Mara Pellittieri
@marapellittieri.bsky.social
Editor, garden obsessive, and queer about town. Editorial at American Insight, formerly Urban Institute, TalkPoverty, and Center for American Progress.
Fwiw, this is a pretty common libertarian argument — folks like Niskanen have argued we should wipe out the social safety net in favor of a more robust CTC. It’s almost always less generous, and it ignores out a lot of the ways these programs can function on the community level.
October 29, 2025 at 3:42 PM
Fwiw, this is a pretty common libertarian argument — folks like Niskanen have argued we should wipe out the social safety net in favor of a more robust CTC. It’s almost always less generous, and it ignores out a lot of the ways these programs can function on the community level.
Yeah, even if the credit was fully refundable there would be distribution issues. Plus, you know, the paternalism of it all.
October 29, 2025 at 3:35 PM
Yeah, even if the credit was fully refundable there would be distribution issues. Plus, you know, the paternalism of it all.
Kids these days just don’t want to WORK anymore.
June 3, 2025 at 10:13 PM
Kids these days just don’t want to WORK anymore.
There is nothing wrong with prepared foods. They’re convenient, accessible sources of food.
But we’ve systematically blocked access to them.
No prepared foods for SNAP, and now no peanut butter for seniors?
But we’ve systematically blocked access to them.
No prepared foods for SNAP, and now no peanut butter for seniors?
June 2, 2025 at 3:29 PM
There is nothing wrong with prepared foods. They’re convenient, accessible sources of food.
But we’ve systematically blocked access to them.
No prepared foods for SNAP, and now no peanut butter for seniors?
But we’ve systematically blocked access to them.
No prepared foods for SNAP, and now no peanut butter for seniors?
Even if the boxes got to the people who need them, we have no reason to think people could use them.
1. The boxes don’t have the pantry staples that turn fresh produce into a meal.
2. A lot of people receiving them can’t cook for themselves. They’re disabled, don’t have full kitchens, etc.
1. The boxes don’t have the pantry staples that turn fresh produce into a meal.
2. A lot of people receiving them can’t cook for themselves. They’re disabled, don’t have full kitchens, etc.
June 2, 2025 at 3:23 PM
Even if the boxes got to the people who need them, we have no reason to think people could use them.
1. The boxes don’t have the pantry staples that turn fresh produce into a meal.
2. A lot of people receiving them can’t cook for themselves. They’re disabled, don’t have full kitchens, etc.
1. The boxes don’t have the pantry staples that turn fresh produce into a meal.
2. A lot of people receiving them can’t cook for themselves. They’re disabled, don’t have full kitchens, etc.
There’s no infrastructure for this. At all.
1. They fired thousands of staff so there aren’t any people to handle the logistics.
2. They want to cut out food banks, the only people who could handle some of the distribution.
So, these boxes are just going to rot at the farms that made them.
1. They fired thousands of staff so there aren’t any people to handle the logistics.
2. They want to cut out food banks, the only people who could handle some of the distribution.
So, these boxes are just going to rot at the farms that made them.
June 2, 2025 at 3:21 PM
There’s no infrastructure for this. At all.
1. They fired thousands of staff so there aren’t any people to handle the logistics.
2. They want to cut out food banks, the only people who could handle some of the distribution.
So, these boxes are just going to rot at the farms that made them.
1. They fired thousands of staff so there aren’t any people to handle the logistics.
2. They want to cut out food banks, the only people who could handle some of the distribution.
So, these boxes are just going to rot at the farms that made them.
No matter how things go today, it’d be nice if we all agreed to open the windows around sundown tonight to scream “fuck you, Strom Thurmond” into the abyss.
April 1, 2025 at 5:26 PM
No matter how things go today, it’d be nice if we all agreed to open the windows around sundown tonight to scream “fuck you, Strom Thurmond” into the abyss.