CNN's Food Stamp Story

This morning at work CNN did a story about how hard it is for people on food stamps to eat or make it through the month since family's on average receive $179 dollars a month. My mouth dropped, $179 dollars is a lot of money for groceries! They tried to say how sad it was because they had to buy instant mashed potatoes and watch their budget. I was under the impression that food stamps where to help families buy groceries however was not meant to be their only form of eating. I do not spend that much on groceries a month and if you combined what Keith and I spend together on groceries it is not that much. I also do not think that we should be televising stories about how horrible it is for these people on food stamps for having to budget shop. In case CNN has not noticed the state of our economy (Which I know it has since the alternate story was about AIG failing) they need to promote saving money where and when you can. Then the part that really pushed me over the edge was when they started interviewing people on food stamps who started crying about having to spend 20-30 dollars of their own money a month on groceries just to make sure they are not just eating from prepackaged boxes. I literally almost lost my mind over the whole thing! I mean sure it didn't help that it was at 8 am when I had only been at work for an hour.

Don't get me wrong I do think helping families with grocery money to eat is a good thing. I do not think anyone should live on them forever either. I think it is a helpful program to help lower income families save money on buying groceries to help get them on their feet. If the government gave them more money a month in groceries it would teach them nothing about saving and budgeting for when it came time for them to live off of food stamps. It's time for everyone not just people receiving government aid to start budgeting and learn the value of a dollar.