Bill proposes ending purchases of steak, cake, lobster & more with food stamps

[quaker bill]

6. It is actually worse than imagined

The basic assumption here is that poor people are poor because they do not work hard and make bad decisions. It is therefore the role of government to "fix them".

First, in substantial measure it is untrue. Most people on Government assistance are working, as "welfare reform" required it. Second is the notion that government can make "better" decisions for them, that it can "fix" them. Government cannot even make good decisions for itself anymore.

These people are for the very large part, not broken (the deinstitutionalized mentally ill aside). They do not need to be "fixed". They work jobs that do not pay a living wage and have no benefits. They live in a world of payday lenders, furniture rentals, and buy here pay here car lots (crappy cars at twice the price and high interest). Because they have no bank account, it costs anywhere from 5 to 15 percent to cash their pitiful paychecks. It costs more, a lot more to be poor.

There are ways to fix a lot of this, but it has nothing to do with steaks and lobster, or otherwise looking down on the poor. We need to raise the minimum wage and crack down on the poverty industry.