Feeding America's poor - why food stamps won't go away | Channel 4 News

there's no question about it welfare who needs it who gets it is changing across the world earlier we heard about how the so-called bedroom tax is affecting the disabled here in the UK across the Atlantic one in six Americans are now using food stamps federal payments each month to help cover the bills at the supermarket the numbers dependent on the scheme spiked during the financial crisis but have stayed high despite recent signs that the US economy is growing again our economics editor faisal islam traveled to the traditionally wealthy rhode island on the east coast of america where he found the use of food stamps is moving up the income scale to reach those who have always thought of themselves as the traditional american middle class for one sixth of americans the economic recovery is far from golden food stamps we've branded as EBT or electronic benefit transfer is the calling card of america's working poor and it's living standards crisis here in rhode island between new york and boston this electronic card meant to control welfare spending on food is gold in color and in this state some towns are so dependent on this federal money that the economy runs to the timetable of the gold card the first every month gold card day a backdoor local stimulus the cards are topped up with hundreds of dollars of cash from Washington and the trolleys and car parks of the supermarkets fill up as well that's when everyone gets their food stamps at a nearby farmers market even here about a third of the custom comes this way you get this you get the gold card and that's what everyone calls it or a lot of people call that and at the first of the month they automatically give you the money onto the count and then it works like a debit card so if you go to a store you just swipe it and you enter in like your code number and all that and of course America this card and this program fully funded by the US government has become a symbol of a two-tier America in the supermarkets users and not that keen to display their use they see you spending food stamps and they judge you for what you're buying and it could be as little as all you wanted I'm a healthy shopper but so you want ice cream today and the person behind you in line they'll judge you for that and now it's not so bad could you have a card they don't know whether it is but they can still see the card and some of the cashiers still ask you well is it EBT so right there so it does it makes it it makes it a stigma from the outside Bristol Rhode Island looks rather wealthy there are yachts the classic New England weather board housing but behind these walls are many with jobs who are struggling without state help food stamps are the symbol of a two-tier american recovery and republicans are now attempting to remove a quarter of the program's budget in order to cut the deficit so here we have it the mighty dollar the greenback symbol of the affluence of the USA particularly in a place like this Bristol in Rhode Island but there's a new kid on the block a piece of plastic called the EBT card the electronic benefit transfer part of the SNAP program from the federal government better known as food stamps there's nearly 50 million of these in the US now that's more than doubled and that's more than the population of Spain it's practically a new currency how often do you come here what a man Rita and her son Radley explain to me how they use Rhode Island's new currency Radley gets a fixed monthly allowance of food stamps for his disability in my workplace at least three to four people that are doing is not working are working and doing in a way yeah and they have they have families are trying to support and you know and all that is they're not just single people is to the gist aren't the jobs or they just aren't a high-paid jobs or what what it seems bizarre you you sort of thing that if you if you work you could yeah well that we don't make enough you know people don't make enough in Tom a carpenter who injured himself working explains the typical pattern of usage that sees supermarkets in these neighborhoods boom on the first of every month has the same gold card go Oh God not the AMEX called I know I was hopin for a platinum one day yeah so you get the money goes in on the first goes in under four hours to get there give me $200 for the month and did the footbag sub sub substitute anything that I can't get on this card okay fine so you finally about $200 stretches over the whole month or does it sometimes full of it sure yeah sometimes a little short but I've been managing to stretch it out of your friends of your neighbor neighbors how many I know also sign it I was help me well it's not we're gonna talk about but they want to talk about yeah there's a stigma unfortunately attached to this um you know people and I'm gonna be honest we don't talk about either yeah you know we are tell people I met Tom Rita and Radley at a Bristol food pantry here from two years ago they realized that the food stamps were not lasting the month but even that's changed recently it's really kind of a hidden problem and Karen who runs the operation serving one in ten of the residents of this seemingly wealthy town tells me why the Food Stamp money would last them about three weeks and then that they needed something to fill in the gaberdine what were they doing in that final few days and then they would come to food pantries and get stuff to hold them over at the end of the month lately food prices have gone up there have been cuts to the SNAP benefits and we've seen we haven't seen that pattern as much we're pretty much is busy at the beginning of the month as we are at the end I think people are seeing what they can get at the pantry and then filling in what they can't get with it with the food stamps because that's not going to last them back in 2000 just over 17 million Americans were receiving food stamps that number edged up over the decade but then exploded after the financial crisis in 2008 and stayed there standing this year at just shy of 48 million people that's one in six Americans each household gets on average 274 dollars a month that's about 180 pounds down the road in Providence the logistical Center for Rhode Island's food banks is preparing for the holiday rush of demand you can drop food off here but not pick it up bankers queue up to sort through donations of surplus food from multinationals you know whole grain lasagna they just pop the top and put in the microwave right now the challenge is to manage this spike in demand caused by the inability of many Rhode Island families to pay for food for children during school holidays think of it if you are a parent and your child is now out of school you have two more meals a day that you have to be taken care of not only that is summertime and the kids are out and they're active and they're hungrier than ever and they're coming to you and saying mom what's for lunch and so now you can see it's got everything in there it's got your cereal it's got granola bars crackers juices they stocked up in the logistical center warehouse but more lean and efficient food manufacturing means there are less unsold surpluses to donate to the poor generating a new type of funding crisis here and there's a more fundamental change afoot it's very basic potatoes apples onions carrots what used to be this nation's middle class poverty in America used to be isolated in urban settings in rural settings that most people didn't see now it's very public so many people know someone who's had a terrible time since 2008 so it's much closer to home this is the calling card of how even though joblessness is now lower than Britain working America the great middle class are finding it tough to make ends meet a far from golden recovery Faisal Islam channel 4 news Rhode Island

Channel: Channel 4 News

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Keywords: United States of America, USA, US, United States, America, poor, hunger, poverty, starvation, food, food stamps, poverty line, money, government, politics, Barack Obama, Obama, groceries, grocery, Channel 4 News, 4 News, Channel 4, news, latest news, breaking news, news today

Id: Mkwky1AL5CU

Length: 8min 28sec (508 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 10 2013