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^^^not to mention that if the person instead saw actual vegetables in the cart instead of crap junk food, they'd complain that food stamp users are eating fresh vegetables when they themselves can't afford it. How much do you want to bet that is exactly what would be said?
STOP EBT Cards from being used at Circle K and any Convenience Store ! Ban Pre-Frozen Dinners from being bought with EBT Cards, and Snacks that are known to be non healthy.
There is many things which can be done to address what can and cannot be bought and where these things can and cannot be used.
There should be select Grocery Stores which can accept these EBT purchases, they should be non taxed, and the price should be 10-20% less for products being bought with EBT Cards. Why should the merchants gain high profit from the government funds. They should have a system where Stores can receive certain credits for the price reduction they provide on products to EBT card users, but we know Merchants will cheat and raise the price, so they should have a cap of 2-4% credit, on what they sell at a 10-20% discount. If they don't want to be a part of the support of the program in these ways, then don't accept the card.
If people wants snacks and such, then let them buy it themselves, or buy their cake and cookie mix and make it at home.
We have many ways to manage the program. We can also have 'finger print scanners" for people who use these cards, where the purchase is not confirmed without a fingerprint match. Anyone caught selling products they purchase will get 'IMMEDIATE SUSPENSION OF BENEFITS" AND POSSIBLY A FINE AND BE RELEGATED TO PUBLIC SERVICE WORK TO PAY OFF THAT FINE".
During the schools year, the amount of EBT benefits is reduced, because the kids get meals at school, so during the year, the kids will get breakfast and lunch at school, which means the parent only has to provide dinner, for 9 months of the year.
Here there are so many welfare recipients who won't use their food stamps to feed their children, they keep the school cafeterias open year round -- in the summer the schools are mainly feeding stations for the food stamp crowd. It's a great benefit -- send their kids to get their breakfasts and lunches at school and use the food stamps for other purposes.
I think the whole "War on Poverty" needs to be revamped. Set up feeding stations, eliminate the food stamps. Instead of $1000 to $2000 a month housing vouchers, house the poor in dorm like settings where they can share living and dining areas and small individual sleeping quarters.
Welfare should not be a lifestyle choice, instead of just allowing a growing number to be idle all their days, there should be a work requirement in order to receive their handouts.
As one of the people that helps pay your grocery bills, it's not my responsibility to help you understand why I resent having to do so. The responsibility is on you to figure out why you are in a situation where you are unable to support yourself and your kids. There is a very good chance that you made choices that resulted in your current situation.
Also, I resent that people get the same food for free that I have to pay for. I don't want anyone to starve, but rather than give people a debit card with tax payer dollars on it to have a choice in food selection, people who need food assistance should receive a ration of staples: bread, cheese, powdered milk/formula, peanut butter, canned fruits/vegetables, etc. In other words, enough to keep you and your kids alive, but not of a high enough quality where freeloading becomes a comfortable situation.
Quote:
Originally Posted by MoonBeam33
Great.
What exactly do you propose be done with/to irresponsible, lowlife fathers who abdicate responsibility to their children? You clearly know everything and have never made a single bad choice in life, so go ahead and tell me how you would fix this overwhelming problem.
And again, I'm asking what you would do about THE MEN, not the mothers.
We hear a lot about women's right to choose. I'd suggest using their right to choose to keep their legs in a closed position and then there would be no need to deal with irresponsible, lowlife fathers.
Yet many millions of illegals do just that. Try to find Americans anymore in construction jobs -- dry wall, painting, roofing, plumbing, landscaping. Same with factory jobs. Funny how an illiterate illegal unable to speak a word of English can manage to do just that but an American cannot.
As long as the average welfare household costs the taxpayers over $61,000 a year to maintain, why would welfare recipients try very hard to find work?
Bull.
The reason an "illegal can manage to do that" is because the system enables them at the expense of actual Americans. Illegals survive in this nation for the following reasons:
1) They are paid far below minimum wage: Unless that's what you're advocating for your fellow citizens, this clearly won't fly.
2) They are paid under the table, and thus pay no income tax: Again, try this as a legal American citizen and get back to me after the IRS is through with you about how well it works out for you.
3) They exploit every social safety net program: Which, ironically, is what we're supposed to be trying to stop based on the replies on this thread.
4) They are given preferential employment status for the above reasons: In short, they are much cheaper to hire than legal Americans, and thus legal citizens can't just "do the same things" and expect to survive on those laughable, under the table wages.
Illegals are doing great because they don't have to actually pay their way to survive in this nation - American citizens have to, and thus can't survive on those low wages nor can they dodge the income tax as easily.
We live in the wealthiest country in the history of the world and we are trying to begrudge people food. People will always have their stories about the person on food stamps with the 5 slabs of Filet, but there is no real evidence that this type of behavior is widespread.
I think everyone should close their eyes and think of a welfare, SNAP, etc. recipient and see what comes to mind. For the people that go on and on about freeloaders, this image looks different than they do (even though this image may not reflect reality). Therefore they lack empathy. It's clear we lack empathy for people we think are different from us in some way.
As far as the anecdotes everyone has, I am really suspicious. From what I have heard, SNAP assistance comes by means of a debit card. How in the world do you have any idea of how this person paid for the Filet. I am not that intrusive when I am in line at the grocery store and certainly don't care what method of payment the person in front of me is using.
Furthermore, when someone is buying flat screen TV's, how do you know whether they are on federal assistance?
How do you know what type of cars these people drive or what's in their homes?
What I think is happening is that someone sees someone that looks like their mental image of SNAP recipient, sees that they have nice things and then start all the assumptions and teeth gnashing begin.
If the people telling these stories really do have all of this firsthand information, then you should examine how much of an interest you are taking in strangers' lives.
Until very recently the Farm Bill and SNAP assistance were tied together. The Farm Bill is basically welfare for rural people. People will disagree with me, but basically what we are doing is giving cash to people who are working jobs that don't make ends meet, the same as the large majority of SNAP recipients. Many people on farms have large families, families they couldn't afford without government assistance. If we followed capitalistic motives, these people should also be "trying to better themselves" or moving to a place or industry that will pay more money. But no one says this. In fact the GOP House has voted to separate SNAP and the Farm Bill, fully funding the farm bill while gutting SNAP.
Now close your eyes and imagine what a beneficiary of the Farm Bill looks like.
Do you think that these mental images make a difference in how we treat these two groups?
We really need a reexamination on how we view poverty in this country.
What you describe is a "Grandstanding BIGOT" who has this delusion they made it all by themselves. (No one makes it all by themselves, they simply disregard and dis-acknowledge and often may not even recognize the help they received along the way.)
We see it all the time, the minute some have something of "material means", they start grandstanding in effort to deny something to someone else. I see those in many cases as the real "low life's" in society and some of them often claim to be devout religious to the point to fanaticism. But they forget that Jesus was a supporter of the poor, the disenfranchised and the challenged. They also forget "he, who measures himself by material things, is likely in a form of haughtiness, vain pride and material minded to the point they are not unlike one who assumes "material idolatry" as their God. In the form of "money".
Bigots are born of human ignorance and spiritual deficiencies. They live by the edicts of ignorance, vanity and self gloating. These are the types who are an insult to the concept of what is "America and what it means to be an American.
They are easily identified by what comes out of their mouth.
This does not negate that as a society of people, we all need to assume and manage our responsibilities as best we can. But for those who have more than enough to cover the basic, and can provide themselves some leisure and convenience, should be less driven to grandstand and become a bigoted foolish and ignorant person, as in many cases their means is in part derived from a great many gains from some of these same and very expansive social program benefits.
One would be amazed at the number of semi professionals, professionals and shop keepers, who profit greatly from 'government contract funds", Government Program funds.
They line up with salivating lips when they see a new government program being implemented. These are many times the very people who have preyed on the poor, preyed on government funded program recipients, as well as lining up to be the merchant to provide goods to people buying materials and substances from government based projects with government funds.
People whine about Government funded homes, but the Professional profit greatly from the selling of plans, and all the professional services this money pays to provide services. The recipient of the home is the last to benefit anything, it is all those who profit from the funds to get these homes built. And they are out there in masses. Then you have the slum lords and others who line up to get their homes on the Section 8 so they can gain the rental income, and then turn around and want to talk about the people who have been awarded these benefits. Yet, they like to see that check roll in "on time" every month.
There are many who have no interest to rent to anyone other than Section 8 recipients.
All this bigoted madness stems from the annals of slavery and post slavery segregation, where these types detested seeing any benefit or service being afforded the minorities, yet many of the same people have a history in their family of underpaying minorities during the long period of segregation with one aim, and that's to maximize their gains, by the mis-use and abuse of others.
But these same ones never think to realize, the greatest pool of public benefit users is white Americans, in America. but bigots are very eager and highly they gladly accept and seek the poor white benefit recipients money too. After they get the money, they want nothing more to do with poor whites or poor minority's outside of getting money from them which has been allotted via benefit programs.
These are Bigoted Materialist, Who is Avarice Driven with a diminished sense of regard for humanity in a respectful manner without first trying to measure people based on some material holdings.
They are generally the true Hypocrite of the ages.
Last edited by Chance and Change; 04-17-2014 at 08:16 AM..
Mostly what I've seen that just looked to me to be a waste of those ebt dollars was lots and lots and lots and lots of junk food, ie, sodas, chips, other snack type foods that frankly I don't buy because I'm trying to stretch my nutrition dollar as far as I can.
I'd never question anyone about what they're spending their money on ( regardless of the source)- it's not my place and it's out of line, IMO to pry like that into anyone's business. I admit it won't keep me from thinking some negative thoughts about the folks who are spending our money that way, but I think I am entitled to think as I like- they'll never know what I was thinking.
On the other hand, the other day I was behind a young woman and her son in the grocery checkout line, and saw that they had piled up on nutritional items that were on sale- buy one get one items such as chicken legs and thighs, fresh veggies and cereal that was also on sale. She bought as much as she could with the amount she had left on her ebt card. That, IMO is a responsible use of ebt money.
Why are you snooping in other people's grocery carts, lady? Why are you snooping at how they're paying their grocery bills, too?
It's NONE of your business what groceries other people buy or how they pay for it.
Y'know what's worse than "the gub'ment" spying on people? Conservatives sticking their oh-so-judgemental noses into other people's bedrooms and grocery carts!!!
This, along with the notion that you could just show up on a contractor's doorstep and offer to work for free to learn a trade shows that the poster is seriously out of touch with what's going on in the job market as well as the world in general.
The bit about moving to another part of the country to find a well paying job has been discussed ad nauseam in the employment subforum. Most people looking for work do not have the resources to just up and move, let alone the networking or familial support.
Then that part about farming yourself out for free to learn a trade? Great idea...........if this were 1950 - 1970. For insurance reasons alone, you'll never find an employer in their right mind that will take you up on that offer. Sure, maybe 40 years ago it might have been a good idea but in the sue happy 21st century
it'll never fly. You're working for free for a painter and you fall off a ladder and break your leg. While you may not sue for damages, there are plenty who will.
You need to bring up your thinking to the world of 2014. Unless you're applying to a mom and pop business, gone are the days of walking into a company, filling out an application on the spot and getting called for an interview. I won't get into the particulars of the ridiculous hiring process many companies use now days, anybody still connected to the job market is familiar with them. As you seem not to be, I suggest that you read some of the posts in working and employment forum and get a feel for just how difficult landing a well paying job has become. Perhaps with that understanding you might learn a little empathy for those trapped in dead end jobs.
I'm not saying that it's impossible to move out of a dead end job but it's a hell of a lot harder than now than it was in the past.
A frightening number of people in this nation have absolutely no idea what is going on in the world today. They live lost in the past, still thinking this is the 1950's, where the only people who didn't have jobs were those who didn't want them, and where "boot-strapping" still worked and you could walk into the front office of any company, give them a resume and a handshake and be hired that day. I suppose I can't completely fault them for still living partly in the past, but I can call them out on their nonsense when they refuse to gain any education about the current reality in which we live... and yet continue to spout off rage at the unemployed based on nothing but rose-colored memories from the 1950's.
The ignorance of current affairs is bad enough, but the lack of empathy is even more appalling. Each of these so-called "self made men" is one layoff, injury, or illness away from being unemployable themselves, and yet they'll stand in line to beat down their fellow citizens who have fallen upon hard times. We do not live in a meritocracy, and the Just World Fallacy is not a valid belief system in the real world.
Why are you snooping in other people's grocery carts, lady? Why are you snooping at how they're paying their grocery bills, too?
It's NONE of your business what groceries other people buy or how they pay for it.
Y'know what's worse than "the gub'ment" spying on people? Conservatives sticking their oh-so-judgemental noses into other people's bedrooms and grocery carts!!!
If they are paying for it with taxpayers' money, taxpayers definitely do have the right to see how their money is being spent/wasted.
If you want people to stop looking at your cart, then use your own hard-earned money to buy things.
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