“It’s like they don’t want us to get ahead.” An African-American friend said that to me recently as I gave her and her son a ride so they did not have to stand in the cold March chill waiting for a bus.
As a single mother with two children she struggles to keep food on their table. Her teenage daughter found a $9 an hour part-time job trying to save a little for college, and then the household was hit with a cut in benefits.
A common story with those who struggle to get above the poverty line if they try to get ahead a little only to get pushed back down.
While 47 million Americans struggle to feed their families, they also have to listen to millionaire Senators telling them the U.S. trillion dollar deficit is really their fault.
According to September 2018 data, the average SNAP benefit was $245 for a family. That equals out to $8.16 a day, or $2.72 per meal for a family of four. $2.04 a day for each person, or 68 cents per meal per person.
Yet when the word deficit hits the headlines the next thing we hear is that it is Medicaid, Social Security, and SNAP benefits that are causing the problem.
Pushing someone down and then kicking them does not solve problems.
I’m Dan Kenney and that’s my perspective.
