Pine Log

Issue date: 2/4/10 Section: Opinion

I recently read an article calling for an overhaul of the entire food stamp program. Reading the headline gave me hope that maybe, finally the United States congress, or at least the Texas senate had finally figured out that people were readily taken advantage of all of us. The deeper I read however, the more I realized that politicians have a warped perception on the reality of these programs. Politicians were voicing the need for these programs to have more money. Apparently the way money worked out it appeared that a person likely lived on under $174 a month.

I find this statistic highly fascinating considering I've never seen someone have an amount under $400 on their card. In fact I once saw a family with more than $2,000 per month in food stamps. Congressmen should work in a grocery store and see this for themselves firsthand. Two hours as a checker would give any person a different perception on just how these programs really work.

With the budget recently becoming an issue and cuts starting in places like education, how much longer will all of us continue to turn a blind eye to this problem. I failed to discuss fraud that occurs on a daily basis within each of these programs, for that in itself is an opinion article all its own. Hopefully this has given you reason to actually think about programs like this and think about where taxes are going.





Jennifer Patterson is a public relations senior from Rice.

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