# Omnibus thread for how the current admin is sticking it to the poor & middle-class **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 13, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763 "2018-02-13T14:12:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/1 "2018-02-13T14:12:51Z")
I’ll kick off. [White House wants to deliver food to the poor, Blue Apron-style](http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/12/news/economy/food-stamps-box-blue-apron/index.html) > [@](#): > > That’s how Budget Director Mick Mulvaney described the Trump administration’s proposal to replace nearly half of poor Americans’ monthly cash benefits with a box of food. It would affect households that receive at least $90 a month in food stamps, or roughly 38 million people. > > “USDA America’s Harvest Box is a bold, innovative approach to providing nutritious food to people who need assistance feeding themselves and their families – and all of it is homegrown by American farmers and producers,” said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue in a statement. “It maintains the same level of food value as SNAP [Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program] participants currently receive, provides states flexibility in administering the program, and is responsible to the taxpayers.” > … A “bold, innovative approach”! [The Trump Administration Just Gutted Payday-Lending Regulations](https://www.thenation.com/article/the-trump-administration-just-gutted-payday-lending-regulations/) > [@](#): > > Under Trump appointee Mick Mulvaney, the CFPB is making it easier for predatory lenders to take advantage of the most vulnerable consumers. > … > The suspension of the rule signals a new direction for the CFPB, which is now headed by Mick Mulvaney, a longtime Trump crony and eminent Wall Street warrior who has a record of fiercely protecting financiers, not consumers. Mulvaney immediately followed the rule’s suppression by launching an internal review of the agency, which watchdog groups see as another step toward reversal of the agency’s founding mission. Paralleling Trump’s anti-Obama vendetta, Mulvaney is poised to dismantle the agency’s regulatory framework, which prior to his tenure aimed at promoting modest but meaningful limits on the financial industry’s exploitative power. And his first move is fittingly to roll back a major instrument of fraud and usury that’s aimed at the poorest consumers. > … Work requirements for the poor to access health care > [@](#): > > [Work requirements for Medicaid](https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/01/medicaid-work-requirements-trump-administration) are part of the conservative effort to limit social assistance to the “deserving” poor only. Since 1965, Medicaid has provided health insurance to the needy through a partnership between the states and the federal government. The program historically offered coverage to an ad hoc list of groups deemed sympathetic, like pregnant women, children, and people with disabilities. But in 2010, the Affordable Care Act broadened Medicaid eligibility to instead cover anyone earning less than 133 percent of the poverty line — an expansion later made optional for the states by the Supreme Court. > > While most states took the federal government up on the offer, conservatives recoiled from decoupling Medicaid eligibility from traditional notions of who deserves government help. Eighteen conservative-led states have refused federal funding to extend insurance to more of their residents. And much of the ensuing obsession with repealing the ACA altogether was about limiting health care access to those who are seen as really deserving it. > > Though health care repeal failed, executive action by the Trump administration offers conservatives another avenue to deny health care coverage to the purportedly undeserving. Now, federal policy will permit states to require Medicaid recipients to take part in “community engagement” activities, including working, searching for work, undergoing job training, enrolling in school, or performing community service. Caregivers, pregnant women, students, and people with disabilities preventing them from working will be exempt from these requirements. > … [Emphasis added] We only want to help the \*deserving \*poor. And we decide if they’re deserving. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/2 "2018-02-13T14:49:21Z")
I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/3 "2018-02-13T15:22:16Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. Tuber drivers. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/4 "2018-02-13T15:27:12Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. Can it be outsourced? ---
**Author:** ![StarvingButStrong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/starvingbutstrong/32/335_2.png) [@StarvingButStrong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StarvingButStrong)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/5 "2018-02-13T15:33:46Z")
You just know he’s going to want to get the most calories for the least bucks… So some mother is going to come home from some physically demanding job and be faced with the next month’s allotment: a fifty pound sack of wheat flour and two gallons of corn syrup. Chow down! ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/6 "2018-02-13T15:37:49Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. That was my first thought. Right now, local food banks rely largely on volunteer labor to package and deliver food boxes, and on donations for the food itself. This “innovative” idea couldn’t possibly be a giant corporate give-away to the likes of Con-Agra, could it? ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/7 "2018-02-13T15:50:27Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > That was my first thought. Right now, local food banks rely largely on volunteer labor to package and deliver food boxes, and on donations for the food itself. This “innovative” idea couldn’t possibly be a giant corporate give-away to the likes of Con-Agra, could it? I don’t know that it’s necessarily a giveaway to Con-Agra. They can sell food to wholesalers, who sell to supermarkets, who sell to food-stamp users, or they can sell food to the government, who then sends it to the same people. There’s the same number of mouths to feed regardless of the distribution channel. My question is more about the labor involved with this distribution plan. Someone will have to gather up all that food, divide it into packages, and send it to people. Where’s the money supposed to come from to pay those people, and is this really supposed to be more efficient than sending food stamps and using the commercial distribution channels that already exist? I thought private enterprise was supposed to be the _ne plus ultra_ in meeting consumer needs. Considering how much people praise Trump as a businessman, he doesn’t seem to know about (or have any demonstrated history of) running a business to actually accomplish anything. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/8 "2018-02-13T15:59:30Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. [I think I know who](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/fema-contractor-failed-to-deliver-millions-of-meals-to-puerto-rico-lawmakers_us_5a7a0d40e4b06505b4e8cfbe) ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/9 "2018-02-13T16:08:19Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I wonder who Trump thinks is going to transport, sort, divide, package, and ship 38 million boxes of food every month. Trump can do it. [http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article171189447.html](http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/national-politics/article171189447.html) ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/10 "2018-02-13T16:11:19Z")
Trump knows how to do it cheaply. [https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1031027/the-us-increased-the-number-of-h2b-visas-by-15000/amp/](https://www.google.com/amp/s/qz.com/1031027/the-us-increased-the-number-of-h2b-visas-by-15000/amp/) ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/11 "2018-02-13T16:41:40Z")
> [@StarvingButStrong](#): > > You just know he’s going to want to get the most calories for the least bucks… So some mother is going to come home from some physically demanding job and be faced with the next month’s allotment: a fifty pound sack of wheat flour and two gallons of corn syrup. Chow down! Preferably sent to a family with celiac disease. Seriously, who gets to keep track of food allergies, religious/moral restrictions (kosher, vegan, halal, non-GMO, ethically sourced fish, etc), medically-dictated diets (low salt, weight reduction, kidney-protective, etc), protein and other nutrient requirements, and what the 4-year old is willing to eat this week for 40 million people? Who tracks whether a family has an oven, a microwave, or no cooking equipment at all (common in shelters and assisted housing)? I realize that even now, people with SNAP benefits can’t exactly afford to be picky, but at least they can choose the most critical factors for what they put on the table. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/12 "2018-02-13T16:56:21Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t know that it’s necessarily a giveaway to Con-Agra. They can sell food to wholesalers, who sell to supermarkets, who sell to food-stamp users, or they can sell food to the government, who then sends it to the same people. There’s the same number of mouths to feed regardless of the distribution channel. > > My question is more about the labor involved with this distribution plan. Someone will have to gather up all that food, divide it into packages, and send it to people. Where’s the money supposed to come from to pay those people, and is this really supposed to be more efficient than sending food stamps and using the commercial distribution channels that already exist? I thought private enterprise was supposed to be the _ne plus ultra_ in meeting consumer needs. Considering how much people praise Trump as a businessman, he doesn’t seem to know about (or have any demonstrated history of) running a business to actually accomplish anything. I have no idea if this will work or not, and my instincts are to distrust Trump, but with Food Stamps, the recipient has to go somewhere to get the food. With the new program, why would you assume that the recipient should sit at home and have the food delivered? The article linked to in the OP is a bit hazy on how the distribution would work, or rather it notes that the plan itself is a bit hazy. But anyway, I’m not seeing that home delivery of these packages is necessary except perhaps in some cases. But it looks like this will be administered by the states, not the feds. ---
**Author:** ![EddyTeddyFreddy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eddyteddyfreddy/32/18796_2.png) [@EddyTeddyFreddy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EddyTeddyFreddy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/13 "2018-02-13T16:57:36Z")
> [@mischievous](#): > > Preferably sent to a family with celiac disease. > > Seriously, who gets to keep track of food allergies, religious/moral restrictions (kosher, vegan, halal, non-GMO, ethically sourced fish, etc), medically-dictated diets (low salt, weight reduction, kidney-protective, etc), protein and other nutrient requirements, and what the 4-year old is willing to eat this week for 40 million people? Who tracks whether a family has an oven, a microwave, or no cooking equipment at all (common in shelters and assisted housing)? I realize that even now, people with SNAP benefits can’t exactly afford to be picky, but at least they can choose the most critical factors for what they put on the table. Well, hell, if Those People had food problems they shouldn’t have chosen to be poor! :mad: ---
**Author:** ![Randolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Randolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Randolph)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/14 "2018-02-13T17:28:30Z")
Do we really need another one of these types of threads? ---
**Author:** ![mischievous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c2a13f/32.png) [@mischievous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mischievous)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/15 "2018-02-13T17:28:50Z")
> [@EddyTeddyFreddy](#): > > Well, hell, if Those People had food problems they shouldn’t have chosen to be poor! :mad: It’s not like hypertension and diabetes (best controlled by diet) might disproportionately affect poor people, right? ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/16 "2018-02-13T17:44:28Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Do we really need another one of these types of threads? It took until post #14 for this question to be asked?? 🙂 The answer is: if not, then it will die of its own accord. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/17 "2018-02-13T19:02:34Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > I don’t know that it’s necessarily a giveaway to Con-Agra. They can sell food to wholesalers, who sell to supermarkets, who sell to food-stamp users, or they can sell food to the government, who then sends it to the same people. There’s the same number of mouths to feed regardless of the distribution channel. > > My question is more about the labor involved with this distribution plan. Someone will have to gather up all that food, divide it into packages, and send it to people. Where’s the money supposed to come from to pay those people, and is this really supposed to be more efficient than sending food stamps and using the commercial distribution channels that already exist? I thought private enterprise was supposed to be the _ne plus ultra_ in meeting consumer needs. Considering how much people praise Trump as a businessman, he doesn’t seem to know about (or have any demonstrated history of) running a business to actually accomplish anything. Oh, I’m with you on this. I commented on FB about who’s paying for the warehousing, vehicle fleets, drivers, maintenance people, sorters and handlers, etc? It’s a stupid idea from one of the dumbest assholes on the planet. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/18 "2018-02-13T19:15:27Z")
Cuts to medicare, medicaid and social security adding up to almost 1.5 trillion dollars over a decade. > **[Trump’s budget cuts Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, breaking core...](https://thinkprogress.org/trump-promises-cuts-medicare-medicaid-social-security-36a0e8a57ae0/)** > > This would be over a trillion dollars in cuts to some of the nation's most vulnerable. I hope white nationalism was worth it to everyone. ---
**Author:** ![k9bfriender](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k9bfriender/32/3283_2.png) [@k9bfriender](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/k9bfriender)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/19 "2018-02-13T19:22:31Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > I have no idea if this will work or not, and my instincts are to distrust Trump, but with Food Stamps, the recipient has to go somewhere to get the food. With the new program, why would you assume that the recipient should sit at home and have the food delivered? The article linked to in the OP is a bit hazy on how the distribution would work, or rather it notes that the plan itself is a bit hazy. But anyway, I’m not seeing that home delivery of these packages is necessary except perhaps in some cases. But it looks like this will be administered by the states, not the feds. Will there be as many distribution centers as there are grocery stores? Will they be close to neighborhoods, or require an extra bus route to get to? Will they be open the same hours as the grocery store, so that one doesn’t have to take a day off of work in order to get food? I actually could get behind the idea of a care package delivered to the house, as that would save those who are already living on the edge a fair amount of trouble and work, but if they need to go get it, it really shouldn’t be more work than they currently need to go through to get food. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2018, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763/20 "2018-02-13T21:37:45Z")
> [@Randolph](#): > > Do we really need another one of these types of threads? No. No, we didn’t. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/omnibus-thread-for-how-the-current-admin-is-sticking-it-to-the-poor-middle-class/808763.md?page=2)