Unlike other bloggers who used this story to mock the people involved, I have a different angle.
Now, granted, there's a lot to mock about morbidly obese people who are complaining that they have to cut their food budget because food stamps just aren't stretching as far these days, but the, er, meat of the story is far beyond just fat people on food stamps.
Gloria Nunez and her family (unspecified number and no husband for Gloria is mentioned) are
unemployed and rely on government assistance and food stamps. Some have part-time jobs, but working is made more difficult with no car or public transportation.
Well, not having any transportation does make it difficult to get a job most of the time.
Nunez, 40, has never worked and has no high school degree. She says a car accident 17 years ago left her depressed and disabled, incapable of getting a job. Instead, she and her daughter, Angelica Hernandez, survive on a $637 Social Security check and $102 in food stamps.
Hernandez received her high school diploma and has had several jobs in recent years. But now, because fewer restaurants and stores are hiring, she says she finds it hard to find a job.
Here's what bothers me about this story: Nunez and (evidently) other family members don't seem to have planned very well to have a better life than living on government aid. Surely, Nunez heard all throughout school that people who graduate from high school, delay having children until after marriage, and stay at a job almost never stay in poverty. Yet, apparently Nunez didn't want to believe the experts. And it sounds like much of her adult family is in the same boat.
So, here's what left me scratching my head: why doesn't the family move? Fostoria is a rather small community (population 14,000), and, from the NPR story, the economy is really bad there. But Fostoria is 40 miles from Toledo. Couldn't at least some of the family get to Toledo and get a job?
I'm not being heartless here. But when you can't find a job where you are, you either (a) get a job in a different place or (b) move to where you can find a job. I know that that can be unpleasant for people who don't want to move, but complaining that your $637 Social Security check and $102 in food stamps isn't enough is worse. You can, after all, get Social Security and food stamps anywhere in the U.S.
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