Food Stamps: ObamaNation

I'm a strong supporter of the food stamp program.

Certainly the reporter could have come up with a better example if trying to find support for the program. USA Today is reporting:

[One recipient] says she received a little less than $550 a month in food stamps and now will receive $497. Crisp, a babysitter who brings home about $830 a month, says the food stamps help her buy her family fresh fruits, vegetables and meat.

And then this:

Crisp worries now she may end up trying to supplement her family's groceries by going to a food bank or cutting into her electric or gas money for the month. The cut, she says, also means she will have to buy more canned fruits and vegetables, foregoing her daughters' favorite fruit, kiwi, and buying packaged meat.

"Cut into her electric or gas money for the month?" My hunch is that the war on coal (note: she is from Ohio), is probably costing her more than what she is losing in food stamps.

Money is fungible. $50/30 days = $1.67/day. A pack of cigarettes in Ohio = $5.88. 

"Buying packaged meat?" Okay.

"Favorite fruit?" Kiwi. Back in 2008, $1.80/pound vs 45 cents/pound for bananas (I doubt the relative price differential has changed much).

"Will have to buy more canned fruits and vegetables?"