Rant Block....

I haven't written a really ranty blog in awhile. It's not that I am not feeling ranty, it's just that everything I'm feeling ranty about I've written about before. Which then pisses me off. Why are we constantly circling the same issues?

For instance...

The Trump administration is trying to limit access to food stamps. Again. This is the bill they tried to get through Congress on one of the agriculture bills and it was rejected. A few people running for re-election realized this was not a good look.

But Trump and Sonny Perdue? They are like, fuck those guys and their whiney, I'm hungry. I mean just DON'T BE POOR amiright? Of course, they aren't being that blunt, but that's really kind of the gist of it. Even though it's completely short sighted. Even if you think that somehow being poor is a sin, which the Republican party seems to, doing this will make the issue worse.

What they are trying to do is get rid of some overlapping areas of qualifications that states are using. Things that are a little less stringent. They want a federally mandated line of qualification.

Which some would say, okay that's fine, why is that a big deal?

Well, it will drop a lot of people off the qualifying list. People who are using food stamps to supplement income. To make ends meet. And it's not like they will suddenly have more money. They won't. So they will be faced with a choice. Do without, or make even less money. They also want to reduce even further the amount you are allowed to have in a savings account and still qualify. Which is one of the best ways to lift people out of poverty, by the way, having money in a savings account to cover the emergencies that pop up.

But this new ruling will force people to not have savings accounts and to not take that promotion, or work that added shift they've been offered because it could throw them off of the food stamps and they don't have enough extra to cover that expense. Things that are supposed to be helpful the bridge the gap while you advance are going to be put as a road block instead. You can't make more money because then you will have less. More in your paycheck, but it will have to stretch further than it did.

The Trump administration is touting the savings, but is it savings if people are going hungry? That seems like a really high cost to me.

But I've made this argument before you see. I'm not saying anything here I haven't said before. We've (using the broad we, not the we as in I agree we) we've decided that being poor is a sin and being really poor is basically criminal. We don't want to look at the hard fixes. We don't want to actually do what works. Did you know the best way to end homelessness is to home people? Not make them qualify for a bed in a facility, or take a drug test, and pass a series of you have tos, but to just put them in a home? There have been studies done and that's really what works. It's called Housing First, google that shit, it's really interesting.

BUT...we don't want to do that because "it's not fair." See we get so wrapped up in thinking that someone is getting something we aren't, or something we paid more for, that we can't get past that. And I get it...but get over it. First of all, it's a better deal for all of us if we make those "unfair" choices. (again, Google it all) It's cheaper in the long run. Less in emergency services, less in policing, less in community cleanups, it's just a better deal. Like significantly better. So get over it. It's a bargain.

We want people to be successful right? Isn't that the end game? So we need to be honest about what it takes to get people there.

Food and shelter is a good start.

Let's stop taking away the baseline from the poorest while we cut taxes on the richest. If you want to discuss what is and isn't fair, that might be a better place to look.

But I've said all of this before and it's just so frustrating to say it all again...