SNAP benefits to end due to US govt shutdown

We all do what we need to do to get by.

If you grew up eating squirrels they might be just as good an option for you as a bowl of cereal or the tasting menu at McDonald’s is for someone else.

IMO, sensationalizing these things in the media is just a distraction that divides us and keeps us from focusing on the failure or our elected officials to manage the basic business of running the government.

Imagine all of this hoopla over the shutdown/reopening, etc… and it only gets us to January or in some cases next September.

What was accomplished during the shutdown, where do we go from here, is anyone any better off than they were forty days ago? 🤔

These continuing resolutions are such a waste on so many levels, why can’t we just prepare and pass a budget once a year so we can get on with the people’s business.

Lord knows that even if we pass a budget, we won’t stick to it. 😉🤭😂
 
I am pretty suspicious about that squirrel story, I think. I have seen videos from people who got bags of beans and rice from food banks and are holding it up and complaining because they don’t know how to cook it.
If they can’t manage pouring beans or rice into a pot of water and letting it simmer until it is cooked, there is no way they are actually going to find and capture a squirrel, kill it, and properly skin and clean the squirrel and then cook it for their dinner. This is many levels more complicated than pouring rice into water and cooking it for your dinner.
 
People around here have put up neighborhood needs boxes/cupboards and suddenly
soon as someone posts they have supplied it, here come the 1st 3-4 people and just clean it out
leaving nothing. Two of these people have been taped on porch cameras going around to several
of them and loading up.
So now we have that to put up with (reminds me of the TP shortage during covid).
The video footage was given to the police as means to do a wellness check and a soft request
for them to think of others and not get greedy.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
I am pretty suspicious about that squirrel story, I think. I have seen videos from people who got bags of beans and rice from food banks and are holding it up and complaining because they don’t know how to cook it.
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You're suspicious about the squirrel story, but on the other hand, you're willing to accept that people don't know how to make beans and rice.

Both are extremes.
 
Aunt Bea said:
These continuing resolutions are such a waste on so many levels, why can’t we just prepare and pass a budget once a year so we can get on with the people’s business.

Lord knows that even if we pass a budget, we won’t stick to it. 😉🤭😂
Click to expand...
The not talked about sticking point was about not extending the ACA subsidies.

The enhanced COVID-19 subsidies were enacted as a pandemic relief measure, not as a structural expansion of the Affordable Care Act. Congress should resist the natural inclination to let temporary crises permanently expand the size and scope of government. As Cato’s Dominik Lett documents, Congress has spent at least $15 trillion through “emergency designations” since 1991, repeatedly using crises as justification for new outlays. Lawmakers rightly allowed many other COVID-era subsidies to expire with little disruption, such as the enhanced Child Tax Credit and Earned Income Tax Credit. Letting the expanded COVID-19 premium tax credits expire as scheduled would similarly curb the cycle of crisis-driven spending and restore a measure of fiscal discipline.

The Congressional Budget Office recently estimated that permanently extending the COVID-19 subsidies would increase the deficit by $350 billion over ten years, plus another roughly $60 billion in additional interest costs to finance the spending. Total spending, a better measure of the size of government, would increase by more than $488 billion. Sarah Wagoner at the Economic Policy Innovation Center notes that this extra cost is more than Congress spends on many federal agencies, such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) or the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

Good news is people depending on SNAP will get their benefit. Won't know until Dec. if politicians will continue adding to the national debt.
 
Happyflowerlady said:
I am pretty suspicious about that squirrel story, I think. I have seen videos from people who got bags of beans and rice from food banks and are holding it up and complaining because they don’t know how to cook it.
If they can’t manage pouring beans or rice into a pot of water and letting it simmer until it is cooked, there is no way they are actually going to find and capture a squirrel, kill it, and properly skin and clean the squirrel and then cook it for their dinner. This is many levels more complicated than pouring rice into water and cooking it for your dinner.
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When I was a kid we hunted squirrels with wrist rocket sling shots using 1" square nuts-- no capturing required. A few sticks, some leaves and there you have it roast squirrel

I didn't watch the video so I don't know what's in it. So I have nothing to say there.
 
Knight said:
Letting the expanded COVID-19 premium tax credits expire as scheduled would similarly curb the cycle of crisis-driven spending and restore a measure of fiscal discipline.
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I'm pretty sure everyone wants a lower deficit and fiscal discipline. The question is do people need to die for that. Personally I don't think we need to provide the new complete depreciation allowance for buying a new private jet, lets keep taxing that and provide tax credits (maybe not the full COVID ones, but enough to avoid people dying needlessly because they postpone medical tests).

There should be compromise, and never ever should SNAP be used as a bargaining chip to threaten to cause hunger in the poorest citizens, that is disgusting and immoral.
 
HoneyNut said:
(maybe not the full COVID ones, but enough to avoid people dying needlessly because they postpone medical tests).

There should be compromise, and never ever should SNAP be used as a bargaining chip to threaten to cause hunger in the poorest citizens, that is disgusting and immoral.
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I agree. SNAP benefits as a bargaining chip IMO were just plain wrong. What happens in Dec. might be what you hope for a compromise.

For sure when it comes to taking away a taxpayer funded benefit that had a finite date for ending is unpopular. Maybe in Dec. there will be as much media coverage hopefully explaining all the facts & figures.
 
Trade said:
Better yet go back to the drawing board and show me how much a month you need to meet to meet a 2,000 calorie a day diet for a month. Show all your work. I wanna see actual numbers and calculations. As it stands now if I'm a high school home economics teacher I'd give you an "F" on what you have submitted so far.
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I did Trade's homework:

This is for a sedentary woman of a certain age -- like me. I considered the women who don't know how to cook rice or beans and used canned beans. My husband volunteers for a free store that's supplied from Ohio Food Bank. It sounds just like Mack's Texas Food Bank and it is very true that an entire generation has come up not knowing how cook to anything that can't be microwaved.​
​
​
Food -- Calories-- Cost​
​
​
Coffee -- 5 -- .45​

1 cup oatmeal -- 150 -- .14
1 cup milk -- 120 -- .14

2T peanut butter -- 190 -- .11
2 slice wheat bread -- 260 -- .43

1 cup baked beans -- 280 -- .56
2 muffins corn bread -- 340 -- .16
Sweet potato -- 160 -- 1.00
1T butter -- 100 -- .12

Totals ; 1605 calories, $3.41 per day, $105.71 per month

{My work} Kroger coffee 13.00/ 29 oz .45 per oz. Great Value oatmeal 4.18 /30 servings .14
Milk 2.22/16 =.14, Peanut butter 4.00/35servings=.11, GV baked beans 1.12/2=.56
Jiffy vegetarian cornbread mix (vegetarian needs no egg, the milk is taken from the morning's 8 ounces)
.50/6 servings, 2 serving used .16, butter 4 sticks 32 tablespoons 4.00/32=.12

I would love to have added an apple with lunch, but that would add about $30 a month, same with
most produce.

I was shocked that such a Spartan diet would cost this much. I shop at Kroger, but ended up getting Walmart's brand for most of these things, definitely cheaper. The bread here is Kroger Private Selection. It's pretty expensive, but I had to be honest and I can't stand any of the cheaper ones.
I wanted to make a menu I could eat. The cornbread acts like rice with the beans creating a complete protein.




​
 
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Della said:
I would love to have added an apple with lunch, but that would add about $30 a month, same with
most produce.
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I googled and found that SNAP is based on healthy diets including fruits and vegetables. Also what I read said that when calculating the costs for food, the government set limits on things like lentils and beans to reflect the amounts people would normally eat (I hope that means no tofu at all, ha ha).

These are the current cost estimates the USDA thinks poor people should spend on groceries to eat a healthy diet (I think it is weird that at the age of 71 women need more than at age 70, but the reverse is true for men):

Cost of USDA Thrifty Food Plan.jpg
 
HoneyNut said:
I googled and found that SNAP is based on healthy diets including fruits and vegetables. Also what I read said that when calculating the costs for food, the government set limits on things like lentils and beans to reflect the amounts people would normally eat (I hope that means no tofu at all, ha ha).

These are the current cost estimates the USDA thinks poor people should spend on groceries to eat a healthy diet (I think it is weird that at the age of 71 women need more than at age 70, but the reverse is true for men):

View attachment 465808
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I'm supposed to be able to get by on $263.10 a month! :(
 
It's hard enough when you're only thinking of nutrition and not trying too hard for taste.
I heard a chef on NPR describing a savory vegetarian stew. Sounded like something my vegan son would like so I looked up the online recipe. Are they kidding? By the time I bought all those spices I would have spent a hundred dollars on a thin meatless dish.


Indian Stew

Ingredients


  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1 medium onion, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 fresh green chili (like a jalapeno or serrano), deseeded, cored and chopped, or a generous amount of hot pepper sauce
  • 1½ tablespoons chopped fresh ginger
  • Salt and black pepper to taste
  • About ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • About ½ teaspoon turmeric
  • About ½ teaspoon ground cumin
  • About ½ teaspoon ground fennel seed
  • About ½ teaspoon garam masala*
  • 2 tablespoons tomato paste or ½ cup crushed or pureed tomatoes
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped, or parsley, optional
  • 2 medium potatoes, about 11 ounces, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • 1 pound winter squash, like butternut or acorn, peeled and deseeded and cut into 1-inch cubes
  • One 15.5-ounce can chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), drained, rinsed in cold water, and drained again
 
Della said:
It's hard enough when you're only thinking of nutrition and not trying too hard for taste.
I heard a chef on NPR describing a savory vegetarian stew. Sounded like something my vegan son would like so I looked up the online recipe. Are they kidding? By the time I bought all those spices I would have spent a hundred dollars on a thin meatless dish.
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Lol! I'd love to see a cost analysis of these ribs. He probably spent more than my whole monthly allowance of $263.10 making this video.

 
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