http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x6876163Oh my.
era veteran (196 posts) Wed Oct-28-09 04:41 PM
Original message
Food Stamp Act of 1964
The house version of this bill would have prohibited the purchase of soft drinks. The soda bund thought the poor needed their product. Nutritional food assistance was the goal. I would not want anyone to go hungry and fully support this assistance but buying pop lowers the rest of your food stamp buying power.
I had a thread earlier that I feel was vastly misunderstood. The obesity rates in the US from 1971 to 2000 rose from 14.5% to 30.9%. The daily caloric intake rose as well. Most of these calories were from an increase in carbohydrate consumption rather than fat consumption.
The primary source was carbs from sweetened beverages, which now account for almost 25% of daily caloric intake in young adults. So, we subsidize the pop bund at the expense of our poor and ruin peoples health too.
Nutrition was the goal and this is what we got. I did not want to deny the poor this 'luxury' but to point out the bad return they get on this. If any of you think that I am a freeper you are sorely mistaken. Coke & Pepsi won, the PEOPLE lost. Thanks for reading this. I too hate you redheaded pop woman.
NYC_SKP (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 04:44 PM
Response to Original message
1. A agree with you.
The defrocked warped primitive:
Warpy (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:04 PM
Response to Original message
2. I agree with you to a point
There are some of us out here who are allergic to both milk and fruit drinks fortified with Vitamin C, which means just about all of them. We get sick of tea or plain water and diet soda or even seltzer is a great alternative for us. Diabetics also depend on diet soda quite a lot.
In any case, fruit juice is too expensive for the average food stamp recipient. The best they can often do is orange soda instead of orange juice. The program is too parsimonious to provide really good nutrition.
It's just really sad that it all came about when sugar was eliminated in favor of high fructose corn syrup in sweetened drinks, both sodas and cheaper alternatives like kids' drink mixes. It's also sad that people continue to drink the sweet stuff instead of switching their kids over to the diet stuff.
(FWIW, I think drinking sweetened soda is like trying to drink maple syrup. Ugh.)
Yeah, yeah, we know the script.
Odd, that the unfrocked warped primitive is "allergic" to things good for her, but not allergic to things bad for her.
Too bad the defrocked warped primitive wasn't allergic to controlled substances.
Anyway, the unfrocked warped primitive needs to down a quart of whole milk--none of this ***** 1% or 2% stuff--chomp on a pound of real cheddar cheese dipped in sour cream, and wash it down with a half-gallon of real ice cream, and the defrocked warped primitive will be a new woman, and a more pleasant one too.
dflprincess (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:10 PM
Response to Original message
3. I worked at a grocery store through high school and college and I will concede that that was a long time ago. What I remember from back then was that the vast majority of the customers who used food stamps bought healthy (or what we thought was healthy) food. Looking back I can say there was probably too much macaroni and cheese and other high carb products or processed meat (especially baloney) but when you're food budget is tight you do what you have to do.
There would be some pop, maybe a bag of chips or a carton of ice cream but not much of that stuff and I certainly didnt' have any business making judgements or begrudging someone a treat. Besides, that bottle of 7Up or the popsicles might be for a sick kid to help settle their stomach or keep them hydrated.
If we're going to get bent out of shape over pop we might also want to take a look at products made from over processed white flour and anything with high fructose corn syrup in it. (Of course if products with high fructose corn syrup were taken off the food stamp list, there wouldn't be much left to buy).
Thirty or forty years ago there was some "concern" about people using food stamps to buy junk - but the most common stories all followed the "welfare Queen" line and generally claimed people used food stamps to buy steak and lobster.
I don't know if this is still true, but back in the "olden days", food stamps could only be used to buy products grown in the U.S. Exceptions were made for items not grown here (like coffee) - I wonder if that still holds true? And, if it does, can you buy apples from New Zealand when we grow apples here?
era veteran (196 posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:25 PM
Response to Reply #3
4. Imported foods were once off the list but ok now
Soda was a treat not a staple then. I loved those 7oz cokes.
Seven-ounce sodas were for wimps.
Sixteen-ounce sodas were what real men drank.
redqueen (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #4
11. "Soda was a treat not a staple then."
Exactly. I'm all for poor people getting treats too, but as treats, not as staples. And FWIW - I've been poor, I've used food stamps, and I'm also addicted to soda.
eShirl (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:34 PM
Response to Reply #3
5. as far as I can tell, only hot foods are off limits
You can buy a cold, plastic-wrapped tuna sandwich from a cooler, but you can't buy a cup of hot soup.
CTyankee (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:41 PM
Response to Original message
6. The real question is what we, the people, want to subsidize with our taxes.
This is PUBLIC POLICY, folks, not nanny state, not beating up on the poor, not taking away our civil liberty to buy a Coke, but public policy.
Do we want to subsidize the soda industry or should we use the subsidy to increase the food stamps for nutritious food for people who need it. The choice is ours. I vote for more nutritious food for my tax dollar...
era veteran (196 posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:01 PM
Response to Reply #6
8. Thank you
Yeah, the erred veteran primitive really got hammered by other primitives, at an earlier bonfire.
CTyankee (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:10 PM
Response to Reply #8
13. I'm beginning to get hoarse. Tired arms from beating a dead horse here.
Glad to have a comrade in arms...
baldguy (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 05:51 PM
Response to Original message
7. Drug dealers need addicts.
And federally subsidized addicts are the best customers.
Nye Bevan (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:05 PM
Response to Original message
9. Too many DUers want to give billions of taxpayer dollars to huge corporations like Coca-Cola, at the expense of the health and nutrition of poor people. And to advocate for this they use a libertarian "freedom of choice" type of argument. Good news for big soda executives but bad news for the poor.
eShirl (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:08 PM
Response to Reply #9
12. Where do you want to draw the line? Tyson, Hormel, Kellogg, ConAgra?
Why just pick on Big Soda?
CTyankee (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:13 PM
Response to Reply #12
14. We shouldn't. But that doesn't negate why we shouldn't as a start.
We need a coherent nutrition policy and look at the amounts of sugar in foods in the same way that we have standards of filth in hot dogs (don't ask, you don't want to know what is allowed in the hot dogs you eat). I think having coherent standards is fair all across the board...bring em on.
blogslut (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:07 PM
Response to Original message
10. What about Gatorade?
The proposed bill wants to tax Gatorade. Gatorade contains both sugar and HFCS.
How far are you willing to go on this crusade?
era veteran (196 posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:40 PM
Response to Reply #10
15. Was never a crusade ( I've been hesitant to use that word lately)
I don't know anything about gatorade except what Madison AV tells me. Is it a nutritious product?
eShirl (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:45 PM
Response to Reply #15
16. Gatorade, in addition to carbohydrates and water, contains electrolytes
"The original Gatorade contained water, sucrose (table sugar) and glucose-fructose syrups, citric acid, fish oil, sodium chloride (table salt), sodium citrate, monopotassium phosphate,and flavoring/coloring ingredients. Some Gatorade flavorings use brominated vegetable oil as a stabilizer.<14> Gatorade Thirst Quencher meets the Food and Drug Administration’s definition of a "low sodium product." Gatorade is available in a variety of flavors, including the original Lemon-Lime, Grape, Orange, and Fruit punch.<15>"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gatorade
HiFructosePronSyrup (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:46 PM
Response to Original message
17. Then it's a good thing those dicks in the House didn't get their way.
Personally, I think we need to end veterans' benefits because obviously those people aren't being responsible with the taxpayer's money.
****ing freeloaders.
ohheckyeah (1000+ posts) Wed Oct-28-09 06:48 PM
Response to Original message
18. It's exactly this kind of thing that drives people away from liberals.
