Nearly Half of American Kids Will Be on Food Stamps at Some Point
Almost half of America's children, and 90 percent of African-American children, will be on food stamps at some point during their childhood, according to a recently published study that examines 30 years of national data.
The study was released in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, a medical journal, because children on food stamps are at higher risk for malnutrition and other health conditions that stem from poverty, the researchers said.
For a family of four to be eligible for food stamps, annual income cannot exceed $22,000. Study lead author Mark Rank said the research suggests almost all Americans know a family that has received food stamps or will in the future.
I wonder how many parents of those kids have been ridiculed by someone who sees them pull their card thingy out? I think they need to make them look like any other credit card so people won´t have the crazy reason that they have a right to say anything that someone buys. The kids that are on foodstamps still deserve a birthday or even a treat once in awhile. Yes there are some people that gets things that I wouldn´t choose if I was in that situation, but then if they weren´t in that situation they probably would buy the same stuff.
There is always one person that knows someone or saw someone that is ´abusing´ food stamps. I know I will end up saying it again but here it goes: REPORT THEM! You would think that with the card thingy they could somehow check on what is spent and where, right?
I go to school full time and I still manage to make about $30k a year. If you have 2 people working in the family, even if 1 is only part time so they can take care of the kids, this shouldn´t happen.
This is the domino affect as seen over forty years
or so.
Welfare programs, when sold to the American public, were supposed to be a means by which people could get assistance in times of need so they could get back on their feet and become successful again. Yet since the inception of these programs we have seen a large increase in the percentages of people receiving aid. Read: percentages, not numbers. It´s obvious that numbers increase in any study of humanity because populations increase in size.
I could go on for hours on the reasons why this has happened but I´d rather people just focus on the simple fact that welfare programs were supposed to "jumpstart" people back into being self sufficient and yet, the welfare rolls have gotten larger.
Can anyone answer that without saying, Democrat, liberal, Republican or conservative? Or.. black, Mexican, immigrant or big corporation?
America. For a country that is dishing out Trillions! Yes with T to corporate America, while those who are paying for CEO to have bonuses are on Food Stamps! This is unacceptable.
@TaraB: I remember that convo, about Sheet Cake on food stamp. You are right, they should be reported.
I´m not sure where you live, but in many places there are little to no jobs and maybe work part-time if you are lucky. I am glad that you are able to do all that but there are people that can not whatever the reason is.
I peeked at the source and got this. "The average monthly benefit per household totaled $222." This average of $222 a month brings a whopping $2,644 a YEAR.
So $22,000 in pay that is before taxes, plus the windfall $2,644 ayear in food stamps would STILL be less than you are living on. I´d consider yourself lucky that you live somewhere that you can be single, going to school and still making more. If nothing else you are going to have training and education that many don´t.
Skcuss-Yes, I can´t remember who it was, but if you see someone taking advantage report them if you can. There is nothing like the cake sheet lady that makes it hard on those that are embarrased to even apply for them, let alone have to use them.
BB- I´m not sure that there is any ONE thing, but I would like to quickly add that there are some people who do use it for a jumpstart only even though it isn´t that many. Schools send home a free/reduced lunch application that you HAVE to answer, even if you know you don´t qualify because the state not only gives a certain amount for lunches, they also get an additional amount per student. This does tie in I promise! So when these papers come back they will of course have the check for Free, Reduced or Not Qualified. In my state(I don´t want to assume I know each state policy) thet also send a letter to those that have qualified and it tells them that they are qualified for state assistance and they are encouraged to apply for food stamps.
fordrew!-You are an asshole. The reason that 90% of the black children will be on food stamps is because they often don´t have the ability to get better paying jobs, they aren´t garunteed a college education from their parents because they are/were working hard at shit-pay jobs and many of the young ladies who get pregnant at a young age doesn´t get to start college until her children are a little older.
I wish there was some way to make people understand what the term working poor really means. BB, there is your answer, by accident, so I guess fordrews racist, bullshit post was useful for something else other than wiping my ass with it.
I support food stamps. On the other hand, many of my in-laws are on them and you never saw a lazier or more work-avoiding bunch of people in your life. Most of them simply don´t work, I never would have believed you can go your whole life without working but they somehow manage, between food stamps, disability, settlements and scamming people they somehow manage to get by. It does give you mixed feelings about benefits programs when they are taking advantage of nearly all of them.
by its self it doesn´t say much about african-americans accept a higher percentage of them is on food stamps. but I think there are lots of other statistics that point to the fact that there is something wrong with that section of society if they cant even feed their own kids. why are they having kids they cant afford? it extends the situation, whites dont need to hold blacks down they do it to themselves, by having too many kids too young without the father sticking around and no money to feed or educate one of them let alone all of them. if they waited till in the mid 20s after finding stable jobs, saving as bit of money and making sure they are going to stay with their partner had 1 or 2 kids depending on what they could afford including the cost of eduacation. then the next genration would be out of the ghetto but instead they have kids young and wonder who´s the ´baby daddy´ will junior becomes a uneducated thug
@tara "many of the young ladies who get pregnant at a young age" they can only blame themselves, abortion is there choice(not the mans), everyone knows a man will lie for sex or to not use protection. maybe the problem is they are irresponsible idiots and shouldn´t have had kids until they were in a position to look after them. and they can always keep their legs shut.
it´s not an aspect of race but of mindset there are still black people who succeed. of course whites are becoming more like that, idiocracy/devolution
the main problem is that the welfare system was designed to augment those who were struggling (eg: working single moms, people with disabilities, etc) but it has exploded and been taken advantage of to the point where it now seems that an entire generation of americans will require this assistance. Unfortunately, it is a self-sustaining cycle...
its not that they can not afford to go to college, it is that they do not WANT to go to college. It is possible for every single one of us to go to college.. that is why we have student loans, scholarships, and federal grants. I am piss poor and I still go to college... black stereotype at its best..
Sorry, I´m going to have to use one of your terms -- "big corporations." You just can´t dispute that a lot of the good-paying jobs that used to be found in America have been exported overseas. The corporations have chased cheap labor markets and lax regulations across the globe at the expense of the American worker.
If I had kids I would have to get food stamps. I could even get food stamps now, but I´m holding out. I don´t see too much wrong with it, but I just don´t want to lower myself to that unless I can´t afford to get food for myself.
I´ve seen very well off people who live in very rich neighborhood have more food stamps than my mother & younger brother combined. I don´t understand how they could get more, yet live better lives.
Well something I noticed about this study that I couldn´t put my finger on at first was that when people apply for assistance there they have you mark your race and if you or your child is bi-racial they have you mark the black box or other minority box, which makes the study unbalanced. They didn´t include what percentage of children were bi-racial anywhere that I have seen and that would explain why the amount of black children were so high compared to all others.
fordrew- Many people fall between the lines for scholarships and grants because they make too much for one and not enough for another. It has gotten easier in the last few years, but over 20 years ago they even used my parent´s income because I was under 21 and I wasn´t even living at home.
Vhan- I found something you said both telling and interesting and I think it is the way many people feel about asking for food stamps; "but I just don´t want to lower myself to that unless I can´t afford to get food for myself".
I have thought something very similar to that when my ex and split, hell I qualified for WIC and remember crying and telling my mom I was a failure as a mother myself for even qualifying for it in the first place. Of course I hadn´t realized that pretty much everyone who has a child under I think 5 can qualify with the income limitation they have.
Your feeling that you don´t want lower yourself and my feeling of being a failure isn´t true in either case and I see that years later of course. It is because of the way people react to someone or will talk about the ´kind´ of people who get food stamps that makes so many people not ask for the help if they need it. I can only imagine that this would be harder for a man because they have this idea of being the ´breadwinner´ pushed at them from the moment they are born. I remember when my cousin had his first son it was all about what sports he would play and how strong he was going to be and manly job this and strong little man. I can easily see why a man would feel less of a man for needing help, but if it comes down to the fact of that $50 or $60 dollars can pay a bill or put an extra tank of gas in the car screw being proud or lowering yourself because that is not what you would be doing no matter what a few on here might say. They sure the hell aren´t going to offer you a different job or to help pay your bills until things get better. Serious question here, would you feel the same way if you had a child to take care of?
I find thes so called numbers in to question. This data is suspect. I beleleve the real numbers are prob. more like 1 out of 50. or even higher. that last 2 school districts My children were in had only .05% of students getting free or reduced lunches. In fact the state thought there was some funny stuff going on and sent a investagor over to check and guess what, the numbers were correct. I think this is more goverment created data telling us we need more goverment.
