How Government Cheese Became Welfare For Farmers
Vložit
- čas přidán 5. 03. 2019
- The U.S. has too much cheese - 1.4 billion pounds of it to be exact. To get some of that cheese off the market, the U.S. Department of Agriculture has spent $47.1 million buying up roughly 22 million pounds of it since 2016, according to a USDA spokesperson.
But this isn't the first time the government has bought tons of American cheese. In the 1970s, the USDA stepped in to help control volatile milk prices, and it became very profitable to produce milk. So, farmers started producing way too much of it, which was then turned into way too much cheese.
In 1981, then-President Ronald Reagan declared 30 million pounds of American cheese would be distributed to food pantries, school lunch programs and other welfare programs. By 1984, the U.S. was storing about 5 pounds of cheese for every American.
"People talk about food assistance programs as if they were created to help poor people out," said Andrew Novakovic, professor of agricultural economics at Cornell University. "Yes that's true, but almost all of the major food assistance programs were ideas that came from agriculture because we had too much of something."
Suddenly a block of surplus dairy product became a neatly packaged symbol of economic status known as "government cheese." It's been referenced in "SNL" sketches and songs by artists including DMX, Kendrick Lamar, The Roots and Jay Z.
"It would come in these big brick-type blocks and it's like Day-Glo orange," said Bobbi Dempsey, writer of The Tyranny and the Comfort of Government Cheese. "It brings back bittersweet feelings. It was a staple of childhood, so there's a nostalgia about that. But at the same time it's yet another aspect of life as a poor person that you had no control over."
» Subscribe to CNBC: cnb.cx/SubscribeCNBC
About CNBC: From 'Wall Street' to 'Main Street' to award winning original documentaries and Reality TV series, CNBC has you covered. Experience special sneak peeks of your favorite shows, exclusive video and more.
Connect with CNBC News Online
Get the latest news: www.cnbc.com/
Follow CNBC on LinkedIn: cnb.cx/LinkedInCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Facebook: cnb.cx/LikeCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Twitter: cnb.cx/FollowCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Google+: cnb.cx/PlusCNBC
Follow CNBC News on Instagram: cnb.cx/InstagramCNBC
#CNBC
How Government Cheese Became Welfare For Farmers
Tasted like cheddar, melted evenly like Velveeta, kept a long time... a government mistake that worked. Who knew?
Technically it is not cheese. It is plasticized vegetable oil
Thats the new cheese its very much like velveeta. The old cheese my grandad would buy off people was pretty good for grilled cheese sandwiches is what i used it for. It wasnt velveeta i hate that stuff its nasty. It tasted like a low grade cheddar but it was pretty good. I remeber the brown cardboard box it came in and if you didnt cover it back up with some plastic or foil it would turn hard as a brick and wouldnt be edible anymore.
@@duanedodson1 so its plastic that tastes that good?!
Probably why they eventually cancelled the program.
It came in a brick, just like a deli cheese block. Nothing that strange about it.
I remember seeing the fridge and cabinets full of all those different shaped white packages and being super excited and grateful. Many times those were the only packages but as a kid I didn’t feel deprived. I was a teenager when I finally figured out we were poor.
Bruh
Same here, my parents let me be a kid and didn't tell me about our dire situation. That's the best way to raise a kid.
@@chrisfuller1268 You didn't know your dire situation? I did. When your parents can't afford to go school clothing shopping before school began or you had to use up the last of your pencils and paper from last year, it sinks in.
@@kalel33 my parents couldn't afford school clothes either, at times, so I had to use my savings from my summer jobs. They referred to it as taking some responsibility for myself. I didn't realize until later they were broke. Maybe you're smarter than me! I'm still glad they kept me in the dark. There was nothing I could have done about it but worry and let it steal from my childhood.
@@chrisfuller1268 I had a paper route from 4th grade on. Paid for my own clothes most of the time, except the socks and underwear you got at Xmas for presents. I dreaded opening up a present and finding socks and underwear.
Government cheese was almost all cheddar and some American cheese. It wasn't as "bad" as everyone made it out to be. It was actually really good.
They made the best grill cheese sandwiches. That’s just a Fact!
@@triple9fine FACTS
I ate it for many, many years growing up and it was revolting to me. It definitely wasn’t “almost all cheddar” when I was forced to eat it. That and powdered milk and buckets of gross PB. *shudder*
@@danaseymour9213 Government cheese was made of any variety or combination of various grades of Cheddar cheese, Colby cheese, cheese curd, or granular cheeses. Government cheese was often very inconsistent, not only by the region in the US where one lived but also in it's grade which ran from a blandly mild cheese with little to no flavor to the very harsh extra-extra sharp and pungent varieties. All of which along with the negative stigma around it is largely the reason many people despised it. Government cheese was also pretty much the only cheese used in school cafeterias and in school lunches for more than 30 years. So if you ate any cheese during your school lunch in the 70's and 80's, that was "government cheese" that you were eating.
I can relate to what you said as well as your feelings about Government cheese. I remember it being really really bad at times but I also predominantly remember it being relatively good because I had something to eat.
I also, due to my father's military service, had the "opportunity" to experience how different the government cheese was from different parts of the country each time we moved when my father was transferred from one new duty station to the next. Government cheese was relatively regional and I can attest to it having a huge variety in its "quality".
Now with all that being said, there's no right or wrong answers or experience when it came to government cheese.
The weight of my experience and memories of government cheese isn't any more valuable nor any less valuable than yours were.
For some, like yourself, it was negative.
For others it was positive, And for others still, it was a broad mix of both.
Our experiences were just different.
I hope that you can appreciate that as much as I appreciated hearing about your experience with government cheese.
Now if this video was about the powdered milk and bucket PB we had from way back when, well then I can say that my opinions there would align squarely with yours when it comes to those two.
Take care Miss Seymour and I hope that you have a pleasant and wonderful day!
@@robertfrost8452 Thank you for some background info. I always figured it must have varied in quality based on how many folks grew up loving it (my own husband remembers it fondly). And no, I wouldn’t eat it in school either, even though I received free lunch. To this day I have a ridiculous aversion to orange American-style cheese in general and won’t eat things like velveta or cheese whiz, and always choose white cheddar instead of orange when shopping myself. I think perhaps because our brick of government cheese was frequently moldy and my mom would just cut those parts off and tell me to keep eating. Ha. The joys of being poor. It made me appreciate quality food as a teen and adult for sure.
If I was forced to take 5 lb blocks of cheese, I would be pretty damn happy.
It was a 5 pound block of cheddar cheese, and it was free. It tasted great, everybody loved it. I don't know what this video is talking about. Ask anyone who grew up with parents were on welfare in the 1980s, the cheese was the best part. That much cheddar cheese at a grocery store would cost $100 today. The cheese was so good people would try to buy it from you. Some people did sell it. The cheese they show in this video @7:53 is fake news. They also gave you a gallon of peanut butter. Natural no lard kind you had to stir. It was good. Stirring was annoying, but it tasted great.
Well there is still surplus milk, so instead of cheese, make ghee. 10000 x more tasty than cheese.... (& I also love cheese).
Ghee or clarified butter is the real solution. It can be stored with NO REFRIGERATION. IT WILL LAST FOR YEARS. IT IS POSITIVELY THE MOST VALUABLE MILK PRODUCT EVER. (A person can be revived from a coma with 10 year old ghee!) IT PROMOTES good health, and if you ever taste anything made with ghee or clarified butter or deep fry with it, you are in heaven. Please research, and share and open your mind to this idea. It is fabulous.
@@BrettonFerguson lmao wtf $100. More like $25 buddy
@OwnOwnOwnOwnOwnOwn
YES THAT'S EXACTLY WHAT I WANT TO DO.
GHEE DOES NOT REQUIRE EVEN REFRIGERATION. IT DOES NOT SPOIL.
GHEE THAT'S OVER TEN YEARS OLD CAN REVIVE A MAN FROM A COMA. MEDICALLY THERE IS NO SUPERIOR WAY TO PRESERVE AND UTILIZE SURPLUS MILK.
PLEASE HELP ME SPREAD THE WORD.
THANK YOU FOR THE POSITIVITY. I WANT THE HEALTH AND PROSPERITY OF CITIZENS. THAT'S ALL.
@OwnOwnOwnOwnOwnOwn
Do YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC CONTACT LINKS OR INFORMATION ON PERSONS TO COMMUNICATE WITH???????
USDA IS A LARGE DEPARTMENT, BUT NOW I WILL DO MY LEVEL BEST.
THANK YOU AGAIN.
🙏🏻😇💙💚💙😇🙏🏻
I live in Brooklyn, while my mother was never on welfare, we were poor and I did stand in lines to get the powdered milk and government cheese...I will tell you now that cheese was amazing.. It tasted great
Anything tastes good when you're hungry
at least it was a real cheese.
tons of food sold today use fake cheese.
@@69putana no I was never starving, actually I went for the powdered milk but they have the cheese and the milk together... as child I was not allowed to cook, so cheese sandwiches were my go to food after school.... Wonder 🍞 bread
@@letsgetsocialinfo - Yep, l was in New York at the time. lt's, like they gave away the cheese to anyone who wanted it. The taste was fantastic!! lt was tough finding a cheese in the store, that was just as good.
@Montana fishing Fun mac and cheese isn't healthy lol
We qualified for the government cheese when we were first married. I remember standing in line with my husband to bring home a block of it. They had trucks stationed at different places in our smallish town where they handed it out from the back of the truck. Ah the memories of being newlywed and broke.
Gov cheese sounds like welfare.
@@da6034 I mean like how "cheese" is used as another word for money. It just makes it even more ironic.
Are you guys still together, how did you guys get threw the hard times?
@@VeganRashad Yes, we'll be married 45 yrs in Aug. I got a job as a service rep at the phone company which paid a lot more than being a waitress.
Vickie Clark and your husband? How long did it take y’all to get stable?
Dairy farmers are dumping milk by the gallons today .... this isn’t a bad idea today
Why is so much produced in the first place? Is it hard to estimate demand?
Milk is hard to store. Easier to powder it or cheese it.
@@imsotiredofthis they haven’t been able to adapt with the “drop” in demand during this pandemic. Since a lot of stores and restaurants are closed down, the supply that used to be efficient is now in excess so they’re now finding themselves dumping all of their milk. Tbh, if it were possible, I think it would be less wasteful for the farmers to anonymously ‘donate’ it since dumping it won’t earn them money either. They might even get a tax write off so I’m not entirely sure why they aren’t doing that, maybe not enough places are accepting it
@@jarjarbinks6018 it's not about pendamic..
US is overproducing milk since last 10 years..
In Europe we've been dumping tons of food for years. It's a direct effect of capitalism; Mass production for as much profit as possible. Without thinking of the resources we exploit.
That cheese was great, and the cardboard boxes it came in was perfect for storing baseball cards. Love the 80s.
I remember it was cheese, peanut butter, butter, honey, flour, rice, beef in can, pork in can and evaporate milk prob some other stuff i miss or forgot but the government gaved us alot back then. We was grateful for all that.
You can make a lot of healthy & nutrious meals out of those items. You can even make them ahead & freeze them to use later.
Do not for get eggs
True but you can’t make Cheetos and Mountain Dew from them, but you can get them with the little plastic cards government hands out instead
@@MrSheckstr lol no you can’t. WIC/SNAP has lists of preapproved items and foods that you can buy, and that you can’t buy. Junk food cannot be purchased through that program.
@@MrSheckstr also, even if they could, how does that affect you? WIC/SNAP recipients only get a finite amount of money per month. Say a family gets $200/month, does it really affect you if they spend it all on junk food? Or steaks? Or regular pantry staples and basics? It’s the same $200 anyway they spend it. They don’t get more if they waste it.
My parents bought that cheese from whoever they could find to sell it. THAT CHEESE WAS AWESOME!
I never ate it but everyone says they have good memories and it tastes delicious they say
Much of my family survived on government cheese and canned meats. Though I'm doing well nowadays I still have great memories of the meals created with them.
Lies again? Gold Cup Gain City Grab Car
You had good parents who fed their boy. No wonder you’re happy about your memories. Nothing wrong with that.
At like 60, right?
Government cheese saved me from starving to death.
Same
Yep! That cheese was delicious! We used it to make grilled cheese in the pan, baked macaroni and cheese, and even sliced it to make some damn good bologna and cheese sandwhiches!
There was nothing like a good GOV cheese and ketchup sandwich .
That’s cool. I don’t like cheese.
Before it was welfare for small farmers. Now its welfare for corporate farmers
That's the problem. It was massively helpful when it helped the small guys.
while i don't agree with all of the kickbacks the farmers are getting this one is pretty important. if it weren't there farmers would lose their businesses. in turn it would raise food prices and eventually lead to shortages which would be just as bad as the depression if not worse.
Bad economic policy in both cases.
@Bobon Meiknob except that you use the government to make money when the market won't buy more from you. Just because you do something doesn't mean you're entitled to more than what people are willing to pay you.
People terribly misunderstand the concept. The program is not welfare. Welfare just resulted from the program because they needed to know what to do with the excess product. The program itself is a modern equivalent of stocking up the medieval larder in a castle. The US as a whole no longer produces it's food locally in households. You don't self-sustain unless you're in the middle of nowhere and planned it that way.
So, the US Government needs a way to keep food production stable, even if it's not profitable for the farmer to produce. Just in case there is a war, or a disaster where we need a lot of food very quickly. They just decided it was better to go about it this way, then have a massive shortage when you needed it, and we didn't have the time to ramp up production to make up for it. Instead they just sustain the constant production, and when you need it, you have it.
You forgot about the Indian reservations. Gov cheese is still a big deal.
Just about to comment this, it's still a common thing here.
@@wcburnsie3462 what are native reservations like
there bad
TexasRed no two reservations are the same, but in general there’s a lot of poverty and substance abuse and economic exploitation, etc, you wouldn’t want to live on a rez, a friend of mine who grew up on one started selling drugs when he was only a kid, not even a teen, a kid. And no one stopped him or his friends, people knew, they specifically had kids carry and sell the drugs so no one would get in trouble with the police. This is what an abused and exploited community looks like. This was on a rez in Hawaii. I’m sure kids selling drugs is not in every rez but it shows you how much these places are neglected. My great grandmother left a rez in Oklahoma because the conditions weren’t good almost 100 years ago, we have made hardly any advancement of improving the conditions of these places because it’s not prioritized by our government.
I know Natives who get nostalgic over it.
Definitely thought "government cheese" was slang for money from the government! xD
It technically is
i tell you what patnah if i knew someone on my street that some how had the plug to this chunky gold ..it WOULD be slang for money ..my money cause i'd be buying all they had
Yeah, you don't belong in the streets for sho.
😄😄😄 God damit maan
Lol
I'm sorry, but if dairy farmers are screaming for subsidies, and then they get them, and then the result is an oversupply of dairy products, then there are questions to be raised.
Sliding price scale for government dairy subsidies would help.
Any economical solutions/suggestions?
As well they never learned their lesson and continue to overproduce and then scream bloody murder.
Lies again? Grab Car USD SGD
I mean this has been happening since 1890 with Sherman silver act.
Feel like I just watched a Vox video 🤔
I know Vox doesn’t own the editing style but, the editing style is less like normal CNBC editing style. I want Vox to make a video on how they believe they’ve influenced other channels one day. The person doing the voice over sounds familiar too.
it’s them beats like it’s vox pop
I hope this doesn't turn into some dumb conspiracy theory.
Ikr, especially when she refereced those hip-hop songs. There's definitely a connection if you ask me.
Maeve Franklin Definitely have the same delivery as the Vox voiceovers. Wouldn’t surprise me if they take some pointers from Vox since they are a pretty successful Channel. Not that it’s a bad thing.
This just goes to show you the efficiency of the American farmer and that no one should be going hungry in America.
as you can see around you, Americans are definitely not starving, even people who are on food stamps are fat or obese.
@@Johansen1000 Are you saying that there are no starving people in America or struggling to eat?
@@manbeastx69 Starving and struggling to eat are two different things. And if you're fat you're definitely not starving.
You got that backwards (i think?)... From the 60's to the 80's farmers were so garbage at making cows grow, and unable to use all the cow productively, that we had almost twice as many cows as we do now. Today, we eat more beef, have more people, and eat more cheese, but use half the cows to do so. This is because we can now grow animals faster, make them bigger, and get more milk per cow. The cool thing about this is that we'll also use 100% of the animal, for instance: I'd guess about 5% of the calories a chicken consumes is sometimes from the binding agent made from chicken feathers, bones, egg shells, etc. But it's all still super heavily subsidized. A ¼ lbs burger patty - if broken down to cost the price of the water, feed, and fuel, would cost about 3 bucks just for the meat. But instead the water, medicine, feed, etc. For livestock is regulated by the government to make it profitable. It's a super inefficient industry that's only holding on by it's lobbying power.
@@Johansen1000 You only see what you want to see
We had to stand in line for some of the government cheese in my town. I was a kid and liked getting it.
In america?? The richest most powerful number one country in the world and it's people stand in line for food like a 3rd world country?? I had no idea that was a thing!!
@@Brian-vz5cuyeah, man, wait until you find out about our renting costs. I'm college educated and can't afford my own studio apartment.
Is it really that good? I came for something else.
The legendarily delicious government cheese is sorely missed.
Along with Kodachrome, K-Mart, and the American Motors Corporation. :(
It’s cool eh
I loved that cheese! I used to use the government cheese, along with the government butter and made grilled cheese sandwiches that ROCKED!
Amen!
3:02
Velveeta comes to mind.
What, no gov't bread?
I had no idea about government butter.😂
My Dad used to work in a senior center. The center used to get shipment of food including government cheese. He used to bring a block of government cheese. It taste so good. I wish I can get a hold of a block of government cheese.
Wow that’s good, our places never received any. The government is stingy.
Funny I never heard anyone screaming socialism when that cheese was being passed out.
Never
It was good cheese.
Who cut the cheese?
Social programs and socialism are 2 different things
@@justmejie he didn't mean socialism literally..just how most people when they throw it around don't really know what it means .. atleast not in the European sense but he does make a point.. the Agricultural Adjustment Act of 1933 was clearly designed to help poor white people in the city and rural areas while people of color was left to fend for themselves
Giving away government cheese goes way back before 1977. As a kid growing up in a big family we were eligible to receive "commodities" which included cheese back in the 50s and 60s. I always found it odd that those who received commodities we considered "on welfare", but the farmers who benefited from higher prices from the government buying commodities were not considered to be "on welfare."
There’s this old guy and girl, he says it tastes so good, is it really?
When I saw government cheese, I thought it was a metaphor.
When I saw government cheese I thought Andrew Jackson
Same, I thought Government Cheese was just any money obtained from the government.
Golden Grenadier exactly thought it was cheese bought with food stamps 😂
It is now
Yep
A brick of this and a tin can of that grape juice was my summer with grandma until 7th grade. That was an entirely different kind of program, but I'd pay for some of that now.
Uhmm ok 🤷🏻♂️
I forgot about the big grape juice tin!!
Nice of you to spend time with grandma
I grew up on a native American reservation and we'd get a food box every month and that cheese was always in there.
Hmm. That’s cool I didn’t knew they give cheese or package to them. That’s nice of them innit?
In Europe we had a similar milk surplus. The EU bought an enormous amount of milk, and had it processed into butter, just to freeze in giant cold storages. There was so much of it, even the armed forces switched from margarine to butter.
Too much margarine is bad. Hydrogenation.
@@drewgates1167 yeah, margerine and vegetable oil is bad. i think dairy is ok as long you take magnesium to balance the excess of calcium
That’s good, making the most of the milk, I hear americanjust dumps it.
the U.S. has too much cheese? and yet it's still around $4 for a pack of 32?
Fancy yellow Kraft cheese is like $7 for 32pieces.
Because the goverment isnt gonna just give it for free
Did y'all even watch the video or did you get triggered and just had to comment?
Lmao
Please remember American cheese is not real cheese! Didn't say it didn't taste good! LOL
Government cheese is the equivalent of velveeta. "Pasteurized cheese product" it says on the package because they can't legally call it cheese.
I remember getting government cheese in a brick and the box was brown the honey it said USDA just peanut butter and rice and to me the cheese reminds me of velveeta. And who can forget getting all the USDA canned fruits
The Joy's of your dad being a logger and mom was stay at home. I am not ashamed of myself just it was a harder time back then. My dad made me the man I am today and the values of working hard.
Nothing wrong with that. Homeless should at least still get them.
Does anyone remember canned bread?
It didn't mean poor, it was just a way for the Gov to get rid of the stockpile. In our area,
it was given out at churches and senior centers. Going to church didn't mean poor. My inlaws would stock our freezer with that great cheese for us.
I remember the white cans with the plain labels for staple foods. I kind of wish they would bring some of that stuff back.
Yes, I remember brown bread in a can it was very inexpensive now it is very expensive.
Farmers get ridiculous levels of government support, Ohio just cut all farmland property taxes by 12% and turned around and raised residential homes by 22%! Socialism and redistribution of wealth to farmers is insane!
To corporate farmers at that.
@@DavidJohnson-dp4vv Yeah they benefit even more which is even more insane!
On the flip side, how many Americans are growing up wanting to be farmers and add value to create a robust and holistic agricultural career?
@@ChaniceMReidREALTOR I actually would rather farm than work for any corporation i just don't know where to start
@@okmrman6101 work and save money for a few acres of land, research the crop(s) you wanna grow while you're saving up, then buy the land, get a license if necessary, and start growing that crop.
My elderly aunt got a big brick of cheese from her local senior center back in the day. I thought it was very good and would gladly take that cheese any day. God bless our great hard working dairy farmers. USA, USA!
The way they cut that block is interesting..
Snoop dog "you gotta be on they special mailing list" lol
Grammar: 100
If we’re being honest here snoop could walking to a welfare office and get government cheese just based off his looks lol I’d probably pass him a $5 on the street if I saw him and didn’t realize it at first
@@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606 Well, that way you don't realize he is actually a lizard person alien from planet nibiru and is here to.... smoke all of planet earth's weed?
@@loganbaileysfunwithtrains606 just by his accessories alone, he is far from a hobo. a person bad with money, yes, but not a homeless person.
HAHAHAHHAAAAHHHAAA OMG HE SAID THAT AND NOW YOU DID HAHAHAHA SO FUNNY YOUR SO FUNNNYYYYY
As a kid I remember most people I knew got Govt. Cheese...heck even people who didn't need it were getting it. I remember one lady we knew had a massive deep freezer full of the stuff...it was like a cheese vault. She would opened it up & you would be blinded by the cheesey bling of all those bricks lol..
tredeep
I remember when we had extra cheese our neighbors would buy it off us because they love the stuff but made too much money to qualify for the program!
Sound yum toasted bread and cheese
Now I know what was in Marcellus Wallace's briefcase.
cheesey bling 👍😂😂😂
😅 cheese vault... i hear ya
I always wondered why they stopped those farm food boxes. When I was a young mother, that helped me out a lot with feeding my boys. We had to be on food stamps for several years and we also got a box once a month.
Community Supported Agriculture, CSA, accepts food stamps. Unfortunately, it's a seasonal thing.
Give yourself a Best Mom gift immediately.
I'm a low carb tax payer...
Gimme some cheese !
I paid for it !
So, when can we expect Government Weed?
You're going to need that government cheese after smoking that government weed because of the government Munchies you're going to get
Not long to wait, but be careful what you wish for, because it may be laced with chemicals that no one in their right mind would touch - let alone consume.
could you please give a example of such a chemical, are you refeeringto pesticides, plant growth hormones or other narcotics?
It already exists actually lol. It's grown at Ole Miss, the University of Mississippi. It's... not good. At least that's what I've heard.
Hahaha your already smoked it buddy
It's funny how, when you're Canadian, you know most of what goes on down in the US, but then there are things like "government cheese" that you have absolutely no idea exists...
In Canada we have a milk Soviet with stalinist derth of choice. No a2 milk, no pasture raised, 50s designs, milk in plastic bags and so on. Very unfortunate
ye exactly.. and I'm a big hip hop fan😂😂
canada here as well - never heard of government cheese either. When I heard it through music I assumed cheese just meant government money or welfare money
Well I’m from Texas and I didn’t even know xD, I am from the south where the government doesn’t care. Lol. Shout out to Tdot, Vancouver and Quebec, and Scarborough and Missisauga! I got some friends up there
That Gov't cheese is the best, damn cheese I've ever had.
Yeah I know, everyone says it!
My retired mother used to get it. 5 lb. was way more than she could use so she would give some to me and other people. I was working at a low paying job and it saved me money. It was great for mac & cheese and grilled cheese sandwiches. Tasted better than Velveeta or Kraft American. I was sad to see it end.
Damnit i want some gov cheese.gosh i haven't had any since the 80s
I really do miss it.
@Bobon Meiknob food stamps and food like the blocks of cheese were two different things. the blocks of cheese you got as supplemental food by standing in long lines at a warehouse that was filled with gigantic stacks of stuff. the wait in line was usually 2-3 hours and you'd get stuff like the block of cheese, dried milk, giant jars of peanut butter, big bags of beans, stuff like that. it wasn't that that is ALL that was available, it was just food that the government had stockpiled as part of a system to keep farmers from going under, so they began dispersing it to the needy. as far as spending tax dollars, it was money pretty well spent, much better spent than bailing out large corporations. the actual nutritious food items were gotten with your own money and food stamps. the free food like the blocks of cheese were just supplemental to other assistance that was available based on income.
what you are talking about with Trump was that he planned to ELIMINATE food stamps and replace it with a kind of food pantry. clearly an inferior solution to food stamps. That being said, there are food pantries all over the country that do great work, but Trump was trying to use the existence of these groups as a reason to eliminate government assistance for the poor. Which of course is a horrendously bad idea.
Bane BlackGuard it's not necessarily a terrible idea, I've had countless people approach me selling their food stamps. Giving a food pantry instead would lower costs to the government and prevent people from selling things off for drug money.
@@baneblackguard584 don't we also bail corporations aka government ran corporations?
@@baneblackguard584we need to stop the spending
We are broke because of it
I love government cheese.
Krogers brand sharp cheddar is the closest ive gotten to the taste to it.
Youre welcome
LS1NNOVATIONS Wow that's helpful, it definitely has its own distinct taste,
Velveeta.
Aaron is so off. Today's American lacks the flavor and sharpness of the govt cheese. Kroger's sharp has that but not the texture or the ability to melt perfectly. Velveeta has the texture but not the taste
@@jasonferguson5704 I wonder if you could shred the sharp and melt it into the Velveeta to make your own homemade govt cheese. :-)
Ghee or clarified butter is the real solution. It can be stored with NO REFRIGERATION. IT WILL LAST FOR YEARS. IT IS POSITIVELY THE MOST VALUABLE MILK PRODUCT EVER. (A person can be revived from a coma with 10 year old ghee!) IT PROMOTES good health, and if you ever taste anything made with ghee or clarified butter or deep fry with it, you are in heaven. Please research, and share and open your mind to this idea. It is fabulous.
I remember making Grill Cheese Sandwiches with tomato everyday after school and on Sundays during Football games!! Don't forget about Government Peanut Butter!!
They still make this. They call it commodity cheese around here. It's basically a log of kraft singles. Makes some damn good grilled cheese sandwiches
Ahh….. it’s that hospital crap huh?
In the south, they just handed out Government Cheese to everyone. There was a Truck that handed Bricks of Cheese out like Phonebooks. I remember one day after school there was a Truck outside of our school just handing them out.
I'm from Mexico US border, Mexican side, I remember in the 80's USA would donate tons of American cheese to give away, of course here local officials would sell it from the back of pick up trucks in downtown...for like $2 back then... Thanks anyway , we of course would buy a cheese brick once Ina while..
theylied1776 To my understanding, give-aways happened like this when they had a large surplus that was going to expire before it would be used through the normal food assistance programs. Rather than let it go to waste, they would hand out truck loads to anyone who wanted some.
@@dacypher22 In the South, they would give the cheese away all the time, in small southern towns they don't have the same population as large northern cities. So, there was always a surplus in certain regions of the South.
@@theylied1776 I grew up in the south as well. That may explain why some of my childhood friends had it, because most of them were not really that poor. That is where I ended up trying it.
@@theylied1776 And thats why the south makes the best macaroni and cheese
I did not know ANYONE who didn't like government cheese, they made the best grill cheese sandwiches and mac and cheese.
Bring it on and I will be in line.
I hated it.
Most just didn't want to admit they got it.
Didn't care for it. Hell, to this day I rarely (if ever) buy American cheese. And I usually get Swiss cheese on my burger if I'm in a restaurant.
@@traewatkins931 So common place in the 70's/80's, was it really open for discussion ? People trying to snap, make jokes, when more often than not it was in their house.
I hate cheese.
They need to bring back govt cheese, it was great.
I’m not educated enough for this topic, but since the US throws away so much produce, why couldn’t we just give that food insecure families, give them to schools, so kids could eat free. What’s left we could export at low prices to food insecure companies.
@@redpanda7967 EL CAPITALISMO
@@ivanravenski under socialism the farms wouldn’t get any fertilizer shipments and there wouldn’t be enough food.
Best Grilled cheese EVER!!!!
@@redpanda7967 US schools already have free meals, and most public students do eat free or nearly-free. While I absolutely agree morally that food waste is disgusting, people tend to ignore the economic factors at play:
1. Producers would rather dump their excess because it keep prices higher than what would be the market rate if they gave it away for free. Since the problem is lack of demand in the first place (because of pandemic) that would be suicidal to over-saturate and further hurt demand; 2. Giving away for free can often cost them money over transport and labor so to them it's not seen as free. An external party needs to cover that cost while also not sabotaging the business' sales.
They could donate in underdeveloped nations to communities facing famine or hunger, but that is where the govt and aid agencies need to step in and make that happen. But note that it's going to be hard because without refrigeration cheese spoils, so powdered milk seems to be the one viable option. Combing powdered milk with grain (since that industry is also facing trouble, I assume) to create some sort of packaged cereal product seems to me the best idea.
I loved that cheese, I wish I could get my hands on some today.
So that block of aluminum foil in grandma's fridge has a name.
😂😂😂😂😂
Wow... Accurate
Yeah, it's called Velveeta. It's not the same. Gov't cheese is FAR superior!
Cheddar Cheese, Department of Agriculture.
@@missnewbienoob Is Velveeta even cheese? It's like a bizarre solidified yellow gel
Grew up on government cheese, powdered milk, canned juice, canned meat and rice. Learned how to make it work and polished my cooking skills... 😏
Preach........
I know right peanut butter that came in a brown can that said peanut butter it used to tear the bread up so you had to toast the bread to eat it
@@CHEGTO i always wondered why my ma tends to toast the bread for her peanut butter sandwiches ...
That's cool actually
She might have done it because of that or she could be Fancy my mum used to tell me as a kid that's how rich people eat pb&j's
Every citizen must take 10 lb Govt cheese mandatory laws..
Imagine the grilled cheese sandwiches.
We are good, too much space being taken up for our fridge , who the hell wants blocks of cheese, you must like cheese cream like those people in the Goofy movie eh?
Being a formal lactose intolerant patient, I couldn’t emphasis it enough for the importance of cheese in one’s health ❤❤❤!!!
My house goes through cheese like its water, you mean there was a time when it was literally being handed out?
Still being given out in some areas. I' a white guy that buys it off natives in my area.
It's American cheese that's heat resistant. There's also government peanut butter that has a stale taste.
@@alexeialeksandr7606 if it's heat resistant, how does it melt? Does it melt smoothly or in what looks like plastic chunks?
@@JuicedUpLemon it melts, but it doesn't have the same consistency as other cheeses. Also it doesn't seem to melt at the same temperature. I think someone described it as solid cheese whiz. In other words, if you put it in a casserole or mac and cheese with other cheeses, you can definitely tell it's there.
It was better than watching your family go hungry. It saved a lot of people. It wasn't "fun" like you think. It helped people who needed it.😒
As a child, I remember the cheese,pb,and honey that would get handed out.
I had the stuff as a kid and loved it. It was great with just some bread and mayo, and of course, as grilled cheese sandwiches. I'd buy it now, if it were still available.
With all this Covid going on it would be nice to have some cheese now🤷🏻♂️
Solution:
1) Take GVT cheese.
2) Repackage with "artisan" labelling.
3) Give samples to "influencers".
4)Watch millennials fight to the death over the last blocks of Gvt cheese.
Overnight stock market eruption.
Would probably work. Marketing is generally more important than the quality of the product. Hence why people still buy Starbucks coffee.
Granted, put enough sugar and flavoring in it, and you don't really notice how crap the coffee is.
Hur de hur hur. Us millenials sure is dumb.
-DepthCharge I drank Starbuck's black a month ago. I'm still sick!
Naw the taste and texture will give it away. Raw milk and cheese need to be legalized
-DepthCharge yeah Starbucks is nasty af, they burn their beans and the sourcing is...ethically questionable, to put it mildly. Might as well just drink folgers.
My parents told me stories about this cheese they were given by US soldiers when they were kids at school in Tunisia in north Africa!
It helped eradicate infant malnurishment in my country (along with local efforts of course).
We often forget in Tunisia the presence of the US after the war, although I think it was crucial in helping build the modern (mostly) self reliant country we are now by focusing the efforts on childhood and education.
It is amazing this popped up in my youtube suggestions I never thought to look up the story behind this cheese before!
similar surplus has also hurt foreign countries. For example when the U.S. dairy industry destroyed the Jamaican dairy industry.
@@abejones9218 the Jamaican dairy industry ??
@@DARisse-ji1yw Yes, I'm not sure of all the details but it basically goes like this: 1. lobbyists in USA change US trading regulations 2. Jamaican officials are bribed to reduce trading protections 3. Much larger US dairy corporations undersell Jamaican dairy businesses. 4. Jamaican dairy industry collapses 5. Jamaica is now dependent on foreign dairy products. It's a pretty typical sequence of events
@@abejones9218 related just wanna throw in for people who donate, try to donate to charities that improve infrastructure. if charities donate stuff like food, clothes, tools you end up hurting the local economies (why would you buy stuff that you could get for free?) it helps in short term but is harmful in the long run.
@@phxcppdvlazi yeah exactly, a lot of people don't realize this. Such charities actually should only be used for emergency situations. In normal circumstances, it would be better to invest in companies that would build the infrastructure of impoverished regions... however, this is pretty worthless if workers have no rights as those profits will go straight to the .1%.
2:34 I love how CNBC found it necessary to have a little disclaimer in the upper left of the video "Not actually Kraft's Voice"
Like we didn't know the dude wasn't alive.
I remember my grandma having blocks of government cheese in her refrigerator. Looking back, it makes me feel bad about how much she must have been struggling. But she never complained and was the happiest person.
I must have had three blocks of those as a kid.
Everyone rich and poor had one in their frig. It was like MRE cheese that didn't go bad. 🤣
I've had MRE cheese. That stuff is not good...
How did the rich get this stuff if it was only distributed via welfare?
I feel like I've missed something in my childhood. I'm 15, never heard of state cheese lol
@@user-xg8yy7yl1d not really. It's in such large surplus so it was pretty easy to get
@@sminthian you’re crazy. That’s the best cheese
In the 80's you could buy government cheese in the Army Commissary In Germany. That was some good cheese. Used to get it when I was stationed in Heidelberg.
My Aunt was telling me about this and I didn’t believe her that the US government sent cheese in a box to peoples houses...I was wrong.
Trump wanted to do that again, but was stopped by the damn democrats wanting to impeach him. What turdbags.
Why would she lie about that🤔🙄😐
They didn’t bring it to you. You would go pick up a box of “surplus”. Dried milk, cheese, canned meat. We got it instead of food stamps.
Ms G you are lying.
Me either!! Like i thought they was talking about welfare lol
Ahhhh, govt cheese.....
Brings back memories of the 80's and was the best cheese that i can remember..... 5lb blocks we could pick up at the town hall once a month....
This is like a Vox video or I is it just me ???
if it works... copy it
Everyone copies Vox's style now. CNBC, Cheddar, Business Insider, etc
@@de132 do they all use the same narrator? She sounds the same
That's because they're all friends, and they 100% want to tell you the truth and totally not manipulate your opinion to change your vote so they all get richer.
Lol this is a blatant attempt of the mainstream media to make videos that millennials want to watch.
Damn, I grew up on government cheese, We ate grilled cheese or cheese and rice....good times.
Kraft doesn’t make “cheese” today. That crap isn’t real cheese
No type of american cheese is actual cheese thats why kraft got a patent
Dietz & Watson makes decent American Cheese.
Deli deluxe is pretty damn good . Even if it ain't the real cheddar.
I call it Krap cheese.
I am proud to say I had some not too long ago. It is delicious and there is absolutely nothing in the commercial dairy products that can touch it in taste or ways to use it.
I grew up on government cheese, pork, chicken, jelly, dry milk, etc. One a month.
All of these are good food except for jelly.
That chicken and pork was great.
In other words diane ate other bad stuff....lol. so sad to see people judge their existence based on what they paid for cheese. Govt cheese was actually good and could be had by anyone regardless of income...both rich and poor ate it. Too many folks think they are better than they actually are
@@robertkinsey4524 I wish I could get them now! I remember canned bacon too!
Jason Ferguson she didn’t say she was better she just left a comment on a place where folks leave comments.. you are the only one who actually was being negative 👎 always that 1 and you are that 1 today buddy
Oh The Memories! They Made Some Good Grilled Cheese Sandwiches.
Got two blocks in my fridge right now.
The struggle is real 💯
How? Is it 40 years old?
@@19AGJ86 for REAL!😳
My great grandma used to get this! Also some potatoes, corn and other things. But she made the best mac-n-cheese! Also it made great nachos. you only needed a tiny bit of milk or water to get that creamy taste. I miss it. Wish I had some right now.
Dude. 1.4billion pounds of surplus cheese lol halirous .. and why I can't find none now. Best stuff to make macaroni and cheese.
What's funny is that the lower income people this cheese was meant to help, didn't want any because they thought since the government was giving it to them, it was garbage. Watch old In Living Color episodes about how they ragged on "Gub'mint cheese"
Look at all of the people in the comment section, they sound like they were fine with it and thankful for it. Not everyone is the same.
@@vulpsturm homie don't play that
Just use Velveeta, it's also a proceeded cheese.
@@SeeroBoarder Velveeta tastes different.
My Great grandmother got it and it was very good!
Best things ever made in USA FROM A DAIRY FOODS LOVER
This style of editing is great
Only 80's kids will remember this...
Lol
So true.
Yes!!
I think about it fondly now when I think about "nacho night", but I sure as hell didn't then.
The wierdest part: I swear to god it had regeneration superpowers. You would take X amount off the block, come back the next day, and you could swear it got _bigger_ overnight somehow
Sy Ku we would have wine and cheese parties!! Grapes. Cheese and wine!!! Oh my!!!
My grandmother would bring it to my family from her senior center. We had so much of it we couldn't keep up with it and she kept bringing more 😫
Reagan: "It's not socialism if it benefits my base or corporations."
U ever had government cheese son? Stinky big block of government cheese. We'd eat it on the 4th of July and nobody could go to the bathroom for 2 weeks. By the 18th everyone is running to the bathroom at once.
RIP POPS, You were so damn funny 🤣🧀🧻
Lol my dad used to make the best government Mac & cheese 😂😂😂
Cherokee nation still uses it but it’s not government brand it’s usually Land O Lakes
fecklar jenkins where do they buy it? Cant find it in Colorado
Gabriela DiPaolo check the deli departments like at Walmart maybe idk what brands they carry now, where cheese is sold by the pound but it maybe pricey tho I’m not sure. I have family that gets it through the low income program for tribal members is why I know about it.
Land O Lakes is dairy company. That's just cheese. It has nothing to do with this...
@@sminthian I think that was a joke 😁😁😁😁😁 get it ?
Good info. Thank you.
“Probably won’t see it in anyone’s fridge today”
My fridge: ....
I was stationed in Panama with the US Army in the 90s. In the commissary on Ft Amador, we had government cheese you could buy for a nominal price. It came in the familiar brick packaging and was labeled "A Gift of Food from the People of the United States of America." As a single captain at the time, I had no use for the stuff but had always wondered why the government was in the cheese business and how it migrated to a dirt floor commissary in Panama. Young Soldiers with families bought these at a price that was tantamount to giving it away so it did help some needy folks. Thanks to this video, I now have a better understanding of the situation.
NanoBurger Fort Clayton 91 to 92
My family wasn’t poor and we still liked the government cheese. (Dad used to be a social worker at a senior center where they got shipments of government cheese.)
Became? It was ALWAYS a farm subsidy.
But it fed a lot of people not just in America but in Africa
I loved that stuff. We had it at school in the 80s and they always cut it into little sticks. I liked that it was on the salty side. I see our local grocery store has something that looks just like that made by Kraft, same packaging as before and says its American cheese. I'm going to try some here shortly and see if it tastes the same or close enough.
That brings back memories. Gov cheese got my family through some hard times back then
You ain't lying
Everytime you have a slice of Velveeta for nacho dip just know, that's that secret government cheese recipe.
Government cheese used to be bomb af, not gonna lie.
That very last statement...maybe the poor don’t want cheese...?
Beggars can’t be choosers. They get it because it’s cheap to acquire vs other food items.
I agree that it would be better to give the poor fruits and veggies(that would help with healthcare costs too in the long run), but we don’t have a cheap supply of those items. Government has never been good at solving problems. When your poor, you get what will be handed to you and work your ass off to work your way out of poverty so that you have the ability to make those choice for yourself later!
I loved that cheese......You couldn't buy it from the store but the person standing in line to pick it up would sell it to you cheap. When I was a teen my friend's older brother was a NYC Housing Cop and would buy a few and bring them to us when he would visit.
Man, so I only had the chance to try government cheese a couple of times when I was a kid, but I was one of the ones who loved it. If you take Velveeta cheese, make it a little harder and add more cheddar flavor, that is about what it was like. A grilled government cheese sandwich was awesome...at least every once in a while. I am sure people who had to eat it all the time would think differently. But I would love to get some again just for the nostalgia if nothing else.
I love this cheese, wish we could buy in store.
Food bank its free
Jody Strong not same cheese, that was some good cheese.
GOVERNMENT CHEESE. sounds like a movie
Have you ever had government cheese? Craig, government cheese, you had some? -No. Big stinking government cheese. Couldn't take a dump for two weeks.
Eat it on the 4th of July, by the 18th, everybody in the whole neighborhood trying to get to the bathrooms.
Government cheese and canned beef or pork was awesome.
The one thing that's missing is *The Amazing Good That Resulted From The Distribution Of Those Products!*
The amazing diplomatic effects of kindness and charity goes over much better than bullets. *That's not the mind of the inhueman greedy selfish thief.*
Best cheese, period. Wish we still had it.
Peter Wyndham ew
Bobon Meiknob sorry I can actually afford food and going out to eat and nice dinners and I think processed cheeses like that are nasty. Like Kraft and canned cheese is disgusting and so is velveta.
Sounds like jealously.
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣 yup totally 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@Aeternum_Gaming kinda but Velveeta doesn't have the density of gov't cheese
R.i.p President Reagan, a great program that nourished alot of Americans that would of went Hungry.
he said "maybe those guys dont want cheese" youre trolling, literally everyone wants cheese.
Except vegans, but they aren't even human, so they don't count.