Should people on food stamp be able buy junk food?

LWsciencejunkie wrote:

<quoted text>
A bag of nuts
I'll tell you what,
Is yummy; has vitamins and stuff.
All I see,
Comparatively
Is crap from little Mr. B.
Poor angry little Mr. B.
What made him such an SOB?

LOL!!

WhoSays wrote:

Here is an example of how people buck the system. I know a man name Bobby, he claimed that he injured his back falling out of a tree years ago. He may have, I dont know, but he still climbs trees and works everyday. Bobbys wife also claims to have a back injury. They both receive social security disability payments that total about $3400 per month. Bobby claims to earn about $800 a week doing tree work independently. His wife babysits 5 kids all day and gets about $400-$500 a week. Their social security entitles them to food stamps. They have four kids so they get alot of food stamps. They do have to go to Jacksonville to get a medical evaluation once a month, and somehow they still equalify for the benefits. Without the benefits they earn $5000 per month, with the social security and food stamps added, they have almost $10K a month to live on. That is exactly how people that you see in the stores using food stamps, but driving nice cars, wearing expensive clothes, etc do what they do. Some of the women who collect food stamps live with men who have good jobs, or say they are separated from their husbands so that they can get food stamps. I have heard that it is a learned and accepted pattern of behavior. If mama did it, and aunts and uncles are doing it, how can it be so wrong? Ironically, I called social security and the food stamp administration several times to try to stop my tax dollars from getting into their pockets, nothing was ever done about it.

Something doesn't ring true with this. I wouldn't doubt that they could be scamming, it happens all the time. However, they would not be eligible for food stamps with $3400/month disability. http://www.dcf.state.fl.us/ess/fsfactsheet.pd...
Also,$400-$500/week for under-the-table babysitting is alot. My grandmother and sister used to babysit (not on public assistance) and they were only paid $50 per kid at the most.

Mayby they eat steak and roast beef for three days and then the food stamps are spent and they eat noodles with ketchup the rest of the month.
I don`t know if we should get involved in peoples eating habits.
If it is Cigarettes and booze that is a different story.

Why not junk food? Health food is for those like momma32 that enjoy those fruit salads with their three-somes. I bet the fruit and the cool-whip were purchased with her EBT card,so why can the little ones, not have a little candy?LMAO

Bite Me wrote:

Why not junk food? Health food is for those like momma32 that enjoy those fruit salads with their three-somes. I bet the fruit and the cool-whip were purchased with her EBT card,so why can the little ones, not have a little candy?LMAO

Oh, thank you for THAT visual early in the morning.

I agree, while they might go out and spend all of thier food stamps on junk, you can best believe that the rest of the month is not so good for them, yes they get food stamps, but enough food for the month...I don't think so, when people get food stamps, they REALLY have to budget because it's not like they get what working people would spend on food.

Conny wrote:

Mayby they eat steak and roast beef for three days and then the food stamps are spent and they eat noodles with ketchup the rest of the month.
I don`t know if we should get involved in peoples eating habits.
If it is Cigarettes and booze that is a different story.

Like everything, there are plenty of people who need this and use it wisely. And like every program, there are plenty who take advantage of it.

I knew a gal years back, had two children. She was recently divorced and was on welfare. She used food stamps to buy food for her friends, she lived in a 300,000.00 home (her father was extremely rich, so I have no idea how she was eligiable.). So I've seen the worst of'm.

The only way to regulate this, is to spend even more money on audits/auditors. So it's waste either way.

Valkyrian Ride wrote:

<quoted text>They showed one family on the news who got over ONE MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR in welfare (this is extended family - cousins, etc.). They asked one of them if they thought they should be getting over one million a year in welfare, and they said, "We've got a lot of people to feed."

yes i have seen little peps on food duckies

let me say i was moveing out of tyson towers but i still had som things in there but i did not get help because i was moveing out at the time

Richy582 wrote:

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You sure know a lot on the topic. How much do you recieve each month? LOL

I don't received anything.
I determine eligibility for public assistance.
Any more questions? LOL

Redneck Rampage wrote:

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I don't received anything.
I determine eligibility for public assistance.
Any more questions? LOL

I was waiting to see your reply to that one. LOL

I KNEW you worked there just from what you said....it's not a lot to live on, and maybe, they should be a little more strict so that you have to produce meore than just a letter and names.

Redneck Rampage wrote:

<quoted text>
I don't received anything.
I determine eligibility for public assistance.
Any more questions? LOL

Just for the Record wrote:

<quoted text>
I was waiting to see your reply to that one. LOL

I bet you were! LOL

NET wrote:

I KNEW you worked there just from what you said....it's not a lot to live on, and maybe, they should be a little more strict so that you have to produce meore than just a letter and names.
<quoted text>

I think the entire system needs an overhaul.

In case you missed previous posts.....

The elderly, the ones who have been responsible, who have paid into the system all their lives....they get their social security and MAYBE get about $10 a month. You know what? They will turn it down and say "give it to someone who needs it". I have to make them understand that THEY are entitled to it.

Then we have people who need toiletries, soap, shampoo, the like....there are NO charities around here that will assist with those types of things.

I mean, I suppose if I were bad off I could "do without" toilet paper and just "wash up" after every toilet visit, but come on. That's messed up.

Food banks give out too much junk, not enough meat and vegetables.

Bite Me wrote:

Why not junk food? Health food is for those like momma32 that enjoy those fruit salads with their three-somes. I bet the fruit and the cool-whip were purchased with her EBT card,so why can the little ones, not have a little candy?LMAO

LMAO thanks for the visual after lunch now I going to throw up!!! LOL

Redneck Rampage wrote:

<quoted text>
I think the entire system needs an overhaul.
In case you missed previous posts.....
The elderly, the ones who have been responsible, who have paid into the system all their lives....they get their social security and MAYBE get about $10 a month. You know what? They will turn it down and say "give it to someone who needs it". I have to make them understand that THEY are entitled to it.
Then we have people who need toiletries, soap, shampoo, the like....there are NO charities around here that will assist with those types of things.
I mean, I suppose if I were bad off I could "do without" toilet paper and just "wash up" after every toilet visit, but come on. That's messed up.
Food banks give out too much junk, not enough meat and vegetables.

*How difficult do you think it would be to end EBT cards in order to curb direct use of cash benefits to buy drugs, etc.?
*How difficult do you think it would be to use sting operations to catch the stores that allow purchases of cigarettes, etc. with food stamps just as they do to combat underage alcohol sales?
*In centers of urban poverty, projects, etc., what about a foodstamp-eligible-only facility that sold ONLY (subsidized?) healthy foods, basic clothing and school supplies, cleaning and hygiene items? That way people could come in there and spend their food stamps and cash where it would do the most good, tempting them away from blowing it elsewhere at least to some degree.
Even better, recipient's accounts could have their benefits directly deposited for credit used only at that facility- drastically limiting their choices to healthful food and useful necessities.
* What about drug-testing for benefits? Do you know anything about this?
* What about rent and utilities bills being direct-deposited into recipient's accounts?

*To me, cash needs to be seen as a privilege that comes only by work. Never given as assistance.
*There has to be a safety net for those newly off assistance and on their own feet so the first one or two hurdles (sick child, transportation problem, childcare problem) doesn't smack them back to square one overnight.
* The training and welfare-to-work, "workfare", and other programs should have given us an idea what is most effective by now.

bryts wrote:

Like everything, there are plenty of people who need this and use it wisely. And like every program, there are plenty who take advantage of it.
I knew a gal years back, had two children. She was recently divorced and was on welfare. She used food stamps to buy food for her friends, she lived in a 300,000.00 home (her father was extremely rich, so I have no idea how she was eligiable.). So I've seen the worst of'm.
The only way to regulate this, is to spend even more money on audits/auditors. So it's waste either way.

I bet it isn't a waste either way. I thought about this and remembered that a lot of the toughest social workers I knew had been on assistance and/or knew or came from families that had been on assistance. They knew every trick in the book- and man, were they indignant about the cheats! They felt very keenly and deeply resented how the users/abusers made the hard-working good people who were honestly down on their luck and needed temporary help look like scum.

If a whole lot more savvy social workers were hired- there would be more employed poor people; mostly women, probably. Not only would they be off assistance, paying taxes, they would be identifying the freeloaders who could be eliminated from the system.

Maybe the taxpayers would end up actually making money on that deal! What do you think?

$542 for a family of four, then add one more child,and momma32,and then you have a whole lot of fruit salad.I bet she is pretty fat,after using that much cool-whip!LMAO

I dont know what state you guys are from but in Kentucky your not allowed to buy cigarettes with food stamps .Have you ever looked at the prices of the healthy foods .I dont draw food stamps and i cant even afford some of that stuff. And who in the hell wouldnt turn down $10 a month for what two gallons of milk. Its not worth telling how many times a day you whipe your ass . And yes I agree with drug testing and cash needing to be a privilege. There is to many on FS that can work but dont ,but also there is some that do recive and do work that need the exra help.

WLS wrote:

I dont know what state you guys are from but in Kentucky your not allowed to buy cigarettes with food stamps .Have you ever looked at the prices of the healthy foods .I dont draw food stamps and i cant even afford some of that stuff. And who in the hell wouldnt turn down $10 a month for what two gallons of milk. Its not worth telling how many times a day you whipe your ass . And yes I agree with drug testing and cash needing to be a privilege. There is to many on FS that can work but dont ,but also there is some that do recive and do work that need the exra help.

You're right that you are not supposed to be able to buy smokes with food stamps, but if you are the owner of a convenience store, and someone wants to buy cigarettes with their food stamps you have these options:
1. Be ethical and legal and say no.
2. Say yes and alter the sales code because you know that if you do say no, the sale will go to the next guy who will say yes.

Now; if you are in competition with a whole lot of other stores and there is very little chance of being caught...it might be very difficult to be the one store in the area with the reputation for being strict about food stamps. This makes the problem an issue of enforcement more than ethics.

You have weighed in with a lot of intensity on this thread. You give me the impression that you might know a hell of a lot more about this whole issue than many of us do- what are your ideas? I really want to know.