Some days I feel sure of one thing: Everything is a racket in this country now. Listen to Marion Nestle on Food Stamps.
“Among the beneficiaries, food producers such as Cargill, PepsiCo. (PEP), Coca-Cola (KO) and Kraft (KFT), as well as retailers like Wal-Mart. Of course, Wall Street gets a cut too, led by JPMorgan Chase (JPM), which administers the SNAP benefits in 24 states.”
Some people do really well by doing good.
You know, there is a liberal case for smaller government.
http://peacocksandlilies.com/2011/03/06/the-liberal-case-for-smaller-government/
Yes everything in the US is now a racket. And that’s because people who lie and cheat are not only given a pass for it but rewarded, cheered, encouraged by peers who adoringly approve of them and harshly attack truth tellers. (Carrying over from the previous thread, it seeded at the start of the Baby Boom generation, and many of the seeds were magnanimous, not malicious. Food for great discussion.)
The result is scamming not only from inherent scammers but scamming from people who’d normally be decent people of good moral character — because it’s human nature to conform to the majority, to want to be part of the group and liked. It’s a very rare human being who holds to principles and ethics when it’s unpopular, and that’s why –much as late Boomers and subsequent generations fought them– moral boundaries are essential to a healthy society.
Well, this explains the aggressive radio advertising campaign for SNAP currently underway here in western NC. Each spot is a little mini-play with someone explaining how cool SNAP is and how it can “help everybody”. These are especially targeting senior citizens. I wondered why the government would run these. Now I know it’s probably JP Morgan Chase behind them.
John, you are right that everything is a scam. And Zaladonis, when you say “moral boundaries are essential to a healthy society” you are dead-on too. We have almost no moral boundaries left, and, well…just look around.
Kim, I wrote the post below while you were posting this one. Now, reading yours, I feel I should add the qualifier, which I always assume is implied, that some Americans –like you obviously– are paying attention to what’s going on with SNAP.
BTW, the food stamp program (which is now called SNAP) is another big issue that most Americans are paying no attention to while Congress and the White House cobble together legislation that’ll cover the next five to ten years. That’s happening right now.
The Senate just passed a bill that’s headed over to the House. The Senate version of the Farm Bill reduces spending by more than $23 Billion over 10 years, including a reduction of $4.5 Billion for food stamps, or SNAP, alone. That’s at a time when the call for food stamps (maybe a lot of them are scammers or maybe they’re sincerely in need, I don’t know) is higher than ever. And of course the House majority is Republican so chances are their version will include even bigger cuts.
Trouble is, what’s going to be cut is not scammers who parasite off the program but particular elements of the program that benefit both scammers and people in genuine need of food.
Also troubling, in the bill, are some new elements that, like so much of American choice-making today, sounds good but could lead to real problems. For instance there’s a provision that lets people use their SNAP benefits to buy shares in CSAs, or Community Supported Agriculture. Now this sounds great, it’s all healthy food. CSA programs connect buyers with farms. Customers buy shares before the season starts, then get whatever their share amount entitles them to from what’s produced on the farm when the crops come in. If there’s a bumper crop, the shareholders are in for great bounty, if there’s drought or too much rain and too little sun or some other problem, shareholders get paltry pickins or lose their investment and have to buy produce from the market. I’m involved in CSAs and support them, they’re great for farmers who need upfront cash to farm and for buyers who want fresh produce (from the farms I’m involved with, all non-GMO). But they’re a gamble every year and if you’re living on the edge and depending on food from your SNAP benefits to provide basic subsistence for your family, using those benefits to buy shares in CSAs is really just another racket because you could lose it all if it’s a bad crop year.
Anyway, my point is, are Americans paying attention? Are they participating? Or are they just letting it all happen, giving over their power to Congress, and then going to blame Congress or the White House for this bill when it’s done, saying it’s not what the American people want?
But, but, it’s all “for the children and the poor”..Any public figure who dares offer an honest criticism will be lambasted in the media..As long as the Left uses the above catch phrase, nothing will change. The odious Marion Edelman is a master at this form of propaganda.
If anyone wants to know how the Food Stamp program is abused, ask your local grocery store cashier, you will get an earful from many of them. If soda and Cheetos were removed from the list of permitted foods along with other junk, many families would be unable to cope. And we wonder why our kids are lagging far behind in math and science? Start by looking at what they eat.
OT but apparently there are no boundaries which our current gov’t will not break:
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/secret-service-fast-and-furious-crushing-anti-holder-protest
We are now ROMAN. Hail Caesar!
Andy Griffith has died. He did (what I consider) a silly TV show but before that he was a talented movie actor who played a character in a movie everybody here should see if they haven’t already. Patricia Neal also turned in a spectacular performance. The 1957 movie was A Face in the Crowd, and it speaks volumes about how we got where we are today. Here’s a brief clip:
Godspeed, Andy Griffith.