US Governor lives on $21 for one week in a welfare challenge
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too bad we don't have much pictures of her. sg government enforcing their rule on the internet.Originally posted by the Bear:go google her picture and tell me that's a woman
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didn't see that he said gas bill was included....ha ha ha....but seriously you have to consider US is also an agriculture states as such alot of the food bill if a person want to save money they can visit $0.99 cent stores, you can get a dozen of eggs for $0.99 cent, its amazing what one can find in a $0.99 cents store.Originally posted by LazerLordz:A Governor Truly Tightens His Belt
Thomas Patterson/Statesman Journal, via Associated Press
For a week of food, Governor Kulongoski limited himself to $21, the average for Oregonians on food stamps.
By William Yardley
Published: May 1, 2007
SALEM, Ore., April 27 — He swore off beer, had to put the pricey organic bananas back on the supermarket shelf and squeezed four meals out of a single chicken, all in the name of reducing hunger. And this is not even an election year.
Gov. Theodore R. Kulongoski’s decision to live on $3 a day in grocery money for a week, as he had been urged to do in an Oregon “food stamp challenge,” could confound the surest cynic. At 66, he was just elected to his second term, with a budget surplus surpassing $1 billion and a legislature controlled by his fellow Democrats. So just what was there to gain politically?
For a governor who has long pushed to reduce hunger and happens to like eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, maybe that was not the point.
As Wayne Scott, the leader of the House Republicans, put it: “Obviously I’m in the opposite party, so it would be easy for me to knock him for this. Now, I don’t know that I fully believe that he’s eating on $21 a week, but I do think he’s trying to bring attention to the food stamp issue. He’s a pretty straight shooter.”
Mr. Kulongoski, who said he had not tried to skirt a strict limit of $21 for the week — the average amount allowed Oregon food stamp recipients — claimed that his only goal had been to raise awareness of hunger here and of a need for the federal government to preserve the current level of stamp benefits.
Along the way, however, the governor, little known outside the state, also raised awareness of himself. News organizations across the country picked up coverage of his shopping expedition to his local grocery store, where he was guided by a state worker who had temporarily relied on food stamps. Calls came in from Europe. Hundreds of people sent e-mail messages to the main sponsor of the challenge, the Oregon Food Bank, saying they too had been inspired to give it a try.
By the end of the week, not only had Mr. Kulongoski’s relatively spare entry on Wikipedia been updated to reflect the developments, there was also a sense that the 5-foot-9, 155-pound governor had set a high standard for other elected leaders who profess to care about the needy. In Washington, the House Hunger Caucus asked members of Congress to undertake a similar challenge in May. Closer to home, Mr. Kulongoski noted, one of his West Coast counterparts would have a particularly tough act to follow. “I think Arnold probably has a larger caloric intake than I do,” he said.
Mr. Kulongoski has made hunger an issue since he was first elected in 2002. That fall, he said in an interview, he was surprised to learn that Oregon ranked high on the list of what the Department of Agriculture used to call hunger and now calls “food insecurity.” Oregon’s timber and agricultural industries had long been struggling, driving up unemployment, and the high-tech boom that had benefited places like Portland had started to unravel.
Since then, the state has fallen lower on the list, thanks to an improving economy and federal policies that allow it to expand eligibility for food stamps, said Michael Leachman, a policy analyst for the Oregon Center for Public Policy, which advocates for lower-income people.
Still, Oregon continues to have a higher unemployment rate, at 5.2 percent, than that of the country as a whole, 4.4 percent. High-tech jobs are growing again in Portland, but the timber industry continues to decline. “We have a very pronounced rural-urban split,” said William Lunch, a professor of political science at Oregon State University.
Under a farm bill now before Congress, advocates for the hungry say, the rules that allow expanded eligibility for food stamps could be restricted, potentially disqualifying about 50,000 of the 434,000 Oregonians who use them. On Friday, Mr. Kulongoski sent a letter to President Bush asking him to preserve the current benefits.
The governor, a former labor lawyer, state insurance commissioner, state attorney general and member of the Oregon Supreme Court, noted more than once during his week on the low-cost diet that he grew up an orphan in a Catholic boys home in St. Louis. He said Friday that he had learned to clean his plate no matter what was on it.
With Mr. Kulongoski and his wife, Mary Oberst, limited to $42 between them, what was on the plate became distinctly familiar. Ms. Oberst, who typically does their cooking — the governor has no kitchen staff — released a to-the-penny menu midway through the week that showed a single chicken surfacing first with zucchini on the side, and then later in salad and a “chowder.”
[The couple returned to their regular diet on Sunday afternoon. In a brief telephone interview on Monday, the governor said that eating less had clearly affected him. “I went to bed earlier,” he said, “because I was tired at the end of the day.” He also said he had missed his stash of Northwest microbrews.]
How much do the Kulongoskis usually spend on food? Hard to say. The governorÂ’s office puts it at just $55 a week, but that is for at-home meals only. Not included are things they eschewed during the challenge: meals at official functions, dinners out, and lunches and snacks bought on the job.
For all the public fascination with the governorÂ’s menu, there did not appear to be immediate benefits for his policy agenda. Mr. KulongoskiÂ’s proposal to provide health insurance to children by raising the cigarette tax failed in an initial vote during the week, though he said he believed that it would pass before the legislature adjourns in June. His plan to expand financing for community colleges has also stalled for now.
Asked if his lean week had bolstered his political heft, he said: “I don’t think it makes any difference. I’ve been in this for 35 years, and these things all pass. Next week they may not remember me being on the diet, but something will stay in the mind about hunger in Oregon.”
The New York Times[/url]
So by nature of Singapore limited landmass it is already 1 loss when comparing. Can't compete.
Maybe there should be a reality TV program in Singapore to show that who ever can survie in Singapore for less than $XX amount in a week. Get a million dollar. -
Survivor : Singapore.
Outsave, Outwork, Outlive. -
21 x 1.65= 34.65
hmmm in sg should be fine. -
wait.
is it me, or does he look like robin williams? -
It's you.Originally posted by missqi:wait.
is it me, or does he look like robin williams? -
food... okay..
how about rent, utilities, and the rest of the things?
Originally posted by missqi:21 x 1.65= 34.65
hmmm in sg should be fine. -
But the article stated that USD21 was only for food stamps.Originally posted by the Bear:food... okay..
how about rent, utilities, and the rest of the things? -
i guess..
wonder how they would do for the rest of things?Originally posted by missqi:But the article stated that USD21 was only for food stamps. -
Originally posted by the Bear:i guess..
wonder how they would do for the rest of things?
I don't know; I'm not very clear on the issue.
It sounds like a welfare state.
The article didn't say anything about the rest of the things.
I'm talking about the context of food stamps only.
v
Don't they work?
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I think they might just barely work. Only barely. Scraping by perhaps.Originally posted by missqi:
I don't know; I'm not very clear on the issue.
It sounds like a welfare state.
The article didn't say anything about the rest of the things.
I'm talking about the context of food stamps only.v
Don't they work?
Remember the debate that Lily Neo had with Vivian over the $290 a month welfare checks given to the poor? I hardly think that is enough for them, seeing that they still have to pay the rental of their own flat, and utilities, there's simply not enough left for three square meals a day, and these are the elderly we are talking about, majority of whom are bedridden.
I'm seriously peeved at how the government can play politics with the needs of destitute elderly and not give them enough welfare money to cover their basic needs of shelter, food and utilties. Shameful. Fcuking shameful -
There's welfare for the old..
You guessed it right, the old man whose initials goes by LKY..
Doing naught, and get free flights to show that he have not kicked the bucket.
[Nelstar] -
the old 1 bed room flat near people's park. Lots of old folks living in those building. Singapore is a small island, it is amazing that people get left out.Originally posted by LazerLordz:I think they might just barely work. Only barely. Scraping by perhaps.
Remember the debate that Lily Neo had with Vivian over the $290 a month welfare checks given to the poor? I hardly think that is enough for them, seeing that they still have to pay the rental of their own flat, and utilities, there's simply not enough left for three square meals a day, and these are the elderly we are talking about, majority of whom are bedridden.
I'm seriously peeved at how the government can play politics with the needs of destitute elderly and not give them enough welfare money to cover their basic needs of shelter, food and utilties. Shameful. Fcuking shameful -
I've done a few photoshoots there, the conditions are quite dire. Most of them cant read or write, yet HDB pastes notices in English on their letterboxes.Originally posted by Arapahoe:the old 1 bed room flat near people's park. Lots of old folks living in those building. Singapore is a small island, it is amazing that people get left out.
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haha..
hehehe..
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In Singapore, things are cheap enough that the poor or the aged can survive on $260 for one month.
Or at least that is what one minister claims. -
that's why we want to see him do it for a couple of monthsOriginally posted by charlize:In Singapore, things are cheap enough that the poor or the aged can survive on $260 for one month.
Or at least that is what one minister claims. -
wah who so lihai?Originally posted by charlize:In Singapore, things are cheap enough that the poor or the aged can survive on $260 for one month.
Or at least that is what one minister claims.
i oso wanna survive on 260 a mth
i go try try in june den let u all noe -
This is a side track but I thought it do well with your picture.Originally posted by LazerLordz:I've done a few photoshoots there, the conditions are quite dire. Most of them cant read or write, yet HDB pastes notices in English on their letterboxes.
A real undying love story that once roam thru the street of people park. I met a PRC man in 1991 Washington DC. when he knew that I am from Singapore he let a big "Sign" said to me "I" was almost a Singapore Citizen. I ask him how so?
His parent had grow up in Singapore, China town People Park, They were both educated in Singapore british school system. Met somewhere in China Town. Fell in Love, got married and decided to return to China to complete their University education in China. They were trap during the war, Communist came and took them as espionage because they speak English. Send to work camp got torture. Not sure how many years they were kept but finally release and became English teacher.
i am sure there are plenty of similar stories happen with folks who decided to return to china back in the late 30's. it would be great to smoke them out and it would make a good documentary for Singapore. -
It's all in the news.Originally posted by shinta:wah who so lihai?
i oso wanna survive on 260 a mth
i go try try in june den let u all noe
Go do some research. -
He probably spends more than that in one day, ....maybe even for one mealOriginally posted by the Bear:that's why we want to see him do it for a couple of months -
i still think they'd be in a corner, curled up in a foetal position, crying pathetically...Originally posted by av98m:He probably spends more than that in one day, ....maybe even for one meal
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That's a very interesting tale.Originally posted by Arapahoe:This is a side track but I thought it do well with your picture.
A real undying love story that once roam thru the street of people park. I met a PRC man in 1991 Washington DC. when he knew that I am from Singapore he let a big "Sign" said to me "I" was almost a Singapore Citizen. I ask him how so?
His parent had grow up in Singapore, China town People Park, They were both educated in Singapore british school system. Met somewhere in China Town. Fell in Love, got married and decided to return to China to complete their University education in China. They were trap during the war, Communist came and took them as espionage because they speak English. Send to work camp got torture. Not sure how many years they were kept but finally release and became English teacher.
i am sure there are plenty of similar stories happen with folks who decided to return to china back in the late 30's. it would be great to smoke them out and it would make a good documentary for Singapore.
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I think they might just barely work. Only barely. Scraping by perhaps.
Remember the debate that Lily Neo had with Vivian over the $290 a month welfare checks given to the poor? I hardly think that is enough for them, seeing that they still have to pay the rental of their own flat, and utilities, there's simply not enough left for three square meals a day, and these are the elderly we are talking about, majority of whom are bedridden.
I'm seriously peeved at how the government can play politics with the needs of destitute elderly and not give them enough welfare money to cover their basic needs of shelter, food and utilties. Shameful. Fcuking shamefu
bloody right mate!!!especially the last 2words.
i like to add one more word to it.
Fcuking shameful GoVt! -
I want to see them squeeze into the MRT at jurong east interchange during peak hoursOriginally posted by the Bear:i still think they'd be in a corner, curled up in a foetal position, crying pathetically...
And take bus in the Serangoon area