Starting this Friday forty seven million families will begin to feel the crunch as food stamps are cut. Fifteen percent of the population receives help from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. This almost double the number of people on food stamps in 2007, with the average household receiving under a one hundred and fifty dollars a month .

Not all families are losing them altogether , but all will find their monthly stipend decreased, for instance a family of three who receives the maximum monthly amount of five hundred and twenty seven dollars, will find their monthly amount reduced to four hundred and ninety seven dollars. So not as severe at the news might sound.

It might be wise to mandate smart shopping classes to food stamp recipients, as four hundred and ninety seven dollars a month breaks down to one hundred and twenty four dollars a week. One hundred and twenty four dollars a week is pretty good eating if you are buying store brand products. But then again obesity is a problem in this country and food stamps are handed out based on the weight of a three person family.

Not all food stamp recipients are unemployed some are just underemployed , there are even companies like the mega billion dollar Mcdonalds who help their employees get food stamps. The company even has the T McResource line is available to help McDonald's workers navigate the process of getting public assistance. The company traditionally pays their employees 8.25 if they have been working there for at least ten years.

It seems there is another problem if your company sets up a help to assist your underpaid employees and your are a fortune 500 company. It also raises other questions like are the call center representatives who run this help line also on food stamps? It could be also argued that if you knowingly stay with a company that has capped you out at eight dollars an hour after you have worked their a decade, then the problem might also be on the employees side of the street.

So this is a multi-layered problem, that goes beyond just an electronic card to assist in buying groceries. Has the American dream of being whatever you want to be come down to a couch potato who eats over a hundred and twenty dollars in groceries every week? Is it a lack of ambition or have we set up a system that is failing and too many dead end jobs?