Oregon in top 10% of states giving most food stamps

I'd be proud of my kids helping out a farmer in that circumstance. More mature than most adults I know. ;)

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Originally Posted by Alan

That's an interesting way to look at it, although conversely, it might also be seen as a means to keep people from achieving independence from government by keeping them relatively comfortable under their rulers.

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Agreed - I think it's primarily to placate people enough to avoid the labor movement issues they had a century ago.

I think people would be surprised at the number of retirees on food stamps too.
I know two retirees whose main income is their Social Security which is $1,100/month. They are each single households and in AZ each qualified for $15/month in food stamps. yes, $15. So are "they on food stamps"? yes. But they are obviously still having to use a great deal of their Soc Sec for food.

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Originally Posted by Alan

That's an interesting way to look at it, although conversely, it might also be seen as a means to keep people from achieving independence from government by keeping them relatively comfortable under their rulers.

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Or it could be seen as a way for the wealthy to keep the poor huddled masses just happy enough that they don't revolt against a system they perceive to be unfair. Probably far less expensive than hiring all the cops they'd need to squash an 'American spring'.

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Or it could be seen as a way for the wealthy to keep the poor huddled masses just happy enough that they don't revolt against a system they perceive to be unfair. Probably far less expensive than hiring all the cops they'd need to squash an 'American spring'.

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But they're moving to the latter solution anyway, it might not be smart but then probably neither are the powers that be. Afterall what's growing more the police state or giving out benefits? I'm going with the police state. To the extent benefits like food stamps grow at all, I think it's quite independent of any desire to increase benefits - mostly the worsening economy in that case I'd say (looked at over decade plus periods). I think there's no shortage of police state apparatus and money spent on it: prisons, incarceration, militarized police etc..

And cutting schools, pre school, head start and being sure to incarcerate the poor....All of a sudden heroin is an epidemic because middle class and rich kids are getting arrested and we can't have THAT! The New Jim Crow is an excellent book. It says things much better than I.

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Originally Posted by nswef

And cutting schools, pre school, head start and being sure to incarcerate the poor....All of a sudden heroin is an epidemic because middle class and rich kids are getting arrested and we can't have THAT! The New Jim Crow is an excellent book. It says things much better than I.

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I assign\ The New Jim Crow in a university class I teach. I also assign a critique written by James Forman Jr. (http://digitalcommons.law.yale.edu/c...ext=fss_papers) It is good to read them together (as side information, here is information on Forman's father http://web.stanford.edu/~ccarson/articles/left_2.htm).