Krugman on Food Stamps and the supposed "explosion of moocherism"

[cthulu2016]

...It has now become dogma on the right that the expansion of the SNAP program represents some kind of explosion of moocherism, not a safety net program providing, you know, a safety net in tough economic times... To the extent that there’s any rational argument here at all, I think, it rests on the observation that while SNAP enrollment did fall during the boom of the 1990s, it was flat or rising during the expansion of the middle Bush years. This supposedly shows that the program’s use was being driven by things other than economic factors.

But there’s a crucial point such analyses miss: the “Bush boom,” such as it was, never did trickle down to lower-income Americans — the kind of people who might use food stamps. Here’s a chart comparing income, in 2012 dollars, at the 20th percentile (left axis, inverted) with the percentage of the population on SNAP:



The Clinton expansion led to a substantial rise in incomes near in the lower part of the distribution, and was accompanied by a sharp fall in SNAP usage. The Bush expansion never did reach many Americans, so it’s no surprise that SNAP use didn’t fall. And then, of course, SNAP use surged in the crisis, which is what is supposed to happen with a safety net program.

Oh, and SNAP use hasn’t come down yet in the recovery because for lower-income Americans, there hasn’t been a recovery...

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/20/snap-notes/

[gopiscrap]

1. they don't care they just want to luck tough to their ignorant

dumb ass fucked up political base.

[Hydra]

2. They don't have a base

But they also don't need one. Leaders aren't elected, they're selected based on whose financial backing they have.

They steal from the poor to give to themselves, and the only people who support it are the ones who think they're going to get a piece of the pie at some point.

[L0oniX]

3. I would bet that less than 2% are cheating the snap system...

just like less than 2% on welfare use illegal drugs. Florida found that out and stopped the testing and others have yet to find the same facts.

[Gormy Cuss]

4. Your guess is just about right.

There's about a 1 to 1.5% trafficking rate (retailers accepting SNAP benefits for items other than eligible food or converting benefits to cash.) There's also a 4% error rate in the benefits issued with most of that error coming from workers not participants.

[woo me with science]

5. K&R I have to post again this Jon Stewart segment

on the demonization in the poor in the MSM.

This is the poison we marinate in.

http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-august-18-2011/world-of-class-warfare---the-poor-s-free-ride-is-over