Gloria Winchester-OBrien 2nd Book Blog

Gloria Winchester-OBrien 2^nd Book Blog

1.                       On pages 132-133 Abramsky  discusses how many “political figures have sought to distinguish between the deserving and the undeserving poor”  according to this political agenda, It is not sufficient to be poor enough to qualify as a food insecure household, you also may not have any adult member of that household to have made a poor life choice. For if they do all members of the household are denied access to food stamps.   

                I read comments on social media on a regular basis where people agree that denying anyone with a record or a drug problem access to food stamps is a justifiable political action.  Maybe I’m too liberal but I feel no one should be denied the basic human necessities like food or shelter regardless of their life choices.  These people need help, they need food, they need shelter and they need rehabilitation.  They do not need to be starved out of existence. 

2.                       On page 164, Abramsky talks about subprime mortgages. Politicians and economic decision makers ignored multiple warnings that suggested that the run-up of property values was but a delusional investment bubble.  Banks allowed homeowners to take multiple loans out on over inflated home prices.  In 2008, the bubble burst and it brought misery not only to a few individuals but to whole communities.  People were left holding properties that they could no longer afford, homeowners took a major loss on most properties which suffered major decline in their value.

                I relate to this passage, because this time period not only affected me it affected many of my family members.  Before the bubble burst my husband and I had made a fairly decent living buying property and fixing it for resale.  After this time, two properties we bought had to be sold at a loss.  Luckily for us we had always had the philosophy to buy low so our loss was not as large as many but it hurt us.  My brother owned a house in Florida that he owed more than $350,000 for.  When the bubble burst his house was valued for under $200,000.  Sadly, He was forced to foreclose on his house and claim bankruptcy.  He has not been able to buy another house to this day.  He is not alone in this tragedy. 

3.                       On page 221, Abramsky states “there are glaring holes that need to be fixed in
SNAP”.  She explains that the program stipulates that during normal economic times, able bodied adults must work or be looking for work to qualify for SNAP benefits.  This requirement can be suspended when local unemployment is rises above a certain amount.  Yet there are groups not exempt from this work requirement.  One of these groups is college students.  A full time student must work at least 20 hours per week to qualify for food stamps.  If they can’t find work or get laid off their benefits are stopped.  But if they dropped out of college they’d qualify even without finding a job. 

                Being a college student myself and being the mother of a college student, I find this stipulation to be horribly unfair to myself and my son.  I work, but being in college is my full time job and I do not make enough.  Especially since my master’s courses are so expensive without any form of aid available to me.  I rely on SNAP to make ends meet.  But my son who is also a full time student that works approximately 15 hours per week for a work study program does not qualify.  I get $16.00 a month in SNAP benefits.  This is about how much we spend for groceries in two days.  What are we supposed to do the rest of the month?