pafret Loc: Northeast

"Nearly 40 Million Americans Are Still On Food Stamps"


"Nearly 40 Million Americans Are Still On Food Stamps"
by Michael Snyder

"If the U.S. economy is “doing well”, then why are almost 40 million Americans still on food stamps? That number is almost exactly where it was at the end of the last recession, and supposedly we have made so much progress since that time. Of course any progress that has been made has been extremely uneven. Earlier today, I wrote about how the gap between the rich and the poor in this country is the biggest that it has been since the 1920s. For years, the Federal Reserve’s quantitative easing program pumped “hot money” into the financial markets, and that was an enormous blessing to the top 1 percent. But meanwhile tens of millions of average families have continued to struggle and the middle class has continued to decline. In the U.S. today, 66 percent of all of our jobs pay less than 20 dollars an hour, and close to 40 million Americans rely on the federal government to feed them every month. The following comes from Bloomberg: "Judging by the number of Americans on food stamps, it doesn’t feel like one of the best job markets in almost a half century and the second-longest economic expansion on record.

Enrollment in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, better known as food stamps, fell to 39.6 million in April, the most recent government data show. That’s down from a record 47.8 million in 2012, but as a share of the population it’s just back to where it was as the economy emerged from the longest and deepest downturn since the Great Depression."

It is hard to argue that we are a “prosperous nation” with a number like that hanging over our heads. Yes, some Americans have prospered individually in recent years, but many more have been deeply suffering.

In order for a family of four to qualify for food stamps, they must make less than $2,665 a month: SNAP is available for households with incomes up to $2,665 per month for a family of four, or 130 percent of the federal poverty level. Recipients are also subject to asset and employment tests, and states can modify the program with federal permission. Households receiving SNAP had an average monthly gross income of $814 in 2016, and 20 percent had no income.

Could your family survive on just $2,665 a month? Yet that is exactly where tens of millions of Americans find themselves today.

Yesterday I wrote about the “cesspool” that the once beautiful city of Portland, Oregon has become, and in this article I would like to share with you an excerpt from an article about the epidemic of squatters in the city of Detroit: "The Detroit Land Bank owns nearly 30,000 residential structures in the city, and with as many as 4,300 of them occupied - it’s a magnitude unlike any other place.

Squatters are a tricky problem: remove them and add to the city’s homeless population and its massive inventory of abandoned buildings. Let them stay, and the land bank is summoned often to investigate what some of its occupants may be up to: dog fighting, prostitution, drug dealing, overdoses, gambling, gun possession or running a chop shop. Detroit police also are called regularly to land bank properties to investigate dead bodies - at least 50 homicides over the last four years.

This is what life is like for much of the country today. The small sliver of our population that is “living the high life” is greatly outnumbered by people just barely surviving from month to month. In fact, 102 million working age Americans do not have a job at this moment. In case you were wondering, that number is substantially higher than it was at any point during the last recession. If you can believe it, during the last recession we never even hit the 100 million mark.

There are so many parallels that could be made between the current state of affairs and America in the 1920s. During the “roaring twenties", everybody thought that the good times would last forever and that stock prices would go up indefinitely, and then one day we suddenly plunged into the worst financial crisis and the worst economic depression that the nation had ever seen.

And most people don’t even realize that we are far more vulnerable today than we have ever been in all of U.S. history. I have been sharing numbers that back up that premise on an almost daily basis, and today let me share another example with you that comes from Mike Maloney:

•Just prior to the dotcom collapse of 2000 and the hundreds of bankruptcies that followed, 9% of the S&P 1,500 were zombie companies.
•Just prior to the 2008 financial crisis and the hundreds of bankruptcies that followed, 12% of the S&P 1,500 were zombie companies.
•Right now, 15% of the S&P 1,500 are zombie companies.

Just like the “roaring twenties”, our current debt-fueled economic bubble will burst as well, and many believe that it will result in the worst economic crisis that America has ever known. But as long as the music on Wall Street keeps playing, the optimists will continue to insist that “happy days are here again” and that the party can keep on going indefinitely. Of course no party lasts forever, and eventually the moment will come when it is time to turn out the lights for good."
- http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/

lpnmajor Loc: Arkansas

It is a lie that the economy is doing well, the lie is giving the impression that ALL of the economy is doing well. The stock exchange is not the economy, nor does it accurately reflect the economy, neither does GDP, CPI or any other alphabet measure.

Those who were doing well are doing better, i.e. the wealthy, and those who were not doing well are doing worse. The temporary tax relief for the Middle class puts what, an extra $100 in their pocket for the year? Whatever it is, is easily overwhelmed by price increases in nearly every category. Corporations may be investing more of their profits today..........................but those investments are NOT placed in their most valuable commodity - employees. The aftermath of the 2008 crash, taught corporations that people will endure a lot of crap, just to keep their job. Why invest more in employee compensation, when you know you don't have to? The new administration has steadily removed or blocked what few collective bargaining avenues were available, and eliminated other rules and regulations that prevented corporations from ripping off their employees.

Lonewolf

Vary good post ,a city near me has an average wage of 12.63 but you need to make over 14.00 bucks to afford an apartment!

markinny

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things are great. there are more jobs than people. time to get these people off of theit arses and working.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

What city?

Radiance3

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Most of the homelessness have attracted and multiplied on all democrat states, and cities. E.g. San Francisco, many other areas in California, Portland, Oregon, Seattle Washington. Chicago, Baltimore, and many others. The West Coast like California, Portland and Seattle are now infested with millions of homeless drug addicts.
Why?
1. These states have been run by democrats for decades as far as I remember.
2. These states have allowed marijuana plantation as an easy source of revenue for their states, the democrat way of making money.
3. As a result the marijuana product alone had attracted these homeless mostly drug addicts, where it is easy to obtain.
4. Drug addict brains are so screwed up, could not work, and all they do is crave for drugs, or commit crimes.
5. Drug addiction is one of the most powerful factors that multiplied the homeless and dysfunctional because their brains are all damaged.
6. These democrat states of California, Oregon, Washington harbors millions of illegal aliens.
7. The democrat elected leaders in these states and cities, in order to cover the cost of providing these delinquents and illegal aliens keep on raising property tax every year.

It is amazing that Washington State is the place where the richest men in the world were born and cultivated. But the image the city of Seattle presents gruesome homelessness and poverty. What a shame. Run by democrats for so many decades. Now the homeless people flock together begging and free loading because of their demented brains.Particularly in the city of Seattle, San Francisco, Oregon.

When the minimum wage was increased to $15/hr by that liberal elected Congresswoman in Seattle, some of the small businesses moved away. Others remained. In order to continue its business operation, they raised the price of their products and services. As a result, people blamed inflation of the Trump economy. Now, the minimum workers in Seattle, are again asking for a $17/hr wage in order to afford living. Price of everything went up particularly homes and apartments in Seattle. Average working people could not afford to rent apartments. They have to move out and commute farther distance to work.

Real properties in Seattle now is not affordable by ordinary workers. Very few could afford the prices ranging from $800k to $1 million for an average homes that could be bought in various Republican States, for $350k.

Fact of the matter is, currently there are more than 608 million jobs are available waiting for skilled or qualified applicants to fill up. But why do so many are still not working? Because these people have been used to hand outings, never cared to learn anything except drug duping. The hand outings are run by democrats for decades, an easy way for making a living. They call it compassion.

kemmer

****"Nearly 40 Million Americans Are Still On Food Stamps"****
And it's going to get worse thanks to Trump's tariffs.

Radiance3

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Your ignorance and stupidity are so overwhelming.

kemmer

Aww.... you're just jealous.

Carol Kelly

There are a great number of people on welfare who don’t qualify and another great many who are on welfare, food stamps etc. unto the third and fourth and fifth generation. That will never change unless the welfare program changes. In that case, there would be a hue and cry heard round the world, but maybe poor Mexicans and a Central Americans won’t be so eager to come in here illegally. It just goes round and round and there is no ending.

Carol Kelly

Amen.

Carol Kelly

Not sure about that!

kemmer

Congress won’t give Trump his $12 billion welfare checks to the farmers who are getting killed by the tariffs.

donald41 Loc: puyallup Wa

Ah, But they like getting hand outs.

Super Dave Loc: Realville, USA

Currently, Food Stamp totals down 2Million since Obama left office, and are the lowest since 2010.


http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2018/01/05/food-stamp-recipients-down-2m-under-trump-usda-figures-show.html


You can thank Trump any time.