abcnews.go.com — Along the way, Sigman-Davenport, a mother of three who works for the state Department of Human Services and went on food stamps in the fall after her husband lost his job, dispensed tips for shopping on a budget. Scan the highest and lowest shelves, she told the governor. Look for off-brand products, clip coupons religiously ...
Apr 25, 2007 View in Crawl 4
scabbersApr 26, 2007
That's not so easy if you come back from Iraq with no hands.
killinger777Apr 26, 2007
"Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs."<a class="user" href="http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm">http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm</a>
vegangApr 26, 2007
The time you spend "clipping coupons religiously" could probably be better-spent. There are ways to make money all around us if we look hard enough.
xceptiona1Apr 26, 2007
My wife was once on food stamps and she said that after using food stamps for two years, she stopped receiving them....the twist is that she had enough left-over food stamps to feed her and her daughter for another 6 months...so they are full of it.
fdiskitApr 26, 2007
@drinkxredxbullPoint 1: You don't think that the 1st and 15th would be the busiest nights because that's when salaried people like myself get paid too?Point 2: The nastiness of the cycle of poverty is that the more hours you work the less time you have to economize/increase efficiency. So somebody getting a little OT may need to make up for it by buying a pizza.
stepnw1fApr 26, 2007
Good way to highlight the topic of poverty. I commend this guy... most don't even want to think about it.
trojantrentApr 27, 2007
I'm proud to have Ted as my governor -- this is proof that there are still a few civic leaders that are willing to do what's necessary to make people aware of struggles abroad and here at home.In another Oregon side note, I applaud Oregon Republican Senator Gordon Smith in being one of only two republicans in joining the Democrat's Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill (that reigns in the president's free-for-all, with the threat of a time-tables and oversight).Oregon: We love dreamers!
qwertydvorakApr 27, 2007
@ littlebylittle: this is the better link <a class="user" href="http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mil_exp_dol_fig_pergdp-expenditures-dollar-figure-per-gdp">http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mil_exp_dol_fig_pergdp-expenditures-dollar-figure-per-gdp</a>notice the US ranks just one place higher @ 46 on the list than France (47) and i don't remember many people saying that france spends too much on military and not enough on social programs. as a matter of fact, isn't a map of France in the dictionary next to the word welfare ?
android32Apr 27, 2007
Here's the thing. When immigrants came over here, of course they worked their asses off, but you have to remember that our economy was not was it is today. I challenge you to work at a McDonald's or some entry-level job for a few months and work you ass off. I used to work at Mcs**t for several years, worked my f**king ass off there, you know how much I made in raises... a grand total of 65 cents... over 3 years. I was a fool for working there and being content with something as insulting as that, and thank god I was not living on my own, otherwise, I would've been s**t out of luck and jolly well f**ked. The thing is, most entry-level jobs are run by big companies, though some are small companies, and employers nowadays do not give two s**ts about giving you raises no matter how hard you work. You do need to go to college to get out of poverty in this country, and college costs money, money you can NOT save if you're getting paid 6 dollars an hour and want to eat. There are people I've known that have spent their entire lives in poverty, but they are hard-workers, they do not rely on welfare or food stamps (which I think is dignified of them although I think those programs would benefit them somewhat), and they have never been able to lift themselves up - without a college degree, without the money to pay for that, without an employer that actually cares, I don't know how any of these people can lift themselves up, no matter how hard they work. The TV reports and pundits bitching about welfare recipients aren't the real story, just more to perpetuate class-antagonism.
loquaxApr 27, 2007
@wageslavenI am not saying that. As a matter of fact as a person who has sued for justice, had food poisoning, and received benefits from the government, I quite like having courts, food regulations, and (some) taxes. What I am saying is that we could and should better engineer our farm policies, our food regulation policies, and our tax structure to provide better private sector opportunities and benefits in exchange for donating food, clothing, shelter and the like to the disadvantaged. Second Harvest is a great example of how they do reclaim some food from caterers and grocery stores. I can't help but think that WalMart, Target, and other "big box" companies would love to get tax relief for donating slightly damaged, slightly irregular, and other unsalable (but safe and workable) items to the poor.
coffeegoddessApr 27, 2007
One of the the main reasons you see a lot of obesity going hand in hand with food stamps can be answered with this article submitted to Digg not too long ago: <a class="user" href="http://digg.com/health/How_U_S_farm_policy_makes_us_fatter_and_sicker">http://digg.com/health/How_U_S_farm_policy_makes_us_fatter_and_sicker</a>Most people who've had to shop on an extremely strict budget will tell you, cheap food is usually crap -- heavily processed and with very little nutritional value. Not every area has a farmer's market to get inexpensive fresh fruits and veggies, and if you're on food stamps, the farmer's market very well might not accept them anyway.I've known people on food stamps and/or welfare in the past and most didn't have cable TV or internet, or any other form of entertainment budget to speak of. Most couldn't even afford gas to get to work on a consistent basis and had to beg rides off friends or some extra money for bus passes. I do know of one couple who DID get way more than what was needed for the household and is now (ironically) struggling to pay back the overpayments they received. I know far more who fell through the cracks and got little to nothing, though.While everyone is debating about needs to be done to get people off state assistance, better add to the list somewhere to fix the bloated bureaucracy that still fails all too often at helping the ones who could use it most.