Nothing but food stamps

U.S. capitalism keeps getting uglier and meaner.*

Food-stamp use is at an all-time high. (One in eight Americans now receives food stamps, including one in four children.) And now we learn from the New York Times that six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income.

In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.
Their numbers were rising before the recession as tougher welfare laws made it harder for poor people to get cash aid, but they have soared by about 50 percent over the past two years. About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.

This is what we’ve come to as a society: a growing number of people barely keep themselves alive by relying on food stamps—and, in many cases, nothing but food stamps.

*Maybe that’s why I feel compelled to add art and graffiti to this blog.

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