There's the SNAP program. Is that what you need?

Well you can get free food through the snap program. You and your 8 kids don't have to go hungry

It's food stamps. For gods sake just take the food stamps. Your 17 kids don't have to starve!!!

Because free market. It's basically very inefficient if you already have easily accessible, cheap bread everywhere to make your own and set up hand out stalls, etc.

It would cut down on fraud probably. Big bland chunks of bread and cheese and spam

Why do that when you can just use a card to access food that's already distributed?

Food banks

You have 37 children. Start a damn farm man

Why are you attacking him for asking a good question like this? It's something everyone should be asking. Just because it isn't feasible now doesn't mean we couldn't accomplish feeding everyone in the future, and asking these questions doesn't make someone a freeloader, as you seem to be suggesting...

I just know how tough it is to accept help sometimes. When my 48 kids and I left the refugee camp, I was too proud to ask about food stamps. I don't want him to make the same mistake as me and my 94 kids did.

It's 2017 and you don't know about food stamps?

That's actually a good question. I'm sure the government would be able to efficiently distribute cheap food in areas that actually need it. I bet the law would be a nightmare to pass though.

MREs are cheap, easy to store, easy to transport, and loaded with calories. Too bad, like you said, the beurocratic process would be a nightmare.

Food stamps

Also there's countless charities that do this, isn't there some church org called "John 13" that's all over the place giving out food once a week?

It has to do with the actual basis of power, especially in the economy. Farms are owned either by small families or, increasingly, megacorps. With property rights, if they own the land, they can do whatever they want with what is produced on the land, which usually means sell it. Unless the government were to actually buy out and legally own the farms, as the Imperial Estates were, or buy the grain themselves, as was also often the case in Rome, then it won't happen.

Not that this is to say that it is not an admirable goal. I just don't believe it's feasible until we have the tech to move to a post-scarcity society. Only if the incentive for monetization of the basic necessities of life is removed can we have a realistic chance of something like this, and without causing total anarchy and likely a totalitarian dictatorship, we wont do that without some tech that I feel is just over the horizon.

people prefer free sex

they're "thirsty"

It's not free. It's all based on taxes and even the poor pay taxes. If the government gives it out then it can be taken away. How about people learn how to live self sustainable lives. You know like hunting, fishing, gardening, etc. Once they get to a point with their communities they can create co-ops and food gardens. The ironic thing about your post and my comment is that the government is preventing people from doing this very thing.

Cause the state paid / pays for it.

Where does the state get it's money? I hope you forget the '/s' in your comment.

Okay but, after x amount of time the money will run out. How does the government sustain? You have two options taxes or debt.

Don't even bother trying to fucking explain.

These people that expect the government to give out free shit will never understand that the government literally produces nothing, and therefore have literally nothing to give unless it first takes from someone else that which it is giving.

Its beyond me why its illegal. You have states in acting laws which prohibits self sustainability. You want to collect your own rainwater? Go to jail You collect too much solar energy you get fined. You try and grow your own crops in certain places?..nope..... What does that tell you?....it tells you the government doesn't want you to live on your own...they want to make sure you have to rely on them....fucking animals.

Exactly. I firmly believe OP is being 'tongue and cheek' and trying to spawn the conversations like we are having to those who may sympathize with what he or she is saying.

How do you pay the farmers who grow the food? Taxes? If so, why not allow people to use the tax money to buy their own food?

Surely you're not implying that we give the government the sole power of production over the agricultural industry?

The government already pays people to grow food...

And where does the money in the treasury come from?

So you condone invading a country, pillaging its resources, so that you can get some free food?

GTFO

Because economy.

And when people fall through the cracks, social welfare picks them up (SNAP, Medicare, unemployment benefits) .... Ideally of course

Because this system is designed to keep us peasants working. Food is a huge reason people spend money, if they no longer had to pay for food we would have money to spend and be happier. This is a well balanced machine that has been tweaked and still is being tweaked over a long period of time.

Cause food isn’t free?

They do... One of the biggest health issues with poor people in America is obesity, think about that. Quality food, now that's something the people need.

because the government gives you nothing! the food is never free, its either donated by other people or paid for in taxes. if either of these dicontinue, you have to hunt or forage- but theres a limit on that too because of the "no hunting" laws. so keep your job and pay taxes or you're screwed bro.

Bread n Circuses. Keep the people distracted and feed too avoid revolts. Pretty much still the same today with welfare payments and TV shows.

The poorest people in America are the most obese. I dont think anyone is going hungry.

If you give away food for free, then you put all the stores that sell it out of business. You also put their suppliers out of business, and, unless you're buying from the producers who used to supply the supplier, then you put them out of business too.

Haiti is a great example of how you can fuck up a country with too much free food. US wanted to help Haiti so they sent them a bunch of US grown rice for free. That put every Haitian rice seller, wholesaler, distributor and farmer out of business. Haitians stopped producing their own rice, and when the US cut off the free rice, the native rice infrastructure never recovered, and Haitians found themselves importing a product from abroad they used to produce domestically.

This of course is a dramatic oversimplification of what happened, but hopefully you get the idea.

This is, as an aside, a good argument for giving out money instead of goods to the victims of disasters, famines, and droughts. Money will always attract goods, and won't put anyone out of business. It helps people without distorting local economies.

It's food stamps. For gods sake just take the food stamps. Your 17 kids don't have to starve!!!