Lawmakers Find $21 a Week Doesn't Buy a Lot of Groceries

[UGAalum94]

Originally Posted by AGDee

I'm not sure they would have much more to spend on food. $10,000 a year is $833 a month. One of my mom's friends who is looking to move into a section 8 apartment makes about that. The rent for his apartment is going to be $375 a month plus all utilities. Figure $100 for heat, electricity and water each month. Add some money for a phone.. $30 minimum. He has a car that is paid for, so he only has to pay car insurance.. about $50 a month for the minimum required by law in Michigan. His medicare premium is $60 a month and he pays about $200 a month for prescriptions. That's $835 and he hasn't bought toilet paper, napkins, shampoo or hygiene products, etc. The $21 a week in food stamps only pays for actual food, none of those other things. He hasn't done laundry yet or bought gas for his car. That's a pretty minimal amount of money to live on.

I don't think it's silly for the congressman to get a taste of how some people live.

Oh, if they really got a taste of it, it wouldn't be silly. But I don't really think that's what's happening here.

I certainly don't think that people are living well and getting food stamps, but they aren't living like congress lives except for $21 dollar for food.

It's the artificial nature of what they are doing that offends me about it. It's just a publicity stunt. (And I think it's only four people total, right?)

If your mom's friend disabled in some way? (I don't mean that in an insulting way; I'm just wondering what his circumstances are.)

It's hard to talk about this issue without making it sound like I feel 21 dollars is enough and I don't think that it is. On the other hand, what would be the right amount per person to give out weekly for food? How much money should a person have to earn to feed oneself? Is the answer that a person should not have to earn any money? That "enough" money for food should be provided by the government for able bodied adults?