Food stamps should not be used for junk food

How about you stop giving out food for free?!

What is this, stalinist communist soviet-union ca. 1980?!! YOU COMMIES!


No, seriously: The woman in question is harming her children with a "diet" consisting of junk food. There should be a law against that. Wait, there IS a law! But without plaintiff there is no culprit..

reply to post by ManFromEurope


Where do you report people who abuse them and how effective is the reporting? I've seriously looked and every place I've found has required your name and contact number or a direct call to the office. In my area, everybody knows everybody and the ones who are into pills would rob you or burn your house down in the blink of an eye.
They are nasty, nasty people and those who actually follow the laws sometimes fear for their lives....or at least the lives of their family.

I agree 100%!!!!

It really irks me when I see this.

I remember when my mom got food stamps when we were kids, they were like paper money and you were LIMITED on what you could get with them. You could only get the "healthy" food items, no sugary drinks, candies, sodas or treats. You also couldn't use them at gas stations for slurpees or beef jerky. Seafood was not a choice either but now it is. Many fast food places are now accepting food stamps for food!! It's RIDICULOUS!

I remember when I worked at Publix I had this one lady CURSE me out because she couldn't get a prepared hot sub with her EBT card. Now keep in mind she was covered in gold, had her nails done, hair done and had a BMW key on her key chain. She also had a wad of cash that she used to pay for her items she couldn't get yet she still wanted to yell at me over a sub. She had already purchased everything you can think of with her EBT card but wanted to cause a scene because she couldn't get a damn sub. Subs were not allowed because it was a prepared item and cooked for you. The register wouldn't automatically separate everything and yet she still complained. I'm sure that has changed now.

Too many people on assistance that shouldn't be, they milk it because they make it too easy for them. Why work or even try to get a better job when the govt will give you everything anyway? There is no incentive to get off assistance.

I think they should go back to the old rules and standards of assistance.

I know quite a few people on assistance who shouldn't be but they LIE and it really irks me because there are people denied because there aren't enough benefits to go around. It's really an unfair system.

Originally posted by PurpleChiten
reply to post by ManFromEurope

 

Where do you report people who abuse them and how effective is the reporting? I've seriously looked and every place I've found has required your name and contact number or a direct call to the office. In my area, everybody knows everybody and the ones who are into pills would rob you or burn your house down in the blink of an eye.
They are nasty, nasty people and those who actually follow the laws sometimes fear for their lives....or at least the lives of their family.

We have a youth welfare office, which has to deal with something like this. They would go out and visit the lady, her adress would be known to them as she is getting official benefits from them (something like food stamps, a bit different). In fact, I don't know if there is something similar to food stamps in Germany, there is such a thing like general unemployment compensation, but I don't know of any specific programs for food).

reply to post by maus80

Then people should have the FREEDOM to not buy other peoples junk food and not be required to pay their healthcare bills. This isn't about telling people what they can and can't do with their own money, why didn't you get that?

I do get it. We pay taxes and we elect people who decide where to spend that money. We do not have anarchy. You do not get it. Telling someone how to live, by law, starts with those who cannot fight back, it ends with you.

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


I understand what you are saying. I disagree with the idea that you have the right to say it. Your dancing to the tune of an agenda and you do not see it.

reply to post by Iamschist


So, if someone is abusing their children in public, I should just go on with my live, because that are not my children? Is it always so cold and dark on your planet?

No, society has to have an eye open for the unprotected and should step in in obvious malicious deeds - like force-feeding your children junk stuff on food stamps.

The government autorities WILL get to know who bought what with those stamps, as they will get the bill for them, right?

Great post, OP. I totally agree with you.

Those that would argue that this is 'Merica, and we do what we damn well please, even if it's killing us and robbing our children of a decent future.. I would reply that this woman is not using her own earned income to purchase food. She is using a public credit, paid for and provided by you and I. If you're spending your own income on junk food, then by all means continue.. But when you're spending what is essentially tax dollars (read - future loans that younger generations will be paying for), and on top of that are creating costly health problems for yourself and your family, I believe we (the taxpayer) should have some say in how these credits can be used.

By your reasoning, a person would be unable to purchase flour, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, oatmeal, raisins, fruit, nuts, potatoes, cooking oil, among many other perfectly healthy items...because you know why? We can make cookies, chips and candy with those things too!

Can't buy any mayonnaise or buttermilk or worcestershire sauce- Might make some ranch dressing! That's unhealthy!

#- Apples, berries, bananas- oops- I can make a pie with those!

Oh crap- WATER! Can't buy water. I can add lemons to that and have lemonade! OH NO! Someone talk to the water utility companies and get these poor peoples' water shut off ASAP! THEY MIGHT BE MAKING LEMONADE!!!!

You moral police are so disheartening. Yeah, sure...people should eat better. Those people shouldn't be feeding their kids that. I agree. I wouldn't feed it to mine, if I had any. Who the hell are you, though, to decide how a person wants to live..or die for that matter?

Doesn't anybody ever mind their own business anymore...

What a person eats is totally up to them...it's their life and their body.

If you don't want people buying junk food on your dime take a political stand and get rid of
the welfare state and start contributing with some good old fashioned hands on charity. Donate to
a food bank, or a church, or find a family that doesn't "eat" the way you think they should and show
a little initiative and cook a meal for them...

Fact is...life is a terminal illness. You contracted it when you were born. We are all going to
die. And for most of us diet really isn't really that big a factor...

It's the do-gooders with their noses up in everyone else's business that created this welfare
society....quit it with the legislation already. There are more laws on the US books than a
person could ever read in a lifetime......JUST STOP

Originally posted by MzMorbid
By your reasoning, a person would be unable to purchase flour, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, oatmeal, raisins, fruit, nuts, potatoes, cooking oil, among many other perfectly healthy items...because you know why? We can make cookies, chips and candy with those things too!

Can't buy any mayonnaise or buttermilk or worcestershire sauce- Might make some ranch dressing! That's unhealthy!

#- Apples, berries, bananas- oops- I can make a pie with those!

Oh crap- WATER! Can't buy water. I can add lemons to that and have lemonade! OH NO! Someone talk to the water utility companies and get these poor peoples' water shut off ASAP! THEY MIGHT BE MAKING LEMONADE!!!!

You moral police are so disheartening. Yeah, sure...people should eat better. Those people shouldn't be feeding their kids that. I agree. I wouldn't feed it to mine, if I had any. Who the hell are you, though, to decide how a person wants to live..or die for that matter?

edit on 25-6-2012 by MzMorbid because: (no reason given)

It has nothing to do with moral police..

This is a food credit that comes from tax dollars. I have no problem with a person spending THEIR OWN money on complete crap - but if they're using public money there should be some restrictions.

The OP didn't say anything about flour, sugar, or mayonnaise. She was talking specifically about packaged sweets, like cookies and soda and pastries.

Perhaps the solution is to only allow a portion of the purchase to be junkfood.. Like 10% or something. Because people should be able to have snacks, but buying 100% sugary foods in plastic wrapping is helping no one. There needs to be some motivator for food stamp recipients to avoid spending all their free food money on garbage.

I can always tell when it's food stamp day and I'm at the grocery store, simply because these people are easy to spot and then it's confirmed when you're in line behind one of them. There is a reason these people are easy to spot and it's not because they're the spitting image of a healthy human...

I agree in personal freedom and responsibility, the problem is these people are being cared for by public money. They do not meet the personal responsibility part of the equation, so they lose some of the personal freedom part. Plain and simple.

What sucks even more than buying junk food with food stamps is foreigners with no job buying steaks and good cereal with food stamps.

When I had to buy ramen noodles because I had a low paying job and didn't qualify for food stamps.

Who is anyone to judge ANYTHING about this woman?? How do you know she was not just stocking up on her monthly junkfood allowance...HOW do you know she wasn't out running errands to her local butcher for monthly meats, veggie stand for veggies...etc. etc...you DON'T know...you know nothing but a simple moment that you caught a glimpse of...does abuse happen of benefits? yep, I suppose it does, is feeding your child junk food ALL the time a poor choice, I say yep to that too...but to thin-slice 10 minutes of a persons life that you just happen to see??? tsk, tsk...SMH and sighs deeply...

OP.........Nothing irks me more than what you saw at the grocery store! It's actually very common these days. In Oregon I know that these people can even use them to have pizza delivered, and also at other fast food outlets. Some of these poor kids have never had any real food served to them at home, and the sad thing is that if you did try to feed them somethhing real... they'd turn their nose up at it. Sad, sad, sad.

I call these kind of women (jokingly) "Mother of the Year" and yes, there damn sure should be limitations on what the Food Stamp bunch can purchase.

When my kids were growing up, I can proudly say that I was a real mom! Chips and soda pop... that was on rare occasions. That's camping food.

I love it when my kids come home to visit, although both are grown up now and parted from the nest... when they come home to visit they always come home with real food request... meals they miss from home. It makes me feel good.

reply to post by Thunder heart woman


I am so sick and tired of people making fun of people on food assistance!! Who the heck cares what the poor people buy!! If the only damn comfort in life they get is to buy food..leave them alone!! We do not need food police!! Had you rather them buy good old GMO meats and Veggies!! Our Food Supply is screwed up period!

I work everyday and I am not on Food Assistance. MY opinion- Feed Everyone!! No-one should go without Food.

Originally posted by Apollo7
reply to post by Thunder heart woman

 

I am so sick and tired of people making fun of people on food assistance!! Who the heck cares what the poor people buy!!

I for one am not making fun of them. I know that there are people that truly need assistance. The thing that gets to me is that Food stamps could go along way if they purchased proper foods. A well stocked cupboard with proper staples could serve them well, and actually be nutritious for their children.

There is a family not far from my house, also on every kind of assistance you can imagine, & her children are so Rolly Polly fat that you could literally roll them down the lane. I consider that a form of child abuse to let your children get like that.

reply to post by windword


Heck, Dont worry about it!! All of these spoiled people responding to this thread..will have their day in the food stamp line!! Im sure they have all had their hair and nails done this week and dont have a clue!!

reply to post by jensouth31


I work 60 hours a week just to survive. I am a single parent. I cannot get food assistance or low-income housing because of all the overtime I work. When I have applied for assistance, I am told that because I work so much overtime, I do not qualify for assistance. Regardless, I am not standing in the grocery store line watching how others pay for their food.

We dont need food police! Have any of you people on here ever had to go without anything in youre lives?? Everyone has a right for their basic needs to be met. Do you not realize that people here in America are having to move out in tents just to have somewhere to live. People in our own country are starving! We are all being taxed to an extreme regardless. If the only comfort in life these poor people get is to buy food..leave them alone.

Have a heart!! The reason I work so many hours- My health insurance is 360.00 a month to cover me and my youngest child. I only make 10.24 an hour. There is no getting ahead in this country unless you work 2 jobs or have a rich husband! I attempted to go back to college- that didnt work out because I was so worried about working enough hours just so we could survive.

Originally posted by ManFromEurope
reply to post by Iamschist

 

So, if someone is abusing their children in public, I should just go on with my live, because that are not my children? Is it always so cold and dark on your planet?

No, society has to have an eye open for the unprotected and should step in in obvious malicious deeds - like force-feeding your children junk stuff on food stamps.

The government autorities WILL get to know who bought what with those stamps, as they will get the bill for them, right?

This is not about moral choices. This is about the right to live as you choose in a free (supposedly) society. Let's use another analogy. Your Boss pays your salary, should he/she then have the right to tell you how to spend it? That is what your advocating. Suppose your Boss is vegan, or suppose your Boss loves beef. Once control of anything in your life begins, where does it stop? Please Think.

Originally posted by TinkerHaus
I can always tell when it's food stamp day and I'm at the grocery store, simply because these people are easy to spot and then it's confirmed when you're in line behind one of them. There is a reason these people are easy to spot and it's not because they're the spitting image of a healthy human.

Really? That's me. Do I look unhealthy? My skin is clear, my eyes are bright, you can see I'm not over weight.. I'm sure you'll just judge me by my haircut! I lost my job, haven't been able to find one since I lost it (8, April), and rather than living on the grass in my back yard, I applied for food stamps. You know what I buy? Healthy food, seeds to grow food in my back yard. I drink quarts a day of green 'smoothies,' - which are made from the greens I grow my god damned self. I do 2-3 hours of yoga a day...I basically only drink water, except for a couple cups of coffee in the morning (but I do buy good coffee!! haHA!)

Who the hell do you think you are? I hope you can get the help you need when you need it. I'm sure you'll only eat proper food. Nary even a thought of a chip shall enter your mind.

Such judgemental, presumptuous and condescending ignorance is repulsive. I paid taxes while I was working (for at least 20 years of my life), why should I not use some of the money I paid for something I need?

Still, I hope you're never in need.

PS: Before you say I lost my job because of my haircut- I am a cook- therefore your assumption shall be moot as my shaven head is the picture of sanitation in a kitchen.