Hipsters on food stamps

Stephanie

Diamond Member
Jul 11, 2004
70,230
10,864
2,040
we are so screwed

SNIP:
They're young, they're broke, and they pay for organic salmon with government subsidies. Got a problem with that?
By Jennifer Bleyer

In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore — equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird — Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric. After gathering ingredients for that evening’s dinner, they walked to the cash register and awaited their moments of truth.

“I have $80 bucks left!” Magida said. “I’m so happy!”

“I have $12,” Mak said with a frown.

The two friends weren’t tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for what are still known colloquially as food stamps.

Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding — and her usual gigs — to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then she’s used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in the neighborhood of Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away.

“I’m eating better than I ever have before,” she told me. “Even with food stamps, it’s not like I’m living large, but it helps.”

all of it here
Hipsters on food stamps - Salon.com
 
40% of people on Food Stamps have jobs.

So again, we have the old "They are eating steaks with food stamps."

Now, I'd have no problem reducing Food Stamps to only being able to purchase staple foods. Nothing fancy, no junk foods, etc.

You know who would scream the loudest about that?

The food industry.
 
What about "not living large" don't you understand? No wonder the public is deserting the Republicans in droves!

yeah ok, I gotta get me some food stamps

If you qualify, they're there to help, but it's not like you're going to be "living large" for more than a few days, if you do buy lobsters.

oh hell yeah...then I'll come on here and tell you all the wonderful food I ate thanks to YOU.
 
What about "not living large" don't you understand? No wonder the public is deserting the Republicans in droves!

yeah ok, I gotta get me some food stamps

If you qualify, they're there to help, but it's not like you're going to be "living large" for more than a few days, if you do buy lobsters.

Maybe we could boost the buying power of food stamps.

I know.

Who needs money.

Just use food stamps.
 
I work in a supermarket.
One guess who buys the live lobsters?

Hey, it's not their money.:D

Then why not pass a law that says that Lobsters can't be paid for with food stamps..

It would seem be simple enough.

Oh, that's right. Because the people who catch lobsters and ship them to market would scream bloody murder.

Incidently, how many live lobsters do you think someone could buy on $152.00 a month, anyway. WHich is what the average SNAP benefit is.

A Quick Guide to Food Stamp Eligibility and Benefits — Center on Budget and Policy Priorities
 
40% of people on Food Stamps have jobs.

So again, we have the old "They are eating steaks with food stamps."

Now, I'd have no problem reducing Food Stamps to only being able to purchase staple foods. Nothing fancy, no junk foods, etc.

You know who would scream the loudest about that?

The food industry.

You can't have everyone eating just staples. Someone has to eat the steak. One observation I have made is when you have to many people eat specific foods the price skyrockets.

Take hamburger vs steak for instance. Before the recession around here in the mid-west hamburger was selling for about $0.75/lb & good cuts of steak was about $15/lb. Hamburger was an affordable staple food for the poor. The main reason it was cheap was because it was a leftover excess from the cow when they were butchered to get steak that the majority sought, bought & consumed. That high steak price paid for the whole cow & processing. The leftover burger was sold at steep discount to get rid of it much like a waste product.

A live cow on hoof cost about $1.50/lb & only 1/3rd is consumed as meat. So that makes the average price per lb of meat $4.50 + slaughter cost so lets just say $5/lb. During good economic times the high priced steak is 3 times the actual meat cost & hamburger is sold at a huge loss.

When you have a major economic downturn the majority want to buy hamburger. So now around here good steak now sells for $11/lb & hamburger sells for well over $3.00. Those who can afford good steak got a cut in their food bill & the poor took a 4 fold increase in their food cost. That is a major punch in the gut for the poor & especially while we are in a recession.

This is why you need food stamps to even things out. They can also help those that would have bought burger to reach for steak thus lowering the price of burger for the rest.
 
40% of people on Food Stamps have jobs.

So again, we have the old "They are eating steaks with food stamps."

Now, I'd have no problem reducing Food Stamps to only being able to purchase staple foods. Nothing fancy, no junk foods, etc.

You know who would scream the loudest about that?

The food industry.

You can't have everyone eating just staples. Someone has to eat the steak. One observation I have made is when you have to many people eat specific foods the price skyrockets.

Take hamburger vs steak for instance. Before the recession around here in the mid-west hamburger was selling for about $0.75/lb & good cuts of steak was about $15/lb. Hamburger was an affordable staple food for the poor. The main reason it was cheap was because it was a leftover excess from the cow when they were butchered to get steak that the majority sought, bought & consumed. That high steak price paid for the whole cow & processing. The leftover burger was sold at steep discount to get rid of it much like a waste product.

A live cow on hoof cost about $1.50/lb & only 1/3rd is consumed as meat. So that makes the average price per lb of meat $4.50 + slaughter cost so lets just say $5/lb. During good economic times the high priced steak is 3 times the actual meat cost & hamburger is sold at a huge loss.

When you have a major economic downturn the majority want to buy hamburger. So now around here good steak now sells for $11/lb & hamburger sells for well over $3.00. Those who can afford good steak got a cut in their food bill & the poor took a 4 fold increase in their food cost. That is a major punch in the gut for the poor & especially while we are in a recession.

This is why you need food stamps to even things out. They can also help those that would have bought burger to reach for steak thus lowering the price of burger for the rest.

Well said.

What everyone forgets is that food stamps are a price support for the Agricultural industry.

That's why they are issued by the Department of Agriculture and not Health and human Services or some other welfare agency.
 
40% of people on Food Stamps have jobs.

So again, we have the old "They are eating steaks with food stamps."

Now, I'd have no problem reducing Food Stamps to only being able to purchase staple foods. Nothing fancy, no junk foods, etc.

You know who would scream the loudest about that?

The food industry.

You can't have everyone eating just staples. Someone has to eat the steak. One observation I have made is when you have to many people eat specific foods the price skyrockets.

Take hamburger vs steak for instance. Before the recession around here in the mid-west hamburger was selling for about $0.75/lb & good cuts of steak was about $15/lb. Hamburger was an affordable staple food for the poor. The main reason it was cheap was because it was a leftover excess from the cow when they were butchered to get steak that the majority sought, bought & consumed. That high steak price paid for the whole cow & processing. The leftover burger was sold at steep discount to get rid of it much like a waste product.

A live cow on hoof cost about $1.50/lb & only 1/3rd is consumed as meat. So that makes the average price per lb of meat $4.50 + slaughter cost so lets just say $5/lb. During good economic times the high priced steak is 3 times the actual meat cost & hamburger is sold at a huge loss.

When you have a major economic downturn the majority want to buy hamburger. So now around here good steak now sells for $11/lb & hamburger sells for well over $3.00. Those who can afford good steak got a cut in their food bill & the poor took a 4 fold increase in their food cost. That is a major punch in the gut for the poor & especially while we are in a recession.

This is why you need food stamps to even things out. They can also help those that would have bought burger to reach for steak thus lowering the price of burger for the rest.

Well said.

What everyone forgets is that food stamps are a price support for the Agricultural industry.

That's why they are issued by the Department of Agriculture and not Health and human Services or some other welfare agency.


LOL

That was some of the stupidest shit I ever read on this board.
 
You can't have everyone eating just staples. Someone has to eat the steak. One observation I have made is when you have to many people eat specific foods the price skyrockets.

Take hamburger vs steak for instance. Before the recession around here in the mid-west hamburger was selling for about $0.75/lb & good cuts of steak was about $15/lb. Hamburger was an affordable staple food for the poor. The main reason it was cheap was because it was a leftover excess from the cow when they were butchered to get steak that the majority sought, bought & consumed. That high steak price paid for the whole cow & processing. The leftover burger was sold at steep discount to get rid of it much like a waste product.

A live cow on hoof cost about $1.50/lb & only 1/3rd is consumed as meat. So that makes the average price per lb of meat $4.50 + slaughter cost so lets just say $5/lb. During good economic times the high priced steak is 3 times the actual meat cost & hamburger is sold at a huge loss.

When you have a major economic downturn the majority want to buy hamburger. So now around here good steak now sells for $11/lb & hamburger sells for well over $3.00. Those who can afford good steak got a cut in their food bill & the poor took a 4 fold increase in their food cost. That is a major punch in the gut for the poor & especially while we are in a recession.

This is why you need food stamps to even things out. They can also help those that would have bought burger to reach for steak thus lowering the price of burger for the rest.

Well said.

What everyone forgets is that food stamps are a price support for the Agricultural industry.

That's why they are issued by the Department of Agriculture and not Health and human Services or some other welfare agency.

That was some of the stupidest shit I ever read on this board.

Don't understand basic economics?!?! Add that to the list of things you're clueless about. :cool:
 
You can't have everyone eating just staples. Someone has to eat the steak. One observation I have made is when you have to many people eat specific foods the price skyrockets.

Take hamburger vs steak for instance. Before the recession around here in the mid-west hamburger was selling for about $0.75/lb & good cuts of steak was about $15/lb. Hamburger was an affordable staple food for the poor. The main reason it was cheap was because it was a leftover excess from the cow when they were butchered to get steak that the majority sought, bought & consumed. That high steak price paid for the whole cow & processing. The leftover burger was sold at steep discount to get rid of it much like a waste product.

A live cow on hoof cost about $1.50/lb & only 1/3rd is consumed as meat. So that makes the average price per lb of meat $4.50 + slaughter cost so lets just say $5/lb. During good economic times the high priced steak is 3 times the actual meat cost & hamburger is sold at a huge loss.

When you have a major economic downturn the majority want to buy hamburger. So now around here good steak now sells for $11/lb & hamburger sells for well over $3.00. Those who can afford good steak got a cut in their food bill & the poor took a 4 fold increase in their food cost. That is a major punch in the gut for the poor & especially while we are in a recession.

This is why you need food stamps to even things out. They can also help those that would have bought burger to reach for steak thus lowering the price of burger for the rest.

Well said.

What everyone forgets is that food stamps are a price support for the Agricultural industry.

That's why they are issued by the Department of Agriculture and not Health and human Services or some other welfare agency.


LOL

That was some of the stupidest shit I ever read on this board.

Just because you are too dumb to understand it, doesn't invalidate it.

Fact is, the only way the agriculture industury works in this country is because it is so heavily subsidized by government. You guys scream about the brilliance of markets, but fact is, we'd have serious food shortages if it was "free market".
 
Well said.

What everyone forgets is that food stamps are a price support for the Agricultural industry.

That's why they are issued by the Department of Agriculture and not Health and human Services or some other welfare agency.


LOL

That was some of the stupidest shit I ever read on this board.

Just because you are too dumb to understand it, doesn't invalidate it.

Fact is, the only way the agriculture industury works in this country is because it is so heavily subsidized by government. You guys scream about the brilliance of markets, but fact is, we'd have serious food shortages if it was "free market".

Gubmint dependents lecturing on 'basic economics.'

Priceless.

LOL
 

New Topics

Forum List

Back
Top