40 million Americans living on food stamps

Nearly 40 million Americans are receiving food stamps - that's 1 in 8. The unemployment rate of 9.9 percent was announced last Friday. Food stamps help poor people buy food during times of economic distress. The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people asked for food stasmps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. Research has shown that one in three eligible people are not receiving benefits. Not sure how their system works but it sounds terrible. How are they surviving without benefits, anybody knows?

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Nearly 40 million Americans are receiving food stamps - that's 1 in 8. The unemployment rate of 9.9 percent was announced last Friday. Food stamps help poor people buy food during times of economic distress. The Agriculture Department said 39.68 million people asked for food stasmps during February, an increase of 260,000 from January. Research has shown that one in three eligible people are not receiving benefits. Not sure how their system works but it sounds terrible. How are they surviving without benefits, anybody knows?





Your question sounds confused. Food stamps are definitely benefits. Rather than give those folks money that can be wasted on alcohol, cigarettes, or fancy foods, they get food stamps that can buy them only basic foods.



Food stamps will pay for most foods that are considered healthy. But some foods that are just expensive with no real benefit can not be bought. Various cheeses are OK but then some that are special, higher priced, gourmet types can not be bought. Same with sea foods, certain types are OK but Caviar is not OK. The intent is to keep them healthy with taxpayer money but not allow them too waste the taxpayer money.



For a country that is nearing bankruptcy we are lucky to have food stamps still. If the current government does not take a notice of Greece we may soon be in the same mess. It seems that some of the money promised to Greece requires them to reduce their expenses severely. Which includes cutting the size of the government, releasing their medical system to private enterprise, reducing many benefits, like rights and entitlements, raise retirement ages. Something the US should be watching and considering rather than expanding our government and adding lots of rights and entitlements. As is now happening.

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Thanks Bob, that clears it up. I agree about Greece, their government has lied to them about the deficit for years and now they are having their wages and pensions frozen. Europe is teetering on the edge and God knows how they will emerge from this crisis. I don't know why Wall Street got so excited yesterday, there's still a long way to go.

From what Ive read England is running a close second to Greece in going broke so it seems the US is about the same. Could this be the reason Swann is so eager to pay off the deficit quickly?



God knows where Aus will be if there's another GFC with this bunch of incompetents running the show?

I just want to toss in more information about the 40 million on food stamps in the US.



The folks collecting food stamps might come from various life conditions. All measured by the amount of income they have available. I believe that the measure is based on the poverty lever, or some other index that identifies the group. They could be on welfare, laid off from jobs, very low income workers, that have filed for help.



Welfare could be single parent families with no income, sickly, mental or physically unable to earn sufficient wages, etc. These would get some cash, possibly housing subsidy, and food stamps.



There are the laid off workers that for set periods of time get unemployment wages. These unemployment wages vary by state to state. If the total offered is less than the minimum wages needed by law, they can sign on for food stamps. After the unemployment wages are gone they will then definitely become available for welfare support and also get food stamps. Many that can not get full time jobs will often take on the part time jobs for there pocket cash and housing plus the food stamps.



My point being that not all of those 40 million people getting food stamps are unemployed Americans. Food stamps can be used in various situations beyond unemployed. So being laid off may bring more to the food stamp business, but it is not possible to take the number getting food stamps to indicate the number of unemployed.

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I understand Bob, it's good to have your input, there's so much about American we don't know. Are you worried about the unemployment rate and do you think it will go up?

Bob not all the people on benefits here are out of work either - some are on minimum wage and get benefits - others are middle class and get Tax Benefits for their kids - others get baby bonus of $5000 just for adding to a over expanding population which this Labor government should have taken off in this budget as they have just made a new portfolio of Population Minister to try to cap population but that would be being economically astute something Labor is inept at.



Middle class welfare was introduced by the last government to spread the mining wealth from Mining boom Company taxes about which is forgotten in the need for money to plug the holes from last year's rescue of an economy which never was going to go into recession once the initial cash was given out to the poorer folk to make sure to got spent over Christmas and did stop the rot of no one buying in the shock of the GFC. But they never waited to see and went on spending recklessly and with no control and killed people with bad roof insulation by cowboys just in for the money which was free to the householder so no one checked the quality as they would if spending their own money. Also lost millions on school projects where they were ripped off by cowboys too - and didnt get the Parents & Teachers Groups to oversee the costs and check up not being ripped off etc.



Now they want to impost a huge tax on top of the ordinary company tax which most seem to be under the impression miners dont pay and of course they are looking elsewhere and Canada wants them to invest there instead.



People here are Bob a bit dumb you see they think that they own the minerals (which are owned by The Crown actually) so should share in the profits when they do via Company Tax but since they don't put money into the Company by way of shares they don't actually deserve any extra monies and if the government needs more then they should up the company tax which they cant as every other country charges less - but they lie and folk dont think.



One of the Business Leaders Helen Ridout said only today 46% of Australians are lacking literacy and numeracy enough to do skilled jobs.

Lol.

This shocking oil spill is costing America billions and Obama has put an immediate tax rise of 1 cent per barrel to help pay for the clean up. President Obama is said to be “deeply frustrated” that the leak has still not been plugged three weeks after it erupted and intends that BP will pick up most of the cost of his new plan.



Under a $118 million spending plan outlined in the package, people affected by the spill — such as fishermen who have lost their livelihoods because of the contamination — will be granted financial assistance, and federal agencies will get additional funds to monitor the slick and assess its impact.



BP began a new attempt to contain the ruptured well that has leaked millions of gallons of crude oil into America’s southern coastal waters. For God sake get on and fix the bloody thing.

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