Newark Mayor Cory Booker To Live On Food Stamps for a Week

Interesting.

According to this story, Newark Mayor Cory Booker will be meeting the challenge of a Twitter follower and abide by the SNAP program for a week.

The challenge came about over an exchange he had with the follower identified as @MWadeNC, saying, in so many words, that our government’s investment in such things as schools and nutrition, as opposed to police and prisons, would reap wealth in this country.

According to this report:
he tweeted…..

“An imbalance between rich and poor is the oldest and most fatal ailment of all republics,” which prompted the response from the follower, accusing him of wanting to redistribute wealth.

“We pay 4 HUGE back end govt programs: prisons, police, etc. If we invested in Schools, nutrition, etc we’d save $ & create wealth,” Booker tweeted back.

More than 415,000 families received assistance from NJ SNAP, New Jersey’s food stamp program, in September. Almost 15 percent of those families live in Essex County, where Newark is located. Essex had one of the highest increases in the state in demand for SNAP benefits that month, with the number of families participating rising 9.1 percent in the year ending in September.

@MWadeNC, a user who identifies herself as a “Daughter of the American Revolution (DAR), fighting against any and all forms of socialism/communism.. Army Veteran, Army Daughter, Army Wife,” responded to Booker, “nutrition is not a responsibility of the government.”

Booker said it was a shared responsibility, to which @MWadeNC asserted that food stamps should be enough to enable a family to afford breakfast.

“Lets you and I try to live on food stamps in New Jersey (high cost of living) and feed a family for a week or month. U game?” Booker tweeted at @MWadeNC.
“sure, Mayor, I’m game,” she replied.

He has since tweeted that he would participate in the SNAP challenge from Dec. 4-11 and report back about the experience on LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook and Waywire.

Here’s a better idea.

Instead of taking the challenge to live on food stamps for a week, why not try to find the abuses in the program and end those.

Why not speak to the folks on the front lines about the items food stamp recipients buy; and how they use their monthly allotment?

I think @MWadeNC is on to something…but the challenge is misdirected.

Working at a supermarket checkout person and watching how the program is abused might open the mayor's eyes a bit!

No?

Is Cory Booker’s attempt to live on Food Stamps misguided?