Missouri Lawmakers Don't Want Food Stamp Recipients To Buy Steak

a reply to: NavyDoc

I worked for several years before and many many years after having to receive assistance. SO I PAID FOR MY ASSISTANCE, so I think I earned a right to buy whatever I wanted. And I would extend the same right to everyone else.

And the taxes that we pay are for a lot more than food stamps. It goes to military spending, lining politicians pockets, and many other wasteful things. We also spend a great deal of money on aid to other countries.

I wish I had a choice in where my tax dollars were spent, but I don't. Why don't they make that the law? According to you, that is what you want, to dictate how your money is spent. So, if each individual taxpayer could chose how and where their tax dollars were spent, then you would be happy?

I would want all of mine to go to assist the needy. You can spend yours on killing strangers overseas or paying for some elitist politician to fly first class to wherever they "need" to go and of course pay for the finest restaurants because they have to keep up appearance.

I would much rather pay for a child to eat than pay for an 18 year old in fatigues to go blow up a school or church in another country, and then pay for his PTSD treatment when he gets back home and cannot fit back in to "normal society".

Why don't we just get rid of public assistance all together? Would you kick dirt on the children and elderly that would be begging for money to stay alive on your streets of gold?

a reply to: caladonea

What about Doritos and Mountain Dew?

I read 10 pages of people bitching about people buying steak and lobster, but what about blacklisting legitimately unhealthy, unnecessary "food"?

Can anyone preform some mental gymnastics and justify the ability to purchase those sort of items?

a reply to: Lipton

Mountain dew can be cheaper than juice and stretch further, doritos comes in a bag and doesn't require preparation, if you have neither a stove, electricity or a home, this is while unhealthy far more viable a food than many healthier alternatives that require preparation.

Just figured it should be pointed out that on the poor dollar junk is not always purchased cause people want junk food.

Here is what I think funny.

The useual suspects makeing a huge fuss.

Meanwhile politicans are handing out favours and billions to rich dudes in corperate wellfare.

originally posted by: Skadi_the_Evil_Elf
Wow. More self-righteous posturing and judgement from a bunch of people who really have no clue what they are talking about, or what life is like for someone really down and out. Otherwise, people would not be supporting this sort of assinine limit on what people can eat.

I was once homeless, and received food stamps to eat with. The problem when you are homeless is that...well...you don't have a home. And thus, you have no fridge or pantry to store food, no stove or oven to cook with, no utensils to prepare and eat with, so you are limited to food that is pre-prepared, non perishable, and easy to carry around, which isn't really cheap. So I would get stuff at the deli counter at the store, like trays of sushi and stuff, because it was a full meal that I could eat without having to make it, and was more nutritious/less caloric than the sandwiches and such.

So was I abusing the system with sushi/edamamme diet at the local IGA? Hardly. I was eating whatever was the most practical and economic, and in my case at the time, that was grocery store sushi trays, or some of the leaner sandwiches/deli plates.

So these assholes in Missouri think that poor people should just buy gruel and cabbage, then? What about when steak and lobster are on sale? I've bought packages of good meat and seafood that had been marked 50% or more off, with food stamps. Hell, I made a week's worth of lobster bisque for less than 10 bucks, when one of our stores was selling nice frozen lobster tails for one dollar each. Naturally, I only bought lobster when it was on a blowout sale like this. Same with prime meat or other luxury foods. Living good doesn't have to be expensive at all, if you know where to look.

Maybe instead of trying to control what poor people are allowed to eat and buy on food stamps, they should take a look and find out why there are so many poor people in the first place.

But, see, that's the typical blind assumption that you complain about other people making. I was raised impoverished--choose food or heat but not both level of impoverished. At an early age I decided that I would never, ever, want to live that way again and make the correct decisions in life to avoid that. When my peers spent their Friday and Saturday nights drinking and getting high, I was studying. When my peers were getting pregnant at 16 and 18, I held off having kids until my 30's and I was well positioned to take care of them.

I know what it's like, I've heard all the excuses, and I know one can pull themselves out of it.

originally posted by: moonleaf
a reply to: NavyDoc

I worked for several years before and many many years after having to receive assistance. SO I PAID FOR MY ASSISTANCE, so I think I earned a right to buy whatever I wanted. And I would extend the same right to everyone else.

And the taxes that we pay are for a lot more than food stamps. It goes to military spending, lining politicians pockets, and many other wasteful things. We also spend a great deal of money on aid to other countries.

I wish I had a choice in where my tax dollars were spent, but I don't. Why don't they make that the law? According to you, that is what you want, to dictate how your money is spent. So, if each individual taxpayer could chose how and where their tax dollars were spent, then you would be happy?

I would want all of mine to go to assist the needy. You can spend yours on killing strangers overseas or paying for some elitist politician to fly first class to wherever they "need" to go and of course pay for the finest restaurants because they have to keep up appearance.

I would much rather pay for a child to eat than pay for an 18 year old in fatigues to go blow up a school or church in another country, and then pay for his PTSD treatment when he gets back home and cannot fit back in to "normal society".

Why don't we just get rid of public assistance all together? Would you kick dirt on the children and elderly that would be begging for money to stay alive on your streets of gold?

That's a 5 year old's excuse--"why bitch about me for X when little Johnny is doing Y. "

Generals and congressmen and other "public servants" shouldn't be flying first class on the public's dime.
We shouldn't be the world's policemen.
And politicians shouldn't buy votes with handouts.

They are all problems and discussing one does not, in any logical stretch, indicate disregard for others.

You feel entitled, we get it--and therein lies the problem because when everyone feels entitled, there will never be enough to go around.

originally posted by: Aazadan
Threads like this always make me think I'm doing it wrong. I get $680/month in income, which here in Ohio after the most recent round of food stamp cuts comes to $42/month in food stamps.

In the past I posted a picture of two weeks of groceries, on food stamps here. But that's when I got over 100/month. At $42 it's a bit less. These days I essentially have two meals. On the days I get to splurge I eat a salad (spinach, carrots, celery, green peppers, onion, egg, cheese, with oil/vinegar dressing). Those come to about $3 each so it's an every three day thing on average. The other days I eat a bowl of jasmine rice which is closer to 25 cents. The remainder goes to some other things, I get 1 teabag per day and I buy plain unsalted almonds, and raisins eating a small handful of each per day.

On the idea of buying luxury foods for special occasions my birthday comes up in a couple weeks, for the fifth birthday in a row there will be no cake, no ice cream, no special dinner, not even a birthday twinkie. Those types of things only happen extremely rarely.

I'm sure someone here will disagree with what I choose to spend mine on, but that just makes that person the same as this man who wants to ban steak/lobster which is a completely ridiculous concept. Once you open the door to allowing the government to dictate what money they give you gets spent on, they'll do it everywhere. Not just to the invisible poor people.

I recall that thread. You also had a big bag of tobacco in the background.

originally posted by: moonleaf
a reply to: NavyDoc

Maybe you should have read my ENTIRE post. Or maybe this would be helpful:
en.wikipedia.org...

People living on credit can and have cost the taxpayers quite a bit of money. That one bailout was equal to about 10 years of food stamp spending.

A bubble that was initiated by government forcing lenders to lend the the unqualified in the name of "fairness" and, as such, another example of the failure of the "great society" mentality.

One thing was clear: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were given a government-sponsored monopoly on a large part of the U.S. secondary mortgage market. It is this monopoly, combined with the government's implicit guarantee to keep these firms afloat, that would later contribute to the mortgage market's collapse.

Read more: www.investopedia.com...
Follow us: @Investopedia on Twitter

In The State of Louisiana, You are allowed to buy food bearing plants to grow your own vegetables with food stamps, if you were of a mind to and had some place to grow them. this is a better use of the program in place, maybe an unused city lot could be used for community gardening, with local government permission of course.

a reply to: NavyDoc

And another example of how not just the poor's spending habits were being paid for by the taxpayers.

originally posted by: moonleaf
a reply to: NavyDoc

And another example of how not just the poor's spending habits were being paid for by the taxpayers.

The whole system was set up so the "poor" could buy a house they couldn't otherwise afford.

a reply to: NavyDoc

I think a 5 year old's response would more likely be like that Republican in Missouri that said, no fair! I don't like seeing Johnny buying steak! Boohoo!

I feel entitled? When I pay a great portion of my income in taxes to a government, then yes, I feel entitled to assistance when I need it.

The thing is that I went from lower class to upper class, through hard work and dedication. I know what it feels like to be in poverty, unlike a lot of people that I share a tax bracket with now. I now pay a much higher tax rate than I did when my oldest were babies. I pay in at the end of the year now instead of getting returns.

I do not use credit either. So I have no credit. We rented and saved until we had a few thousand for a fixer upper, and we fixed it up and then some. We have a nice home that we own, we have cars that we own (saved up and paid for with cash). They are not brand new but are newer and far from the clunkers that I drove in my early twenties. We use prepaid cell phones. We go on vacations, nothing luxurious, but we do get away with the kiddos and have a good time. We shop at the mall, but hit the sales and clearance racks. We buy what we need. We splurge when we can.

We do not live in a two story brick home, do not drive brand new cars, do not have iphones, do not wear the newest fashions, and do not have all the things that my kids' friends have. We live within our means. If something catastrophic happened and we had to drain our savings to live, we wouldn't lose our home or cars, but we may need assistance to feed our family. Would I feel entitled to help then? You bet your ass!

a reply to: caladonea i totally disagree with this fool but i also know that there is alot of foodstamp fraud out there. i remember one time buying what i could afford and this lady ahead of me had a fit when one of my items touched one of hers like my roll of hamburger wasn't good enough for her food to socialize with. she spent five hundred dollars worth on foodstamps yes i was pissed off she was getting high qualityfood and i was getting crap even through i worked 50 hours a week. but what i realized much latter it wasn't her foodstamp card she had paid some one 50 cent on the dollar for their foodstamps. i could careless what some desrving family buys with theirr stamps i suggest to cut back on foodstamp fraud we implement foodstamp cards with a photo id on them

a reply to: NavyDoc

Well, if you consider a man making 6 figures working a technology job poor, then you are right on! Do you honestly believe that only poor people defaulted on their mortgages? Their was a little thing called a recession...you see...and a lot of companies folded, people lost their jobs, and couldn't afford their mortgages anymore.

It was definitely not just poor people that lost their homes. We have a Representative in our county that is going through foreclosure right now. Things happen.

You are obviously a troll and I am just wasting my typing on you. I just hope that you never find yourself in a situation where you need help.

Since this has a very small chance of passing and being signed by the Missouri Governor,

I rate the importance of the bill at 1 on a scale of 10.

It's just more feather ruffling.

I've honestly yet to see any of these EBT (California) card holders purchase any premium steaks or lobsters. The majority of them have mountains (yes the carts completely full) of cookies, sodas, and everything processed. Hardly any veggies or fruits. If they do have fruits, it's only in the form of a carton juice. I think I would rather have them buy steaks and lobster any day.

Consuming so much sugar and fat is only creating a diabetic generation and over crowded hospitals with people with a lot of health problems.

You know if the poor were able to buy steak with food stamps the price of steak would go up, supply/demand thing. Due to this I think they should only be able to buy chicken...wait I like chicken too, so the only thing they would be able to buy to tofu... Throw in Mountain Dew too, don't like that either...

Heck of a thread we've got, here!

My .02, I've never known anyone to be on food stamps and not abuse them- so something should change.

When the girl first moved in, she was receiving something like $400 a month in food stamps due to her low income.
The system up here doesn't allow food stamp users to buy hot prepared foods, redbull, or booze. We regularly ate fancy steak, fresh fruits and vegetables, even fresh tuna steak. She was allowed to withdraw some portion of that money as cash, which often went towards top shelf vodka, redbull, and other items she couldn't buy directly.

I couldn't stand for it, though, and after a few months had her cancel the support. Now we regularly eat pasta, potatoes, and frozen vegetables- and can't afford fresh greens, because I spend that money on cheap whiskey instead.

I regularly see people lined up at the ATM infront of the booze store, cashing in my tax dollars to buy alcohol- and that's hard for me to watch.

From that point of view, it's not a hard stretch to argue that limiting what they're allowed to buy is a good idea.
On the other hand, the whole money system is a scam anyway, which leads to inevitable starvation.
What ever happened to bread lines?

It's a pretty scary thing to think that if I lost my job and my home, I'd be eating better than I do now.

The self serving justifications amaze me, plain and simple those abusing these programs know exactly who they are and what they're doing and have no shame whatsoever spending benefit at expense of those truly worthy, they'd have better benefit if not for weight of deadbeats in programs.

Doesn't matter the government wastes money at a progligate rate elsewhere - wrong is wrong!

True story, In tight finances back in 99' and eating on $20-$25 a week I'm in line at grocery. Lady ahead buys $300+ in groceries with food stamps and then whips bills off of three inch roll of cash to pay for alcohol and ciggs - check out my little bit of food and get to parking lot and see lady getting her food stamp purchased groceries loaded into brand spanking new Cadillac that still had dealer temp tag.

If one can afford steak or a new Cadillac then you don't need public assistance.

originally posted by: blackmetalmist
I've honestly yet to see any of these EBT (California) card holders purchase any premium steaks or lobsters. The majority of them have mountains (yes the carts completely full) of cookies, sodas, and everything processed. Hardly any veggies or fruits. If they do have fruits, it's only in the form of a carton juice. I think I would rather have them buy steaks and lobster any day.

Consuming so much sugar and fat is only creating a diabetic generation and over crowded hospitals with people with a lot of health problems.

I see the same thing too, 90% process foods and crap... I think a lot of this goes a long the lines of why many are on food stamps to begin with.