Why doesn't the Federal government just take over SNAP food distribution?

[daredtowork]

4. Terrible idea

1) The "super poor" often don't get transportation subsidies. It's hard to get food "in bulK" to where they live. I don't get to use food banks because the major ones are too far away from me, and I can't get the food back home.

2) "Government" diets can't be tweaked for food allergies, medical conditions, and all the ways poor people have to creatively use food stamps to cover basic needs that aren't being covered because there is no direct cash welfare for single people. For instance, baking soda = tooth paste, cleaning product, draino. Many uses for vinegar and lemon juice as well.

3) Human beings can only mentally tolerate a "scarcity" diet of rice and beans for so long. Poverty really pounds down on you, and you need to intersperse that with variety. The sense of choice that comes from shopping at a grocery store is autonomy. Since poor people can't shop for anything else, this is the only place they are going to get that feeling of choice and self-directedness.

4) Poor people seriously do not have a lot of time. They are on the run a lot. They need to pack a lot of lunches. They don't have time to cook. If they are single, they need small convenient quick meals. The Taxpayer, who doesn't think to dictate to the Super Rich who take $6000/yr. from them, but do get a kick out of dictating every calorie a poor person even thinks about eating, seems to believe that Slaving in the Kitchen is an appropriate additional punishment for the poor. As a poor person, I will resist that imposed burden as much as I possibly can. Let me go to the grocery store and attempt to take advantage of sales and get 3 Lean Cuisines for the price of one if that's what I want to eat.

5) It's an interesting assumption that SNAP recipients are in the situation they are in because they have so few skills that they need to be rehabbed through a grocery store. Instead of lecturing this, I'll just advise you to do further research into who SNAP recipients really are.

5) Finding ways for SNAP to subsidize local Farmers Markets is a great idea - this helps me get my veggies and it supports local farmers.


By the way, why do people keep harping on SNAP? It is a drop in the bucket compared to how we fund our war machine? If I converted my medication list into cash, I could be living quite comfortably with no government benefits at all, so these programs don't lack funding - they are just always being pecked at by budget hawks.

What we need is a program in addition to SNAP and Housing programs to cover non-food basic necessities like transportation, hygiene products, cleaning products, stamps and papers for imposed government correspondence - a basic "household needs" budget to tide people over until they have a job. I'd be willing to trade a medication in for that.