Growls

With a HT to Dan Barrett, blogging at the National Taxpayers Union’s blog, Government Bytes for pointing to the weekend story in the New York Times about the use of food stamps in America (story here and interactive map here showing usage by county). The Times reports:

“About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid — no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay.

“Their numbers were rising before the recession as tougher welfare laws made it harder for poor people to get cash aid, but they have soared by about 50 percent over the past two years. About one in 50 Americans now lives in a household with a reported income that consists of nothing but a food-stamp card.”

According to numbers embedded in the interactive map, Arlington and Fairfax counties in Northern Virginia have what are likely to be among the lowest numbers in the nation:

                               Arlington    Fairfax
Category
All People                        2%        0%
Children                           5%        0%
White                               0%        0%
Black                               10%        0%
Change Since 2007    +38%     +14%

By comparison. Chesterfield and Lunenberg counties in Virginia have significantly higher numbers:

                                 Chesterfield    Lunenberg
Category
All People                           7%            16%
Children                             13%            35%
White                                 4%            10%
Black                                 13%            25%
Change Since 2007      +51%         +22%

For a bit more comparison, the state of Nevada has seen a 173% increase since 2007 while Florida’s change has been 113% and New York’s 99%. With the change in the use of food stamps since the recession began in December 2007, the comments and questions of the NTU’s Dan Barrett are especially relevant:

“. . . the question on my mind is: will the $60 billion set aside for such programs last? Some conservative legislatures think the programs are grooming a government-dependent class while many more are locked in bipartisan support of the subsidies. Either way, Cap and Trade, Obamacare, and/or a Federal Government handing out employee bonuses like bailout billions will most certainly deplete the source of that $60 billion faster than you can say Change You Can Believe In.”

Yet, Arlington County is still getting bailout/stimulus money (see our December 16, 2009 growls where we growled about the $29.3 million in stimulus money received by Arlington County. Amazing!