The Poor Poor

Nearly one in every four children in America rely on government welfare to eat -- so-called food stamps. As far as adults go, the number is one and eight and one in six if you live in Alabama. The statistics provide a shocking snapshot of the pervasiveness of poverty in the world's richest nation. They were included in a Page One report by The New York Times along with an interactive map that allows readers to take in the depressing news in their region.

The article, reported from recession-struck Martinsville, Ohio, notes that high unemployment has ended some of the stigma of the U.S. Department of Agriculture program for the poor. Millions of Americans now use "inconspicuous plastic cards" that operate like debit cards to buy bread and cheese. But rather than express pity for the nation's struggling families or extend an offer to pitch in, some conservatives have ridiculed the program, characterizing the people who rely on it as slackers. Meanwhile, at least one family experimented to see what it would be like to live on food stamps, but failed.

Despite the historic unemployment, Robert Rector, an analyst for the conservative Aspen-based Heritage Foundation, told the Times that the food assistance program should force people to work. “The food stamp program is a fossil that repeats all the errors of the war on poverty,” he said, building on comments he made earlier this month in the Times when it reported the nation's hunger had hit a 14-year high.

“Very few of these people are hungry,” he said in the previous article. “When they lose jobs, they constrain the kind of food they buy. That is regrettable, but it’s a far cry from a hunger crisis.”

Comments are also pouring in at the conservative National Review, including from a surgeon who suspects some patients see food stamps as an entitlement. "I am a surgeon and deal with a lot of low income patients. I am interested in their perception of the public assistance they receive. By and large, the attitude seems to be that food stamps are their due, like earned income. The second most common sentiment is frustruation [sic] at the difficulties encountered in applying for and utilizing the assistance. Furthermore, I have found that what is netted from food stamps/WIC is fungible, and there is an underground economy in it. For the most part, these programs allot WAY more food than most families can reasonably eat. 'Excess' food is frequently purchased/obtained via stamps/WIC and sold or traded for goods or services from non-assistance recipients."

Taking a look at the Times' map is fascinating. It cuts into the heart of the nation's ideological divide. It seems the use of the stamps is higher in states that voted for Republican John McCain in the 2008 presidential election, an indication that there must be Americans who would call themselves conservatives--even agree with Rector--but receive food stamps anyway. There's enough information to at least justify more research to parse the significance of what it means to have high numbers of food stamp users in so-called red states that support conservative politicians and espouse their views.

Meanwhile, a family in Rockford, Ill., attempted to live as if they were on food stamps for a week, according to First Coast News. The working family typically spends up to $150 a week on food each week, but when they were pretending to be unemployed for the exercise they could spent just $83.25 a week on food stamps.

One possible cause of the obesity epidemic, even in poor, hungry families, was evident--crappy, cheap food. "Instead of getting the really nice hot dogs that we like, which can be $4 to $5, a package, we went for the 89-cent hot dogs," Dion Morrow explained, adding that in the end the family failed the test because they were forced to break the rules and eat take out one night.

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