proposal and is clearly meant to be a distraction,” Ms. Stabenow said."

[Richard]

Florida already has work restrictions as do other states so what is he really saying that does not already exist?

[Meddle]

Luxury items such as ice cream, lobster,

Ice cream is a dairy product, a basic staple.

Seafood is high in protein and has other health benefits and is generally better for you than things like ground beef.

[canuck]

Trump is OK with dumping two new Air Force Ones onto the tarmac at Andrew AFB. New deal with Boeing for shuttling to his weekend retreats and visits to shit countries {OMG}, cost; 4 billion$, no matter what Fox news tells you.


Boeing tried very hard to beat on Bombardier in the US courts because of its Canadian government subsidies, grants and investments in that company. Just so happened their application was struck down. it transpires now that they wanted to get rid of the competition in the wake of a buyout deal of Embraer, a Brazilian company, the main competitor to Bombardier in that category of passenger jet airliners.

[Richard]

^ and you talk about my clarity?

are you saying to eat the planes or use the planes to deliver food or companies use underhanded methods to gain business is a new revelation,kinda like what the Canadian rail car company did in Alabama,I am glad I did not have a pension fund invested in that.

But all of that has little to do with snap anyways so it is just rambling.

[Zacha341]

No responsible person on a tight budget [[as defined by seeking and receiving public assistance) would purchase lobster. Tuna yes, lobster NO. You know that.

Ice cream is a dairy product, a basic staple.

Seafood is high in protein and has other health benefits and is generally better for you than things like ground beef.

[Richard]

We could say president Trump likes lobster and half of the country would try to place a ban on it.

Hey maybe that is the way .... President Trump hates a slow boat to China,I wonder if it will work.