We Americans Are A Strange People…Food Stamps Can Now Be Used To Buy Starbucks Coffee

Sometimes my blog posts upset my fellow American readers here….I do have to suggest as many Americans that can find a way to travel abroad to do so…it really opens your eyes to how other people live and makes me appreciate the freedoms and benefits of being an American. Hopefully some of my contradictory posts to an American reader can be seen as a wake up call rather than slander or “Anti-American-ism”. I’m blogging because I care.

You know what I still gotta speak out about how embarassing it is to be overseas in Asia reading some of this news going on in America. Tonight I was scrolling through my facebook feed (yes, needing my VPN, as China blocks access to it no country seems perfect…. sigh) and I saw a friend Paul share the link below about

Paul Denlinger:
Ain’t that great?

Food Stamps Can Now Be Used To Buy Starbucks Coffee And Muffins
http://www.businessinsider.com/foodstamps-can-now-be-used-to-buy-starbucks-cfrappuccinos-and-muffins-2011-12
Companies fighting for a share of the $64 billion in benefits.

Suzette Xu
Wow.. that is nice! But do people who needs food stamps will really go into Starbucks to buy a cup pf middle class coffee? lol…

Paul Denlinger
The US is a very strange country…

Suzette Xu
lol..i think that sentence said it all… I agree for the most part! Maybe they can sell their food stamps for cash. who knows

Paul Denlinger
The funny thing about the US is that it has had its way for so long that most Americans think that they are normal and everyone else is strange

Gerald Zhang-Schmidt
Even when things are just plain crazy…

Alfred Lee Neuman
All program and system can be game. Social safety net are no different. Do we deprive all from getting this social assistant. We know there are waste and abuse in programs . The cost to control the last 5% of waste may take up 50% of your staff time. Today with with bad press like the about , I can guarantee the program will be adjusted before the end of the year. Social program safe lives. This is the cost of being a civil and compassion nation.

Michael Michelini
I gotta blog about this…this is unbelievable…..Starbucks coffee is not a necessity of life people! Its meant for those who have worked hard, studied, and maybe yes “were lucky” but they are privileged to get this non-necessary item

Paul Denlinger
Michael: If you are going to blog about this, you need to blog about how many Americans now rely on food stamps. The numbers living on food stamps has shot up through the roof. You can find the information online.

Reading deeper into this article….the key paragraph is here:

Natalie Brand of FOX 12 in Oregon took a woman receiving food stamps with her to a local Starbucks, inside a Safeway grocery store, and taped her buying a $5.25 Tall Frappuccino and a slice of fresh pumpkin bread with her Oregon Trail benefits card. The Trail card is part of the federal food stamp program.

And listening to Paul’s request that when I do blog this, I show how much more Americans are relying on food stamps now –> It is SAD, and AMAZING statistics, finding an August 4, 2011 CNN article, below we see 45.8 million Americans are on food stamps! The total population is about 300 million…..

That means 45 million out of 300 million total population = 15% of the total population is on food stamps!!!!

The number of Americans using the government’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) — more commonly referred to as food stamps — shot to an all-time high of 45.8 million in May, the USDA reported. That’s up 12% from a year ago, and 34% higher than two years ago.

That is outrageous….breathtaking….and freaking SCARY for me to read.

So I guess if you are Starbucks, or any food related company, as a business you want to get access to this 45.8 million (15% of USA) market group….and therefore you find ways to get access to the food stamp program.

And that is capitalism….trying to maximize profits, not thinking about others, and going to increase the bottom line for your company.

I am sure that the USA government will fix this….its all about checks and balances…but reading the facebook post, article, and comments underneath…overall its freaking me out about the current economic health in America….

Sure, there may be some people thinking “why can’t poor people get the nicer things in life”!!! Get REAL – seriously….food stamps are meant to keep people fed and healthy…not for extravagance….its a “lifeline”. They can use their money they earn elsewhere to get these luxury items – not with other taxpayer’s money.