How do you fit a full day's rations into an apartment mailbox?Don't people already drive around town to get their food? My solution of mailing food to people is the only one that doesn't require an extensive food distribution network because it is based off of the existing USPS network and it doesn't require the end consumer to drive anywhere at all.
How much did he spend driving all around town?
How do you fit a full day's rations into an apartment mailbox?
Same goes for Medicare, HUD, WIC, educational vouchers, and regulations.
They drive up the price of the things they buy because they shrink the supply. It shouldn't be a coincidence that food prices have sky rocketed while a record number of Americans are on food stamps.
Why haven't I ever heard a welfare statist say they should be repealed and replaced with money? Is it because the general welfare and the state are incompatible or what?
I think all redistribution by government is bad, but redistributing dollars (better yet, gold so that there would be much less inflation which causes all sorts of problems) would require less waste (especially if it was done with gold) and those who can't help themselves would get to choose.
There is so much waste with food stamps it's ridiculous.
It's the same thing with how people used to have 5 year mortgages at 6% interest. Then FDR came along with the fascist FHA. Then to add insult to injury, there was the Great Society so that resulted in... the housing market we have today. The market will always find around integration imposed by the government anyway so don't tell me that the CRA was good legislation.
I realize there are disadvantages to giving people money compared to vouchers, but how do those advantages outweigh the costs?
How much did he spend driving all around town?
I can just picture an immense daily pile of food packages on the stoop of every apartment building... or are you imagining a postal worker delivering to each individual apartment doorway?It could be left at the doorstep instead, just like USPS priority mail packages.
I can just picture an immense daily pile of food packages on the stoop of every apartment building... or are you imagining a postal worker delivering to each individual apartment doorway?
I'm just exploring the idea since people seem to be against food stamps and someone made a false claim about requiring an expensive food distribution network.
Maybe even the food could be at the local post office and people can go pick it up there. In this way, people still drive, but they wouldn't be driving all around town, just over to their local post office.
Is this really the major problem facing our country?
I bet the food stamp portion of our budget is very tiny AND has a direct positive impact on the economy as it is money flowing thru the system.
The funny thing is without his parents, the OP would be needing all of these services, right now. Eventually, he will...
Yes. It is a major problem even if it isn't a big part of the budget.
Why?
Because it reenforces the entitlement mentality and puts responsibility of the taxpayer instead of the individual.
so because of your ideology you want there to be no safety net?
good luck with that. I think of 1000 other things I would rather do on my Saturday then debate that crap.
Actually what I was thinking of was more like what you're saying about the card being able to purchase only certain items but that again leads to more burden on the store. Without some way to organize or sticker the food then it could result in chaos at the checkout.Is there any actual statistics of wide-spread food stamp abuse?
That would require supermarkets to re-organize their stores which are currently designed to maximize profits, and it would involve outing people who get assistance.
If you're really going to micromanage what people buy, it would make more sense to have a card that only goes to pay for certain purchased items.
There are approximately 46 million people receiving food assistance of some sort. Not only would delivering boxes of food create difficulties in differentiating families with different needs, but it would require a gigantic logistical effort.
The USPS delivers ~200 billion pieces of mail annually, but it does not differentiate between letters and packages. I believe it is safe to assume that the large majority of deliveries are letters. With 365 daily deliveries of food through the USPS we would be shipping an extra 16.5 billion, relatively heavy packages through the system each year. This will create an enormous extra burden on the USPS, requiring significant investments in new facilities, extra postal workers, and extra equipment.
Not to mention we have to deal with what happens if a package is lost (family goes hungry?), what to do about people with food allergies, etc, etc. This is an absolutely terrible idea.
Actually what I was thinking of was more like what you're saying about the card being able to purchase only certain items but that again leads to more burden on the store. Without some way to organize or sticker the food then it could result in chaos at the checkout.
There are approximately 46 million people receiving food assistance of some sort. Not only would delivering boxes of food create difficulties in differentiating families with different needs, but it would require a gigantic logistical effort.
The USPS delivers ~200 billion pieces of mail annually, but it does not differentiate between letters and packages. I believe it is safe to assume that the large majority of deliveries are letters. With 365 daily deliveries of food through the USPS we would be shipping an extra 16.5 billion, relatively heavy packages through the system each year. This will create an enormous extra burden on the USPS, requiring significant investments in new facilities, extra postal workers, and extra equipment.
Not to mention we have to deal with what happens if a package is lost (family goes hungry?), what to do about people with food allergies, etc, etc. This is an absolutely terrible idea.
Exactly. It's a terrible idea. Also, the USPS does not have the infrastructure to deal with perishables.
Do you have proof of this? What is your evidence? Because the USPS will deliver perishables:
http://pe.usps.gov/text/pub52/pub52c5_001.htm
So how can the USPS not have the infrastructure to deal with perishables when it appears that they already deliver perishable food items?
Instead of food stamps, which allow people to survive on less than a living wage, we should arm every mentally stable individual. Then, if someone is paid less than needed to survive, he will survive by any means necessary. That would be a true free market.