I agree with the point Florida Sen. Marco Rubio is making in his Wall Street Journal op-ed:
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program is a lifeline for tens of millions of low-income Americans who rely on it for food. But like most government programs, SNAP is in dire need of reform.
Though SNAP is meant to supplement nutrition, more than 20% of all program spending goes to unhealthy food and drink. Taxpayers are projected to spend $240 billion on junk food, with more than $60 billion going exclusively to soda, over the next decade. Equally important are the health consequences for those relying on the program.
This subsidization of junk food is fueling American health crises. More than 40% of U.S. adults are obese, and roughly half have diabetes or prediabetes. These diseases can be debilitating. They are also extremely expensive, costing hundreds of billions of dollars in medical costs each year. That SNAP plays a role in their spread is immoral, irresponsible and reprehensible.
Both Democrats and Republicans should support this and have expressed support for this idea. However, in our present oppositional world I’m concerned that even something as commonsensical as this will be condemned as racist, anti-poor, etc.
I also suspect it will receive substantial pushback from the corporations who are profiting from the present subsidies. It has been estimated that as much as 40% of Coca Cola’s revenues are derived from SNAP (the program that replaced food stamps). I haven’t been able to discover how much of Hostess’s and Little Debby’s revenues come from SNAP but I’m sure it’s substantial.
That brings up a point too infrequently mentioned. The vast wasteland that is the American diet isn’t just a matter of availability but preference as well. The reason that junk food is such an enormous industry is because people like it.
“even something as commonsensical as this will be condemned as racist, anti-poor, “
Progressive views were spawned by, exist and control your party, Dave.
“The reason that junk food is such an enormous industry is because people like it.â€
And they have been conditioned to believe there are no consequences. Health care is free, and a right, no?
Common sense and democrat thinking can’t occupy the same sentence to make any sense. The current democrat party, conducting itself under progressive/Marxist ideology, is all about an ambitious need to have total power, keeping the people it professes to help in a state of dependency limbo with big government. That’s why so many of the policies promoted by Biden’s acolytes and administrative heads seem in sync with cultivating a 3rd world country motif, rather than one allowing hope, prosperity, and personal sovereignty to thrive.
The flagrant border invasion, the henchman-like treatment of people even minimally involved with the J6 protest, the lack of support for election safeguards like voter ID ( just adopted by the UK) or signature verification, defanging victim justice by lowering laws and indictments for criminals, having social justice dominate schools rather than academic achievements, bailing out big banks and allowing smaller ones to fail – basically anything that keeps the lower classes in line, takes the middle class out of the running, and the elite upper classes indefinitely in charge of everything is what defines the agenda of the progressive democrat party these days.
Not sure why it would be racist or anti-poor. Maybe because some cities already tried to impose a tax on this stuff and the outcry got those repealed? If this could actually be accomplished it would be great, but I dont think it is achievable or only achievable at costs higher than we would save.
Oh, and people know that eating junk food and drinking soda is bad for your health.
Steve