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You're right. Let's serve the poor gruel. It's amazing how many people know of this woman with all of these children (dress in name brand clothes, I'm sure) who eats steak and lobster and shrimp while on welfare. I guess s/he just moves from city to city.
As I've said before, if welfare is so luxurious, quit your job and get on the dole. If not, thank your respective deity that you are one of the ones who is able to work and support yourself and your family. Is your life so miserable that you have to begrudge the poor?
Source?
I don't thank my diety that I am not on welfare, I thank myself for making good decisions. I decided not to sleep around in high school and I decided not to get pregnant with some guys baby to prove my love for him and I decided to graduate high school and to go to college. (which I paid for myself by working two full time jobs in the summer and on breaks)
See? It is called actions and consequences. Apparently this is a concept no longer taught in schools or in the home.
As far as food stamps go....When I was in high school I worked at a supermarket and yeah, it was rare that you would find someone on food stamps buying fresh fruit or vegetables. But have you seen what fresh fruit and vegetables cost? Talk about a budget buster, regardless of your financial situation! So, with that in mind I don't judge what is in peoples carts.
However, I refuse to feel somehow blessed from the heavens above that I am not saddled with too many kids and not enough education. That is a product of free will and personal choice.
You should get facts before you do posts like these as people who don't know any better tend to believe you know what you're talking about
I said at the very start of my post in the very first line, "As an educated guess I would say... ". An "EDUCATED GUESS" means that I am taking a shot at it based on VERY limited information and that the I may well be wrong.
Sorry I was unaware that ALL states had transfered over to electronic cards. The last time I dealt with food stamps as either a shop owner or with a Girl Friend was 2001.
What is the reason in your opinion then? WH chains are quite competitive. If they thought they could make money on food stamps they would take them. What is the reason you think that they refuse them?
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLater
#3 Food Stamp customers tend to frustrate non food stamp customers since if they go over budget they need to select which items to put back. I have been behind some people where it felt like "The Price Is Right" as they tried to figure out how to remove $4.27 worth of goods. ONE. ITEM. AT. A. TIME.
W.H. stores don't want to alienate the large bulk buyers who come through and potentially loose business.
I've seen those people at Home Depot, Ross, Sears. It has nothing to do with food stamps it has to do with picking up more than you can pay for
It still has to do with food stamps. Where I shop 90% of the time if some one goes over it's a food stamp person. It's simply a matter that they have a fixed mount they can spend. Most Credit cards on the other hand let you go over the limit by $5-$50 (That way they charge you more in fees).
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLater
#5 More money lost dealing with food stamp scams (Buy item then return it for cash). Costco takes pride in their return policy which is VERY EASILY abused. You can't return items purchased with food stamps - you can only exchange. Pretty much the same as with a gift card. Are you making these up as you go along?
I ran a game store for a number of year. Several of my customer on food stamps would go and cash them out at local stores then bring cash to buy their MTG or Pokemon cards (Paper Crack). Simply buy some food with food stamps. Go back in and return the item claiming you lost the receipt. They give you cash. Many stores have cut down on such abuse, but Costco still allows for returns quite easily. They had to change their policies on TV sets because of the amount of fraud involved. They may well fear similar problems.
Yes, I came up with these off the top of my head based on my own knowledge of food stamps when I ran a store a few years ago. That's what the first line of my original post means. "As an educated guess I would say... "
Quote:
Originally Posted by ATLater
#6 Costco probably feels/knows that MOST, though not all, people on food stamps can't afford, or aren't willing to spend the $50 a year on membership.
Which is just untrue. I know a lot of people on food stamps who get their household items from Sams.
I have also known several dozen people on food stamps. Not a single one was a W.H. member. In my first post I acknowledge some people are on food stamps and belong to WH stores. But it doesn't seem to be common, nor is it my experience, that most of those who need food stamps would have an extra $50 to just throw into a WH membership.
One of my ex-girlfriends was on Food Stamps and the very thought that she would have that much money left over to spend $50 on a Sams club membership, let alone have a way to get bulk food home (No car, only the bus and light rail) or a way to use up most of it before it spoiled (Just her and her daughter) is laughable.
As I asked above, why do you think the WH stores don't take Food Stamps?
It doesn't. Random is just talking out of his arse, giving those same old "welfare queen" tales that we heard back in the days of Reagan.
I never gave "Welfare queen" tales. Of the 6 reasons I gave only 1 was the potential for fraud. I have seen enough people on Food Stamps and Welfare to know that most need it. However I have also personally seen a minority of people abuse the system. Are you saying no such abuse occurs?
I don't thank my diety that I am not on welfare, I thank myself for making good decisions. I decided not to sleep around in high school and I decided not to get pregnant with some guys baby to prove my love for him and I decided to graduate high school and to go to college. (which I paid for myself by working two full time jobs in the summer and on breaks)
See? It is called actions and consequences. Apparently this is a concept no longer taught in schools or in the home.
Why do I have the feeling that you're about two paychecks and a minor disaster away from poverty yourself? Most people who brag about what they didn't and didn't do usually are. You don't know these people's stories. My friend's daughter did everything right. She went to college, graduated, got a Master's degree, got married, and had a beautiful baby boy. Only the baby turned out to be severely handicapped, and Daddy didn't want a baby that was less than perfect, so he took off. Just like that, everything changed. She had to quit her job because her child couldn't be put into a regular day care. She can't collect child support because her ex-husband vanished after the divorce. She can't rely on her family because they're overseas. Now she's on SSI so her child can have medical care that she could never afford. But here's the catch: if she makes more than around $1,100 a month (I think), they're going to take her child's Medicaid away (the Medicaid doesn't even cover her). Ever try raising a handicapped child on $1,100 a month? Ever try raising a HEALTHY child on $1,100 a month? Even if she was able to get a job with benefits, they wouldn't cover even half of the therapy and medication her child needs. She gets to sit home and collect a pittance (and believe me, it's a pittance) just so her child can receive health care.
I had another student who brought me in her two prescriptions - prescriptions being paid for by the evil Medicaid for her schizophrenia. Those two medications would put her back over $1,400 every month. And because she's schizophrenic, she can't buy health insurance like you and me. But I guess you feel she should just not have the drugs and slowly spin into madness, right? Or maybe she could get some dope to offset the voices.
Instead of being disgusted with the system that traps a lot of our poor, people like you would be disgusted with these sweet, hard-working young women, as if they could've even predicted such things, just to make yourselves feel better about your 8th rate life decisions. (You'll forgive me if I'm not impressed because you didn't get pregnant.) And to that I say, kiss my royal Irish arse.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomU
Are you saying no such abuse occurs?
Of course not. We all know such abuse occurs. But we also know the abuse is minuscule in regards to the big picture, and I'm wondering why there is so much vitriol towards the food stamp program and none to corporate welfare, which takes up about 10x MORE money from taxpayers. I'm also questioning these tales of how a woman with six children can even go to college, much less have it all paid for (and why).
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2mares
I have to agree. The only way I know a person is on food stamps is if I happen to notice the card they are swipping.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have WATCHED people crane their necks to look at the kind of card someone pulls out - usually a person of color or a woman with more than one child - and then start loudly grumbling if the contents in the cart don't meet their benevolent approval. Maybe that's why they're so miserable - they're more worried about what's on somebody else's plate than their own.
Last edited by LauraKGrisgby; 05-06-2008 at 02:50 PM..
The person in the article is in a culinary training program. You think she'd know how to take cheaper raw ingredients and turn them in to something good. There are people who spend a whole lot less than $280 a month on food, but they eat things that take some preparation rather than things that you pop in a microwave.
Canned ravioli? That's insane - it would be a lot cheaper for her to make her own tomato sauce to keep in the fridge. Better for her, too. It doesn't take much flour or eggs to make your own pasta and your own ravioli. Make a batch and freeze some of the ravioli for later. You can use TVP in the sauce for protein - a little goes a long way.
Her real problem is that she can't afford the convenience of having other people do most of the prep work for her meals. She's not realizing that she can still eat well on her budget if she stops paying other people to prepare her meals for her.
Blasphemy! You want a struggling culinary student to actually DO THE WORK of preparing her own meals?? Oy vey, frogs are falling from the sky - people are supposed to make food other than dropping a frozen package in the microwave and pressing some buttons??
//sarcasm off//
Isn't it ridiculous how some people can justify their non-penny-pinching ways?
It still has to do with food stamps. Where I shop 90% of the time if some one goes over it's a food stamp person. It's simply a matter that they have a fixed mount they can spend. Most Credit cards on the other hand let you go over the limit by $5-$50 (That way they charge you more in fees).
I don't understand what that has to do with food stamps. The other day I went to Kohls ans was stuck behind a women who had to put several things back and she went through each bag holding up various items deciding which one she wanted to buy and then she paid with a Amex. [/quote]
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomU
I ran a game store for a number of year. Several of my customer on food stamps would go and cash them out at local stores then bring cash to buy their MTG or Pokemon cards (Paper Crack). Simply buy some food with food stamps. Go back in and return the item claiming you lost the receipt. They give you cash. Many stores have cut down on such abuse, but Costco still allows for returns quite easily. They had to change their policies on TV sets because of the amount of fraud involved. They may well fear similar problems.
yea this was a big problem years ago because if I have a $5 food stamp and only spend 50 cents you have to give me cash back. Now stores don't give cash back without a receipt. I don't know of ANY store that will give you cash back without a receipt unless you just off chance get a lazy cashier. Now without a receipt you get a store credit. And with food stamps you can't even get store credit you have to exchange the food for something else.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomU
I have also known several dozen people on food stamps. Not a single one was a W.H. member. In my first post I acknowledge some people are on food stamps and belong to WH stores. But it doesn't seem to be common, nor is it my experience, that most of those who need food stamps would have an extra $50 to just throw into a WH membership.
One of my ex-girlfriends was on Food Stamps and the very thought that she would have that much money left over to spend $50 on a Sams club membership, let alone have a way to get bulk food home (No car, only the bus and light rail) or a way to use up most of it before it spoiled (Just her and her daughter) is laughable.
Hmmm I know a lot of single mothers who shop at Sams & BJs for pampers, wipes and other necessities AND they still get food stamps. Hell I'm one of them. Even when I got food stamps, I would buy all of my toiletries and cleaning supplies from Sams because I knew they would last longer. For the most part people on food stamps are not destitute and flat broke counting money down to the last dime - that's a myth. There are a lot of 2-income families on food stamps simply because they're cost of living greatly exceeds their income by govt standards.
Quote:
Originally Posted by RandomU
As I asked above, why do you think the WH stores don't take Food Stamps?
I don't know...I was the one who orginally asked that question. I'm sure it all boils down to money in the end because I'm sure I'm not the first person to think of this.
I can't tell you the amount of times I have WATCHED people crane their necks to look at the kind of card someone pulls out - usually a person of color or a woman with more than one child - and then start loudly grumbling if the contents in the cart don't meet their benevolent approval. Maybe that's why they're so miserable - they're more worried about what's on somebody else's plate than their own.
Where I shop you have to wait until they finish scanning, then the cashier asks what type of card you have. Tends to draw your attention when your just standing there waiting. Otherwise I dont pay much attention, ok sometimes I look in other peoples carts like I would look at other peoples orders in a restaraunt and think, wow that looks good, maybe Ill try that next time.LOL.
Why do I have the feeling that you're about two paychecks and a minor disaster away from poverty yourself? Most people who brag about what they didn't and didn't do usually are. You don't know these people's stories. My friend's daughter did everything right. She went to college, graduated, got a Master's degree, got married, and had a beautiful baby boy. Only the baby turned out to be severely handicapped, and Daddy didn't want a baby that was less than perfect, so he took off. Just like that, everything changed. She had to quit her job because her child couldn't be put into a regular day care. She can't collect child support because her ex-husband vanished after the divorce. She can't rely on her family because they're overseas. Now she's on SSI so her child can have medical care that she could never afford. But here's the catch: if she makes more than around $1,100 a month (I think), they're going to take her child's Medicaid away (the Medicaid doesn't even cover her). Ever try raising a handicapped child on $1,100 a month? Ever try raising a HEALTHY child on $1,100 a month? Even if she was able to get a job with benefits, they wouldn't cover even half of the therapy and medication her child needs. She gets to sit home and collect a pittance (and believe me, it's a pittance) just so her child can receive health care.
I had another student who brought me in her two prescriptions - prescriptions being paid for by the evil Medicaid for her schizophrenia. Those two medications would put her back over $1,400 every month. And because she's schizophrenic, she can't buy health insurance like you and me. But I guess you feel she should just not have the drugs and slowly spin into madness, right? Or maybe she could get some dope to offset the voices.
Instead of being disgusted with the system that traps a lot of our poor, people like you would be disgusted with these sweet, hard-working young women, as if they could've even predicted such things, just to make yourselves feel better about your 8th rate life decisions. (You'll forgive me if I'm not impressed because you didn't get pregnant.) And to that I say, kiss my royal Irish arse.
.
Would much rather not kiss your royal Irish Arse (though how delightfully continental of you to put it thus)...
I am not two paychecks away from living in a shelter or out of my car. Why? Because I live frugally. When my husband and I were first married donating plasma was a weekly duty to pay the bills. I do know from poverty, and I do know what decisions I have to make so as not to live like that again. Despite your rather romantic versions of inner city life and poverty --- its not fun, not noble and not anything I would willingly do again. So, I don't do things that would take me back. Simple math, no?
Nowhere in my post did I condemn the mentally ill, nor did I condemn people who use food stamps as the temporary fix it was meant to be. I do condemn and judge people who do not work, who do have kids by many dads who already had kids by many mothers. They are not the poor unfortunates to whom fate has handed a bad hand (i.e. friend with ill child) they are the ones that sought out a bad fate. And as far as your daughters friend goes...just what did she get her masters in? Unless it was social work (which unfortunatly doesn't pay well though it should) she should be at a point where she can and yes, should get a job. Schools districts are bound to evaluate children with disabilities and educate them, from age three and up. And its free. Its called an IEP, perhaps she should look into it. To be harsh, it is free daycare with the bonus of being able to address the physical and educational needs of special needs children. But then as a teacher, you should have known this
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