Jackpine,

These programs are in fact available more here in the west, than where Purplewolf is in Flint. That too, seems unconscionable, because of the farming that was done, at least for a time, in the surrounding states.

Ohio, Indiana, and other nearby areas did at one time maintain a thriving farming economy. But, those days seem like a whole ‘nother part of another life and world.

In areas like Flint, that have been so depressed for so long, I don’t think there’s anything even close to these CSA’s, though I could be wrong. Still, entire swaths of our country have been -beyond ignored- simply dropped from the radar entirely. As Purplewolf said of the politician in her area, they’d just as soon these people left..preferably the country. They don’t care WHERE they go, they just want them to leave.

And, as we see in so many other places, (like New Orleans) the communities and the people in them, will simply die of neglect.

So, while there ARE communities and individuals who do care, it means at least keeping those communities intact, so that they can, as it should be - help each other.

Being in a situation similar to Purplewolf’s (now disabled) and without access to food stamps, (my former earnings supposedly putting me into too high an income bracket to ‘qualify’...what a hoot) I’ve learned to pretty much avoid buying these items in a standard grocery store chain. BUT, I have that option, since we DO have the CSA’s and the local farmers’ markets. But, that’s only because of the good fortune of location. This part of California is still very much a part of the ‘agricultural hub of the west’. Even at that, these items are still overly priced in the grocery stores, and so we still only survive when the communities are able to utilize some means of organization and distribution.

The irony, (and the crime) that is suggested in this article, is that it is this very agricultural area, (and specifically Nancy Pelosi’s territory) that is demanding these subsidies, which alternatively make the produce that much more expensive. (because the agribusiness makes out in the typical robber baron fashion).

Meantime, entire areas of the rest of the country are left to starve.

To Jackpine Savage and Village Elder, I appreciate the information you have posted and shall look into what is available in our area. I know many people have taken advantage of the system for helping those in need that shouldn’t receive anything and have no good reason why they don’t work except they are to lazy and could work. Unfortunately, there are always those who need help but are unable to obtain it. My parents raised me to be a hard(productive)worker and I was until I became disabled. I don’t understand how or why some people refuse to help themselves when they are totally capable of doing so.

I live in Flint, Michigan, and we have been economically depressed for so long things have pretty much dried up here. I volunteered for the Red Cross as a teenager and started to work for the grand total of $1.60 an hour in a nursing home a week after high school graduation. The work never paid a living wage, took 3 1/2 weeks to pay my rent, but I have always felt that our elders needed to be taken care of. In the 90’s I worked between 80-120 hours every week for years-no vacation time ever taken as the jobs didn’t offer it, where as in the 70’s they did. Doing home care mostly and some days I would have to drive 200+ mile to get 8 hours of work-no gas allowance from my employers or off my taxes as often those jobs were for 3 different employers a day and the IRS only allows mileage after 25 miles, between jobs less than 90 minutes difference in shifts, or for only 1 employer and not the combination, which is why I had a tax preparer for several years, also different cities I had to pay taxes in as that part of my income was earned in a different city, so I ended up paying federal, state and several different city taxes each year As long as a person could work, the government didn’t mind having their hands out for my tax dollars. It is only when they might have to return some of that money they get resentful and mean.

I also volunteered in the 80’s to assist the very destitute when the GM jobs really took a down turn and attended some of the senate hearings. A Senator named Geek-that was his name cannot remember his first name- a Republican from the Grand Rapids area stated that they -the government- only wanted the poor as long as they were working and paying their taxes. He would prefer that once they lost their jobs and couldn’t find another due to downsizing-out sourcing that they leave the state, but preferably they should leave the country, as America doesn’t need the unemployed to worry with. Other members of the senate didn’t protest this remark, which was a real eye opener for me at the time. This proves that our elected servants don’t give a hoot about their employers-the public- and never really have. It’s to bad the tables cannot be turned the other way and give them a dose of reality as to what it like to work and live and try to get by on what the REAL AMERICAN working people do every day.

And BTW, the red dress that Laura Bush wore that she bought on sale for over $8,000, down from $9,000 something, is more than my income a year. I commented in our local paper and there were 3 other comments, 2 who could relate and see the irony in it and 1 who defended this waste of taxpayers money on an item probably to be worn only once. I figured the person defending the wastefulness was a Republican and that I had hit a nerve.

And for those who say she has a computer-my aunt bought it for me and helps pay the user fees so I have contact with the outside world now that it is harder for me to do so.

Purplewolf

Thanks for sharing the reality. 
When I was much younger I would never have imagined the treatment the poor, working poor and middle class now face. 

In most developed or semi-developed countries the citizens are provided a safety net.  Our net is no longer safe nor secure.  This attack on those of us who are not in the corporatist or oligarch clubs has been going on for some 35 years.  There has been a steady drumbeat to reduce social society, entitlements, medical aid, retirement programs, company benefits and etc..  Each reduction takes either tax money or our individual income and converts it to corporate profits.

Any unchecked military spending is always approved.  Corporate subsidies are always approved. Spending that will improve the quality of a citizens life is always characterized as wasteful.  And obviously, “we don’t need no education ...”.

Compassion is not in the heart of a conservative be it a repuglican or dimocrat for they are the same party.  Nixon, Regan, Bush, Clintor & Bush 2nd - all the same.

An excellent, if terribly sad, post.  Obviously, i have no idea what your food budget is, or what prices might be like in your area.  But i would suggest calling the nearest food co-op or doing some research at http://www.eatwild.com.

Look for a Community Supported Agriculture Program (CSA).  Generally, the have an initial buy-in price and then a weekly (or monthly) charge.  For this you get a box full of produce once week.  You don’t get to choose; you get whatever is being harvested.  So one week you might get a load of brussel sprouts, but you also might get a load of strawberries.

It is always cheaper than buying produce in the grocery store.  The farmer accepts a smaller profit margin for the assurance that all of his/her/their product will be sold.  In some cases, the box will even be dropped off on your doorstep.  And while i can’t guarantee it, you may find that some are willing to help if you can’t afford the whole cost. (i say this because i know some farmers who operate CSA’s and i know how they look at the world)

Corporations have no feelings for the less fortunate, but communities and individuals often do.

Back in the 1970’s I applied for food stamps while pregnant. I could purchase $24 of food stamps for $6 a month for 1 person. A gallon of milk was 99 cents- $1.03, 3 lb. jar peanut butter was 99 cents, 1 can Campbell’s tomato soup 9 cents. After returning to work and having worked until I became disabled and could no longer work, my income from disability is not enough to cover the bills so I am allowed to receive some food stamps benefits. I am allowed the great amount of about $40 a month right now, as recently having 2 cut backs in my food stamps due to the governments money problems since October 2007. Now my home state is looking to tax food and medicine again(did this a long time ago) at a 10% tax rate, our current tax rate is 6%, which would mean about $36 a month in food stamps. At today’s price the same can of tomato soup-only thinned down more in the cans than it used to be- cost $1.69 and the can is smaller also, the gallon of milk last time I checked was $4.79, an 18 oz. jar peanut butter $2.39.

Yep, we sure do treat our people well here in America, especially those who once were able to work but who no longer can due to medical.

Because I am on disability, I can only receive government commodities once every three months. Thanks to the Bush administration(information from the volunteers who run this program) those commodities have have been drastically reduced to around $10 equivalent, or about $3.34 a month. Usually a 1 lb. package of egg noodles, 2 cans tomato sauce, 1 quart cooking oil and sometimes a 5 lb. bag of pancake/biscuit mix.

I don’t like to complain, but what is going to happen when the middle class, who are losing ground become the poor? Who is going to buy this food that cost to much. When Bush signed CAFTA into law a few years back, this phony bastard got on the news and shed crocodile tears claiming that now people in those countries could afford to buy our fruit at $3.98 a pound. That’s nice George, one they wouldn’t pay that and two people here can’t afford it. So I guess a lot more food will be going bad in the stores because it is to expensive.

There are many other countries who have safety nets for their people, and they fare better than Americas poor who sometimes have to rely on some assistance. But those countries don’t go all over the world looking for a fight, minding other countries businesses and trying to rule the world like America has been doing.

Heck of a job George!

Back when the Food Stamp program was beginning, I was one of the activists organizing poor folks to apply for and understand they were entitled to food stamps.  There had been some resistance to the program, but the right wing nuts were somewhat mollified by the fact that it wasn’t money but food coupons.

The move to the Food Stamp Program was in part to decrease the use of the Surplus Commodity Program.  The food stamps would be spent in grocery stores providing extra income to the grocery industry.  At the same time it provided support to American AgriBusiness with a few exceptions, e.g.,
coffee, tea and bananas.

The good thing and a major selling point was that it ALSO provided better nutrition for poor families.

Just recalling some conversations with a Dept of Ag rep some years ago.

The thought that anyone would attempt to decrease food stamps in the face of inflation is disgusting.  The combination of inflation and the decline of the USD will hit the poor first and hardest.  Just another example of their crimes against humanity.  The dims should be ashamed of themselves.  Let them admit that they are only repuglican-lite. 

Since I’m old I repeat myself:  Where is the progressive movement?

The simplest acts of growing food and feeding the population has become some hugely complex issue, of which no one is talking about in the mainstream media. Agribusiness is poisoning our population, and so few want to even acknowledge this is happening. People who do get to be labeled as nutjobs, crazy hippies, conspiracy theorists and undermined as such.

This is a real problem with real consequences. We will have to invest in localized agriculture soon enough, unless someone figures out a way to ship goods from all over the world for free or finds some job all Americans can do which pays thousands more what we earn right now. Big Agriculture is UNSUSTAINABLE!

There’s nothing like paying for your genetically modified, chemical fertilizer grown, pesticide covered food twice...with a large portion of both payments ending up in the pockets of Monsanto, Cargill, Con Agra, ADM, et al.