The number of Nevada food stamp recipients shot up by 21 percent in the last year, a sign of the recession's ongoing toll.
Nevada ranked third in the nation in the number of new people enrolling in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program.
Romaine Gilliland, administrator for the state Division of Welfare and Supportive Services, said 329,105 people received benefits through the program in March. The 21 percent jump follows a 47 percent increase in 2009 and a 27 percent increase in 2010.
Gilliland said Monday that the state has held the first or second position nationally for caseload growth of food stamp applications within the last year.
The program is fully paid for by the federal government.
"The program is fully paid for by the federal government"
The federal government is fully paid for by taxpayers.
A woman came into my taco shop (in the south side of town) about a month ago and wanted to leave fliers for customwers explaining how to apply for SNAP food stamps. She was actively recruiting customers in my shop. It was unbelieveable. I had to ask her to leave, I then tossed her fliers into the trash.
I have literally lost a couple good employees at the taco shop because they want to be paid cash so they qualify for the maximum food stamps. They go to other taco shops that do pay cash instead of payroll.
It's very frustrating.
I really hope that people won't judge a program that provides critical assistance to 33.7 million people based on a story about some woman in a taco shop.
Here are some facts about SNAP:
Most SNAP recipients were children or elderly.
Nearly half (48 percent) were children and another
8 percent were age 60 or older. Working-age
women represented 28 percent of the caseload,
while working-age men represented 16 percent.
Many SNAP recipients had jobs. More than 29
percent of SNAP households had earnings in 2009,
and 40 percent of all SNAP participants lived in a
household with earnings. For these households,
earnings were the primary source of income.
The majority of SNAP households did not
receive cash welfare benefits. Less than 10
percent of all SNAP households received
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) benefits and another 5 percent received
State General Assistance (GA) benefits. About 24
percent of SNAP households received
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits and
over 22 percent received Social Security.
SNAP households had little income. Only 14
percent had income above the poverty line, while
more than 41 percent had incomes at, or below,
half the poverty line. Nearly 18 percent had no
cash income of any kind. The typical SNAP
household had gross income of $711 per month.
More than 27 percent of monthly funds (gross
income plus SNAP benefits) available to a typical
household came from SNAP.
Source: http://www.fns.usda.gov/ora/menu/Publish...
Rather than focusing on the rare instances of abuse (just a small fraction of the program), maybe we should be asking why our economic system is so out of whack that >10% of our population needs help with basic subsistence.
Emthree, please remember for all those who receive without working, somebody else had to work without receiving.
And we are getting sick and tired of it!
We have neighbors who live in $100K houses that receive welfare, food stamps, energy assistance and several other freebies. How do they do it? The put the house and vehicles in someone elses name. Have you ever been to the welfare offices? The priorities of the recipients is backward judging by the vehicles they drive and the number of spawn they are dragging around.
Have some compassion people! Yes, there are those freeloaders who sign up for SNAP benefits and can very well go get a frickin' job, but there are so many others who only work part time jobs and barely have enough money to pay rent and utilities not to mention food. And for many, getting their prescription drugs. After being unemployed for over 2 years, my unemployment running out forever, working temp jobs (which were far and few between), I had no choice but to apply for help. Yes, I have a LINK card, and yes, I get help with my expensive diabetes medicine, BUT...for all my other drugs, I go to KMart, get generic brands and have saved a hell of a lot of money. I have worked since 1966. I have put into the system for over 40 years. THOSE statistics were the only thing that eased the guilt I felt for applying for benefits.
Let's hope all of you who have some smart ass comment to make about those getting SNAP benefits NEVER EVER have to be in the position to get help. It is not pleasant, but thank God it is there for those who really and truly need it, ie our senior citizens. Think about that next time you want to make some snarky nasty comment. Would you want your grandparents or your parents to have to choose between food and their drugs? And believe me - it DOES come down to that when you can't afford both.
Remember: it can happen to YOU, too.
sam: How about you develop a product or service that someone wants to purchase, start your own business and make your own living instead of dictating to others how they should operate theirs? When you're faced with the choice of "paying a living wage" to your employee over paying yourself (so you can buy food, gas, pay your mortgage, etc.) then you'll understand what it is to own and operate a business.
Det_Munch, I will continue to work, save and invest so my parents and grandparents will never have to choose between food and their drugs if it ever came down to it.
Also 50% of this country receives some type of government assistance which is being supplied by the other 50%. That 50/50 balance cannot last long. What happens when the 50% suppliers decide to give up and go on assistance? What happens when it's 75% on assistance and only 25% suppliers?
noindex
Don't forget to save for yourself, too. You sound like a good son and grandson. Your family is lucky to have you. I work with the elderly and believe me, some are just an annoyance to their families and it is sad.
That is an interesting thought to ponder - what happens when the 50% who supply cannot supply any longer? Let's hope it never comes to that. We are the wealthiest (or used to be) country in the world and it's sad that so many have to legitimately seek assistance.
I'm going to start collecting my social security in a couple of months so I no longer will be eligible for many programs other than the prescription drug Januvia but I will always be grateful for the help I did receive. It has changed my perspective on how, what I always considered the "low income" slackers, live since I have been one for over a year now. Most are nice people who have fallen on hard times but there are those who spit out kids from several different fathers and obviously have no skills to get a job other than.....well you know.
This is the way Obama likes it. More dem voters. Its job security.
The current economic system is not sustainable, government is trying to be all things to all people and they cannot be. Politicians since LBJ and for that matter FDR have been pushing towards the socialism for a long time, in fact it's 100 years or more. The government has hamstrung business with regulations, unfunded mandates, and unreasonable expectations.
"A wise and frugal government...shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government." --Thomas Jefferson, First Inaugural Address, 1801
The progressive government of the last hundred years has stolen more from the people of this country that will ever realize. We must correct the government because it is in error. but we have a lot of people who think that their program is still intact, it's not. For those of you not keeping up, Medicare was looted to the tune of $545 billion. There trying to make up the shortfall the backs of doctors, nurses and patients. Lower reimbursements, higher co-pays are just the beginning.
We must work to get back that wise and frugal government that Jefferson talked about. Anything less will not work. The American system is not designed for redistribution of wealth. It was designed to accumulate wealth and in the accumulation of wealth, the ripples caused in the economy benefit everyone. Maybe not to the same extent, but they still benefit everyone, a lot more than redistribution of wealth does.
To bad the government could not cordon off a giant area and make it a huge garden where people could work for their food and share crop. Irrigation is possible anywhere and these folks could be working for their food. I understand the bread winner might not be able to work the fields but the spouse and kids could. Yup, my grandfather had 13 kids all worked in the field so it ain't so bad. He never collect food stamps.
Listen to all the Right wingers...
"I, ME, Mine!!!"
So what if untold thousands of kids go to bed hungry and wake up hungry and go off to school hungry...
They oughta suck it up! Too bad! So sad! Not MY problemo, kiddo!
Festus...
VERY well said, sir.
This isn't about feeding starving people.This is about the state trying to get more money from Washington. That's why they literally have solicitors going door to door to try and RECRUIT people for food stamps.
No wonder it jumped 21%. Walk up to anybody and offer them something for free and most will take it whether they need it or not.
Gmag, the greedy people are the ones who accept it rather than working two low paying jobs to pay for themselves. The ones being taxed to death are not the greedy ones.
typical LV comments. I prepare taxes I'm on the front line of seeing exactly how the economy has affected families. I see the same complainers year after year complaining about how someone else is at fault for their choices. YOU ALL voted in the last two governors of Nevada and you want to blame someone else. YOU live in houses you can't, could not afford, you accepted the horrible state of Nevada's education system. MOST folks on food stamps HAVE or HAD jobs i.e THEY PAID TAXES. Where are your demands on your STATE politicians to create jobs or diversify the economy? Blaming the strangers, who you have no idea what their job history or tax paying history is why this state is at the bottom of every national ranking.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout...