Paul Krugman: Cutting Successful SNAP Program "An Awesome Combination of Ignorance And Cruelty" [View all]

[Hissyspit]

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/09/21/more-snap-judgments/

September 21, 2013, 1:21 pm Comment

More SNAP Judgments

- snip -

Does this look like an out-of-control program to you? Spending as a percentage of GDP was no higher in 2007 than it had been in 1990. It then soared when we experienced the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression — which is exactly what should have happened. True, spending didn’t fall during the Bush-era economic expansion, but as I’ve already explained, that expansion didn’t trickle down to the people who use food stamps.

- snip -

But what about all those claims of soaring spending on means-tested programs? They’re driven to some extent by the Earned Income Tax Credit, which rewards work, but mainly by Medicaid.

The idea that food stamps represent a problem — not a small blessing that has made this ongoing economic disaster marginally less awful — represents an awesome combination of ignorance and cruelty.

MORE AT LINK