The conservative think tank the Heritage Foundation has released a grinchy little report on hunger in America just in time for the holidays.
Written by Heritage domestic policy senior research fellow Robert Rector and titled “Hunger Hysteria,” the report riffs off the USDA’s report on food insecurity. It urges you not to waste your time worrying about the “food insecure” because the real problem with food-insecure adults isn’t that they are taking in too few calories; it’s that they are growing fat by eating too much junk food. Food stamps just cause the poor to eat more junk food and get fatter, the report asserts, so expanding that program would be counterproductive. And besides, junk foods like soft drinks and doughnuts are more expensive than healthy foods like milk and vegetables, so maybe we should give people less money so they can only afford to buy cheaper staples like rice and beans.
James Ridgeway, writing in Mother Jones, has taken on the Heritage’s report in a piece titled “Heritage Foundation on Hunger: Let Them Eat Broccoli.” He quotes obesity researcher Adam Drewnowski:
Drewnowski calls Rector’s arguments ‘rubbish, written from a position of class privilege ….’ He cites the suggestion that the poor should purchase cheap, nutritious foods rather than processed stuff. ‘When you suggest that people buy rice, pasta, and beans,’ he says, ‘you presuppose that they have resources … a kitchen, pots, pans, utensils, gas, electricity, a refrigerator, a home with rent paid, the time to cook. … So this is all about resources that middle-class people take so much for granted that they do not give them another thought. Not everybody has them.’
Ridgeway goes on to recap the recent history of food stamp cuts, as well as report on a recent study showing that while the prices for the healthiest foods have gone up by 20 percent in the past two years, the prices for junk foods have actually gone down a bit.
With so many middle-class families a paycheck or two away from financial crisis, urging cuts in food stamp programs seems like a good way to take the food right out of needy families’ mouths.
they in most area don’t issue the old fashioned food stamps anymore they issue it in the form of what is called an ebt card it is like a credit card . that said , i work in retail and see them buy 20-40 bucks a week in chips candy etc.
my solution is not to decrease the food stamps as such but to follow the way the national WIC (women infants +children) work it they specify exact quantities and exact foods they you are allowed
if the lazy idiots want to just sit around and play video games well then if the foods are regulated the way wic does it , they would be forced into eating right and cooking real foods. hey they are not like working people all they have is time on their hands right!
I don;t think it is quite as simple as the Heritage Foundation makes it out to be. Here is an alternative viewpoint that claims that healthy food is more expensive that unhealthy food by a staggering amount:
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/05/a-high-price-for-healthy-food/?ex=1197522000&en=0a2fc4f930ce9aa5&ei=5070&emc=eta1
Buy pots and pans? Budget your expenses? Should everyone be entitled to the same lifestyle whether they earned it or not? America is the best country in the world to be poor. I see these people at the checkout lanes with their cards. They then but $20 worth of lotto tickets before getting into a nice SUV. I can’t find the link but there was recently a couple in Colorado who set out to live on $3 a day for six months. They recorded how they did everything on a daily basis including not using their own homegrown vegetables and turning down dinner invites. This was in response to the Gov. of Oregon living on food stamps for a month. The poor in this country are not suffering from hunger. It’s all the do gooders who don’t think anyone is capable of self reliance. And if you are then you should pay more taxes.
When I was living paycheck to paycheck I couldn’t afford to eat fast food. I’d kill for a $4 BigMac meal. Down at the thrift store I outfitted my kitchen for under $30 including a couple skillets and a stock pot. A #1 of rice is cheap. A #5 of sugar is cheap. A #5 of salt is cheap. From there one can make more food on $50 bucks than would last you 3 meals a day at any fastfoodie in the country…by a longshot! Sorry…those who expect ease of life at the expense of our Uncle Sam, to a large degree, aren’t willing to put in the effort.
The truth is that many are unwilling to give up booze or cigs to go the harder path. Many are, however, and I see it daily as I am a mailman in a poor mixed-race neighborhood and see many who are willing to sacrifice niceties for the basics…enter hispanics who know how to stretch a peso…and older blacks who know where the real soul-food recipes come from and are willing to use the knowledge. They come from the lives of their mothers and grandmothers who HAD to make it work. There are obviously many other stories of success that we just never hear about from a wide variety of ethnic backgrounds.
Look closely…you’ll find that the truth lies somewhere between “gimme, you owe it to me” and “thank you, I’ll make due” although we’ll see many of both.
Sad situation that we have to argue about how those on the dole spend their free dollars but I guess that’s where we are today.
I agree with crippstom…the more monopoly money we send out there the more abuse of the system we’ll see. Why don’t we make it mandatory for those who receive welfare or food stamps take a gov’t class on how to stretch those dollars…no cigs, no booze, no class, no money! Maybe they’ll spend the time they have from not working for whatever reason,,,into cheaper cooking!
Not everyone who is hungry has been taught how to cook food from scratch. Not everyone who is hungry has a home with a kitchen in which they can cook food from scratch. Not everyone who is hungry has TIME to cook food from scratch – the idea that folks on food stamps have plenty of spare time because they’re not working is mistaken, many are working one or more jobs and still falling below the poverty line. Most important – not everybody who is hungry is an adult.
My, my… how the idiots on the right wing never change. Remember this gem from Ronald Reagan:
“We were told four years ago that 17 million people went to bed hungry each night. Well, that was probably true. They were all on a diet.”
I think Allstonian is right…not everyone is everything nor can they do all things nor do they all have the time to do so. I’ve worked two and three jobs my whole life and still have more bills at the end of the bucks. I agree completely that not all who are hungry are adults. The saddest are children of drug or alcohol abusive parents that sell their kids short for a buzz. I wish the numbers were better but with every president since Reagan, including both Reagan and Clinton by the way, letting in however many millions of Mexican illegals (latest estimate at somewhere around 12-15 million?) on a free ride for health care, social security, education and maybe even a legal get out of jail free card, it’s no wonder America’s own poor are getting a short shrift…thank you very much for bringing it up, Somm!!! I have no problem whatsoever with legal immigration but the system has failed at all levels to halt the abuse from down Mexico way.So, Sommelier, is it your contention that we should continue to pour money at the problem? If so, then I remind you that hasn’t helped the foundational problem in the past. It seems to create a bigger beaurocracy with less accountability and fewer dollars actually hit the target…which is feeding the poor. Actually, I think our legal Asian, European and Mexican immigrants lead the pack in regard to getting off the systematic dole. They seem to be more, maybe differently is a better word, motivated than those who feel entitled to stay on the roles for generations.And by the way, who ever claimed Drenowski to be an authority? We all know there is fecal matter on the fringe of both the left and the right…true enough Somm? My initial point was that the very ones who complain most about how little the federal gov’t is helping them…(does this sound like the Louisiana side of the Katrina debacle as opposed to the Mississippi side?)…are the ones who are prone to abuse the system the most.Are there problems…of course! Are there humanitarian solutions…of course.Does the government owe more to those who are unwilling to do more for themselves…I don’t honestly know…do you?!!!Should the government give more support to those who are willing to do more to better themselves…again…I don’t know.I know this…every one of us…including the whack jobs on both sides…can do more individually. Somm…step up and pick a family to feed this Christmas. I did. It’ll make you less caustic toward the idiots on the right wing if you’re placed better yourself. The problem is that many of those on the extreme left side of this issue would rather be taken care of totally by our esteemed Uncle. That would be a mistake…(read socialized medicine in England, France and other places has failed miserably to live up to prior expectations.)Sommelier…I don’t know what to say to assuage your savage beast. Tell me, how old are you and what is your educational background? Just curious! Some perspective on what got you to where you are would help me understand. Think about it…”…how the idiots on the right wing, et al…” sounds rather weak as an argument in a conversation about food stamps doesn’t it?
Shouldn’t this conversation transcend the notion of politics and enter the realm of a truly workable solution.
I hope so…I’m no authority but I know that the solution lies not in social programs ad nauseam per se. Some assistence is required but it demeans one to take forever…read personal pride here.
And, besides, didn’t this conversation start with the report about food insecure adults (read adults) growing fat on fast foods instead of where this particular conversation has evolved? How did Reagan get in here anyway?