Governor Brownback is at again! Making life, for the poor, even more miserable!
Kansas Republicans have put forward a new policy initiative that's almost shocking in its clear intent to harm the interests of poor people. The provision, which takes effect July 1, will ban welfare recipients from taking out more than $25 in benefits a day from an ATM.
Did they stop to think of the fees, most banks charge, for withdrawing money? It's actually a benefit cut to the already meagre benefits they get each month. Most ATM's don't stock $5 bills, so not only are they allowed to only withdraw $20, but pay a bank fee also, which sometimes is as much as $3 per withdrawal, so how much money are they losing of their already inadequate benefit.
Are you kidding me? Only $25 a day, from an ATM?
Should they pay a price, for being poor?
People in Brownback's position have no clue as to what it's like to be poor and rely on “government assistance”. He knows nothing about helping the poor. He robs from the poor, to give tax cuts to the rich, plus cuts other social programs just to pacify his “Billionaire” donors.
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The rest of the Kansas law is more predictable. It bans spending at any "retail liquor store, casino, gaming establishment, jewelry store, tattoo parlor, massage parlor, body piercing parlor, spa, nail salon, lingerie shop, tobacco paraphernalia store, vapor cigarette store, psychic or fortune telling business, bail bond company, video arcade, movie theater, swimming pool, cruise ship" — you get the picture.
I am curious how many people, on welfare, are doing any of the things, in the previous paragraph, using their cash benefits. The cash benefits are inadequate already, why would they spend them on anything in the aforementioned paragraph?
We're helping our poor move from public assistance
into a job. So what, if it pays like shit, it's a job!
According to Brownback, Kansas is only interested in getting people off welfare into jobs. Did it occur to him that the majority of people on welfare, depending on food stamps are already working, but working in crappy jobs, where they don't make enough money to take care of their families?
They include a requirement that cash assistance recipients work at least 20 hours a week, be looking for work or enroll in job training. The new law also includes a much-criticized provision shortening the lifetime cap on cash assistance to 36 months from 48 months, although the state Department for Children and Families said recipients rarely bump up against the lower limit.
As of last July, a single parent family of three in Kansas with no other earnings received $429 a month from Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF, a.k.a. welfare). Most ATMs don't stock $5 bills, so the Kansas rule effectively limits withdrawals to $20.
The $25-a-day limit may also be illegal. Federal law requires that states provide TANF recipients "adequate access to their cash assistance" with "minimal fees or charges." It's quite plausible that the federal government will determine the Kansas law violates that requirement, and the state will lose funding.
"We want to get people off of public assistance and into private-sector employment, and we've had a lot of success with that," Brownback during an interview this week with The Associated Press.
Officials say it's difficult to track, if cash assistance is used for items on the state's new list because recipients can withdraw cash, with their benefit cards. The law will limit ATM withdrawals of cash assistance to $25 a day.
Did they stop to think of the fees, most banks charge, for withdrawing money? It's actually a benefit cut to the already meagre benefits they get each month. Most ATM's don't stock $5 bills, so not only are they allowed to only withdraw $20, but pay a bank fee also, which sometimes is as much as $3 per withdrawal, so how much money are they losing of their already inadequate benefit.
"It feels mean-spirited," said Shannon Cotsoradis, president and CEO of the advocacy group Kansas Action for Children. "It really seems to make a statement about how we feel about the poor."
It is part of a broader welfare law taking effect in July that Brownback and his allies say is aimed at moving poor families from social services into jobs.
Then how about food stamps, which legislators are always wanting to cut, figuring people on them are already eating like kings. Excuse me! Eating like kings! Did you ever see how much the average person is getting in food stamps?
The average person does not have a chef to help them find food and live on it for the amount of food, food stamps will buy, for the whole month. Not everyone knows how to cook, what to buy and how to make it stretch, for a family.
Not everyone has a place to cook, store and eat the food, which they are able to buy each month. How about homeless people, single people, who live in a rooming house or motel, without cooking facilities or places to store frozen food or food, which needs to be refrigerated?
You are not allowed to buy cooked food, which is still warm, with food stamps. Why limit what they can buy? Even if they are buying steak or lobster, are they paying full price, or is it marked down, for quick sale?
How can you limit what people can buy, with food stamps, when not everyone has access to so-called “healthy” food, knows what “healthy” food is or have a place to prepare or store it? Not everyone has access to food sources, where they are able to buy basic essentials, for a reasonable price.
Many people live in an area, where they need a car, or someone to take them, to get their groceries, but even with a car, grocery stores, which carry less expensive brands are not easy to find.
What about shut ins, disabled people, elderly, how do they shop to get the food they need, to be able to survive the month, on the amount of food stamps they are allowed each month.
How about hamburger, which used to be one of the cheapest meats, but now costs over $3.99 lb most of the time?
People who think people on food stamps have it nice, that they can buy whatever they want and live like a king, should have to try and live on the amount of money the average person, on food stamps has to live on each month.
Some of the grocery items you might buy.
If you are living like a king, with food stamps, just how long will they last? How can you live like a king everyday, if you only have so many food stamps and have to make them last the rest of the month, not only for you, but the other members of your family.
Really officer! I did not buy a carton
of smokes with my food stamps!
Should you live like a king, for a few days and then starve the rest of the month? Should you live like a king yourself and let your children starve for the rest of the month?
There is plenty of fraud, with food stamps, but why take it out on those, who are the most vulnerable?
Movie stars can bring attention to just how much food, you can buy, to make your food stamps last for the entire month, but the average person does not have the resources of a movie star, such as a private chef, who knows what recipes to make, with the food that is bought, to make it stretch for several people.
On April 11, 2015 Gwyneth Paltrow announced she was slashing her food budget, but it's all for a good cause.
She accepted the #FoodBankNYCChallenge to live on food stamps for one week — a grocery budget that adds up to $29, or just $1.38 per meal.
She was able to buy various grocery items, including brown rice, black beans, a carton of eggs and veggies, to indicate how little the food stamp budget provides for needy families,.
She lasted four days, it turns out. See the web sites at the end, of my diary, to see the articles about her challenge.
"I personally broke and had some chicken and fresh vegetables (and in full transparency, half a bag of black licorice)," she said on her GOOP site. "My perspective has been forever altered by how difficult it was to eat wholesome, nutritious food on that budget, even for just a few days—a challenge that 47 million Americans face every day, week, and year."
Since there is a limit, to the amount of food stamps they get, is it no wonder they buy cheaper items, to make them last longer and at least make them stretch a little further. The cheaper items, although they let you stretch your food dollars, aren't necessarily good for you.
They may be bad, for you, if you are diabetic and how can you lose any weight, by eating so much bread and pasta?
Sometimes, if you live in an area, where there are Food Pantries, you can at least go twice a month, or maybe once a week, depending on the pantry.
In some areas, the pantries offer a variety of meats, which are still good, but can't be sold, because they are past their "sell by date". Sometimes, these pantries even offer vegetables, which are past their prime and can no longer be sold, but those pantries are not always available everywhere and when you get these types of fruits and vegetables, you need to use them ASAP, before they completely spoil.
If you go to Food Pantries, you can usually get all the white bread and buns you want, maybe even some sweet rolls. They give peanut butter, to use to make sandwiches and maybe jelly, which has been donated.
You can also get a lot of canned goods, but if you aren't able to pick out what you will eat, you get quite a bit, which you are not going to use. It helps a little, but it's not always the answer, especially, if they pick out items for you and bring them to your home.
They mean well, but sometimes the items you get, need to be used right away and can't be stored for later. You also have to pay attention to use by dates, which sometimes are way past the date you should have used them.
They give away a lot of pasta and a lot of other cheaper items, which you can make into dishes, which will stretch your food dollars. Of course they also give away a lot of food, which people have no idea what it is or how to make it.
Other times they give away food in too large of a container, which might work, for a family, but goes to waste, for a single person, or a small family. Sometimes they give vegetables, fruit, ketchup, etc, in 1-gallon cans. How can the average person use that?
Buying some of the cheaper things, which make the money go further, isn't necessarily good for you, but at least it fills you up and helps the food stamps go further. Unfortunately, eating a lot of pasta & white bread leads to weight gain. Of course, if your children are energetic, who will burn it off, by running and playing, instead of sitting and playing video games, it's okay.
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