One In Four Children. Motherfucker.

[MannyGoldstein]

It just struck me head on - http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/us/29foodstamps.html">one in every four children in my country is on food stamps.

Holy shit. Does anyone really think that these people want to be eligible for food stamps?

29 years (and counting) of unrelenting far-right economic policy, this is what we're down to.

I fear this country is irrevocably broken, unless we storm the Bastille.

Go ahead, re-appoint Bernanke. Great fucking move.

P.S.: via TwixVoy, a lovely picture of poverty in the US: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2009/11/28/us/20091128-foodstamps.html

[babylonsister]

1. What would storming the bastille accomplish, and how would you

do that?

This is really horrible, and the lack of jobs explains a lot of it.

[L0oniX]

6. They want the country to turn into a complete war machine with no civilian jobs.

Yea ...let's just give up all our money for the war machine and the banksters. I am hating it.

[knightinwhitesatin]

7. You are right babylonsister

the lack of jobs does explain it, and further expanding a war we cannot afford makes it worse. More money for families to eat, less for war.

[BeHereNow]

2. Get ready, the numbers will be higher soon enough. K&R.

What I find REALLY unbelievable is the number of people
who continue to believe their government gives a shit.
Money for war? NO problem.
Money for basic needs? Sorry.

BHN

[AndrewP]

4. It's insane, isn't it? Just insane.

[L0oniX]

9. If only we would just get out of other countries. Stop the war machine.

Stop joining the military.

[BeHereNow]

16. Young people are joining because there ARE NO JOBS.

Part of the plan, part of the plan.

Wanna eat?
See a dentist or a doctor?
Sleep in a bed with a roof over your head?

Enlist.

Nobody gets how this plan is connected to the
recent health care debate either...

BHN

[L0oniX]

18. Yep ...that's the plan ...turn this country into a military machine.

[BeHereNow]

21. Dwight warned us.

We were too busy shopping to listen.

BHN

[kenny blankenship]

27. "Service Guarantees Citizenship"

Everyone else is a useless eater.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMTz9nIUkGc

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. You know the background of that don' you?

you know why Heinlein went there in the background of the Star Ship Trooper world?

Here is the skinny. The armed forces were treated like shit. Vets were dying, and thrown to the curb, until they had enough and they rebelled. So only if you serve (and become a vet) can you become a full citizen, kind of a way to guarantee what you were promised.

Look around. Heinlein was not that far off.

[BeHereNow]

11. You can't imagine how bad it is- I've seen it up close and personal in my job at a school.

So many kids coming to school hungry, sleeping in cars
with their parents.
It is disgraceful.
We started keeping packets of instant oatmeal and
granola bars, juice packs etc in our desks, because let's face
it- no child can concentrate on classroom activities with
a growling stomach.

Aint Amurikka grand?

BHN

[CoffeeCat]

42. A while ago...

I was volunteering at school, and I overheard the secretary, on the phone, telling a mom that her child's lunch account
was in the red---by $20. You could tell it was a distressing conversation. I didn't mean to overhear, but
I think I was meant to overhear. I just happened to have $50 in my billfold that day and I rarely carry cash.
I approached the secretary and told her that I didn't want to know who was on the other end of the phone, but
I wanted the $50 applied to their lunch account. I live in the suburbs...a pretty upper-middle class suburb.
It is bad here. Notes were sent home about deficit lunch accounts and non-payment of student fees (which are $35
per child). Fundraising is terrible too. Our big annual fundraiser collected 25 percent of what we did a year ago.

Things are just...insane. We're supposed to believe (cuz the tee vee people say so) that things are getting better.
I don't think so. And it's not just that people have stopped spending. People seem to have NO extra money for
anything.

[BeHereNow]

47. You ROCK! I mean you may be a "socialist" and all, but I wish there were more.

The rich have sucked the soup kettle dry.
It is only by sharing when and what we can that we
can help others.
What a concept, eh?

:pals: :hug:
BHN

[shireen]

52. thank you ....

:hug:

[inna]

20. don't forget tax cuts for the rich and multiple *trillions* for bailing out the banksters.

It's just revolting. I don't understand how We the People tolerate this shit.

[L0oniX]

3. But let's keep spending money on troops and war. Insanity anyone?

Yea I support any troops that go AWOL. The others are just plain stupid because they are working against the well being of this country.

[knightinwhitesatin]

8. I don't support the AWOL part

but the spending part I agree completely with friend.

[L0oniX]

13. Everyone is afraid to not support the troops ...like it's taboo or something.

I guess I don't have the freedom to not support the troops. The way I see it is that if people didn't join the military then the assholes in charge would have to start a draft which would then cause some real protesting and card burning once again and it would eventually stop the wars just like it did with Vietnam and that's what the assholes in charge don't want. Fuck them and fuck their attitude. They make me sick. Assholes like Henry Kissinger, Bush, Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz, Cheney and many others are enemies of the people and enemies of this country.

[knightinwhitesatin]

I am one of the troops

I can't support an AWOL policy my friend.

[L0oniX]

19. We used to help AWOL people in the Vietnam days. I would still help them today.

[knightinwhitesatin]

22. I may disagree

but I gave my word, even if my government is escalating a bad war, my word has merit to me. I'll be out in about 18 months. Thank you though.

[L0oniX]

30. I guess you will find out if they will keep their word to you. I know many vets who got shit on.

Maybe there will be some of our country left when you get out.

[knightinwhitesatin]

32. Oh I know people who have been shafted by the VA

and by the service after they left. I guess I am a throwback to another era. They will likely not keep their promises to me, but I will do my best to keep mine to them. Even if they don't care I do and for me, a simple man, that is enough. Thank you though for your concern, and I mean that in the nice way, not the snarky way I see around here.

[Jackpine Radical]

55. I understand what you're saying and very much respect you for it.

It's a matter of personal integrity. I'm a Vietnam vet (draftee, grunt), I think that war was immoral, and I saw GIs do some pretty awful things. The most I could do sometimes was to not participate in the worst of the insanity myself. I got into antiwar stuff after I got home.

[shireen]

53. we need to keep up this fight for people like YOU

We, the voters, are responsible for protecting the people who protect us. We do that by electing leaders who will not put them in harms way unless absolutely necessary.

Well, that's the way it's supposed to work in an ideal world. I am in awe of the people who are willing to join the military to protect our country. It IS a noble and selfless gift to us. That's why it hurts us so much to see how our military men and women are being abused by this government, and administrations past.

I feel so helpless and depressed about what's going on. Collectively, as a society, we're failing miserably in every way imaginable. :cry:

[BeHereNow]

24. You did not agree to serve multi national interests, you agreed to serve your country.

Unfortunately, we have lost the country to the
multi-nationals.

Thank you for having your heart in the right place-
Unfortunately, our Congress does give a damn about you.

We DU, though.

BHN

[knightinwhitesatin]

25. No I didn't enlist for those reasons

and I reenlisted last year on the hope that candidate Obama would come to his senses and end these wars. I had hoped to be around to watch the Army, an organization I love rebuild from all the suffering we endured under bush. Now it just looks like more of the same and as soon as my enlistment runs out in May 2011 I am out.

[BeHereNow]

28. My nephew and his wife got out too-

They were both sent, saw the situation for what is was and vowed
never to be involved again.

And yes, sadly it is more of the same.

At one point, they both loved the army too-
now they are simply disgusted with how it has been used.

I sincerely hope you stay stateside until 2011.

I have a basement if you need it.

BHN

[knightinwhitesatin]

29. Do you have cable TV

and is there real Tex/Mex nearby? ;)

thanks my friend, I appreciate the offer, but I can grunt it out for 18 more months. I am in Arizona right now at a school for my MOS (job) my unit is stateside but we don't currently have orders, I am slightly nervous.

[BeHereNow]

31. Satellite, wi-fi and KICK ASS Tex-Mex!

I am nervous for you.

BHN

[knightinwhitesatin]

33. Well the future is unknown

all I can do is be the best person I can possibly be and hope for the best. Again thanks for your kind words, I do appreciate them.

[izquierdista]

10. Stupid, but well-fed and healthy

Well, unless they get too close to something that blows up.

[L0oniX]

14. ...or depleted uranium dust. Yea and then they will be denied treatment ...

because it's a mystery disease. What was it before ...o yea Gulf War syndrome. This what happens to the troops ...they get shit on and for that they are stupid to ever join up and throw away their lives over some assholes policy.

[BeHereNow]

15. Mental health? Not so much.

We are soon to have a country full of PTSD vets
living under the local bridges.
No one ever talks about that these days.
Just, HEY! More war GOOD! Taking care of the damaged? Who cares?

BHN

[girl gone mad]

5. I'm afraid the PTB will decide the solution is..

to cut food stamp eligibility.

[zeemike]

12. Let them eat cake.

I mean they are all welfare queens and the kids are too fat anyway.
Free markets make wealth don't you know, and if kids starve so be it....it's their choice.
If they would just get off there asses and start trading in the market they would not have to get food stamps....they all could be rich just like the top 10%.

:sarcasm:

[JDPriestly]

17. This is the result of give-away trade agreements.

Our leaders tried to buy popularity and power around the world by giving away our factories and our jobs. They don't need us any more. We will be left to fight amongst ourselves and die. That sounds crazy, but does anyone have another explanation for the giveaway of American factories and jobs?

[msongs]

23. the biggest threats to our future are found in corporate board rooms & pentagon.

terrorists may kill thousands, corporations and out control military kill nations
Msongs

[dgibby]

26. Free Trade, Recession

All part of the plan to level the playing field to bring US wages in line with the rest of the world in the name of Globalization.

[Toucano]

34. Wow. That's horrible.

I couldn't help but notice that former Gov. Palin's state has the highest percentage of people on food stamps.

How come no one ever talked about that?

[David Zephyr]

35. My kind of rant, MannyGoldstein.

K&R.

[dflprincess]

36. Obama has said there will be freezes and cuts to domestic spending in the next budget

so the number of kids on foods stamps may drop if the food stamp program is one of the targeted programs.

To be sure, the number of hungry kids will go up, but the number on food stamps will drop and politicians will no doubt point to the drop and expect us to believe that it's because those kids' familes were suddenly doing better.

It's the kind of sleight of hand I've come to expect from politicians, regardless of the letter after their name.

[MannyGoldstein]

38. Just beautiful.

I can't stand this anymore.

[Lyric]

Oh yes. That's what they did in 1996.

Passed welfare "reform" legislation that made it incredibly difficult to qualify for aid, then turned around and bragged about how "the rolls have dropped."

Makes me sick. The rolls have dropped because people can't seem to get past the red tape and insanely strict new "rules" to get the help they need. Food Stamps will probably be next on the chopping block, god help us.

[leftstreet]

37. K&R

[inna]

39. FDR, anyone??

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=5001083

[MannyGoldstein]

41. +1

Thanks for that.

[unkachuck]

40. thank you, Manny....n/t

[CoffeeCat]

44. I wonder how this compares to Depression-era circumstances...

I realize that there wasn't a food-stamp program during the Great Depression, but I wonder how many
people would have qualified for food stamps back then? How many people were living in poverty
during the Great Depression?

I know we aren't experiencing a Great Depression, but I'm wondering exactly where we are on the map.

One in four children in the United States lives in a family that relies on food stamps, for food. That's...
staggering. It's just absolutely mind blowing.

You have to be at or below the poverty line to receive food stamps, so that's a lot of people at that level.

If there are 300,000 million people in the United States, and 30 percent of our population is children (my guess)--
then 25 million children in this country rely on food stamps for sustenance?

I am going to do something about this. Otherwise I won't be able to sleep tonight.

We should all pledge to do SOMETHING...no matter how small.

[nadinbrzezinski]

46. As bad as things are... they are not even close to

the conditions during the depression. One reason, food stamps.

Another... our unemployment rate, as horrific as it is, it is nowhere close where it was at the height of the depression.

[CoffeeCat]

49. I hear ya...

I am just trying to compare the two eras--as far as statistics go. I'm sure that's nearly
impossible due to the fact that the food stamp program didn't exist in the 1930's.

That "one in four children on food stamps" stat just shocks me! That means that one in four
children live in families that are at or below the poverty line--because you have to be at
that level to qualify for food stamps.

I know things aren't as bad now---but are we really that far behind Depression-like circumstances?

As far as unemployment goes, it is worth nothing that the unemployment rate in 1930 was only 8.5 percent. The
stock market and the economy crashed in 1929, but unemployment didn't soar until later.

In fact, unemployment peaked at 24.9 percent---but not until 1933.

Unemployment steadily rose after the crash, and kept rising---as the stock market roller coastered. We seem to
be following a very similar trajectory. I know things aren't as bad as the times that we recall as "The
Great Depression".

However, our post-stock-market crash unemployment levels are very similar.

[nadinbrzezinski]

50. But GNP is now in possitive numbers

and at the same time in the time line it wasn't. It was contracting fast and was over 10% in a year. We got close to a technical definition of a depression. Also our jobeless rate is starting to slow down. Why? Weekly numbers are still steep, but nowhere where they were in oh January. Now we have a second dip, all bets are off. Given the connections in the international markets Dubai scares me... that is one reason, double dip.

Been trying to find out how deeply that crisis is not really regional and truly international

[scarletwoman]

45. Can't really think of anything to add at this point.

It's all so fucked up, I don't think I'll live long enough to see a real turn-around.

:cry:
sw

[Jakes Progress]

48. Does anyone here remember the urban riots of the sixties? nt

[RainDog]

51. kick. people really do not know how bad it is out here for a lot of people

people who never thought they'd be in such situations.

[laughingliberal]

54. "people who never thought they'd be in such situations"

That would be me. But, fear not, the Conservodems should be here any minute to tell us how it is all our fault for (fill in the blank as to the way in which we fell short and are, therefore, deemed unworthy).