Note To Neo-Cons: Millions More On Food Stamps! Cut them Too?

[Youngstownshrimp]

This is why we are the greatest debtor nation in the world, the fall of America is upon us with Dennis leading the collapse.

[Rick Rowlands]

Are we supposed to feel sorry for Dorene because she decided to have more children than her income can afford?  Why do taxpayers have to pay for her poor decision making?

[irishbobcat]

Millions more using food stamps
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Wednesday, February 9, 2011  02:51 AM
By Pamela M. Prah

Stateline.org
Food assistance
Below are the states with the largest percentage increases in food-stamp recipients in the one-year period ending in November.


1. Idaho (28.3 percent)

2. Nevada (27 percent)

3. Delaware (25.4 percent)

4. Utah (24.9 percent)

5. Florida (23.2 percent)

21. Ohio (14.9 percent)

Source: U.S. Agriculture Department

WASHINGTON - Dorene is a certified teacher in Idaho, but the only job she can find is as a teaching assistant, which pays less than $11 an hour. That's considerably less than the $45,000 a year that the average teacher in Idaho earns.

"We live paycheck to paycheck. I never thought I'd be in this situation," said Dorene, who asked that her full name not be used because her family doesn't know she has been getting food-stamp benefits for her two young children and herself for a year.

Nationwide, 1 in 7 Americans receives help from the government to put food on the table. All but 14 states saw double-digit percentage increases in the number of people getting food stamps in the one-year period that ended in November 2010. Idaho had the largest one-year increase in the country: 28percent, according to the latest government figures.

Idaho even edged ahead of Nevada, which has the country's highest unemployment rate at 14.5 percent. Idaho's 9.5 percent jobless rate is closer to the national average of 9 percent, but it is three times higher than in 2007.

"People are simply running out of options," said Adrienne Evans, executive director of United Vision for Idaho, an advocacy group in Boise.

The food-stamp program helped 43.6million Americans in November 2010 - the latest data available. About half are children. Before the recession, the program was serving 26million.

The federal government pays the full cost of food-stamp benefits but splits the cost of administering the program with the states, which operate it. Technically, the program no longer is called food stamps; it was renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, in 2008.

The demand for food stamps is expected to remain high throughout the country as the unemployment rate hovers near 9 percent in 2011, gradually falling to 8.2 percent by late 2012 and reaching the " natural rate" of 5.3 percent in 2016, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Supporters say the program not only puts food on the table but also helps stimulate the economy.

Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics, figures that boosting food stamp payments by $1 increases the gross domestic product by $1.73.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the benefits are greater: Every $5 in new SNAP benefits generates as much as $9 in economic activity.