A discussion On Food stamps:

[AVGWarhawk]

Originally Posted by gimpy117

okay, so as a grocery store worker this has been eating me up: The fact that you can get big ticket items on food stamps such items as:

-Beef tenderloins -20.99/lb
-snow crab legs -10.00/lb
-King crab legs - 19.99/lb
-New your Strip, t-bone, ribeye 10-12.99/lb

honestly this grinds my gears. I think these items should be prohibited. Lets face it, food stamps are there because you cannot afford to eat supposedly...not because you cannot afford to eat like a king! I'm all for people being able to get normal, less expensive products like chicken, pork and less expensive beef cuts...but King Crab legs??? really?! we once even had a lady buy $200.000 worth on food stamps because she just got her benefits. Honestly unless these people start sharing this crab with me in a little fed up. I can't afford that stuff, and as a college student i'll get like 50 a month if i got EBT.

Years ago I was strapped for money for the week. So I make due with what I have to work with. Peanut butter and jelly go a long way. So do eggs. I went to the grocery store to get my lunch supplies for the week. It was peanut butter, jelly and loaf of bread. Cheap, fills the belly and generally full of protein from the peanut butter. Five or six buck and done. As I'm waiting to check out a food stamp recipient loads onto the conveyor two lobster tails, two steaks and a bunch of flowers. The guy was not only eating great but providing for a date planned and probably getting laid after eating. All on the tax payers living in the state of Maryland.

[gimpy117]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Years ago I was strapped for money for the week. So I make due with what I have to work with. Peanut butter and jelly go a long way. So do eggs. I went to the grocery store to get my lunch supplies for the week. It was peanut butter, jelly and loaf of bread. Cheap, fills the belly and generally full of protein from the peanut butter. Five or six buck and done. As I'm waiting to check out a food stamp recipient loads onto the conveyor two lobster tails, two steaks and a bunch of flowers. The guy was not only eating great but providing for a date planned and probably getting laid after eating. All on the tax payers living in the state of Maryland.

i know. eats me up. I eat on the cheap as well. I'd be okay with a food stamper getting PBJ, or at least something a little more...but that? ugh.

[Respenus]

The following idea is similar to food stamps, or any type of stamps, in purpose, for what about a rationing book (which wouldn't be a bad idea in general, but let's try to limit the outcry)? This way you would be given money to spend rather freely and on necessities, without the necessary control of what type of food stuff stamps are being used for. The first major problem I see with this idea, is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to equip only a certain number of people with the cards and others not and how stores would control it. Perhaps people with rationing cards would get basic goods at a discount price?

[soopaman2]

My old lady is in the business as well. She is an assistant manager at a very large supermarket company here.

One of my favorite stories is the ones who wait at the store for the stroke of midnight (when they were 24/7 in operation, as they are not anymore), (sometimes with their dealers accompanying, or a cab waiting outside) to buy a pack of gum, get 100$ back (the limit), then repeat until the cash (welfare portion, not stamps) is ran out. So much for paying bills, this dance repeated itself 2 days later on the 3rd of the month as well.

The store used to bring in security as most would usually stop by the HABA (health and beauty aids, like razors, and medicine) to shoplift razors and expensive medicine to return later (the store has a no reciept police. aka give them the pickle)

It is disgusting. We (working class) have to budget, and go without sometimes to pay our obligations, while the fraud is rampant.

This takes away from the unfortionate souls who really need stamps and welfare. And makes the genuine down on their luck people look bad.

And when the right kills these programs due to these abusers, their will be more good people suffering than fraudsters.

We should require drug tests for all government benefits. All adults being claimed, mother and father (if there is a father).

Community service, at least 15 hours a week for the township, which can cut service costs for the community. These people would actually be forced to be helpful to society, rather than just taking.

Also some of these poor impoverished people show up in Lexus', Benzes, with rims and 20 inch wheels. As well as huge speakers, and a radio system that makes my gaming rig look like an Atari 2600.

That includes unemployment too.

I sound so conservative...

I am still lefty, but abuse is abuse.
This program is helpful, but the costs could be trimmed with actual regulating. You should want to help yourself, first. And prove it.

I am sick of paying taxes, so miss nubian queen, and trailor park Royalty can drive around in a benz and not work.

[Skybird]

Originally Posted by Respenus

The following idea is similar to food stamps, or any type of stamps, in purpose, for what about a rationing book (which wouldn't be a bad idea in general, but let's try to limit the outcry)? This way you would be given money to spend rather freely and on necessities, without the necessary control of what type of food stuff stamps are being used for. The first major problem I see with this idea, is that it would be difficult, if not impossible, to equip only a certain number of people with the cards and others not and how stores would control it. Perhaps people with rationing cards would get basic goods at a discount price?

The priority for me is to make sure that other people'S moeny gets not wasted on luxury goods and luxurious details in ways of life. The aid given thereforew should be linkied as close as possible to the purposes it is meant for: essential food to prevent hunger and disease, shelter, education options and school material for children in a household. People should not make a living by such aid, nor should they sack money for buying cigarettes, the latest MP3 player, filet steaks, and Boss Bottled, expensive style.

I see no advantage in your idea, therefore. I even see it as inferior to a stamping system. I would prefer to supply only a very very small ammount of cash, and give instead purpose-bound values: stamps, in other words.

Oh, and I think there should be a law that makes stamps non-tradable, so that they cannot be exchanged/sold for money. They should be personalised in any way, like a monthly pass for the Bus, for example. Same ID on stamps and in a receiver pass - by that you prevent trading stamps. Irresponsible parents thus cannot trade the stamps for school material for their kids for money - money that then goes into buying alcohol or cigarettes. What is meant to help the kids, should remain theirs, beyond doubt. A black market trading for stamps should be battled against from beginning on.

It must not be a big bureaucratic effort, I think. In these days, with chip cards and all that digiatl data processing capacity, so much is possible so easily and so quickly, assuming the job of establishing such a system is not left to lobbyists or political dilettants.

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On forcing wellgfare reciever to work in communal services, I am aware of the fact that this opens doors and gates for abuse by employers as well. We have this very very big problem with socalled 1-Euro-jobs here in Germany, that's why. It led to the establishing of economic business models that from all beginning on depend on paying employees only 1 Euro per hpour, and the remaining needs of the employee being taken care of by the tax payer. As a consequence such jobs destroy regular jobs, again at the cost of the general public. Plus it makes you feel like dirt knowing that your emplyoer only emplys you because you are worth to him just one Euro per hour - that is abuse, and in principle modern slavery, unvoluntarily subsidised by the tax payers, while some profiteer collects the cream. That'S why I tend to think on a design that accepts to give the basic wellfare help for free, an essential basis of help without much luxury, and then with an option to increase slightly over that aid level - by signing in to community service jobs like soopaman mentioned - this then earny the wellfare receiver additional stamps or special stamps or maybe even a little money. - But again, children's aid should be unaffected by this.