Myth of the Welfare Queen

The New York Times recently published this story about the spike in the number of families applying for food stamps who have no income at all.

(I pilfered this from the Ohio Association of Second Harvest Food Banks blog. Thanks!)

I'd say that is true for many of the people I come across. Not many are making more than $400/mo. Most have a couple of kids and something like $100 in the bank. I don't know how some of them do it.

Along those same lines, I just started reading a book called "Myth of the Welfare Queen," kindly loaned to me by fellow VISTA Maureen.



It's written by a journalist who followed a couple of welfare families in North Philadelphia for six months in 1995 just prior to the inaction of Clinton's 1996 welfare reform.

I'm probably biased, but I usually enjoy books written by journalists. They know how to research thoroughly, write concisely and hook readers fast.

So far so good. I'll keep you posted.