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Binders, Big Bird -- and food stamps?
People eat dinner at the Cathedral Kitchen soup kitchen in Camden, New Jersey, which serves 300 to 600 meals a day, six days a week, to the needy and hungry. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Camden, New Jersey is now the most impoverished city in the United States with nearly 32,000 of Camden's residents living below the poverty line.
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As the 2012 presidential election enters its final days, we're examining one of the stars of the campaign. Not Big Bird, binders, or bayonets. This one begins with the letter 'F' -- food stamps.
More Americans are relying on them, and throughout the election season, conservatives have pointed to food stamps to make the case that Americans are too dependent on the government. But if millions more Americans are relying on food stamps, does that mean the program is working or failing?
Marketplace's Wealth and Poverty desk examines the politics behind food stamps. To hear the first in our series of stories, play or download the audio above, and hear the second story in our series Tuesday on the Marketplace Morning Report.
TAKE THE QUIZ: We ran the numbers on poverty in the U.S. -- from the number of Americans on food stamps to the unemployment rate for African-Americans -- and the data we collected about income, class, race might surprise you. Or not. Test your knowledge and take our quiz.
In receive $ 200 per month SNAP benefits. 2 weeks later these are all used up. Being a diabetic my benefits are used for fresh fruit and vegitables. Not junk food. Prices are through the roof. I work seasonal and part-time. And being it's a small town where I live ,jobs are scarce. Please don't call me a deadbeat. I work where and when I can. The local Food Pantry helps 3 days a week with a small sack lunch. I'm broke, but not broken.
I work in a food pantry at a church, and I'm always surprised when people suggest that the government shouldn't be involved in ensuring food security. We accomplish a lot with our limited resources, but churches, synagogues, temples, and mosques don't have the organizational capacity (people, facilities, or money) to feed all of the people who would go hungry if SNAP went away. A second point - the formula used to calculate SNAP benefits (at least in Arizona) uses pre-tax income as a starting point; so, the harder you work, the less you eat, as your benefits decrease with your pre-tax pay and your buying power decreases with your post-payroll-tax income.
I find it interesting that a large segment of the population believes that the government should play no role in ensuring its citizens have food, and would rather see food assistance left to charities. I would think ensuring people have food is entirely consistent with promoting the general Welfare. I wonder if these same folks believe that our national security would be better served by ad hoc local militias rather than the existing US military, or if the national highway system should be privatized?
