Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You'd doing the liberal thing again: taking things to the (false) extreme in order to defend bad financial decisions of the poor people to whom we are providing food, reduced rents, cash, school lunches, Medicaid, etc., etc.
And YOUR example with the teen is absurd. You missed a key point: what if I had GIVEN her the money to buy a jacket so she wouldn't be cold, and then she sold it on EBay to buy pizza for herself and her friends. That's not what I gave her the money for.
(And yes, people are selling their food stamps.)
News flash: Poor people to whom we provide substantial financial assistance are not ENTITLED to spend money however they want. A good portion of that money is ours, and money (and its equivalents, like food stamps) is fungible.
There's a specific scam in the Chicago area (and I'm sure other areas, as well) that goes like this... People buy baby formula with Food Stamps or WIC. They sell it for 50 cents on the dollar and pocket the cash. The buyer then sells the baby formula at slightly below retail cost and pockets the difference. The end buyer gets baby formula for less, and both the Food Stamp/WIC recipient and the middle man make money on the deal.
That photo was probably taken in an affluent area of NY. The woman herself looks rich, and there's a girl in a private school uniform behind her. If the well-off can cart their groceries (and laundry), why can't the poor people whom we are already subsidizing?
When you live in a city with nicely maintained sidewalks and a store on every corner, that type of arrangement would work well. If you live in a rural area on a dirt road, are you going to hike 5 miles to the nearest store in order to get your groceries? Or what if you live in a hilly area or an area where there are busy roads and no sidewalks? Or if you live in a dangerous area where you are at risk carting anything of value (even food) through the area? Surely you have been to places where not everyone lives in a safe, clean city with good lighting and where there is a full-service grocery store within easy walking distance (with young children, since most SNAP recipients have young kids)?
I live in Florida, and there is a huge community of homeless people living on Hwy 192 in Kissimmee. That is the road filled with the non-Disney hotels where most people who aren't staying on Disney property stay during their WDW vacations. Many of those hotels (think Motel 6 type places and not Marriott, of course) are home to poor people who are basically homeless (unless you consider a Motel 6 or similar hotel room an adequate home for a family with children).
On that road, there are long stretches with nothing but hotels, gift shops, and convenience stores. There is a Publix at one end. Publix, if you don't live in the South, is a high-priced grocery store. Not like Whole Foods high-priced, but not like Walmart at all. So it is conceivable that someone might drag their cart (assuming you'd allow their expenditure on a cart) and their children to Publix to shop, if they are within walking distance. More likely, though, they'll make do with the nearby 7-11 or Dollar General, where they are going to be paying premium prices for unhealthy junk. (Meaning that they might spend $10 of EBT benefits on a sandwich, a drink, and a bag of chips or maybe on four cans of ravioli since that's what is available.) The Walmart is pretty far down and not near the motels, so they'd need to take a city bus to make that trek. It's not like New York City where buses run every few minutes, either; it can take a half-day or longer to make the trip with the timing and all. And since hotel refrigerators are small and most don't have stoves, it isn't like they can go stock up for two weeks; they'd need to be small amounts of fresh produce, already-cooked meat, yogurt, etc. It needs to fit in the fridge. They could stock up more on pantry items, but keep in mind that there is really no storage in a motel room, especially if you are housing several people in said room and using the closet and drawers for your clothing.
Would you approve of someone in this situation having groceries delivered? Or someone who lived in a rural area or someone who lived in a dangerous neighborhood or someone who would have to cross a four-lane highway with no crossing lanes with young children, and so on? What is your criteria on who should be allowed to spend $5 of their own money on grocery delivery?
Paying for delivery from a store like Walmart or whatever lower-priced grocery stores are in the area is actually cost-effective if it means you don't have to pay for a bus ticket to go to a more expensive grocery store or walk to the nearest gas station to purchase expensive convenience items because that is what's available. So if you are so very concerned about the 70 cents you pay out of your paycheck going toward the food for someone who doesn't have the funds to purchase food for themselves, you should really think about what the alternatives are in terms of where they'd be getting their food if they are in one of the positions listed above and whether that is really a better deal.
There's a specific scam in the Chicago area (and I'm sure other areas, as well) that goes like this... People buy baby formula with Food Stamps or WIC. They sell it for 50 cents on the dollar and pocket the cash. The buyer then sells the baby formula at slightly below retail cost and pockets the difference. The end buyer gets baby formula for less, and both the Food Stamp/WIC recipient and the middle man make money on the deal.
This is terrible and should, of course, be shut down if the authorities know about it, but it has nothing to do with whether the poor should be allowed to pay for grocery delivery.
There's a specific scam in the Chicago area (and I'm sure other areas, as well) that goes like this... People buy baby formula with Food Stamps or WIC. They sell it for 50 cents on the dollar and pocket the cash. The buyer then sells the baby formula at slightly below retail cost and pockets the difference. The end buyer gets baby formula for less, and both the Food Stamp/WIC recipient and the middle man make money on the deal.
Disgraceful.
And the people buying the baby formula with OUR money and then profiting off it will complain that we aren't giving them enough in the way of food stamps.
Maybe we should just go back to the old days of just handing out food to the needy. They could come by once a week and pick up their food boxes (one for perishables: meat, chicken, milk, etc.) and non-perishables (canned veggies, spaghetti, pasta sauce, bread, etc.). For the elderly and disabled, we would deliver.
When you live in a city with nicely maintained sidewalks and a store on every corner, that type of arrangement would work well. If you live in a rural area on a dirt road, are you going to hike 5 miles to the nearest store in order to get your groceries? Or what if you live in a hilly area or an area where there are busy roads and no sidewalks? Or if you live in a dangerous area where you are at risk carting anything of value (even food) through the area? Surely you have been to places where not everyone lives in a safe, clean city with good lighting and where there is a full-service grocery store within easy walking distance (with young children, since most SNAP recipients have young kids)?
I live in Florida, and there is a huge community of homeless people living on Hwy 192 in Kissimmee. That is the road filled with the non-Disney hotels where most people who aren't staying on Disney property stay during their WDW vacations. Many of those hotels (think Motel 6 type places and not Marriott, of course) are home to poor people who are basically homeless (unless you consider a Motel 6 or similar hotel room an adequate home for a family with children).
On that road, there are long stretches with nothing but hotels, gift shops, and convenience stores. There is a Publix at one end. Publix, if you don't live in the South, is a high-priced grocery store. Not like Whole Foods high-priced, but not like Walmart at all. So it is conceivable that someone might drag their cart (assuming you'd allow their expenditure on a cart) and their children to Publix to shop, if they are within walking distance. More likely, though, they'll make do with the nearby 7-11 or Dollar General, where they are going to be paying premium prices for unhealthy junk. (Meaning that they might spend $10 of EBT benefits on a sandwich, a drink, and a bag of chips or maybe on four cans of ravioli since that's what is available.) The Walmart is pretty far down and not near the motels, so they'd need to take a city bus to make that trek. It's not like New York City where buses run every few minutes, either; it can take a half-day or longer to make the trip with the timing and all. And since hotel refrigerators are small and most don't have stoves, it isn't like they can go stock up for two weeks; they'd need to be small amounts of fresh produce, already-cooked meat, yogurt, etc. It needs to fit in the fridge. They could stock up more on pantry items, but keep in mind that there is really no storage in a motel room, especially if you are housing several people in said room and using the closet and drawers for your clothing.
Would you approve of someone in this situation having groceries delivered? Or someone who lived in a rural area or someone who lived in a dangerous neighborhood or someone who would have to cross a four-lane highway with no crossing lanes with young children, and so on? What is your criteria on who should be allowed to spend $5 of their own money on grocery delivery?
Paying for delivery from a store like Walmart or whatever lower-priced grocery stores are in the area is actually cost-effective if it means you don't have to pay for a bus ticket to go to a more expensive grocery store or walk to the nearest gas station to purchase expensive convenience items because that is what's available. So if you are so very concerned about the 70 cents you pay out of your paycheck going toward the food for someone :
who doesn't have the funds to purchase food for themselves, you should really think about what the alternatives are in terms of where they'd be getting their food if they are in one of the positions listed above and whether that is really a better deal.
Perhaps you didn't read my earlier posts, but I already said that the delivery would be fine for three categories of people:
1) Those who would have to walk more than 1/2 mile (a 10-minute walk)
2) Over age 65
3) Physically disabled
And again.....it isn't $5 of their own money. That's coming out of their food stamp money that we provide. Money is fungible.
Why won't liberals step up and voluntarily fund assistance programs? Why do they feel compelled to force others to pay for them?
Still deflecting
I know you want to talk about liberals in order to deflect from the fact that Donald Trump is forcing you to pay for the delivery. Take it up with him.
Do you think the people who brag loudest about being so generous actually give to people they obviously resent?
The answer is no.
If charitable giving was enough to support the poor, we would not have the programs Trump is forcing us to pay for.
I know you want to talk about liberals in order to deflect from the fact that Donald Trump is forcing you to pay for the delivery. Take it up with him.
Do you think the people who brag loudest about being so generous actually give to people they obviously resent?
The answer is no.
If charitable giving was enough to support the poor, we would not have the programs Trump is forcing us to pay for.
The thing is, only the person receiving the groceries is paying for the delivery.
Maybe we should just go back to the old days of just handing out food to the needy.
Yes, you should do that, or vote for someone who would do that as opposed to Trump who is forcing you to spend your hard earned money to pay for delivery.
Don't forget the "hard earned" line!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
