Thanks for once again shafting the poor in a rush to agree with the preznit. (Even more details here)

Thanks to a temp job last summer, our income for the year is at a whole whopping 69 percent of the poverty level. Who Hoo! Last year is was less than half the poverty level for 2 people, so I guess this is a step up.

People who make up to 130 percent of the poverty level are usually eligible for food stamps. You would think that anyone under the poverty level would just be eligible for the whole amount. It’s not like we can go spend food stamp money on beer and cigarettes or even toilet paper, it only pays for food.

So I am about 5000 dollars a year below the poverty line, or I am 416 dollars short every month of what the government says I need just to sustain basic life quality. They could just give that amount to me in food stamps. We could certainly use it and with some extra money we’d try these organics and whole grains everyone keeps talking about :).

But we don’t get that much.

Actually, for a family of 2 the maximum amount of food stamps we could get per month is 278. that would be nice, it might actually cover almost a months worth of groceries if we eat nothing but crap.

But we don’t get that much either.

We get 228 per month. It lasts about 2 weeks if we eat things like fruits and vegetables, whole grains and lean meats, nothing organic or expensive, just healthy. It lasts about 3 weeks if we eat processed crap and hamburger. The price of milk is over 4 bucks a gallon here most of the time, so things like cereal have become a luxury. While food prices rise with the cost of gasoline, food stamp allotments have remained stagnant.

I had a few hopes in the last week or so that the Dems were really going to stick to it and get help for the poor (since we are the first and last victims of recession, we see it coming way before anyone else and we feel it’s effects much longer) while getting a boost for the economy.

But nah. I guess it’s really easy to throw hungry children under the bus in the name of cooperation and bipartisanship. Nice work Nancy. When milk hits 5 bucks a gallon I’m telling my kid that you’re the reason a box of cereal is now as much of a rarity as lobster in our house. I hope the next time you bring a bite of either to you lips, you choke on it you disingenuous fuck wad.