Demand for food stamps is up in 43 states. The cost to federal taxpayers is expected to climb to $36 billion for the next fiscal year. In Michigan, one in eight receives food stamps. In West Virginia, one in six uses food stamps. Nearly one in ten Ohioans are enrolled in the program. In Rhode Island, the rolls have grown by almost twenty percent in two years. It is a tragic irony of interventionist economics that the more government intrudes, the more it is compelled to intrude. In other words, burdening citizens with an inflated dollar, onerous regulations, and the tax burdens that go along with paying for such a gargantuan federal government--$3 trillion and growing--smothers the economy and rationalizes more government, more inflation, and more taxes. Please: no more of the "medicine" that got us sick in the first place.

Right on the money. So what came first? People absolving themselves of personal social and economic responsibilities based on ever expanding government largesse or government throwing out the carrot based on assumed needs?

Government has created the problem here. If it hadn't started and continue to subsidize laziness and sapping peoples’ will to be productive, a majority wouldn’t find it as acceptable to be layabouts. But, as with corporate welfare, the U.S. is getting good at re-distributing our wealth and keeping us perpetually dependent.

But what happens when the takers outweigh the producers? The current atmosphere or borrowing and debt may already be the answer to that question.

Because my disability income is $730 a month, my family of three is eligible for food stamps.

I choose not to take them. It is humiliating enough to get that SS check every month. I would rather the government not have so many barriers to me finding ways to support myself. (Did you know that a person might lose their disability just for running the vacuum cleaner? That's it take our dignity too).

My daughter gets free lunch at school. Perhaps if my kids were hungry, I would take the food stamps. Until then, I have learned to feed us on less than $300 a month. None of us are underweight (other than me from the Crohn's disease).

I think I could teach our Congress some lessons on belt tightening.

Believe me, I hate being a mooch. I am very grateful to those of you who bust your butts and pay the FICA tax to support my diseased self. You all have my thanks.

Be well,

Sponge

Hey, if you're in need, don't be embarassed becuase that's what the system was built for in the first place.

But it's the able bodied (and brained?) individuals who scam the system who have their greasy hands in our pockets and are, essentially, stealing.

I work one day a week in a building that houses a welfare office and it would make you gag.

Able bodied young people sporting designer clothes, multiple tats, expensive jewelry waiting for their government handouts talking on cell phones while munching donuts and drinking coffee. Most biatching about something they didn't get. Disgusting and such an abuse of the system.

Then there are the ones who go directly from the airport with sheets of paper that have directions and q/a in English. Or "undocumenteds" with a gaggle of brand new kids.

So, don't feel bad if you really need the services because most don't and beg for them anyway.

Right now, we have our necessities, for the most part, so there is no need. Perhaps I could go get more program allocations, then use my extra money to splurge.

It is extremely difficult for someone like me to have to put their hand out. That is why I am always striving to get off the dole.

Be well,

Sponge