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USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

thehill.com

81–90 of 105 posts

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#81
post #39

For perspective, SNAP constitutes somewhere around 1.5% of the total Federal budget[0], and provides supplemental income for over 41M Americans[1]. So they're making everyone reapply because their disbursement headcount is off by less than 1% (180k vs 41M). It's hard not look at stuff like this and not see gross oppression. 0: https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-does-the-federal-gover... 1: https://www.cbpp.org/res…

A quibble… The 180k is just for the states that responded, if I understand correctly. They suspect that the rate of fraud could be much higher in other states. How much high? I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. I think they want to reboot the program to try to remove the corruption.

If a 1% suspected fraud rate is all that it takes to trigger a reboot, then pretty much every defense contract should be cancelled and re-competed.

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#83
post #39

For perspective, SNAP constitutes somewhere around 1.5% of the total Federal budget[0], and provides supplemental income for over 41M Americans[1]. So they're making everyone reapply because their disbursement headcount is off by less than 1% (180k vs 41M). It's hard not look at stuff like this and not see gross oppression. 0: https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-does-the-federal-gover... 1: https://www.cbpp.org/res…

A quibble… The 180k is just for the states that responded, if I understand correctly. They suspect that the rate of fraud could be much higher in other states. How much high? I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. I think they want to reboot the program to try to remove the corruption.

It's funny to me that 1% of poor people is "corruption we need to root out" but having worthless billionaires pay less tax than a school teacher is well and good.

If we're going to work out corruption, let's take everything the billionaires have and actually fix some of our systems.

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is always a wonder to me when people downplay something that is "just" 1.5% of nearly $7 TRILLION

Less than one percent of 1.5% of $7 trillion, around $1 billion. Which is a significant sum, no doubt, but that's also less than $3/person in the US. Given the much larger wasted sums by DOD and other parts of the government, it's an amount I can live with. I'd rather see the real waste and abuse get addressed first, but it won't be. Address this, but address it in a way that doesn't cause undue harm to the 40.8 mill…

[deleted]

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#85
post #77
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don't starve 41 million people even if you think there is some corruption, that's absolutely inhumane shit. Enemy of humanity shit. Sometimes I wish we could go back to just living in Dunbar -sized groups. If a hunter came back to the tribe and people start gathering around to eat and the hunter said "A few of you in the past have taken too much meat for themselves without doing their fair share.. I suspect. Nobo…

> You don't starve 41 million people even if you think there is some corruption, that's absolutely inhumane shit. Enemy of humanity shit. Agreed, of course, but realize that for the current administration the cruelty is the whole point.

> realize that for the current administration the cruelty is the whole point

I think cruelty is the method not the point. The point is to demonstrate power and get more of it.

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#86
post #60
post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A quibble… The 180k is just for the states that responded, if I understand correctly. They suspect that the rate of fraud could be much higher in other states. How much high? I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. I think they want to reboot the program to try to remove the corruption.

You don't starve 41 million people even if you think there is some corruption, that's absolutely inhumane shit. Enemy of humanity shit. Sometimes I wish we could go back to just living in Dunbar -sized groups. If a hunter came back to the tribe and people start gathering around to eat and the hunter said "A few of you in the past have taken too much meat for themselves without doing their fair share.. I suspect. Nobo…

[deleted]

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#87

I have some things to note as a non-US: 1) 42 million people underfed in the richest nation in the world is worrisome 2) killing one person is headlines, killing millions is statistics. Today, replace killing with starving 3) people reached at the state to need SNAP because of other incidents (health issues, loss of job, bankruptcy) which are much more expensive to prevented 4) saying to millions just to reapply seem…

Also from the outside looking in here: those numbers appear mind boggling. More than 1 in 10 people are on the edge of survival? That's many times more than the mythical 3% who toppled British rule in the USA.

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#88
post #39

For perspective, SNAP constitutes somewhere around 1.5% of the total Federal budget[0], and provides supplemental income for over 41M Americans[1]. So they're making everyone reapply because their disbursement headcount is off by less than 1% (180k vs 41M). It's hard not look at stuff like this and not see gross oppression. 0: https://usafacts.org/answers/how-much-does-the-federal-gover... 1: https://www.cbpp.org/res…

A quibble… The 180k is just for the states that responded, if I understand correctly. They suspect that the rate of fraud could be much higher in other states. How much high? I have no idea. I don’t think anyone does. I think they want to reboot the program to try to remove the corruption.

Yes, because clearly this administration is very interested in weeding out corruption rather than making most people's lives harder so that the wealthy can have even more wealth. It's long past time to be accepting their rationale at face value. They have not earned trust, benefit of doubt, or good faith m

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#89
post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100B for SNAP vs 850B for defense in 2024. Interest on govt issued debt was 880B.

What would be the value of the US dollar if we didn't have a military to back it up?

You're going to have to explain your premise, because this question doesn't make sense.

What would be the value of my car without the pile of tires in my garage?

Re: USDA head says 'everyone' on SNAP will now have to reapply

#90
post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We should just put a trillion dollars into it then, and the returns would pay off the national debt! Right?!

There are a limited number of children/families in need of this help. Feeding them is great for the economy. There is no need to spend more than that on the program, although there are other social programs that do contribute to making them into more productive individuals in the future, like education and healthcare. May I recommend leaving out the snark in the future - it gives the impression that you are a heartle…

Feeding families is a nice thing to do but economically speaking, these families are not very productive. I'm not a heartless person, but I'm also not brainless either. I should not need to nod along with a bunch of BS to be considered civil.
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