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Yes!

Why would a human being feel that feeding children is NOT their responsibility?

Clearly you have never had to be the "free lunch kid", or idealize your childhood independent of the cruelty of "different". You are extremely privileged.

The idea that we'd limit what kids we fund for meals, education, etc. is just gross and bifurcates any moralistic or democratic ideals.

The US has a serious problem with "bootstraps" and whatnot. Which really means, survival of the sh1tt1est.

If you feel that investing in the future of your community is BS, stop living in a community.

You don't have kids? Cool!

Meanwhile, you don't feel like you need to contribute to the future you wish you had secured for yourself without struggle? F*ck you. Your community is an investment in the continued existence of a people with similar DNA as yourself.

It is beyond my understanding to fathom how in 2022 we're all still trying to deal with false scarcity as some sort of reality.

There is MORE than enough for everyone, but we don't really care about that beyond a family or clan directive. That's a shame for any culture.



> Why would a human being feel that feeding children is NOT their responsibility?

Perhaps we should ask the parents who are encouraged to not feed their own children because of the existence of these programs.


I was at the house of the owner of a company I worked for. I mentioned my amusement at seeing a school bus in this very rural area on the way to his house. He complained that he didn’t have kids so he didn’t see why he should have to pay for that. I replied that, as my employer, he was benefiting from my public school education. That ended that conversation.


It’s not defunding education. It’s saying rather than waste money on something unnecessary over here (like free lunches for the wealthy) let’s spend it on something better (like teacher salaries).


If you have a progressive tax system, excess government aid used by wealthy families is more than made up for by the higher tax rates those families pay. In exchange, you end up with programs that are simpler to operate, have less red tape, and have a broader base of political support.


How much higher would their salaries be?


Order of magnitude calculation…

Let’s say there is a 22 to 1 student to teacher ratio. And 20 don’t need the free lunch but you give it to them anyways. Let’s say you’re spending $5 per meal per kid. That’s $100/day. 180 days per school year. $18k per class.

It could be higher, it could be lower. Certainly it’s enough to be out to good use.


The additional subsidy for free lunches in the US currently is closer to $3.60, and you are massively overestimating how many additional free lunches would be consumed. The majority of school lunches consumed are already free. In 2019[1], 20.1 million free lunches were served compared to 7.7 million full price (and 1.7 million reduced price). And even the "full price" lunches are partially subsidized. So even assuming that all of the students in that class are eating school lunches (they aren't; only about 60% of kids do), the difference is more like 5-6 "unnecessary" lunches, not 20. The real number would likely be significantly lower than that.

[1]: https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/child-nutrition-tables


I apologize for triggering you into profanity. This is clearly an emotional topic for you.

Actually I’d rather they spend the money on teachers rather than lunches for kids whose parents can afford to pay for their own.




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