This I Argue Essay
Food insecurity is a huge crisis in America. Due to the current economic crisis that we are facing, the problem has grown to devastating proportions. One in two children will depend on food assistance at one point in their life. SNAP, or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, provides the people confronting this problem with the solution of food stamps. Food stamps are a viable resource in our country, but allowing people to live at what could be seen as comfortably on food stamps will stagnate those who receive them and only create more of a problem. The crisis is extremely intricate and it seems that the closer it is looked at, the more confusing it becomes. We are living during what some would say is the most liberal presidency that this country has ever seen. Could the answer be something other than pouring more money into our food stamp program? Many would agree that it is, but I just don’t think the issue is as black and white as what it is believed to be.
I consider myself to make a pretty open-minded stance on most issues, but I do not believe we should increase the amount of money people receive on their food stamps. I do believe, however, that they should be more accessible to those that need them. I have personally received food stamps and the fact that I could not buy the things that I wanted all off the time was a constant reminder that I needed to improve my financial situation. The struggle that is faced is imperative to motivate the person to improving their condition. I am a single male and received just under $200.00 a month for food. I didn’t go hungry one day of the month, but the sacrifices in what food I had to eat was a daily indication of what inevitably had to be done. I needed a job. Would you say it is fair that someone working at Burger King has to make the exact same purchases as someone who hasn’t looked for a job in years? It is no wonder kids in our country don’t want to take these jobs, it almost pays the same to just not do anything.
SNAP is constantly under scrutiny for being too easily defrauded, but I don’t believe the problem can be solved without putting way too much money into it. As long as there is money involved, people are going to find a way to steal it. That is just a problem that can not be solved. I do believe that it should be regulated to a certain degree, but putting a bunch of money into investigating people defrauding the government out of a couple hundred dollars is, in my eyes, a waste.
Another problem low income Americans face is living in a food desert. A food desert is a geographical area where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain. I understand that a lot of people, especially in urban areas, have a lot of businesses that sell cheap, unhealthy food. The prime example being the corner bodega or chinese food store. I don’t think this problem can be rectified completely, as it is determined by the economy, but can be partially addressed. Once a month, when food stamps are distributed, bus passes should be given to food stamp recipients who have children in the household. This is to ensure that the food stamp recipient is able to travel to a real grocery store and be able to buy healthy food. With access to public transportation, reaching a grocery store is not a problem in urban areas.
Educating poorer demographics on healthier eating should be a goal for SNAP. Obesity is surprisingly closely related to hunger. Processed foods, which are typically unhealthy, have gone down in price 40% since 1980. Inconveniently, healthy food has gone up in 40% in price. I believe that education alone is not going to change poorer demographics’ eating habits. Poor diets, while cheap, are also the result of living in a stressful environment. Living a healthy lifestyle, while not entirely determined by being able to buy expensive, healthy food, has almost become a luxury for people who have the time to do so. People who have minimum wage jobs or no jobs at all, for that matter, typically do not have the benefit of having the time to worry about their health. Health becomes a priority for people who have the time to do so.
Food subsidies, while not the solution to hunger in our country, can be a huge help to people who need it. Obviously, food stamps can not be given to someone overnight. Sometimes people have to wait over a month to be approved for receiving food stamps. During these emergency situations, food subsidies become a practical resource. As far as being a permanent solution, however, I don’t believe people should have to rely on such programs in their day-to-day life. Even though I don’t think food stamps should enable people to live comfortably, I still believe that it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that society doesn’t go hungry. However, increasing food stamps to the point where people are viewed as living comfortably could be detrimental. This would cause an increase in the amount of people on welfare. If there is no benefit to working a minimum wage job, the amount of people collecting welfare benefits will subsequently go up.
States such as Florida have recently purposed laws where an individual must pass a drug test prior to receiving food assistance. I understand that people don’t want their tax dollars given to people who choose to spend their money on drugs rather than necessities. Drug addiction is an entirely different problem our country faces, but I think that most of us can agree that it is a disease and some people that are in the depths of addiction simply can’t make conscious decisions anymore. Drug addiction has taken over every facet of their being and their monetary decisions are being controlled by a drug. And to those who simply would disagree with that statement; what about the children of addicts? Do they not deserve to eat simply because their parents have a drug problem? Food stamps have been stigmatized as only being used by lazy people and drug addicts and these laws are just ways for politicians to get a piece of the spotlight. Sometimes I feel like our country is losing its’ compassion for fellow Americans.
As a society, we must ask ourselves if we want people to be able to live comfortably on food stamps and what the repercussions of increasing them would be. The benefits to pouring more money into the SNAP program simply do not outweigh the cons of just leaving them at a sustainable amount of money.
Works Cited
1. "A Place At The Table", video
2. "Food Desert - Wikipedia", June 3 2014, Wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert
I consider myself to make a pretty open-minded stance on most issues, but I do not believe we should increase the amount of money people receive on their food stamps. I do believe, however, that they should be more accessible to those that need them. I have personally received food stamps and the fact that I could not buy the things that I wanted all off the time was a constant reminder that I needed to improve my financial situation. The struggle that is faced is imperative to motivate the person to improving their condition. I am a single male and received just under $200.00 a month for food. I didn’t go hungry one day of the month, but the sacrifices in what food I had to eat was a daily indication of what inevitably had to be done. I needed a job. Would you say it is fair that someone working at Burger King has to make the exact same purchases as someone who hasn’t looked for a job in years? It is no wonder kids in our country don’t want to take these jobs, it almost pays the same to just not do anything.
SNAP is constantly under scrutiny for being too easily defrauded, but I don’t believe the problem can be solved without putting way too much money into it. As long as there is money involved, people are going to find a way to steal it. That is just a problem that can not be solved. I do believe that it should be regulated to a certain degree, but putting a bunch of money into investigating people defrauding the government out of a couple hundred dollars is, in my eyes, a waste.
Another problem low income Americans face is living in a food desert. A food desert is a geographical area where affordable and nutritious food is difficult to obtain. I understand that a lot of people, especially in urban areas, have a lot of businesses that sell cheap, unhealthy food. The prime example being the corner bodega or chinese food store. I don’t think this problem can be rectified completely, as it is determined by the economy, but can be partially addressed. Once a month, when food stamps are distributed, bus passes should be given to food stamp recipients who have children in the household. This is to ensure that the food stamp recipient is able to travel to a real grocery store and be able to buy healthy food. With access to public transportation, reaching a grocery store is not a problem in urban areas.
Educating poorer demographics on healthier eating should be a goal for SNAP. Obesity is surprisingly closely related to hunger. Processed foods, which are typically unhealthy, have gone down in price 40% since 1980. Inconveniently, healthy food has gone up in 40% in price. I believe that education alone is not going to change poorer demographics’ eating habits. Poor diets, while cheap, are also the result of living in a stressful environment. Living a healthy lifestyle, while not entirely determined by being able to buy expensive, healthy food, has almost become a luxury for people who have the time to do so. People who have minimum wage jobs or no jobs at all, for that matter, typically do not have the benefit of having the time to worry about their health. Health becomes a priority for people who have the time to do so.
Food subsidies, while not the solution to hunger in our country, can be a huge help to people who need it. Obviously, food stamps can not be given to someone overnight. Sometimes people have to wait over a month to be approved for receiving food stamps. During these emergency situations, food subsidies become a practical resource. As far as being a permanent solution, however, I don’t believe people should have to rely on such programs in their day-to-day life. Even though I don’t think food stamps should enable people to live comfortably, I still believe that it is the government’s responsibility to make sure that society doesn’t go hungry. However, increasing food stamps to the point where people are viewed as living comfortably could be detrimental. This would cause an increase in the amount of people on welfare. If there is no benefit to working a minimum wage job, the amount of people collecting welfare benefits will subsequently go up.
States such as Florida have recently purposed laws where an individual must pass a drug test prior to receiving food assistance. I understand that people don’t want their tax dollars given to people who choose to spend their money on drugs rather than necessities. Drug addiction is an entirely different problem our country faces, but I think that most of us can agree that it is a disease and some people that are in the depths of addiction simply can’t make conscious decisions anymore. Drug addiction has taken over every facet of their being and their monetary decisions are being controlled by a drug. And to those who simply would disagree with that statement; what about the children of addicts? Do they not deserve to eat simply because their parents have a drug problem? Food stamps have been stigmatized as only being used by lazy people and drug addicts and these laws are just ways for politicians to get a piece of the spotlight. Sometimes I feel like our country is losing its’ compassion for fellow Americans.
As a society, we must ask ourselves if we want people to be able to live comfortably on food stamps and what the repercussions of increasing them would be. The benefits to pouring more money into the SNAP program simply do not outweigh the cons of just leaving them at a sustainable amount of money.
Works Cited
1. "A Place At The Table", video
2. "Food Desert - Wikipedia", June 3 2014, Wikipedia.org, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert