'I'm Eating Once A Day': Congress' Food Stamp Cuts Hit Wisconsin Seniors Hard

[Socialist]

This is the shit that happens when people decide that "MUH FREEEEEDUUUUM" or some hogwash is more important then actually helping seniors, children, low income families.. but then again, most of us know that the GOP only cares about the extremely wealthy, democrats are just as guilty, but at least they throw out a bone..
I m Eating Once A Day Congress Food Stamp Cuts Hit Wisconsin Seniors Hard - Continued here

To take advantage of this "heat and eat" scheme, Wisconsin had been automatically signing up all SNAP applicants for $1 of heating assistance a year. When Congress said states couldn't increase food stamp benefits based on anything less than $20 in heating assistance, 11 of the 15 states affected boosted the amount of heating assistance they were giving out. Wisconsin went the other way, implementing the cuts on a rolling basis for new SNAP applicants and for existing enrollees when it came time to recertify that they were still poor enough to qualify.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated last year that the heat-and-eat cut wouldsave $8 billion in federal spending over 10 years, roughly 1 percent of SNAP spending over that period. The CBO's economists projected the cut would affect 850,000 Americans.

Beals said she was unaware of ever having signed up for heating assistance. The notification letters sent out by the Wisconsin government simply announce that the state is increasing its estimate of a person's income because his or her utility expenses went down.

She gets by on $956 a month in Social Security payments, Beals said, so losing more than $100 in nutrition assistance has been a big hit to her budget, causing her to fall behind on other bills. She said she's disabled, suffering from fibromyalgia, diabetes and severe migraines. She's been receiving SNAP, which in Wisconsin is called FoodShare, for the past three years, she said. She lives in an apartment at her daughter's house, she said, and doesn't have her own utility bill.

"This isn’t good for me. I’m eating once a day," Beals said. "I would love to be able to pay my bills, but I couldn’t because the FoodShare thing made everything start to fall apart."

 

[Dont Taz Me Bro]

Sounds like Ms Beals should have done a better job preparing for retirement.

 

[Luddly Neddite]

Picking up scrips the other day, a woman in front of me said she 'couldn't afford to get all her meds and would just take the one'.

 

[Katzndogz]

She lives with her daughter who pays the utilities but lets her mother go hungry?

Not buying it.

 

[Socialist]

She lives with her daughter who pays the utilities but lets her mother go hungry?

Not buying it.

Tipsy, personal observations of the person in the article, while clearly not examining the context or the wage of the daughter, let alone what the article actually says about their spending, is telling of yourself, but none the less, it doesn't change that thousands of seniors are suffering under this bullshit.

 

[occupied]

Sounds like Ms Beals should have done a better job preparing for retirement.

There are a lot of widows out there who never had to work a day in their lives. Instead they domestically supported a working-class man as he worked himself into an early grave and raised their children. The plight of widows was one the main compelling factors in starting social security. Too bad no one really gives a shit if elderly ladies starve anymore, certainly not republicans.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

"Seniors and people with disabilities have been disproportionately affected by this," said Sherrie Tussler, executive director of the Hunger Task Force. "I am extremely concerned about people whose income will never change, who are living on Social Security income or a small pension."

And the conservative response to this, of course, is that these individuals have only themselves to blame, the consequence of their failure to be successful during their working lives to earn enough money to plan for retirement.

Such is the reprehensible right.

 

[Socialist]

Sounds like Ms Beals should have done a better job preparing for retirement.

There are a lot of widows out there who never had to work a day in their lives. Instead they domestically supported a working-class man as he worked himself into an early grave and raised their children. The plight of widows was one the main compelling factors in starting social security. Too bad no one really gives a shit if elderly ladies starve anymore, certainly not republicans.

Republicans also can care less about low income families.

 

[Socialist]

Sounds like Ms Beals should have done a better job preparing for retirement.

Keep trying to blame people, not the broken system.

 

[Blackrook]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

 

[Socialist]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

What relevance does that have to this discussion? If we look at heavy welfare states like denmark, norway, etc, people aren't quitting their jobs enmasse, labor unions are strong, wages are high, people are happy, taxes are also high, but why is that bad?

 

[Blackrook]

High taxes are bad because they make it harder to make ends meet.

 

[occupied]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

No one is suggesting anything like that. Even in social democracies people work hard and better themselves because they like to have nice things AND they like their neighbors to have nice things. They consider it well worth it to invest in the well-being of their country and not have some dog-eat-dog system that lets old ladies and children suffer from want in the midst of abundance.

 

[Socialist]

High taxes are bad because they make it harder to make ends meet.

Not the case in the majority of countries with progressive taxation, strong welfare programs, single payer healthcare, cheap education systems, low taxes on those not making certain amounts, high wages, high labor activity.. Try again.

 

[S.J.]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

What relevance does that have to this discussion? If we look at heavy welfare states like denmark, norway, etc, people aren't quitting their jobs enmasse, labor unions are strong, wages are high, people are happy, taxes are also high, but why is that bad?

Then you should move there. Maybe you could be one of the ones who pay for it.

 

[Socialist]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

What relevance does that have to this discussion? If we look at heavy welfare states like denmark, norway, etc, people aren't quitting their jobs enmasse, labor unions are strong, wages are high, people are happy, taxes are also high, but why is that bad?

Then you should move there. Maybe you could be one of the ones who pay for it.

Taxes are quite high in these places, but they are consistently ranked the happiest countries in the world, with progressive taxes, strong labor rights and labor unions, maternity leave for huge periods of time, single payer healthcare, etc.. I would love to move there, I can't at the moment.

 

[occupied]

How much would it cost to allow every American to quit his job, get free housing, free food, free medical care?

Who would the government tax to pay for it?

What relevance does that have to this discussion? If we look at heavy welfare states like denmark, norway, etc, people aren't quitting their jobs enmasse, labor unions are strong, wages are high, people are happy, taxes are also high, but why is that bad?

Then you should move there. Maybe you could be one of the ones who pay for it.

Taxes are quite high in these places, but they are consistently ranked the happiest countries in the world, with progressive taxes, strong labor rights and labor unions, maternity leave for huge periods of time, single payer healthcare, etc.. I would love to move there, I can't at the moment.

Not giving up on America, I like it here in spite of it's rigged, plutocratic system. This place is more than just a place to make money and then lord it over the less fortunate, at least it used to be.

 

[BluesLegend]

You libs let me know when you repeal all your taxes on the poor and seniors okay, until then you have zero cred on this issue.

 

[Socialist]

You libs let me know when you repeal all your taxes on the poor and seniors okay, until then you have zero cred on this issue.

I expected a ridiculous post like this to come in. I do think the poor and seniors who make below a certain amount shouldn't be taxed, when the majority of taxable income is owned by a tiny portion of the population, and they have so many ways to evade it..

 

[BluesLegend]

You libs let me know when you repeal all your taxes on the poor and seniors okay, until then you have zero cred on this issue.

I expected a ridiculous post like this to come in. I do think the poor and seniors who make below a certain amount shouldn't be taxed, when the majority of taxable income is owned by a tiny portion of the population, and they have so many ways to evade it..

You just don't like that I rubbed your nose in the rotted festering stench of liberal hypocrisy. Well? Are you going to eliminate the taxes on the poor and seniors or not? No income tax, no sales tax, no property tax, no tolls, no utility taxes, no cell phone taxes, free driver's licenses and registration, no state, county, or local taxes or fees. Lead by example.