US becoming a food stamp nation.

I guess few of you have seen the tenements and slums of the major cities like NY or detroit....what dirt may be found wont even grow weeds, and I doubt there is enough space to grow enough food for 10 families much less the thousands that live there. What an insular world you all live in.

The welfare leaches of Detroit would not even try to better themselves.

First you complain that the poor have phones....then tell them to learn how to grow food from the internet. I'm sure they will fire up their laptop and do just that
And don't give me they have computers at the library....what library....they are not usually in their neighborhoods. You all have a very naive view of the urban poor. Must be nice to be so sheltered.

Do they have schools in Detroit? Do they have electricity in Detroit? You have no clue what is there from Evergreen or Tucson.

I think the conservatives here are getting very close to telling is what they really think.... It sounds like they think the poor should all just do the US a favor and die.

Our church did a youth mission trip to Detroit and they are indeed starting community gardens and banding together for mutual aid, but they can't do it alone. I don't expect anyone bereft of compassion like many that have posted onthis thread to care or wish them well, but they are trying and the help from private and public sources make all the difference.

I just had to throw my two cents in here. I have a family member who abuses the government system and is REALLY good at it. She does it to an extreme.

She has people who clean her house, gets Medical Marijuana delivered to her door. Somehow got the government to give her a handicap permit and she fishes, walks runs and is fine. She has lived off the government since I was young. She has been on food stamps forever. She lives in a very nice apartment and the government pays in some way (not sure how that works). She once asked some churches to give her a piano because she wanted to play in clubs in Denver and got 4 churches to do it and sold the leftover 3 that she got. She gets government everything and charity money and items from non profits as well.

Did this bother me? Absolutely. She is an extremely charming sociopath that has be sucking money from everyone she knows, including her children for 35 years. Sociopaths do not have the capacity to have any remorse or conscience and that is why she is so good at this. We all had to start laughing about it after a while because there just is no stopping her. Even though it is sickening to watch. I have some famous stories about this person you would not believe if I told you.

However, this is a far cry from people that really need the service and are trying. I spoke to some single mothers recently and a gal that works for a non profit down town. What is really hard to do is get some of the people that are on food stamps to understand how to get themselves out of poverty. Is a difficult line to cross for them. There is a danger of getting trapped in the system and yes it is in our culture. I also have a friend that works with low income people as a traveling nurse. She sees all kinds of things and one odd thing she told me about once was people who use their food stamps at 7-11. Now you could say that they are abusing the system, (using your food stamps at 7-11 is not cost effective) but I prefer to believe it is an ignorance. Many of these people that have difficulties in the world had no parents to teach them how to get a job or live in society. And then it becomes okay for them to do what they are doing. Their role models may have been parents with an alcohol or mental problem. It is not easy to break the cycle.

I think few can or do what my crazy family member does but the culture of government assistance is an issue. Many people who are on it don't have the skills to get themselves out. So, I think what would be the best way to 'help' is to get out there and be a mentor to people that have no skills and don't know what to do with their lives. It may or may not work but there is a benefit to saying publicly it is not okay to live off the government forever if you are healthy. We are a society that believes in taking care of our sick and elderly and I don't want that to go away but actually talking, mentoring and encouraging our young people to go to college makes a difference. And helping our young people have hope. You need HOPE to have incentive! The economy is not helping them.

But, making judgement on these people without knowing their personal story is not fair. These guys need help to know how to get out.

Finally back to the original intention, a hand up, not a hand out.

HEARTLESS wrote: Do they have schools in Detroit? Do they have electricity in Detroit? You have no clue what is there from Evergreen or Tucson.

I don't live in Tuscon...never have....But I have lived in NYC and Atlanta and Phoenix and have studied urban issues and seen firsthand the problems faced by the poor and homeless. Your ignorance of the issues of a large demographic in this country is breathtaking.

Wow CG is you family memeber my wifes sister?