USA becomes Food Stamp Nation but is it sustainable? - Yahoo! News
The woman and her family featured in this article seem to be doing everything they can. She has to feed her son. If I were in her shoes, I'd be asking for assistance as well to make sure my children could eat. Here's a quote that's telling of the ignorance of economics, though: "'It's a good thing that the government helps, but if employers paid enough and gave enough hours, then we wouldn't need to be on food stamps," said Green, who has a six-year-old daughter." If employers raised wages, they'd also have to raise their prices. That price increase means everyone will have to spend more to get the same thing... which means we're right back where we started. Here's an idea... do something to better yourself so you're not stuck in a minimum wage job for the rest of your life.
However, I think this over-dependence on public assistance is a symptom of a larger problem. We have people who abuse this assistance and our system practically encourages that abuse. I certainly don't have any solutions on how to fix this. I wish people smarter than me did, though.
To answer the question of "Is this sustainable"... the answer is NO. It doesn't take an economics professor to figure that out. The phrase that keeps coming to mind is this: "Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. TEACH a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime." Why can't we apply that philosophy to public assistance programs? Just sayin'. Train/educate people. Give them job and life skills so they can sustain themselves. I know there are programs in place, but I have no idea what they are or what they offer.
Sounds like I might need to do some research.
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