Have you ever actually MET any people that think the way you are describing, or are you just regurgitating broad, hate-filled, probably racist stereotypes bleated by the right wing media? Don't bother, I know the answer.
You could also look at the same numbers and say that the number of Americans below the poverty level is 40 million. Meanwhile, gap between the haves and the have-nots has been widening. The number of millionaires across ten major U.S. metropolitan areas increased 17.5 percent in 2009 over 2008. New York City has the most millionaires, 667,000, up 18.7 percent.
What's wrong with that? It has been PROVEN that these cards are regularly abused. They are used to withdraw cash at ATMs in strip clubs and casinos. They are freely traded for alcohol. This is a public service, it should be BASIC and SUSTAINABLE. The point of these programs is to encourage people to get off them. If they are free to choose what to buy, with little to no embarassment or whatever, you are just encouraging their use and abuse.
DING DING DING!! We have a winner. When I worked for the State and then the Feds, their internal stats are that about 60% of all social spending is for fraud.
Food stamp use has been on the rise for a while. It definitely sucks, because it is a program that is abused regularly. I imagine when it rose over 30 million for the first time, in late 2008, you were blaming Bush, right?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_daily_ration You can feed someone for $2 a day. (2200 cal) With an MRE, it goes up to $7 a meal (1200 cal, but not great for you if you're not crawling through the boonies burning calories)
Oh I have. Many of them. My sister was a "welfare mama" for years. Any possible was to cheat and fraud the system, she used.
Then people like that need to be identified and cut off. I don't think any "liberal" in the country believes that she should continue that unchallenged.
I respectfully disagree with your contention about it being "unchallenged". I think there is a political class that views its path to power as making as many people as possible reliant on government subsidies, and most of those folks would describe themselves as "liberals".
As someone who works with the programs I agree... but I wish they wouldnt let them use it on crap like Doritos and Junk food and all that crap. WIC is good in how it can be used for necessary sustinence.
If that is a stated position and purpose of this "political class", then I would agree with you. I think you tend to see what you want to see sometimes in the intentions of well-meaning people who may unfortunately be trying to make the best of and attempt to improve an admittedly broken system. I don't think there are any Dr. Evil type maniacal power-hungry cretins out there rubbing their hands together at the prospect of making more people dependant on the welfare state. It's the difference between a "white/black" worldview, and a "infinite shades of grey" worldview.
I agree with your "pre-determined rations" idea. Going on the foodstamp program is a choice. If you don't like the rations, nobody is going to force you to use the stamps.
