Food Stamp flap

Photo from The Independent

Gateway Pundit writes that this photo is three years old

The media is looking so hard for bad economic news to drive the economy south before the November elections, they’ll cleave to anything they can wave like a bloody shirt. The New York Times thinks that food stamp dependency is one of those bloody shirts;

Driven by a painful mix of layoffs and rising food and fuel prices, the number of Americans receiving food stamps is projected to reach 28 million in the coming year, the highest level since the aid program began in the 1960s.

The number of recipients, who must have near-poverty incomes to qualify for benefits averaging $100 a month per family member, has fluctuated over the years along with economic conditions, eligibility rules, enlistment drives and natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina, which led to a spike in the South.

The UK’s Independent calls it the US’ Great Depression. The Colombus Dispatch follows suit with a headline that reads “Food Stamps Double Since ’01“. That’s a bunch isn’t it? Well, James Taranto and his crew at Wall Street Journal’s Best of the Web offer a simple explanation of why food stamp usage would double since 2001;

…the Farm Bill of 2002 substantially expanded the food-stamp program. As the U.S. Department of Agriculture Web site notes, that legislation made legal immigrants eligible for food stamps, increased benefits for larger households, and expanded food-stamp eligibility for people leaving the TANF (welfare) rolls.

In other words, the government has made a conscious effort to expand the number of people on food stamps. Accordingly, the number of people on food stamps has expanded. And journalists are misconstruing government largesse as a sign of economic distress.

So it stands to reason that food stamps would increase if the government is making a conscious effort to expand the program doesn’t it? So instead of being an indication of a failing economy, it’s an indication that the government gives too much away. It should be a call to pull back from the edge of government giveaways.

Here’s another picture the media can use that’ll fit over the caption;

Men check for jobs at unemployment office yesterday in New York City.

Or;

Disadvantaged Americans line up for food in New York City yesterday 

Category: Economy, Politics, Society