20% of Oregonians are on food stamps

Discussion in 'Blazers OT Forum' started by EL PRESIDENTE, May 4, 2011.

  1. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,261
    Likes Received:
    831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
    understanding what a hassle it is? It is one of the easiest things to do.. Its overly lenient on what needs to be reported by the client. And easily frauded.
     
  2. barfo

    barfo triggered obsessive commie pinko boomer maniac Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Sep 15, 2008
    Messages:
    34,357
    Likes Received:
    25,394
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Blazer OT board
    Ok, let's see you prove that you can have your mind changed. I've done the research for you.

    Here are the data on employees of state and local government, according to the census bureau. You can see that there is quite a detailed breakdown, so you can examine it to see if anything is left out. According to the census, there are just under 200,000 state and local government employees in Oregon. 238 of those work at state liquor stores, 3502 are firefighters, etc. You'll note that this list includes both k-12 and higher ed, city, county, state workers. Everything, in fact, except for federal.

    Then for federal employees in OR, we have this. As I said before, just over 30,000 federal employees in Oregon.

    That's it. 230,000 government employees in Oregon (although those numbers are from 2008 and 2009).

    The labor force in Oregon (this excludes farm labor) is about 1.62 million. That's as of March 2011. You'll note, if you look, that that source puts the number of federal, state, and local government employees at 299,000. However, I thought it useful to present the census numbers as well, since they are much more detailed, if older.

    So let's take the more recent, and higher number, of 299,000 government employees in Oregon, out of a workforce of 1.62 million. Is that 52%, as you claim? It seems to be 18%. Which, oddly enough, was what the quote in my very first post on this subject said.

    Now, am I still "speaking like a true liberal" and "doing liberal math"? Or are you ready to admit that you and Lars were wrong (and not just a little wrong, but way, way off base)?

    I await your capitulation.

    barfo
     
    Last edited: May 5, 2011
  3. MARIS61

    MARIS61 Real American

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2008
    Messages:
    28,007
    Likes Received:
    5,012
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    retired Yankee
    Location:
    Beautiful Central Oregon
    If you count all the private sector jobs that are dependent on government contracts for their survival the number easily approaches 50%.

    If you've got 50%, you've got about half.
     
  4. DaLincolnJones

    DaLincolnJones Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Mar 11, 2011
    Messages:
    8,319
    Likes Received:
    1,886
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Larson, Lars to me
    show details 5:36 PM (16 hours ago)

    Hard to find it in that form. There are 50,000 state employees (ore more) ...and that's more than any other single industry. Also, in Portland, the biggest five employers are gov, gov, gov, gov, gov

    In many small towns, the biggest employer is the local school district...followed by the law enforcement, blm etc

    cut

    This is part of an email from Lars last night.

    I will find out exactly what figures were used to give the numbers I gave you. I believe that looking at just the "government jobs' your numbers would provide a convincing argument, but if one looks deeper, looks at adding things like Oregon National Guard, Those in the military, OD VA, OHSU, union reps for all of the above, contract workers that are not reflected in the figures you have, industries that support the system like Oregon Freezdry that would not be in existence if not for providing MREs, BOM, industries that provide metals for aerospace and military application, NASA, etc etc Its pretty easy to see where I am giong with this, and the numbers ramp up fast.
    I will let you know as I dig into this deeper, and I do admit that your questioning has made me interested as well.
     
  5. MrJayremmie

    MrJayremmie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    3,438
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    No. Not against bailouts, though I wonder how many were against the Bush bailouts while they were going on, and not after the fact.

    I'm talking about the fact that when a company took many, many were not in favor of having the money come with strings attached, aka limiting pay in the company until the debt is paid off. This seems close to that.
     
  6. EL PRESIDENTE

    EL PRESIDENTE Username Retired in Honor of Lanny.

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2010
    Messages:
    50,346
    Likes Received:
    22,532
    Trophy Points:
    113
    If you recall, a lot of the posters here just wanted the systems to fail naturally. invisible hand.
     
  7. MrJayremmie

    MrJayremmie Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 15, 2008
    Messages:
    3,438
    Likes Received:
    27
    Trophy Points:
    48
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    Again, that isn't what I'm talking about. I'm sure you know that.
     
  8. BrianFromWA

    BrianFromWA Editor in Chief Staff Member Editor in Chief

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    26,096
    Likes Received:
    9,073
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I'm much more in favor, philosophically speaking, of programs like Food Vouchers and WIC than of welfare or extended, government-subsidized unemployment benefits. Agree with Maris, though, that many more people are coming to food banks and shelters for free meals in the last year or so than before.

    I don't think that limiting the brands/foods you can get with food stamps (or some kind of card or whatever) would be an infringement of the gov't on your life. I mean, it's their help that they're giving you. If the gov't came out to say "no one can go to McD's anymore b/c the food can kill you" that seems different than saying "Brian, I'm giving you a coupon for free lunch, but it's for a Subway sandwich b/c it's healthy and will provide you nutrition until you can buy your own lunches again." I don't think I have the right to say "WTF?! I hate Subway. I wanna free Big Mac!"

    My wife helped some WIC ladies as they were shopping for their families. There are specific items that are available...for instance, you can get single-food baby food (like "bananas", "peas", etc.) but not combinations (like "strawberry-banana blend"). Or you could get "Similac" formula, but not "Enfamil". It's odd, though, that you can shop anywhere with them. The same items at WINCO are much cheaper than at Safeway, but you're able to just write the amount on the WIC check.
     
  9. 3RA1N1AC

    3RA1N1AC 00110110 00111001

    Joined:
    Oct 18, 2008
    Messages:
    20,918
    Likes Received:
    5,168
    Trophy Points:
    113
    wic sounds ideal actually, why wouldnt they just expand that?
     
  10. 44Thrilla

    44Thrilla cuatro cuatro

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2004
    Messages:
    14,113
    Likes Received:
    216
    Trophy Points:
    63
    a kid that works for me (college student) gets food stamps because he's a full time student and "responsible for buying his own food".

    the fucking kid lives with his parents, and he didn't lie on the application.
     
  11. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,261
    Likes Received:
    831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
    wow thats odd.. is that in Mass? I cant remember what state you are in lol. Here in Oregon is someone is even considered half time student (varies from school to school what half time is) the person has to meet special criteria to even be eligible for Food Stamps. They have to be working average of 20 hours per week, or meet some special work study programs, or be like unfit for work physically.

    Also in Oregon if you live with your parents you have to be 22 to apply seperately from them. If you are under 22 then sorry, you have to apply with your parents if you want to apply, and we have to count their income.
     
  12. 44Thrilla

    44Thrilla cuatro cuatro

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2004
    Messages:
    14,113
    Likes Received:
    216
    Trophy Points:
    63
    the great state of RI is responsible for that.
     
  13. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,261
    Likes Received:
    831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
    dang.. someone other than Cali who runs the Food Stamp program worse than us.

    Yeah the most common complaints I get are "But how am I supposed to pay for College!??" or "I have a $2000 mortgage though!!"

    Well I'm sorry that you decided to live out of your means, or can no longer live within those means you could before.. but these are FOOD stamps, not College Stamps, or Mortgage Stamps.

    I have actually gotten frustrated with a client and told them that lol. They threatened to call the Govenor Advocacy on me, but I never heard anything.
     
  14. maxiep

    maxiep RIP Dr. Jack

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2008
    Messages:
    28,303
    Likes Received:
    5,884
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Merchant Banker
    Location:
    Denver, CO & Lake Oswego, OR
  15. maxiep

    maxiep RIP Dr. Jack

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2008
    Messages:
    28,303
    Likes Received:
    5,884
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Merchant Banker
    Location:
    Denver, CO & Lake Oswego, OR
  16. maxiep

    maxiep RIP Dr. Jack

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2008
    Messages:
    28,303
    Likes Received:
    5,884
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Merchant Banker
    Location:
    Denver, CO & Lake Oswego, OR
  17. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,261
    Likes Received:
    831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
    interesting about keeping his winnings in the bank. I've never had an ammount even near 1/10th of that in the bank so I dont know about interest levels.

    But with FS here at least Resources dont count (unfortunately) yet Interest in a bank account each month would. I've never had a case where interest would be so high that it makes a difference though. In fact I dont think I've seen a case with more than $4,000 in bank accounts. Wonder what $1 million in the bank would brin in interest wise per month?
     
  18. Wheels

    Wheels Is That A Challenge?!?!1! Staff Member Global Moderator

    Joined:
    Nov 2, 2008
    Messages:
    16,261
    Likes Received:
    831
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Location:
    Hood River, OR
  19. maxiep

    maxiep RIP Dr. Jack

    Joined:
    Sep 12, 2008
    Messages:
    28,303
    Likes Received:
    5,884
    Trophy Points:
    113
    Occupation:
    Merchant Banker
    Location:
    Denver, CO & Lake Oswego, OR
    Last edited: May 19, 2011
  20. BrianFromWA

    BrianFromWA Editor in Chief Staff Member Editor in Chief

    Joined:
    Sep 9, 2008
    Messages:
    26,096
    Likes Received:
    9,073
    Trophy Points:
    113
    I call.
     

Share This Page