Krugman Attacks Repugs War On Food Stamps

The party of NO has been fighting public programs like this all along. Their excuse has always been (nazel voice), "How are we going to pay for it?". Just like with jobs, they figure, "Force them off foodstamps, and free food will magically appear from out of the heavens".

My hope is that one day, once this depression ends (if it ends), major investigations on all levels are conducted to determine who the criminals were that caused millions of people to lose their jobs, homes, and life savings, essentially destroying their lives, and throw these criminals in jail for the rest of THEIR lives! Believe me when I tell ya, Bernie Madoff is just the tip of the iceberg. Those responsible must be brought to justice on behalf of the millions of people who's lives were destroyed.

the laws themselves are very much tilted towards the rich always have been, always will be...Money runs the world, it has NO MORALS...

The morals derived from religions and such keep many if not most of the rest of us in check

I could go on, but i think thats the jist of it....

I hear ya, but in a prosperous country such as this, the rich and the middle-class, the backbone of this country were able to co-exist because the middle-class were living relatively comfortable lives...until now.

The continued deterioration of this country's middle-class can only lead to civil unrest and chaos, which would not be in the best interest of the rich, assuming the rich want this country to continue to exist.

it is my understanding that this exact problem existed during the GREAT depression of the 1930s. The upper class were then threatened by FDR
with huge income tax hikes and various other wealth re-distribution systems.

The upperclass at that time were divided into two factors, one who wanted everything and the other that gave into FDRs demands, realizing that they risked losing all in a revolution...

Those were terrible times Elvis. My grandparents lived through it and my parents grew up in it. If you were handy or knew a trade though, you could get by doing odd jobs around the neighborhood. And you didn't have to be licensed or certified, or have good reviews on Angie's List!

Even in the depths of the great depression, most Americans felt the country's best days were still ahead because our vital resources were mainly untapped, our infrastructure was unbuilt, and the immigrants were hard-working people who loved America and wanted nothing more than to act and be American.

For the past year I worked in a food pantry that was partially funded by the feds and the city. Sure, there were people who applied for help and who openly admitted they were scamming the system but ninety eight percent of those people needed help badly. The scammers stupid enough to confess were quickly weeded out by the pantry manager and told they were ineligible.

"How are we going to pay for this? We don't have the money." I call bullshit on that one. Funny thing, the government can always find money for things they want. Serving the people seems to be a low priority these days.

I'm hearing a lot of claims that the pantries and the church groups can take up the slack. WRONG. The pantry I worked in had to hustle for donations, even after hours, and that was a constant struggle. Pantry employees told me that the donations three years ago were so big they had too much food: meat, dairy, produce, you name it. Now? Good luck with that. I was in charge of the produce section and there were many times I had to put boxes of canned goods on the table so we'd have enough. We got boxes and boxes of inedible odds and ends (junk) that even Wal-Mart didn't want. I can't tell you how many hours I spent picking out and pitching rotten fruit so we could hand out the rest, and what was left even I wouldn't eat, but we had to have something to give out. I got in trouble once when I threw out cartons of grapes and strawberries that were so moldy the fruit looked like it was wrapped in cotton. The other employees claimed it looked just fine.

Uh, yeahhh. Suuure it did.

One of the employees took it upon himself to wash the mold off. I refused to help and from then on let him handle quality control on incoming fruit.

We heard about how the other pantries in the city were doing. They scraped and struggled just like we did. Most pantries in my city operate using a set boundary of zip codes. If you don't live in that area, well, sorry, we can't serve you. Either that, or their hours are restricted. Some work only Monday through Wednesday, others only Tuesdays and Thursdays. Some pantries are open only on Saturday. Why? Because if they didn't have these restrictions they'd be swamped. And they're overwhelmed as it is.

I used to live next door to a church pantry. Most of the time the line stretched halfway down the block. Usually the first 14 to 20 people were lucky enough to get served, and you better believe when I went I got in early enough to make sure I was in the top five. The rest got a few canned goods (on a good day) or they were SOL.

There will always be people who will take advantage of the system, but why penalize and punish the majority because of those idiots? It's a convenient excuse. There's no such thing as shared sacrifice. I bet if those clowns in Washington (including Claire McCaskill) were forced to live like the rest of us do, they'd scream like banshees. And if Obama signs that farm bill, knowing there's still that much misery out here (and don't think for a moment he doesn't know) he's just as bad as the rest of them.

The food pantries seem to be getting worse and worse, we won't even go to them anymore, the food got so bad, we have done a bit bet, I got to ethnic grocery stores and the food is cheaper and last longer so I have been able to get us more food, so I don't need them as much, but that is like military planning. I am afraid of botulism from dented and exploding cans, it has gotten that bad and I hate it. I am glad you cared enough to stand in the way of some of the bad deeds!

I totally agree with you that the food pantries have gotten worse. Three years ago I had to use the same church food pantry then that I later moved right next door to. The food was better then. There was more of a variety, and it was fresher. Since I work part-time and even then sometimes do not qualify for food stamps (they claim I make too much money since I average 20 dollars over the monthly limit) I've had to use pantries to take up the slack. I've noticed a steady downward decline in quality and quantity. The stores are not donating like they were before. The last pantry I worked in was one of the good ones. They actually cared about the clients, but even then it was a real struggle for them, and there's no doubt in my mind they cut corners. The general rule was "Would I eat this? If not, don't give it to the clients", but let's face it, rules are made to be broken.

I feel like I didn't do enough. I was a "free worker" in the Worksearch program, so any objections I had was over-ridden. We did pitch cans with bad dates, dents and other dubious qualities, but some of that fruit especially I wouldn't have eaten on a bet.

Military Waste and Fraud - $172 billion a year

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Corporate_Welfare/Military_Fraud.html

this is an old link, but one gets the general idea here

Career criminals
... According to the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, every single one of the top ten weapons contractors was convicted of or admitted to defrauding the government between 1980 and 1992.