Next Tuesday if you want food stamps in Pennsylvania you have to prove you don’t have assets of more than $5,500. If you do, you have to sell them if you want the stamps. If you are age 60 or over, you can have up to $9000.
According to an AP article in the Times News, the Pennsylvania Public Welfare Department estimates that the proposed rules will affect less than one percent of recipients. It might also be noted that the new rules will not save Pennsylvania any money, since this is a federal program.
So why is Pennsylvania doing this? I’m guessing it is to further stigmatize the poor. After all, it’s their fault. They didn’t inherit money. They got laid off from work. They have too many kids. They don’t give campaign contributions.
If you want to know if a government is acting morally, look at the way it treats the weakest members of society--its poor, its children, its old people, its immigrants. Pennsylvania can pass legislation making 2012 the year of the Bible, but it has an immoral government.
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