Network Schools – Wayne Gerseny to https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/04/03/magazine/thomas-piketty-interview u w B l.html?h I’ll smid=url-share the Is for

The NYTimes Lola Fadulu reported today that a recent change in regulations in the Trump administration will result in “hundreds of thousands” losing access to food stamps with a like number of students losing ready access to free or reduced lunches. As critics of this change note, this change is the result of the GOP’s mindset that hundreds of thousands of people want to be dependent on the government for food stamps and they are unwilling to work the hours needed to improve their lot in life. As for their children, they are, in effect, collateral damage.

The article describes the GOP’s desire to curtail these government programs in the name of eliminating dependency. Of course one way they could eliminate dependency on “costly programs” that “handout food to lazy individuals” seeking a “government dole” would be to increase the minimum wage to a level where fewer people would qualify for the program… or compel businesses to schedule workers to long enough work shifts that they would be able to earn living wage… or ensure that people have sufficient money to afford housing and food. But such actions would cramp the profits of corporations (or in the favored parlance of the GOP “hurt small businesses”) and require government regulators. Better to punish the “lazy” than reward hard work with a living wage.