Be sure and check out the Ohio foo stamps cut article in the "You Own It" thread. http://www.toledoblade.com/State/2012/11/12/Ohioans-food-stamp-aid-to-be-cut.html
hattip Ballygrl.
LVL, having become completely dependent on government, is about to see what that really means.
Ok, I said this on our facebook site, but I'll say it here. This actually has nothing to do with the election; it would have went down either way:
What’s called the “standard utility allowance†— the amount deducted from a person’s income when the state determines his or her eligibility for the food stamp program — will decrease by $166 for 2013, translating to about $50 less per household in food assistance. State Job and Family Services officials tried to appeal the change to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the food stamp program, officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, but the USDA denied the request.
*cut*
Because of the way the federal government calculates utility expenses for people receiving the benefit, a mild winter nationwide last year, and a lower price for natural gas, many families could experience a significant cut in aid, those familiar with the program say
This changes yearly from how I understand it and it's going down due to the mild winter last year in many northern states which brought the average utility cost down. What probably is not being addressed is why didn't any of these folks hedge the extra $ they saved on utilities for a rainy day when things changed so 50 bucks a month doesn't hurt. And btw that might hurt for someone on the line of the program who is a working person, middle income with children who is stretching and throwing in a little to maybe 150 or 200 a month they get to help supplement their working income, but taking 50 bucks away from a non working person who gets 600 a month with 3 kids is not going to make a dent. That's WAY more then a family that size needs for food so in that range we probably are going to cut down on some fraud, obesity, or see what the scumbags with the kids are really made of when the kids go without because they still sell what's leftover on the side for other crap. Hell I'd rather give 200 bucks to every working poor a month who are making the damn effort to help with food(that's a modest amount for a family of 4 or 5) instead of 600 to some lazy Jerry Springer watching heffer with a few brats who have zero guidance. But I'm digressing here--it's the perpetually lazy who piss me off, not the people trying to bridge the gap with changing life circumstances or the *REAL* disabled but that's another rant for another day
This caught my eye though:
The average food-stamp recipient receives $138 per person, per month, according to state statistics
If this is the case, that means the average person receiving food stamps is either a) not working or b) working in the neighborhood of 10-20 hours a week at minimum wage. I wish we would weed out the cases of the perpetually lazy who we continue to feed.
