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Friday, May 4, 2012

Remember The Poor

“‘Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy.” They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Ezekiel 16:49-50 NIV

Governor Tom Corbett decided that families who are receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits should be subject to an asset test in order to continue to receive those benefits. They would have to have less than $5,500 in assets (a little higher for seniors) in order to continue to receive those benefits. The SNAP benefits gives what we most commonly know as food stamps to people who need help buying their basic grocery needs. 1.8 Million people in Pennsylvania are receiving these benefits. Their argument for imposing this asset test is that it will eliminate fraud and give the benefits to people who really need it. There are a number of problems with that logic. First, Pennsylvania has less than 1% fraud rate when it comes to these benefits. Second, 36 other states have eliminated or have significantly higher asset limits for their tests because it hurts more than it helps. Third, for every $1 in SNAP benefits spent, $1.73 is generated in economic activity. So a reduction in the number of people who are actually receiving benefits would hurt more than just those people. It would hurt our state economy. Grocery stores, who allow purchase with SNAP benefits would lose revenue. The argument of the governor’s office is that out of the 1.8 million people who receive benefits, only 4,000 will lose based on the new asset testing. That’s still 4,000 families who will suffer. The average benefit is only $5 per day. So to put it in language they may better understand, that’s $8.65 in economic activity per day per person who loses their benefits, or $34,600 per day lost to the Pennsylvania economy. Is that really worth it? Or is there some other reason they wish to do this? I think it is a matter of revealing what their priorities really are for the direction of the state. I decided to try to eat on $5 per day for a whole week to see if I could do it and to see if I could also eat healthy. T was pretty tough, but I did it. I have the luxury of a few things, however. I am single with no children, so only I had to suffer. I already had some things in the house that I could use to help me out. I have an understanding of money that aids me when I spend it to get the most for my money. So it wasn’t a true experiment. If I wanted to do this as a pure ethnographic study I would have only eaten what I purchased, made it a monthly benefit and had to purchase toiletries and personal items with the same money, and I would have taken the bus to the store, as many individuals do not have cars. But this was just a test. In that week, my biggest problem was that I was constantly on the go, so if I had to eat while I was out, I needed to remember to bring food with me or wait until I got home. This made for a few hungry days, but there was provision around. Someone at school brought out a tray of oranges and grapes on one of the days I needed sustenance. I was grateful. I know that what I experienced isn’t what half of those who receive benefits experience on a daily basis. For me, it was an experiment, for them it is a lifestyle. There is no real comparison. I always hear people talk about Sodom and Gomorrah and them being destroyed because of homosexuality. Then everybody makes a big deal about why homosexuality is such a great sin and God hates gays and all of that stuff. But that just tells me that people don’t read the bible carefully enough. Or don’t read all of it. Because buried in another book of the bible is a verse that tells you why God destroyed Sodom. It was because they got fat, rich, proud and happy and forgot to take care of the poor. That is always God’s biggest beef with humanity. Throughout scripture, God condemns Israel and everyone else when they forget about the most vulnerable of society. We forget about those who don’t have as much as we might and continue on our merry way as if they don’t exist. They forgot about the poor. And so does our government. Think about how much money is spent to keep the wealthy, wealthy and how much is spent on the poor. No comparison. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest tax expenditures for the government is not a lower-class benefit, it is a middle and upper class benefit: Mortgage deductions. It doesn’t directly cost anything, but it keeps the government from receiving income. If anyone ever THOUGHT about cutting that, you would have a riot on the congressional steps. But people don’t seem to care as much about 4,000 people who may go hungry in Pennsylvania in an effort to do basically nothing. It doesn’t cost us more money to have no asset test. It actually costs us money to do it because it requires more paperwork to verify. It also costs people their peace and it ignores the needs of the poor. With so much if this forgetting about the poor going on, I can help to wonder what God is thinking now. While the politicians are over fed and unconcerned, the people in their jurisdictions are concerned and hungry. It sounds a bit too familiar. We better watch out.