I challenge Barack & Michelle, Joe & Jill Mitt & Ann and Paul & Jana before election day to live

[diabeticman]

one week on a food stamp budget than talk to the American people.


I'm not saying any of their kids have to follow the challenge I'm just suggesting the 4 couples or even the candidates alone to try and live on a food stamp budget.


I want to see how differently they talk to 47%.

[chillfactor]

1. The President did as a child....n/t

[JI7]

28. wonder why poster doesn't want to respond to any reply that mentions this

that the pres HAS lived it . not as an experiment. but as real life.

[diabeticman]

32. I HAVE IN OTHER POST! I also think proverty today is a slight bit harder than it was 10 years

ago let alone when the President had to use it!


We also need to call to attention the dangers of this winter! We've had very crops this summer. Corn alone was picked early because it was dying. Animal feed is going up which will cause animals to be slaughter eariler. We are going to have people starving this winter more so than average.

We need attention brought to this issue.

[JNelson6563]

58. Poor and hungry is timeless.

Hunger and food insecurity feels the same now as it did 500 years ago, much less 50.

www.RideTheClueBus.com

Julie

[former-republican]

39. Hell you can watch him say it , I posted a video

[HiPointDem]

55. Except that when the president & his mother were living it, she was in college & had two employed

parents: one a banker, and one a furniture salesman, and she lived in the same city they did. And was on good terms with them, not an outcast all on her own. The period when she was on food stamps was sometime between 1964, when she divorced Obama Sr, and 1967, when she married Soetoro.

http://www.biography.com/people/ann-dunham-434238

I had college roommates on foodstamps during the (early) 70s. One was the daughter of an engineer and the other the daughter of a Boeing foreman.

A lot of middle class college students were on foodstamps in the 70s. It wasn't quite the same as being actually poor, meaning if you didn't have the stamps you might not eat. Not meaning to diss the president's family, but I know how it was then.

[JDPriestly]

33. Do you have a source for that claim?

[former-republican]

2. what is a food stamp budget?

Can a married adult couple with no children who are both working qualify for food stamps?

edit

Looked it up max benefit is $367 a month plus they earn roughly $24,000 a year.

It doesn't sound like a very hard of a challenge for a week.

[diabeticman]

3. It does depends. I know that a consturtuction worker get food stamps during his off season

it is generally $50 a month but like he says every little bit helps.


I know some other politicians has taken the challenge of living on $29 a week or $4 a day depending on the area.

[former-republican]

4. make it harder

that's not a fair challenge of only giving them $12.00 for a week.
People that get that also have other income.

Unemployment insurance check , part time job.

Make it a real challenge.
Send them out in the woods for a week with a knife and some snare wire.

[diabeticman]

5. I'm saying give them an average amount that is given for people to live on a week.

[former-republican]

7. I guess I'm not following you then

You said average is $50 a month.
That's about $12 a week.

Correct me if I'm wrong but those that get that have other income also.

And people that would get the max which is $367 also have a welfare check additionally to food stamps.
Also have rent assistance , heat assistance.

So it's not a fair challenge to the President unless he also had all those other benefits.

[Tx4obama]

9. Comment #8 is supposed to be a reply to you.

I put it in the wrong place.

[HiPointDem]

56. you can't get 'welfare' unless you have kids. The $367 is the maximum for a working couple

making a combined income of $24K.

They might get rent assistance, but they wouldn't be prioritized unless they had kids. So they might not. Where I live you will not get housing assistance when you first apply, you'll be put on a waiting list -- and you will wait for more than a year or more if you don't have kids.

[Tx4obama]

8. Phoenix, Arizona: $29 per week. See below

Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton Lives On Food Stamp Budget For A Week, Loses 4 Pounds

As part of Hunger Awareness Month, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton chose to experience what life is like for the 1.1 million food stamp recipients in Arizona.

Last week, Stanton, a Democrat, took part in a community challenge to live on a food stamp budget -- just $4.16 to buy food per day, or about $29 per week for one person

-snip-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/26/greg-stanton-phoenix-mayor-food-stamps_n_1915608.html

[former-republican]

11. See my other post

People that get that amount also have other income.

If they don't then they also qualify for welfare , section 8 housing , heat assistance

So to say they only have $29 a week to buy food is fudging the numbers.

Not a fair challegne.

I like my idea better with a knife in the woods for a week.

[diabeticman]

15. Not always. When my wife was ill last year and off work for months we could not get any

help at all.

In order to get any assistance we were told you couldn't have more than $400 a month coming into your home.

[former-republican]

26. I kind of understand the sentiment in your original post but

President Obama really doesn't need to live on this allowance for a week to understand families that struggle.

If you read about his earlier life he in no way was rich by any stretch.
In fact you could say he had a pretty rough childhood as a youngster.


And look what he became.




So maybe jut challenge silver spoon people like Romney and queen ann

[Tsiyu]

54. That doesn't sound right

The income cutoff in TN is around $1100 for a single person.

Not sure where you live, but I know a couple who were earning $600/month and they recieved several hundred a month in EBT.

[Tx4obama]

17. Huh? If you are a single man or woman without a child you do not get section 8 housing.

If they did then there would be no homeless people.

[former-republican]

19. Isn't there HUD programs that do help single or married couples with rent?

http://www.hud.gov/local/index.cfm?state=tx&topic=renting

[diabeticman]

24. Here in Western PA our social program that helps people pay their rent is OUT OF FUNDS they

have NO CLUE when they will get another grant to help people AND they have a waiting list.

[Egalitarian Thug]

22. Just try to get on any of those programs, especially in Arizona. The waiting list for section 8 was

over seven years last time I checked. The maximum welfare benefit for a single person is $164 per month, for a family of six is $449 per month, and again, you have a better chance at the state lottery than you do of getting on the program at all.

I know you're former and all that, but you still have a lot to learn about this stuff.

[diabeticman]

25. Thank you for those facts I would just like to add that $449 per month is suppose to help that famil

pay bills, buy clothes and medicine co-pay provided they are able to get medicaid help.

[former-republican]

31. maybe I do my friend

I never thought it was going to be easy.

[Egalitarian Thug]

49. When I first went down this road trying to help a friend I was completely shocked. Even putting the

laughable amounts and inadequate size of these programs aside, the endless hours waiting to see someone, the trip after trip after trip down to the offices, the total lack of empathy from the employees (who are trying to bail out an ocean with a teaspoon), and the constant degradation at every step for even trying to get some help are worse than anything most of us can imagine happening in America.

In the end I spent over $200 of my own money failing to help her get through the obstacle course, and ended up just giving her the money. It was cheaper for me in the end. I can only imagine how much worse it is for the majority of people going through it that have nobody to help them.

Every day we get closer to Dickens' 19th century and so few know and fewer care.

[JDPriestly]

34. This post is just about how much people receive in food stamps.

[diabeticman]

12. Thank you TX for that post info. I couldn't find it. This is part of the reason why I started this

thread and the other reason is the fact that we have a neighbor who is trying to get help with food stamps because she is under employed at the moment.


Maybe it is me being stupid but I think it is an eye opener to see with inflation how much food cost AND with the news that this winter will see food prices going up EVEN high due to bad weather and crops I worry about people on food stamps this winter.

[progressivebydesign]

6. Umm the President DID grow up that way, and Michelle's Dad worked at the Water plant.

They were NOT rich people by any stroke... So I don't really get your attitude here. If anyone understands people who get food stamps, it would be the President. Or are you unaware of his work in Chicago with poor families???

[diabeticman]

10. IT ISN"T AN ATTITUDE! I have seen other politican take this challenge we even have an

thread here where a mayor has done it. I'm just saying Before this election is over I'd like to see the candidates take the same challenge other politicians have. I remember one politician did the challenge and she also had food stamps as a child and she said it re-opened her eyes.

I bring this challenge up because of the construction worker who tries to save as much as he can for his off months/winter months when he has no work.

He told my wife that he gets $150 a week unemployment and $50 a month of food stamps.

MY WIFE's mother got some food stamps when my wife was younger until she went to work THAN when she got a food time job she still couldn't get help because her paycheck was about $1000.00 above the proverty level BUT as a single mother with two children my mother in law struggle to feed the family of three and pay the bills.

Child support was a HUGE $150.00 a month $75.00 per child.

[JI7]

14. and the poster said the Pres has already lived it

[JDPriestly]

36. Do you have a link to a source saying that Obama and his mother received food stamps?

[former-republican]

38. how about this

[Tarheel_Dem]

43. Thanks for that. Since the poster who requested it couldn't be bothered.

I remember this story now. "This is no picnic for me either, Buster".

[former-republican]

44. I think now this thread should come to rest by the OP

[Egalitarian Thug]

50. No they didn't. It is so much worse today than when we were kids that the situations

are incomparable. I am about the same age as the President and my parents were poor college students living on assistance when we were growing up. It was no picnic, but it was light years better than it is today.

Maybe that's why we allow this crime to continue. Practically nobody that isn't in this situation cares to learn how inadequate and how outrageous it is. If they ever allowed themselves to know, they would either have to do something about it or get up every morning and look into the face of a morally bankrupt person in the mirror.

And isn't it a bit ironic that he was working with those poor families in Chicago before Bill Clinton made it the Dickensian nightmare we have today by "ending welfare as we know it" which in reality was nothing more than ending welfare?

[JI7]

13. why include the Pres and VP in this ?

the Pres VP , Michelle aND Jill all know it's tough. that's why they support the policies they do.

[diabeticman]

16. why do democratic politican take the challenge like the Mayor did in Arizona?

IF they support the policies why is it so wrong for them to model the program they support especially during an election season when this action might speak a lot more to the people than speeches ever will.

[JI7]

18. it wont speak a lot more , it would be viewed as opportunist

and as the other poster said the PRes HAS lived it already.

[diabeticman]

27. I think you are wrong. I believe it would open peoples eyes to the trouble we have in this country.

[JI7]

29. yeah, but the PRes HAS already lived it , which you refuse to acknowledge

[JDPriestly]

37. Link?

[Tarheel_Dem]

47. See Post #38. You asked for it, and then didn't acknowledge it.

[JDPriestly]

59. I just got back here today. Thanks.

I've been on DU but did not check My Posts.

[Tarheel_Dem]

45. So you basically want the president and his wife to play dress up? "People's eyes" are....

already open. This economy is struggling to get back on track. But to pull, what amounts to a stunt, in the heat of an election cycle would be trashed as just that, a stunt. This family has been called upon to do some of the most ludicrous things by people who claim to support them, right down to the dog they picked. 'Waaahhhh, it should've been a shelter dog.' 'Waaahhh, they should've enrolled their kids, and their SS detail, in public school'. 'Waaahhhh!' I mean, Geez. In the words of Queen Ann, "Stop It".

[2ndAmForComputers]

20. You know, I'm really really tired of this "they're all the same" bullcrap.

It's more transparent than intergalactic space.

[loyalsister]

21. I don't want an energy deprived president

This might have some if all four running for an open sear did it during a campaign, but the sitting president really needs to be able to focus.

[diabeticman]

23. Try being a mother energy deprived. Try being a man driving a truck energy deprived. You don't

want a president energy deprived how about your fellow citizens?

[loyalsister]

41. I get that

I'm just saying it's a different situation because his responsibilities have national and international influence. Any given sec. someone may ask him to take action that could have implications that affect the entire world.

[Tarheel_Dem]

46. +1. You'd think that would be obvious to everyone. He's only the most powerful man....

on the planet. These false equivalencies are a colossal waste of everyone's time & energy.

[CakeGrrl]

30. You haven't heard the President speak?

You don't know how different he is from Romney YET?

[diabeticman]

35. I have heard him BUT I still think doing the challenge will be more powerful than any speech he'd

give.

[former-republican]

40. He's the President not a contestant on survivor

[ErikJ]

42. Obama increased it from $140 a week to $200 a week I thought nt

[Tigress DEM]

48. Obama also has spent time working at food shelves getting food out to people.

It's a good idea in general, but the timing is really poor.

[madamesilverspurs]

51. No thanks.

Appreciate the idea, believe me. But I prefer my President to be well-nourished. He carries a heavy load, and we need him at his best. Nor would I ask his family to engage the experiment, as that would also contribute to the enormous stresses he already carries.

As others have noted, this President already knows the experience of food stamps. He "gets" it. That said, it isn't something I'd want of any sitting president, too much at stake.

-

[Summer Hathaway]

52. In case you haven't noticed

this President doesn't need any lessons on how to talk to the 47%.

He's been talking to the 100% since he's been in office.

[Cha]

57. President Obama, VP Biden, Michelle, and Dr Jill

do not need any lessons in Food Stamps. They're all for helping people as much as they can.