re: Thoughts on kids and school lunches

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You seem to be overlooking a simple reality.

We already subsidize lunches for kids with parents who can't afford them.

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surely you're not dense enough to believe that handing the parents of the children money to feed them will undoubtedly reach them..

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Giving them out for free at school is a double subsidy.

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School is already taken out of our taxes. Feeding them while in school should be included.

It's like Social Security man. We all know it's a giant waste and a ponzi scheme but if the government were to just stop taking SS out of our paychecks and tell American citizen to invest that money themselves,you know less than 25% would do so and end up broke and right back on the government /taxpayers dole before reaching retirement.

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If your parents make $10M a year you can still get free lunch. The reason for this is that the local school system receives federal funds targeting the poor by counting the number of students on free lunch. So, the more kids in your district on free lunch, the more money you get from the fed.
Therefore, nobody checks to see what your parents make. They encourage you to apply and automatically OK you for free lunch.

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Down in Da Parish, before we went to the "everyone eats free in Pre-K through 8th" program, they asked for copies of tax returns and paystubs when you applied.

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Not sure you understand economics but carry on

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Yes, I understand that for most people, expenses have grown faster than wages.

Economics 101

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surely you're not dense enough to believe that handing the parents of the children money to feed them will undoubtedly reach them..

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Oh, I get why the people who want school lunch programs want them. I'm simply pointing out that the "because they can't afford it" argument is false.

Once that is recognized, then, I say this.

No problem. Have a free/reduced lunch program. If your kid goes on it, the requisite $$ amount is taken from subsidies you already receive in the form of food stamps or other welfare type programs.

There's no reason we should give parents money to feed their children, and then, feed their children too!

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We have reached a point in our society - and this sucks - where we have to realize that some parents aren't going to use the food stamps to feed their kids. At all.

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This acknowledgement is all I was looking for.

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So we can either

1) Say screw the kids and let em starve

2) Feed the kids directly

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I say, go with #2 and, if you do, remove that same dollar amount from the subsidies the parents already receive to feed their kids.

Then, you feed the kids AND, no double subsidy.

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There's no reason we should give parents money to feed their children, and then, feed their children too!

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Look, I believe the food stamps should go away and we should go back to the days of providing government cheese, meat, and breads, etc, directly to the families who need it.

But... WalMart stock price would collapse if we did that!

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I say, go with #2 and, if you do, remove that same dollar amount from the subsidies the parents already receive to feed their kids.

Then, you feed the kids AND, no double subsidy.

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Too add.

Here's the problem with what we do now and it's frankly a problem with many welfare programs.

You don't compare the poor kid to the rich kid. Compare him to the kid with parents just above water. The ones who do NOT qualify for free school lunch.

THEY pay for their kid's lunches. Meanwhile, the parent who qualifies for school lunch, ALSO gets money that should actually feed their kid in the first place.

Basically, when you add the shite we give to those just below water to their situation, they are often equal or better off than the ones just above water. Which is silly

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Look, I believe the food stamps should go away and we should go back to the days of providing government cheese, meat, and breads, etc, directly to the families who need it.

But... WalMart stock price would collapse if we did that!

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I'm not saying take all stamps away.

But, if lunch would cost my kid $2 per day, then, that means $10 per week should be pulled from "free lunch kid's parental food stamps".

If a parent doesn't want this to happen, they can feed their friggin kid.

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I like the idea, but that would require some kind of link between the school lunch account and the food stamp program account. You couldn't just do a flat amount per month, because what if some days, the kid DID bring lunch from home?

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I don't really think in 2019, this is some major technological challenge.

Sure. There would be a lag. If kiddo got $40 worth of lunch in August, you lose $40 in food stamps in Sept. Frankly, probably doesn't even require that, but certainly doable.

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Basically, when you add the shite we give to those just below water to their situation, they are often equal or better off than the ones just above water. Which is silly

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You are correct, and one way to fix this problem is to just give everyone free lunch.

You could also dramatically increase the levels of income that allow you to qualify for a free lunch, but then you get back to the issue of compliance costs outweighing the delta of additional costs of just giving everyone free lunch.

You also have the issue of parents who are too proud to admit they need help, even when they do. I get that's something that should be a good trait, but it's really hurting the kids. If you are working your arse off trying to make ends meet, take the damn help - you deserve the help more than the parent who does nothing.