Food stamps and more to save the economy

[Hermenutic]

It was a thought that just seemed to derive naturally from the knowledge of $78 billion a year handed to the food industry, helping it, and helping those in genuine need as well. Killing 2 birds with one stone.

I worked for 22 years in a well known supermarket chain and it is clear a lot of their bottom line is due to food stamps and also WIC products. So this kind of program can help both and the overall effect is beneficial.

My firm belief and expectation is that the government's role is to pledge allegiance to the citizen and that it's function is to make the citizens life easier.

So in that context we may need to adjust some priorities that seem to have displaced the previously mention constitutionally derived ideas.

If we do not require government to be the servant the present condition will be maintained, for it is the fruit of the principles that are being implemented that we are complaining about.

So it is true what is good for the auto industry is good for the U.S. is a genuine effect. Money passing through the cash register is always good. If the consumer has none because he's out of work the money don't flow. But give him a Car Stamp and 10 people begin to work and one pedestrian begins to drive.

And I forgot. How about the government providing Job' stamps. The policies they ratified up to now have reduced employment opportunities to the point people are really hurting. So it only seem logical that a 'Job stamp' would be helpful.

Wake up the present state of affairs is representative of the nature of malfeasance. They made the rules and they ruined us with them. Could you explain it differently so they look like the good guys?

If you give me stamps for food, beer, a car, and a house, I'm going to sit in my house, drink my beer, and eat my food. There is no motivation.

Did you forget that you're giving people beer?

Beer pong perhaps?

...that's one possible outcome...in all likely hood you'll end up with people sitting on their ass, drinking beer, in their house.


"optional" work?


Where did this "influx of dollars" come from? People drinking beer in their free houses and driving their free cars?


What exactly have we "been doing"?

[Dodds]

If you give me stamps for food, beer, a car, and a house, I'm going to sit in my house, drink my beer, and eat my food. There is no motivation.

What if wan't more beer and have run out of stamps? That would motivate me.

Being sober, hungry and homeless doesn't.

[Dodds]

socialism to the rescue!

Its not really Socialism Chars. Socialism is a progression of Capitalism. Money still would exist in a socialist system just rates of pay would be determined by who was the most productive in whatever job they are in. Also the means of production is owned by the people who work there.

[Hermenutic]

Well your beer stamps will be allotted according to your need if it follows the pattern of the food stamp program. And if you don't drink they won't be forced on you. If you are more mired in poverty than others you'll get more.

So you are will probably be encouraged to get a job stamp right after you get your house and car stamps.

Now if you get a job stamp you'll be able to buy your own beer and get off the beer stamp program. I think just to be fair we should also have pot stamps for those who don't drink but like to mess with their minds.

I'm not running for office. But there should be a chicken in every pot.

What if wan't more beer and have run out of stamps? That would motivate me.

Being sober, hungry and homeless doesn't.

[Dieval]

What if wan't more beer and have run out of stamps? That would motivate me.

Being sober, hungry and homeless doesn't.

Seriously? being "hungry and homeless" doesn't motivate you to better yourself?

[Dodds]

Seriously? being "hungry and homeless" doesn't motivate you to better yourself?

I see you have no idea the thoughts of helplessness that a homeless person feels. The motivation does not come from being homeless, it comes from getting help and not wanting to let the person who helped you down. So yes seriously. Once more your ideals are based in some right wing fairy tale that the more you bully the poor the harder they will work. Real life is not like that.

[Charlatan]

I see you have no idea the thoughts of helplessness that a homeless person feels. The motivation does not come from being homeless, it comes from getting help and not wanting to let the person who helped you down. So yes seriously. Once more your ideals are based in some right wing fairy tale that the more you bully the poor the harder they will work. Real life is not like that.

If you were to have a coninued supply line coming through, then they would be encouraged to cooperate, or, would they simply milk the system? These are crucial to the individual, as, they will determine the individuals and his or her peers in the destiny of this system of welfare. But, I agree, they do not like to live like that.

[SoylentGreen]

I got to thinking about that socialized program known as food stamps. I looked into it and found that the federal government subsidizes the grocery industry to the amount of $78 billion annually. http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2226


This has got to be quite a boon for anyone in the grocery business as well as those who simply have an addiction to food. You know the kind, the ones who would simply die if they didn’t have something to eat.


A $78 billion dollar gift to the food industry has to be good for the bottom line; good both for the industry and the recipient of food stamps. It got me thinking. Were there other industries which could be benefited while helping the disenfranchised at the same time?


The first thing that came to my mind was ‘How about beer stamps?’ A lot of poor out of work people would benefit greatly if they were provided with an allotment of beer stamps. Clearly the economy would improve as the beer industries profits soared. It sounds like a good idea; we‘d have a society of well fed happy people.


So far so good. So I asked myself, “what do most poor people need besides food and beer?” A good car! So the government issues car stamps to poor people who go and buy a brand new car. Imagine how the economy would soar if every poor person was able to buy a new car. Profits for the auto industry and transportation for the poor. It’s a win win situation as long as they don't drive drunk.


Really the only thing left is ‘House Stamps’. Getting the housing industry up on its feet may very well save the nation as well as eliminate homelessness. So we issue all the poor and homeless house stamps, good for one new home. Presto, the housing industry recovers and the plight of the homeless are both solved almost overnight.

I am glad you admitted that it was just your first thought, poor though it may have been.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reductio_ad_absurdum

Or we could keep on doing what we have been doing.

What does this mean? Do you have a sensible alternative to the irrational argument?

[ironeagle]

First I propose this be moved to a different thread. Second I assume this post is satyr and not ment to be serious but I'll play anyways. Number two there already are "house stamps" its called C.I.R.H.A, and H.U.D. and probably many other program names around the country where the private housing industires and public housing industries are making millions off of rental and mortgage subsidies ran by the government. Number three, the gorcery industy doesn't get the money for free, they actually provide millions of dollars worth of food to the recipients and therefore get reimbursed for that food it's not like it's free money. Fourth likening feeding the poor to providing cars is rediculous isn't it?

[Dodds]

If you were to have a coninued supply line coming through, then they would be encouraged to cooperate, or, would they simply milk the system? These are crucial to the individual, as, they will determine the individuals and his or her peers in the destiny of this system of welfare. But, I agree, they do not like to live like that.

In my experience no one wants a hand out. The work involved in claiming what help you need is unreal. Milking the system is just as legal as tax avoidance, however there does seem to be an acceptance of tax avoidance, but when people who are entitled to benefits, who jump through hoop after hoop after hoop to claim the benefits they are entitled to they are demonized. The idea that people wan't to stay on benefits is a joke. The only thing that people on benefits talk about is finding a job, which is not easy. So no I don't think that people will milk the system, I feel that unemployment and how generous the benefits system is are unrelated.

To back this up we can look at the unemployment rates of several countries and compare their benefits systems, what you find is that it doesn't really matter, Germany has a very generous benefits system, as does the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway and France. Yet the unemployment in these countries varies for different reasons.

[Dodds]

double post, please delete.

[Angry Citizen]

So no I don't think that people will milk the system

The level of naivete contained within this short snippet is off the charts. There will always be abuse in any system of government aid. The question is whether it's worth it to focus on the tiny fraction of milkers compared to the massive number of legitimate cases of aid. Usually it's just easier to pay the freeloaders what they want, because a person like that isn't going to do much with their lives regardless, and the benefits of providing the aid far outweigh the extra cost of supporting the freeloaders.