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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPeople are hurting out there
Most of the people I see shop at groceries stores in my areas these days..about three quarters have food stamps now which is staggering. And they only shop the first few weeks when there is a balance on the EBT cards. That is why most BOGO sales by the super markets or low price deals like Wal mart are always at the start of the month. The start of the month is when benefits are also distributed for social security recipients as well. Payroll hours are highest for the first two weeks for workers and then plummets the remaining weeks of the month (exception being WIC vouchers). The average for super market part time workers the first two week is like 20 hours per week and then tapers off to 15 hours per week during the dead part of the month. With that kind of pay, even those workers at the supermarkets are on foodstamps. What a sad cycle our middle class has been caught into and the 1% are laughing to the bank.

orpupilofnature57
(15,472 posts)People will do, say, and believe anything when they're hungry, tired, and scared .
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2013, 05:19 PM - Edit history (1)
They used to have an opposition party, the Democratic Party, standing in their way.
Melinda
(5,465 posts)hurts.
Rebellious Republican
(5,029 posts)
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)I remember the Democratic Party standing up to the GOP in their quest to destroy the Middle Class.
Seems just like yesterday that the GOP was wanting to cut Food Stamps to the Poor.
Median income of wage owners always go down when the GOP is in the White House
and up when the Democrats are there,,,
It is the GOP that fight tooth and nail any changes the Democratic Party recommends to the Supply Side GOP policies of the last 30 years.
Know your enemy!
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Obama signs bill cutting 2.2 billion from food stamps
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x309
Want the rest of the list?
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)and providing more and better meals to the needy children at Schools is not a cut and is not in the same ball park of what the GOP wanted to cut from the Program
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Amy Goodman: Obama's Budget: Freezing the Poor
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=103x588484
Gibbs asked about cuts to community service block grants
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x608744
Obama's Budget Slashes LIHEAP funds
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022653463
Study: "Trade" Deal Would Mean a Pay Cut for 90% of U.S. Workers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023661805
Robert Reich: The Truth About Obama's Tax Proposal (and the Lies ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002928280
How Obama moved the tax debate to the right - Ezra Klein ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101656225
LIHEAP is the tip of the iceberg. Obama to cut Head Start ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x393398
Obama to cut services to poor urban Americans, budget director notes
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=139x8157
Channeling Reagan, Obama Moves to Slash Programs for Urban Poor
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x365854
'Payroll Tax Holiday' came into Obama's Tax Plan via Republicans ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=433x559798
Obama Is Flexible On Highest Tax Rates
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014320333Obama Appoints Bain Capital Consultant Jeff Ziets to Top Post
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662209
Obama selects former Monsanto lobbyist to be his TPP chief agriculture negotiator
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023662210
White House: No Subsidies for Union Health Plans
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014594512
Larry Summers Gets 'Full-Throated Defense' From Obama In Capitol Hill Meeting
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014553343#post1
This is a complete list of Wall Street CEOs prosecuted for their role in the financial crisis
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=3653154
Wall Street will get away with massive wave of criminality of 2008 - Statute of Limitations
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022516719
BILLIONAIRE PENNY PRITZKER BREAKS INTO OBAMA'S CABINET!
www.democraticunderground.com/10023094669
In Case You Missed This... And You Should Not... 'Wall Street Wins Again' - Salon
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022410710
Obama Administration Asks Banks to Regulate Their Own Foreclosure Abuses
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022385094
The Untouchables: How the Obama administration protected Wall Street from prosecutions
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022246632
NYT: Obama's regulators to let banks off easy for massive foreclosure fraud
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022142128
Taibbi "Outrageous HSBC Settlement Proves Drug War is a Joke" How much do we waste on the Drug War?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022142827
FAIL. Obama LOWERED Capital Gains Tax from 40% to 20%!
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022124052
Taibbi on the Foreclosure Fraud Settlement- Robosigning will Continue,getting caught now inexpensive
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022143174
NYT slams the government for choosing not to prosecute HSBC top-bankers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021965407
Shouldn't someone go to prison for this?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021968053
Commentary: Why isnt Obama demanding corporate welfare cuts?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022019676
Predatory lending is still going on
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888137
Matt Taibbi: Justice Department's New Get-Tough Policy Is, Well, Not
http://www.democraticunderground.com/111631049
HSBC Walks: Obama Administration Refuses to Charge Criminal Bank
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101786703
Why is the Obama administration backing Shell Oil over the victims
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021203359
New law gives US companies a break on pensions - Democratic
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014162341
Obama Is on the Brink of a Mortgage Settlement With the Big Banks
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002210116
Obama to Grant Banks Robosigning Immunity
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002196145
Obama's Justice Department Rushes to the Rescue of
http://blackagendareport.com/content/obamas-justice-department-rushes-rescue-libor-criminals
Presidents Clinton and Obama sign Wall Street Deregulation Bills. Two Photos That Tell It All.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002525025
Meet the Unseen Bullwhip of the New Slavemasters
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021096373
"A cover-up to keep the public from knowing what went wrong
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022250638
Papantonio: PBS Documentary Uncovers Obama Complacency In
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101794584
Bank of America gets more secret bailouts
http://gawker.com/5984882/new-york-fed-still-bailing-out-bank-of-america
Another give away to the banks
http://www.counterpunch.org/2013/02/15/obama-housing-and-the-next-big-heist/
Why are there no Dems talking about lower medicare to 55 to save money & gain jobs?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022405613
Bernie Sanders: Chained CPI: An economic and moral disaster
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022381690
Privatization, Corporatism Pervade Obama's State of the Union Address
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022372226
Obama Says Medicare and Social Security Cuts Still on the Table
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022320134
Obama Administration Considers Joining Publishers In Fight To Stamp Out Fair Use At Universities
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022308750
Strong indications that Obama really does want to cut Social Security benefits
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022185393
When Do Low-Income Americans Get Their White House Meeting?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022155343
Sen. Sanders says he's 'not confident' Obama will protect Social Security
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022142298
An Ugly, Ugly, Ugly Deal
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022116211
Dennis Kucinich accuses the US government of creating a manufactured crisis
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022112383
Oh well the American people just a got a bipartisan fucking
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022115254
SELLOUT! This is NOT what we voted for! He ran on $250k and now is pushing $450K.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022103860
Pres Obama: David, in pursuit of strengthening SS, I'm willing to cut SS benefits
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022097448
Why is Social Security Under Attack from Obama, when it ADDS NOTHING to the deficit???
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022065493
Dennis Kucinich on the "Fiscal Cliff": Why Are We Sacrificing American Jobs for Corporate Profits?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022088215
Two-thirds of Americans are against touching Social Security, yet it's on the table
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022050249
Guess what? Chained CPI is the bright idea of Third Way, the Dem "policy shop"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022021626
Robert Reich "we should be cutting military spending & Corporate welfare"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022045904
President Obama Offered More Cuts To Social Security Benefits Than To The Pentagon
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022037665
From the White House transcript: Obama DID include Chained CPI in negotiations.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022030190
White House: changing inflation calculation a 'technical change'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022021743
The Fiscal Cliff Scam to Maintain Low Tax Rates on the Rich
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021956651
David Plouffe and a grand bargain
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021886737
Robert Reich: Why is the White Houses Council of Economic Advisers Helping the Republicans?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021888725
Grand Bargain Watch: Senate's No. 2 Democrat calls for cuts to social safety net
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021893380
Bernie Sanders BLOWS THE LID OFF The Bipartisan Plan To CUT TAXES for Corporations and the Wealthy
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021897705
Obama Administration continues to persecute citizens for the music industry
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022369263
Jan 1, 2013 : NYT: Fiscal agreement still 'far too generous to the ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x2490095
President's Budget Shreds Hope for Low-Income Americans ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002310114
Under Obama's Tax Plan, Middle Class Will Get Higher Tax ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022106484
Obama to Use Pension Funds of Ordinary Americans to Pay for ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002205218
The collapsing middle class- now they are going after pensions ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1002974967
Obama signs bill cutting 2.2 billion from food stamps
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x309
Why isn't Obama demanding corporate welfare cuts? $2.6 trillion
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022031440
Did Obama say that Medicare is the biggest contributor to the deficit ...
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022115149
Explaining the Pure Cruelty of Obama's Gimmick, " Chained CPI "
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101651430
President Obama's Speech On Fiscal Cliff -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101777826
Obama Sells Politics of Austerity - Democratic Underground
http://election.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=385x600735
HELLO!!! Economists See Deficit Emphasis as Impeding Recovery
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022819515
Trans Pacific Partnership is NAFTA On Steroids
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021914478
The Trans-Pacific Partnership: This Is What Corporate Governance Looks Like
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101648890
Why So Secretive? The Trans-Pacific Partnership as Global Coup
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021881806
So the new immigration bill would increase visas for high tech jobs. How will this help us again? -
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10022281889
Obama's TPP Disaster
http://www.democraticunderground.com/101734264
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)post by whiners does not necessarily make them fact.
Thankfully!
You still did not address how you equate Obama's Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010 with the GOP wanting to cut 40 billion from the SNAP (food stamps)
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Absolutely pathetic.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)You know the collusion in Washington, yet you participate in this despicable game that takes food out of people's mouths and gives it to bankers, warmongers, and billionaires.
That's your defense...The other guy would starve you more. You can't get lower than that as a sustained strategy to legitimize the raping of a country.
And certainly my lengthy list, which you refuse to address, makes it clear that less food is far from the only bludgeon being taken to the poor by this administration....
but you don't talk about that, do you?
I think perhaps it's time to look for a job that will preserve the moral center...
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)No,,,,, I want more funding for poor folks on all fronts,,,,, but it aint the Democrats that are blocking it!
Know your enemy
Skittles
(162,537 posts)Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)Yup.
Mojorabbit
(16,020 posts)woo me with science
(32,139 posts)to combat the constant denial of what we are really facing here in the corporate lesser of two evils scam.
We can't let any of it go down the memory hole.
dkf
(37,305 posts)jtuck004
(15,882 posts)Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)removing 40 billion in Food Stamps by the GOP?
jtuck004
(15,882 posts)SNAP Benefits Will Be Cut for All Participants in November 2013
The 2009 Recovery Acts temporary boost to Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits is scheduled to end on November 1, 2013, resulting in a benefit cut for every SNAP household. For families of three, the cut will be $29 a month a total of $319 for November 2013 through September 2014, the remaining months of fiscal year 2014.[2] Thats a serious loss, especially in light of the very low amount of basic SNAP benefits. Without the Recovery Acts boost, SNAP benefits will average less than $1.40 per person per meal in 2014. (See Table 2 for estimates of the size of the SNAP cut in each state in fiscal year 2014.) Nationally, the total cut is estimated to be $5 billion in fiscal year 2014.
...
Here
The Recovery Act
On February 13, 2009, in direct response to the economic crisis and at the urging of President Obama, Congress passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 -- commonly referred to as the "stimulus" or the "stimulus package." Four days later, the President signed the Recovery Act into law. The three immediate goals of the Recovery Act are:
...
Here.
Given that Obama has made very public statements about his belief that he doesn't need Congress to authorize shooting missiles, maybe he ought to declare war against hunger and shoot food into neighborhoods. After all, he did tell the bankers, among them organizations that donated heavily to his first Presidential election campaign. that he was protecting them, and then backed it up with trillions for them to play with and profit from. Seems like everyone else should be treated just as well as the people profiting from the foreclosure of the homes of 10 million American families and the tragedy that follows them.
Though I am sure someone thinks that him telling the bankers he is standing between them "and the pitchforks" was probably some Republican projecting his voice...
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)Last edited Sun Sep 15, 2013, 08:35 PM - Edit history (1)
how the GOP House refuses to extend the temp funding of the 2009 Recovery Act. Funny how you leave that part out.....
still await on how you equate on how The GOP wants to cut $40 billion in SNAP with Obama taking 4.5 billion of the increase in SNAP and create the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act of 2010...
So many Red Herrings by the Obama Haters
Skittles
(162,537 posts)
Response to Cryptoad (Reply #46)
Skittles This message was self-deleted by its author.
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)You've seen 'em. They're like blue herons only red. They turn red from eating krill.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Thank you.
Initech
(104,203 posts)We should not be living in a society where the CEOs earn 475:1 what their average worker makes and workers get treated as if they can throw us away.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Because they are the avenue through which the One Percent implements its agenda through government.
Initech
(104,203 posts)Until we get money out of politics completely, nothing will change. Citizens United needs to be overturned ASAP.
woo me with science
(32,139 posts)Lots and lots of ABSURD propaganda bullshit being thrown around right now, and I was not sure of your point.
Thank you.
Egalitarian Thug
(12,448 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)and he welcomed their hatred.
Faux pas
(15,577 posts)No bullets or bombs.
rrneck
(17,671 posts)bhikkhu
(10,773 posts)
A common myth is that the rich pay all the taxes, while the rest of us just "take".
Governments are formed by common consent by people as a whole, to serve the needs of the people as a whole. Everybody contributes their share, and everyone enjoys the benefits. That's true of the rich and the poor. The notion that there is some shameful "dole" that takes from those who are paying their way, and gives to those that are just lazy, is a RW meme that too many buy into.
Overall, what is taken and given is fairly balanced. Capitalism inherently concentrates wealth in the hands of a few, and government acts to balance that in the best interests of the whole people. In practice, here lately, it works out much better for the wealthy than for the rest, but the problem isn't "the dole", but one of the will in government to function as it is designed to.
The best policies I've seen lately which would directly and effectively address that are those increasing the minimum wage. Why should people working full time not make enough money to eat?
rrneck
(17,671 posts)Last edited Mon Sep 16, 2013, 12:20 AM - Edit history (1)
Most of the people on the dole either don't know it or won't admit it. People who keep jobs they hate for the benefits are on the dole. People who fear seeing their jobs moving overseas are on the dole. People who work to support a lifestyle that means nothing are on the dole. People who train for careers most likely to pay for the education it took to do them rather than what they really want to do with their lives are on the dole.
It's not just money that gets doled out. Our values, aspirations, hopes and dreams are doled out to us as well. And those rations are designed to profit the wealthy through a restriction of choices for the rest of us regarding the direction of our lives. The tragedy of public assistance is not that most of those who receive it are unable to succeed, it's that they are unable to conform.
Sorry about the short reply. Sometimes brevity is not the soul of wit.
bhikkhu
(10,773 posts)Thanks for the thoughtful reply, but I don't think I would equate the limitations or formative effects upon our values, aspirations, hopes and dreams with "the dole". Its not that we are powerless and ineffective in the face of some great determining system...its rather that there has never been a system that does not in some way form, limit, and guide our directions. People are inherently social, and the first desperate hope of any young person in the world is to find their place, to play some part and adopt a role in society. Most hope for an important role, and most settle with less, of simply what is possible, but the same basic rules apply whether one is a bushman on the Kalahari or a mechanic's son in Ohio.
I wouldn't argue at all, however, that changes over the last few decades have made that finding of a part to play more difficult and less hopeful than it should be, and that we could do a great deal better in social mobility and the providing of opportunities. As we speak, enrollment in college among 19-25 year olds is at a record high. I hope those who are learning in hopes of better lives, and in hopes of making a difference and having the opportunity, have all the chances they deserve.
The best and most immediate thing we can do for them is (though it may sound trite and simplistic) to elect a democratic congress in 2014, as there has been so much good legislation that could make real differences stalled and shuffled aside by the do-nothing republican congress. A positive progressive agenda is there, and capable people are ready to get to work, they just don't have the votes yet.
rrneck
(17,671 posts)but who designed the culture that bounds us? How is it distributed and how do we acquire it? How diverse is the marketplace of ideas? Ideology, on the right and the left, has become little more than a consumer product. The institutions that have traditionally been a bulwark against mercantilism have been co-opted or marginalized by the profit motive, and when they fail, disaster capitalism can find a way to make money off of that.
College enrollment is going up, but look what the kids are studying:
http://nces.ed.gov/programs/digest/d11/figures/fig_16.asp?referrer=figures
And add to that the number of disciplines that are considered mere extensions of business like communications, journalism, engineering, health professions and the arts. While the objectives and methods of business are obvious, how many people are trained in other disciplines within the context of those same methods and objectives? That's how we get Madison Avenue, network television, HMO's, Google Glass, Twitter, SSRI uptake inhibitors for "social anxiety", Olestra, Fox News and the Southern Baptist Convention.
I once talked to a cowboy that trained horses for a living. He said the trick to training horses was to make the right thing easy and the wrong thing hard. We are suffering from a national sense of anomie because our culture is been skewed to train us to make the wrong thing easy and the right thing hard. Today, given the obvious dangers over the horizon regarding resource depletion and climate change, the wrong thing is to do it the way we've done it for hundreds of years.
The term "liberal" refers to increased, or "liberally applied", cultural change. That's why we need a Democratic congress in 2014, because it's our best chance for change in a time when cultural change will make or break our country and our species. Conservatism simply makes no sense given what we know about the world today and our prospects for tomorrow.
Everywhere you look, from incessant culture wars to packaged cable television, your culture is doled out to you . Ninety nine percent of the images people see every day are produced by a corporation. Human relationships are metered and squeezed for profit by limiting them to, for example, 140 characters. Political discourse is dominated by ratings driven hyperbole on both sides of the aisle. From where I sit whole swaths of our population have become little more than trained pigeons pecking at a button for a pellet.
bhikkhu
(10,773 posts)Now I have to head out and peck at that button...
rrneck
(17,671 posts)Vanje
(9,766 posts)Lifespans are getting ever shorter for the poor.
from this short article: http://www.addictinginfo.org/2013/07/21/this-infographic-proves-that-republican-policies-kill-people/
BillyRibs
(787 posts)When I see post of Wealthy "Entrepreneurs" who just made a Billion. Like that's going to help.
KansDem
(28,498 posts)At least a couple or three going to and from work. One fellow has been at a certain intersection for a couple of months now.
Recently, I saw a couple and their toddler! His sign read, "Lost my job. Please help." As I passed by I saw a police car pulling up, probably to have "a talk" with them.
I thought when I shop for groceries I would start picking up a few canned items like cans of beans, corn, fruit, and maybe some chili and soup. Stuff that won't spoil.
I would put this cans in a sack to drop off quickly at these intersections.
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)obxhead
(8,434 posts)The economy was broken before Bush. It has since been repaired and 20% unemployment has driven wages and benefits down properly.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)roamer65
(37,495 posts)That is the correct phrase for it. This country will tear itself apart if this continues.
Cryptoad
(8,254 posts)can only happen when the Democratic Party has the White House and control of Congress and the SCOTUS....!!!!!!!!!
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)totodeinhere
(13,581 posts)either the second, third or fourth Wednesday of the month depending on the recipient's birthday. However, I agree with the thrust of what you said.
Harmony Blue
(3,978 posts)thank you.
RebelOne
(30,947 posts)Wednesday of each month. Not everyone receives theirs on the 1st.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Not do whatever like I wanted him to do, and it goes on and on. Democrats are only as strong as our weakest links and I hear a lot of broken links. It is time to get off the knick picking and do some positive if we ever expect change. This ODS I read needs to change to positive statements. The 1% is going to continue their efforts to suppress the rest unless we get Democrats elected it will never change.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)democrats in office. We just want democrats in office that will fight for the people, not for corporations. I think people are beginning to voice their distress and maybe if we're lucky we'll get a new crop of candidates that understand that people are suffering and desperately need help.
Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)With fighting the wrong battles and he nor other elected officials can be strong enough to get bills passed in Congress to put the corporations in their place.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)Thinkingabout
(30,058 posts)Help make Obama and the Democrats weaker?
winter is coming
(11,785 posts)When reality is "negative propaganda" that says a lot about your perceptions and priorities.