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.
I did think outside the box and I am off FS now because I did. I used the time I had unemployed to get skills for when I would be employed and in school. My point is in that situation I didn't have any other options for food--and this is many people's story, not just mine. I couldn't plant seeds because I had severe debilitating chronic pain. My pain was so bad at times I could not move because the clothes on my skin was unbearable. Literally--breathing hurt. Sorry if that's a lame excuse to you but it is what it is. Like I mentioned earlier, a lot of disabled people are on FS and they can't cook or garden, etc. Someone working 12-hour shifts on minimum wage isn't going to be planting cucumbers on their front lawn either.
That's why there need to be at least a few options for healthy food that is as accessible (and I mean that in all the ways) and convenient as junk food.
Excuses and an entitlement mentality. I work 12 hour days and MAKE time to tend my container garden and prepare the majority of my meals. It comes down to priorities. If you could move your fingers to take online courses, you could have done what it took to put a few tomato seeds into a pot, add water a couple times a week, and pick the fruit. Seriously. I spend less than five minutes a week on my plants, and the physical effort is nil. If you can't cook, make a sandwich from the tomatoes. You are full of excuses but offer no solutions.
I'm all for offering a hand up, but I don't think we should be helping anyone who refuses to try to help themselves as well.
Exactly. I knew there wasn't something right about the whole getting the check back claim. We get a check back because the government finds it easier to steal the maximum possible amount of our money first and then only give us back what was always ours to begin with instead of taking the minimum amount and asking us for more money later. I can understand why, cause it's easier to give people money back than it is to ask them for money, but the money we get back was always ours to begin with. It's the money we earned working.
The point is that most people using food stamps will have zero tax liability. They take their deductions and find that they owe no taxes, so anything they paid in is refunded. And many will get back more than they paid in in the form of an EIC. Just because you earned it doesn't mean you are actually paying taxes on it.
Exactly. I knew there wasn't something right about the whole getting the check back claim. We get a check back because the government finds it easier to steal the maximum possible amount of our money first and then only give us back what was always ours to begin with instead of taking the minimum amount and asking us for more money later. I can understand why, cause it's easier to give people money back than it is to ask them for money, but the money we get back was always ours to begin with. It's the money we earned working.
That's not true. You fill out a W-4 form when you get a job. You tell the government how much to take out in taxes. If they are taking out too much that is because you told them to.
Have you actually tried? Have you gone to the media after you got no response from your representative?
Then go for frozen. You can get anything frozen, and it keeps for months.
Not my situation, another poster's. My area has some transportation for the elderly and disabled. I know of nothing for the poor. We have public transportation for that, (subway, buses). Even the elderly and disabled are screwed now as AccessaRide isn't taking new applications as they are overloaded and have run out of funds.
Quote:
Originally Posted by annerk
Completely different set of circumstances. They are SAVING taxpayers money by keeping them out of the foster care system. And my friend isn't buying junk food with the EBT, and for the record they raise chickens and have a large garden. We just traded some fresh basil and rosemary leaves from my windowsill for sugar snap peas from her garden.
Good for them. They have those resources. Keep in mind that many do not.
Who aren't sponging off the taxpayer for their medicaid payment as well.
I know middle and working class on medicaid.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rhawkins74
You just don't get it, If a person has money coming in, food stamps is supposed to be a support system. It is supposed to help offset the cost of food, not provide fully. This is why Food Stamps is based off of income, and the more income you receive the less FS you receive.
If you have some money coming in, you should be using that money to provide for yourself and if you are receiving government assistance, that should be only as a crutch, not a full wheel chair
Again, you just don't get it. FS is a very small allotment. How are people who can't get full-time jobs supposed to 'supplement'? Even those with 2 jobs are having a very hard time. We can't pay rent. We don't have medical care (no, I'm not eligible for medicaid). Electric and heating bills are high.
You don't live in the real world. Wake up.
Quote:
Originally Posted by rissak234
Actually no! Not every one gets a check at the end of the year! After you make a certain amount per year, you get no money back on taxes. Actually, people really close to me have to pay even more taxes. A friend of mine pays 35% in taxes every single paycheck and then he has to pay taxes at the end of the year to pay for EBT and the other "benefits" that poor people get. You get your taxes back at the end of the year because you do not make enough to be considered upper class. Those that do make more have to fund all of the junk food that people buy with those cards.
Last year, I paid taxes. I even had an argument with an old friend when she wouldn't get it through her head that there are people who make $50,000 who pay taxes. I blanked my vital info and sent her a copy of my tax form. I'm very curious to see what my situation will be this year as I will have made very little money (no UI this year). I may get it all back in this case.
If I had kids, I'd probably get more back. But people like me - with NO deductions - PAY!
Want people to have compassion for your situation? Have compassion for theirs. You get what you give. As someone going into psychology, compassion is something you're going to have to master.
You can't help people through difficult times and treat their disorders if you're too busy judging them.
Also, $227 might be more than you make in a week, but it's what many people have for food for an entire month, and often for more than one person. So divide that into four--that's $56.75 and then let's say it's for a household of three--that's slightly less than $19 per person per week. That's not a whole lot of money to be getting for food. Even for a household of two it's only $28 bucks a week per person.
Food stamps were NEVER intended to be an entire food budget, only to supplement the food budget. Let's get the FACTS straight on that one. I could feed my family of three healthy and nutritious meals for $50 a week. We'd be eating a lot of beans for our protein, but it could be done. Bean soup, rice and beans, a whole chicken bought on sale with the bones and "pickin's" used for stock. It wouldn't be a huge stretch, considering my grocery budget works out to about $80 a week right now, and we eat lean beef at least once a week.
Quote:
In my case we had $200 to split among three, which averaged out to $16 a week per person. I got so thin that I could feel my bones against each other since there was so little fat left even to cushion my bones. At a certain point my period stopped. I'm hardly defending the "fat lazy pigs who do nothing".
Then you obviously should take some classes in budgeting and inexpensive food prep from your local cooperative extension. It wouldn't be easy to do, but with a lot of beans and rice bought in bulk and either bulk canned tomatoes or home grown ones, bulk oatmeal, homemade bread with flour bought in bulk, pasta bought in bulk with sauce again made from bulk cans or homegrown tomatoes, you could eat enough to not become anorexic on $16 a week.
That's not true. You fill out a W-4 form when you get a job. You tell the government how much to take out in taxes. If they are taking out too much that is because you told them to.
Have you ever had a job ?
Three. I started working at 13 and paying taxes at 16.
stop exaggerating please, stop judging, stop whining, be grateful you are currently not in such dire circumstance, go live you're own life, and MYOB
As long as tax dollars are funding any entitlement program, what people are doing with that money IS our business.
People buying junk with food stamps is no different than people getting HEAP and leaving the windows open when it's 10 degrees out and they've got the heat cranked. And yes, I once had a neighbor who did this. She never closed her bedroom and living room windows and always had her heat so high that I rarely had to turn mine on. She lived downstairs. And she loved bragging about all the entitlements she got--food stamps, HEAP, Section 8, day care costs, medicaid, etc.
I guarantee that by the end of the day, she was living far better than I was. I worked 10 hours of overtime every week just to be able to make my bills, and obviously pay some of hers while I was at it. I also took two college classes trying to earn my degree--and paid full tuition for them out of my own pocket. She worked 30 hours a week, drove a new car, and had all the latest in electronics. I drove a heap that I prayed would start on cold mornings, had a 12" B&W TV, and furniture that was second-second hand. Bitter? You bet. Any reasonable person would have been.
Food stamps were NEVER intended to be an entire food budget, only to supplement the food budget. Let's get the FACTS straight on that one. I could feed my family of three healthy and nutritious meals for $50 a week. We'd be eating a lot of beans for our protein, but it could be done. Bean soup, rice and beans, a whole chicken bought on sale with the bones and "pickin's" used for stock. It wouldn't be a huge stretch, considering my grocery budget works out to about $80 a week right now, and we eat lean beef at least once a week.
Then you obviously should take some classes in budgeting and inexpensive food prep from your local cooperative extension. It wouldn't be easy to do, but with a lot of beans and rice bought in bulk and either bulk canned tomatoes or home grown ones, bulk oatmeal, homemade bread with flour bought in bulk, pasta bought in bulk with sauce again made from bulk cans or homegrown tomatoes, you could eat enough to not become anorexic on $16 a week.
Let me repeat. I can cook. I grew up with 2 chefs in my household. I didn't have access to real food.
Don't you get it? We didn't have a car or bus. We had to physically carry all the groceries we bought. The grocery store was several miles away. I only had one hand cause I had to swing my blind cane and I had severe chronic pain. Read my posts. Bulk was not an option.
We were also living in a basement with hardly any sunlight... I doubt any seeds would have made it.
Not my situation, another poster's. My area has some transportation for the elderly and disabled. I know of nothing for the poor. We have public transportation for that, (subway, buses). Even the elderly and disabled are screwed now as AccessaRide isn't taking new applications as they are overloaded and have run out of funds.
Anyone who qualifies for one of the medi's is eligible to get free or subsidized mass transit, and if they are more than a quarter mile from a fixed route, they are eligible to use on demand service. That's a Federal law. MTA AccessaRide is still taking apps, there is a backlog in processing them.
Quote:
I know middle and working class on medicaid.
And they should be doing everything possible to keep themselves healthy and reduce cost to taxpayers.
Quote:
Again, you just don't get it. FS is a very small allotment. How are people who can't get full-time jobs supposed to 'supplement'? Even those with 2 jobs are having a very hard time. We can't pay rent. We don't have medical care (no, I'm not eligible for medicaid). Electric and heating bills are high.
You don't live in the real world. Wake up.
Bills are high for everyone. The problem is that the middle and upper middle income people are being required more and more to shoulder the cost of entitlement programs to the point that many receiving those entitlements are living better than those paying for them!
There's another board on the Internet where people talk about what they do with their EIC checks--the majority use them for vacations. TAX DOLLARS are funding vacations? What a completely screwed up society we have when we're giving people money to take vacations.
Quote:
Last year, I paid taxes. I even had an argument with an old friend when she wouldn't get it through her head that there are people who make $50,000 who pay taxes. I blanked my vital info and sent her a copy of my tax form. I'm very curious to see what my situation will be this year as I will have made very little money (no UI this year). I may get it all back in this case.
If I had kids, I'd probably get more back. But people like me - with NO deductions - PAY!
Actually you do have a deduction, you have a personal deduction. If you truly made "very little" your personal deduction will put you into the no tax liability bracket.
Let me repeat. I can cook. I grew up with 2 chefs in my household. I didn't have access to real food.
Don't you get it? We didn't have a car or bus. We had to physically carry all the groceries we bought. The grocery store was several miles away. I only had one hand cause I had to swing my blind cane and I had severe chronic pain. Read my posts. Bulk was not an option.
We were also living in a basement with hardly any sunlight... I doubt any seeds would have made it.
So you're telling me that there was no one who would give you a ride once a month, and you didn't avail yourself of the on demand transit service that serves your area? How did you get to the doctor? Did you think of combining those trips? Did you reach out to a church? I don't know of any church anywhere that wouldn't arrange for a once a month ride for a person with a disability to shop.
You offer a lot of excuses, but you haven't stated what you did to overcome your obstacles. And by the way, some plants don't need natural sunlight to grow. Carrots, potatoes, onions, yams will all grow in pots and don't require natural light. But again I'm sure there will be an excuse that you couldn't tend them. What about the other two people in your home? Five year olds learn to plant seeds in Kindergarten.
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.
