Blog 11

Increase Entitlement Programs

It is quite a shame, as pointed out by an under secretary of agriculture, that in a country as wealthy and productive as ours, that many people still go hungry.  A recent analysis of food stamp usage, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, showed skyrocketing rates across the country, with as many as 36 million people using this program, and swelling by roughly 20,000 people a day.  There has also been a significant rise in the number of children receiving this federal aid.  Food stamp usage in many counties across the country has more than doubled in the last two years.  This drastic rise in food stamp usage throughout the country further illustrates the country’s dire need for more entitlement programs in these hard economic times.

While I myself am not a full-fledged taxpayer, I will definitely support much need rise in public assistance, to the nation’s poorest, provided of course, there are regulations on those who benefit.  As a product of an upper middle class family, I have never had to deal with a lack of any of life’s necessities.  In light of the recent health care debate there has been a spotlight on health related entitlement programs such as medicare and medicade, but other important programs such as the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program, have been eliminated, even the funding food the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) has been slashed drastically, despite rising need in this recession.  Now, the SNAP program is one of the few remaining entitlement programs remaining to help feed a population with an unemployment rate reaching 10 percent.  With the number of people receiving this aid increasing by 20,000 a day, the program will be hard pressed to find the resources to support such an ambitious program

I propose a rise in entitlement programs aimed at temporary relief, a New Deal-esque type of approach.  These programs should target those who really need the assistance to make ends meet and supplement dwindling savings.  Even staunch conservative  counties have begun to reexamine the stigma attached to food stamp usage, I think it is time for the legislatures to do the same.  There is a need that needs to be met, and it is about time a politician approached the subject.