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Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

schools.nyc.gov

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Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#411

Post by umvi »

iron0013 wrote: post #334
umvi wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And do said wealthiest Americans get a say? They are going to be kicking and screaming (and rightfully so).

They should get one vote per person, the same as anyone else. That that puts them at a numerical disadvantage is their own fault for fostering economic inequality in the first place.

"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship. The average age of the world's greatest civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; From spiritual faith to great courage; From courage to liberty; From liberty to abundance; From abundance to selfishness; From selfishness to apathy; From apathy to dependence; From dependence back into bondage."

--Alexander Fraser Tytler

s/public treasury/untapped wealthy individuals and corporations/g

Also, which step are we on? Seems like we are on the "From apathy to dependence" stage.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#412

Post by sizzle »

Retric wrote: post #63
ebg13 wrote: post #3

But in order to get them you have to congregate. :\

It’s pickup only with no dining space on site. Which means people can just stand six feet apart and be reasonably safe.

In practice, it's hard to enforce 6 feet when standing in line and anyone who is sick if spreading viral droplets in your vicinity that are carried by wind. I would be concerned having to stand in that line with potential Covid cases.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#413

Post by erentz »

tren-hard wrote: post #18

One of those things I wish could out last this virus. We'd be so much better off as a society if we could at least keep our people fed. The comments in here seem a little negative currently but this is great news. Think of all the people in NYC who didn't have access to clean and regular food before the virus.

I agree. It’s not great news in that it shouldn’t have to be this way. We’ve

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#414

Post by vb6sp6 »

oh_sigh wrote: post #348
vb6sp6 wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

23+ million Americans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

That's not what that article says

You have to read past the first sentence

"A food desert is an area that has limited access to affordable and nutritious food,[1][2][3] in contrast with an area with higher access to supermarkets or vegetable shops with fresh foods, which is called a food oasis.[4] The designation considers the type and quality of food available to the population, in addition to the accessibility of the food through the size and proximity of the food stores.[5]

In 2010, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that 23.5 million Americans live in "food deserts"

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#415

Post by avianlyric »

fragsworth wrote: post #310
blunte wrote: post #252

I find it fascinating that it seems so many people are against (sometimes vehemently) against others getting free food and shelter. There is no excuse for a modern civilization to not ensure that everyone has basic human needs met. Sure, we can argue some details like, "Is Netflix really a basic human need?"... joking aside, we as humans should endeavor to ensure that all people have their Maslow pyramid filled in.

I think the fear some people have is that if everyone has free food and shelter, we'll lose a massive portion of the labor force because they would have no need to work. It is not clear at all to me that it would be objectively good or bad, but some people appear to have picked the other side because they think we'd lose a lot of our nice things.

That makes the assumption that people don’t get bored doing nothing, and that peoples only motivation for work is money.

I’ve always felt that’s a very reductive view of humanity. Boiling us down to simple automatons that only seek to eat and reproduce, nothing more. I would hope the vibrancy of human civilisation would be enough to show that isn’t true.

Unfortunately people that seem to have little faith in humanity, alway believe that they, and their peers, are special and that the rest of humanity is a lost cause. That always makes me a little sad.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#416

Post by ryanbrunner »

harimau777 wrote: post #357
leetcrew wrote: post #313

Earlier quoted context omitted.

are you envisioning some mechanism to prevent people from having filet mignon and caviar every night for dinner? I'm not poor, but my grocery purchases would change a lot if I didn't have to pay for it myself.

Presumably we could come up with some sort of middle ground policy. For example, there could be certain foods that are excluded from the system or maybe only certain products are included. Or perhaps different products could use up more of a person's "food credits".

This is basically Cuba's policy (well, Cuba in better times, their rationed food has decreased massively in quantity over time). Everyone has an allotment of basic staples (rice, beans, limited meat, coffee, etc.) that covers your basics with little / no extravagance, or you can go to a grocery store for a wider variety.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#417

Post by adrr »

TuringNYC wrote: post #389
mcherm wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The cost of the program is not a very good way of evaluating it. the number of people it feeds and how well it does so would be a much better criterion.

Totally agreed. But for those who feel the need to justify costs -- instead of looking at the good it does -- consider the capitalist benefits: - Hungry people are not productive to the economy - Hungry people are more likely to be sick and burden the healthcare system - Hungry people, if desperate enough, might steal from you - Hungry children do not learn as well, and become a future burden society needs to carry

Are people going hungry in the US? Obesity rates are at an all time high and the highest in the population below the poverty line. What metric should we look at in terms of quantifying people going hungry?

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#418

Post by organsnyder »

umvi wrote: post #401
organsnyder wrote: post #377

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The way our welfare system is structured in the United States, maintaining access to food and shelter is a huge amount of work and stress. Developing skills and gaining employment is difficult in the best of times—yet we insist on making it even harder.

Well then we may need to restructure in order to create a more effective system. Society does not benefit from people who are completely reliant on the government to meet basic needs.

That's an untested assertion. It's possible that society actually would benefit from every person being freed up from the stress and distraction of worrying about how to pay for basic necessities. Imagine how much creativity is being squandered by people being forced to work whatever job they can find just to make ends meet.

Re: Three free meals available daily for any New Yorker

#420

Post by Consultant32452 »

alexgodin wrote: post #118
jsonne wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As of 2018 40 million Americans received more than 57 billion dollars in SNAP. It seems like largely the US has been and will continue to keep people fed. Note also that this is just 1 Federal program and doesn't mention the multitude of other state level and city level programs that exist as well as private charities, religious organizations, etc. Please note I am not saying the system is perfect, shouldn't be expan…

The average SNAP recipient receives about $4 a day and sees their balance run out after just 17 days. This is not enough.

When someone runs out isn't the relevant stat. A person could receive $100/day and still run out in 17 days if they are ridiculous. The real question is can a person reasonably feed themselves on $4/day. I would submit the answer is 100% yes for the vast, vast majority of locations in the US. You can do your own web search for the litany of sites/postings on how to eat on Here's one sample site: https://www.budgetsaresexy.com/how-to-make-nutritious-meals-...
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