Food Stamps Are Like..

[dairygirl4u2c]

just curious

[rachael]

As one who had to legitimately use them?

Food stamps are

[b]amesome.[/b]



[size=2]Btw, they are called SNAP now.[/size]
[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v103/rac13sd/gifs/2lnvmsk.gif[/img]

Edited October 10, 2011 by rachael

[Lil Red]

My family used them when they actually were stamps.
I think they should, like welfare, be temporary, a defined time limit.

Edited October 10, 2011 by Lil Red

[rachael]

[quote name='Lil Red' timestamp='1318253750' post='2319053']
My family used them when they actually were stamps.
I think they should, like welfare, temporary, a defined time limit.
[/quote]
Agreed. I had a debt card, essentially.

[Luigi]

Both. They are clearly often necessary to help people eat, especially in these times of layoffs and unemployment. But as with most government programs, it's extremely difficult to limit their use to those who really need them to eat. In the hands of those who don't really need them, they are theft from taxpayers in the form of taxation.

I know a lot of grocery checkers, and they tell me there's a whole underground economy based on food stamps. Back when they were actual stamps, drug addicts would sell them at half price (or whatever the market would bear) for cash, with which they would then buy drugs. The EBT card was an effort to reduce that kind of fraud, but there's still an awful lot of it out there.

[MIKolbe]

[quote name='Luigi' timestamp='1318254128' post='2319059']
I know a lot of grocery checkers, and they tell me there's a whole underground economy based on food stamps. Back when they were actual stamps, drug addicts would sell them at half price (or whatever the market would bear) for cash, with which they would then buy drugs. The EBT card was an effort to reduce that kind of fraud, but there's still an awful lot of it out there.
[/quote]
I used to be a grocery checker... this is true.

With the old paper foodstamps, they typically had $0.50 on the dollar 'exchange rate' for cash.

Also, people would come into my line and have 5 separate orders. The first 4 transactions was for a stick of gum for $0.25. Paid with food stamps. The lowest denomination was $1; so they would get $0.75 cash/coinage as change. After doing that 4 times, they used the change to buy a pack of cigarettes. And then, we would always speculate (perhaps unfairly, perhaps not) people who would come into our lines with a food stamp order, and then a 6 pack of beer, or a fifth of gin or whatever; and pay with coinage...

Also had this lady named Betty. Everyone at the store knew her...She would come in and buy t-bone steaks, porterhouses, lobster tails, jumbo shrimp and pay with food stamps. One time, she left the keys to her Mercedes on my checkstand. I never knew anyone with as many foodstamps as her. It would be nothing for her to have $900-$1000 worth. We all figured she was claiming a billion kids...the running joke was for her to adopt us so we could get a nice surf-n-turf meal.

And then, there was a guy who came through my line alot who appeared to suffer some form of retardation. He was a nice guy, always had a joke and a smile. I remember talking to him alot and he would tell me, in his own way, how hard it was for him to have a job..to keep a job. He used foodstamps as well. He seemed to understand how to use foodstamps better than anyone I knew. He got what he needed, and shopped sales/store brand. In a word, he was responsible about the whole thing.

I would say, though, on the whole, there were many more people using food stamps honestly/correctly/properly/responsibly, than those not. But WOW do the ones who don't use it honestly get you mad!!!!!!!!

[Papist]

Some where in between.

[Groo the Wanderer]

LOVED govt coagulated milk! It was some of the best ever. yum!

[cmaD2006]

If it wasn't for food stamps, we wouldn't have had food on the table as kids. So -- for those who are honest, I'm all for it. However for those who are dishonest and are taking food away from the mouths who really need it I'm all for prosecution to the fullest extent of the law (and then some).

[Ed Normile]

The EBT card is a program of the [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Department_of_Agriculture"]U.S. Department of Agriculture[/url] and is of course a product of taxation. That said it is neccessarry for many people during certain times in their lives. The USDA is way over budget as is the whole government right now, the country has over 14 Trillion dollars in debt, there is not even a budget passed for 2012 yet, a stalling tactic by this administration the same as they did last year to hide the monies they want to spend. How will we as a nation ever repay this debt, our Imperial Leader, President Obama, along with his conservative followers want to make the wealthy pay it through higher taxes. Sounds good don't it? Make those evil wealth hoarders cough up the funds to pay off the countries debt, only problem is that the wealthy in this country only account for a total yearly income of 1.3 trillion dollars, so if we took every penny they made it would still not pay off the debt. Heck, I am not even a mathmatician and I can see that even if we took all the wealthy peoples money each year for the next 11 years we could never begin to repay this debt, darned interest rates.

ed

[homeschoolmom]

These are the only two options?

[Ed Normile]

[quote name='homeschoolmom' timestamp='1318539741' post='2320773']
These are the only two options?
[/quote]

Naw, we could vote in a sound "C.onservative" majority and reduce the size and scope of the government, saving trillions of dollars and allowing the free market system to expand, creating new jobs and expanding the tax base, which of course would be lower if implemented by a "C.onservative" group. This has worked in the past, JFK tried it and the economy boomed, so did Ronald Reagan and he recovered from the economic mess left by our last truly left-wing/socialist President Jimmy Carter. True, Presidents Barrack Hussein Obama has far outdone President Carter in both the ruination of the economy and the public and political embarrassment he has heaped upon our nation, but as Americans we are a resilient group and we have came back before when left alone. There are many who take their responsibilties personally and do not want the governement to regulate every aspect of their lives, and these who are called "conservatives" always rise to the occasion. They are the job creators, the wealth builders and the taxpayers, and foremost, the best of them are those who serve their country. If left alone without outrageous confiscatory taxes they will prosper, if forced to continue down this path more jobs will be lost and the country will continue on its downward freefall.

P.S. this fiddler is ridiculous, it posts both "left-wing" and "left-wing" as "left-wing" I guess whoever was fiddling with the fiddler should have sobered up first!

Edited October 13, 2011 by Ed Normile

[homeschoolmom]

I refuse to speculate.

[elizabeth09]

I have to work very hard for money for college. I feel it is not right for someone who have to have stamps for life, using my hard earn momey for their food.

[Maggyie]

[quote name='elizabeth09' timestamp='1319595045' post='2327123']
I have to work very hard for money for college. I feel it is not right for someone who have to have stamps for life, using my hard earn momey for their food.
[/quote]

Do you work full time or go to school part time? Or do your parents help you out? Most people on food stamps are the working poor. They also work hard for their money. Or they are elderly or disabled. Often they just don't have enough at the end of the month to make a needed grocery run. If you ever get a job at Walmart, one thing they teach all their new hires to do is apply for food stamps. Because Walmart jobs, like a lot of jobs do not pay people enough to be able to survive without help.