Or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) as he noted it is really called were staggering. I like to think I am pretty educated on a lot of topics, but it never ceases to amaze me how much I don't know.
And Chris Hayes show each Saturday and Sunday morning points this out in spades. I am a bleeding heart far left liberal so I wish a lot of things were changed in this country. I wish everybody had health care. A roof over their head. Children would have access to quality education. Heck adults would as well. Working parents would have access to day care.
The list could go on and on, but at the top of the list is I don't think people in this country should go hungry. At the core it just isn't right for this to happen. But a close second is what Ezra Klein has pointed out time and time again.
If you want to stimulate the economy the SNAP program is the best option dollar-for-dollar. In fact it returns almost $1.50 to the economy for every dollar spent. It would seem people that don't make enough to buy food, when you give them the ability to buy food they do. And quickly.
So lets talk food stamps.
First I want to just go down the list of a few things Chris threw out there:
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- 36 million Americans receive food stamps.
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- Almost half of that 36 million are children.
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- 75% of those that receive food stamps work.
Then he showed a chart, which I can't find on his site, that shows during the recession if we didn't have food stamps what the household income of people that receive them would look like. Basically when you factor in food stamps to the household income, well they are the only thing keeping people that are right at or above the poverty line from falling way below it.
He then kind of went after Republicans. That folks like Paul Ryan, that wants to cut $118B from food stamps over the next decade, say the plan is growing too fast and we can't afford it.
Chris pointed out it isn't cause Obama is expanding the program. It is cause a lot of people don't have jobs. Can't find work and therefore they now qualify. We are not expanding the benefits, making it easier to get them, it is just a lot more people are "poor" in this country. And that kind of points to a problem much larger than food stamps.
Yeah you can say that again.
Now I will just end with a little segment my local KMOX TV station did a few weeks. They talked to a few managers at 24-hour grocery stores (insert Wal Mart) who said in the last year or so they have had to staff up their night shit, cause when the food stamp benefits hit LINK cards (what we call it in Illinois) once a month at midnight the place gets overrun with people coming in to buy food.
They talked to a lot of customers and the stories were all the same. I was a teacher that lost my job. A police officer that got my hours cut. A roofer that can't find work. They then said they didn't really have any food in their house. They had kids at home. So as soon as the benefits hit their card they were coming in to stock up so they could cook breakfast for their children in the morning.
If that isn't really sad I don't know what is.