People on food stamps have legitimate needs
James Bovard’s column, “Donald Trump’s budget slashes government junk food pipeline to the poor,” is every bit as good as the GOP fix for health care. Most of the recipients of the food stamp program are children, the elderly, the disabled or the mentally ill. However, Bovard claims that if we cut another $193 billion out of the program over 10 years, it’ll force lazy food stamps recipients to find work.
Former first lady Michelle Obama tried to get better access to healthy food in poor areas, but that effort has been dropped by the Republicans. She tried to improve school nutrition, but the current administration brought junk food back to the schools and now Bovard claims food stamps cause obesity. Twisting reality up to blame the victims of poverty for their situation is a Republican tenet. But poverty is not a lack of responsibility or a lack of work ethic, it’s a lack of money. A federal mini- mum hourly wage of $10.10 like Barack Obama proposed would move many food stamp recipients off the program, without inhumanity and moral bankruptcy. Marvin Schwartzwalder Walden, N.Y.
Most food stamp recipients live in low-income areas that tend to be “food deserts.” When you don’t have access to better grocery stores with better food selection, your diet tends to be of lesser quality. It’s easy for those on the outside to not really understand the reality of the situation. Peter Jeter
The government paying for people’s food is socialism. However, the government choosing the allowed food to buy with food stamps is communism (government determines need). It’s surprising how quickly conservatives abandon free-market economics when it comes to the needy. Chris Reising