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

a reply to: Xtrozero

Very true. Not to mention that the more kids they have the bigger the funds $$$. And like Phoenix posted above, most of them pulling up in a brand new car. I saw a girl drive up in a new S class model Benz right next to me and when I walked in the store, saw her paying with an EBT card.

They're screwing the system left and right. I don't know how they do it ( shakes head )

originally posted by: Puppylove

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

Ok 1% eat junk food because that is all they can do... The other 99% eat junk food because they like it, and/or too lazy to actually cook real food, and/or to dumb to know that junk food is bad for you, and/or too high to care.....

originally posted by: blackmetalmist

They're screwing the system left and right. I don't know how they do it ( shakes head )

Its the system...I bet I could get food stamps and I'm 95%er in wage... Lol, one of my kids has a tutor that I pay $50 per session and he has another that is free, provided by the school.. He is also a B+ or better student. I asked my wife "do we really need a free tutor"? She just told me the school was very aggressive in wanting to provide a tutor, so I just stay out of it.

originally posted by: moonleaf
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!

No, the politician's point is that we need to preserve funds for those who actually need them and do not abuse the system and do not blow the public charity they are given--you know, fiscal responsibility for the public purse.

originally posted by: caladonea


I personally feel that people on Food Stamps should still have the freedom to buy what they want to buy.

So....those that get Govt based handouts should have the "freedom" to spend that money how they want?

WTF is wrong with people these days. Honestly.

EBT/SNAP is not there to provide people with cookies and lobster....it is there to provide a basic source of food, period.


We need to go back to Govt cheese.

If people want others to fund their dietary needs, then restrictions and such are very much within the boundaries.

EBT/SNAP needs to go to people getting a bag of rice, beans, cheese, milk and some beef and chicken.

It is moronic that people can walk into a 7/11 and use tax payer funds to purchase convenient store pizzas and soda.

originally posted by: moonleaf
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.

LOL. Disagreeing with your premise makes one a "troll."

I have been in that situation as I clearly stated. Rather than insisting on someone else taking care of me and being irresponsible with it, I pulled myself out of it.

Where are people's facts that a majority of people on assistance or food stamps are abusing the system?

Kansas right now is pushing to create the most restrictive program yet but when they spent $40,000 drug testing 3,000 suspected drug addicts abusing the system, there were only 11 positives out of 3000.

a reply to: Xtrozero

I agree with your wife lol. If it's free, why not ! I think it'll benefit your son in the long run in keeping up his good grades. There are things that you just can't say no too

originally posted by: macman

We need to go back to Govt cheese.

If people want others to fund their dietary needs, then restrictions and such are very much within the boundaries.

EBT/SNAP needs to go to people getting a bag of rice, beans, cheese, milk and some beef and chicken.

It is moronic that people can walk into a 7/11 and use tax payer funds to purchase convenient store pizzas and soda.

I agree, the best way would be to have special stores that took EBT/SNAP and only had basic food stuff in them to buy. Kind of like the gov cheese program in a way.

originally posted by: proteus33

i suggest to cut back on foodstamp fraud we implement foodstamp cards with a photo id on them

I like your idea of putting peoples photos on their food stamp cards...that would really stop a lot of the fraud going on.

originally posted by: blackmetalmist


I agree with your wife lol. If it's free, why not ! I think it'll benefit your son in the long run in keeping up his good grades. There are things that you just can't say no too

Ya..I just feel like I'm stealing something...

a reply to: blackmetalmist

It isn't free. But i guess go ahead and grab what ya can...

originally posted by: MonkeyFishFrog
Where are people's facts that a majority of people on assistance or food stamps are abusing the system?

Does it need to be the majority to control what is bought or not? Also, if it is widespread then that means no one is trying to even monitor the spending...

Do we have any market cashiers on? I'm sure they could tell us what they see on a daily bases good or bad.

originally posted by: macman
a reply to: blackmetalmist

It isn't free. But i guess go ahead and grab what ya can...

Ya, I do pay between 40 -50k in taxes every year..get basically zero write-offs...lol, but we have a systemic issue that once a person starts receiving some form of free benefits/subsistence it is hard to get them off, and even if it means they live a low quality of life they do not change and fight for those benefits as if they are a true right...

a reply to: Xtrozero

...I've brought that idea up before, and the argument is that people will be ashamed to have to go to a "special" store to get their food. There's a reason the foodstamp card looks like a regular debit card, it's so that they don't have to feel awkward using it at the store.

I think as a compromise, they ought to have a list of "approved" foods, and send out flyers with those foods on them. Sort of like a weekly specials advert in your newspaper. They could even rotate certain foods on/off the list to add variety. You'd sit down with the flyer and decide what you wanted and then make a list and stick to it.

I know here they have a food program for abused women, and there are approved products for that plan. In the store you'll see little "approved" icons next to the price tag for the food indicating that that it's available to be purchased with that subsidy.

a reply to: Xtrozero

As I've stated in the past posts, administrators of these program have conducted the studies themselves and they have shown to be overwhelmingly not abused.

Kansas tests 3,000 of it's benefit recipients and found only 11 positive drug tests yet everyone here is claiming that everyone is high or drunk.

In British Columbia they looked at the 180,000 people on income assistance in total to see how fraud was occurring. Of the 180,000, 7% were considered suspicious (12,600 people) and of that 7 percent only 1% were found to actual be legitimate defrauders (378 people).

I trust those studies more than I would an overworked, underpaid retail cashier.

a reply to: macman

He pays taxes so he's indirectly paying towards those programs. I am all for anything that benefits our children.

Philosophically, I see no problem with this. Those are dollars confiscated from tax payers, and if the representatives of those taxpayers decide that there should be strings attached to those dollars, then so be it.

Practically speaking, this won't do any good. There are so many scams where you can convert EBT balances to cash in hand that there's really no point in wasting time on this.

originally posted by: MonkeyFishFrog
In British Columbia they looked at the 180,000 people on income assistance in total to see how fraud was occurring. Of the 180,000, 7% were considered suspicious (12,600 people) and of that 7 percent only 1% were found to actual be legitimate defrauders (378 people).

I trust those studies more than I would an overworked, underpaid retail cashier.

The funny thing with Gov programs is that individuality is lost and everyone becomes part of a statistic, sad. So what is it that they see as fraud/abuse? We are talking about limiting what a group can buy or not, so if today they can buy crap foods and junk then it is not fraud/abuse, though not right. If they have the card and really do not need it, once again there is no way to tell fraud/abuse since they meet some requirement. If a person sells their card for 60 cents on the dollar to buy things they typically can not, the card still ends up buying eligible items.

It would be interesting in finding out what they look for as fraud/abuse. You can go down in many poor city areas and get these cards right now for 40 to 60 cents on the dollar with cash.

a reply to: links234

I think there is a psychological term that describes the desire to be better off than others. It is the reason that no one wants poor folk to have health insurance, or good food, or warm clothes. It is some sort of reverse envy complex. Folks who feel this reverse envy are jerks. I hope they realise that all of us are helped out in like by others, and that they will find it hard to admit that civilization is a cooperative effort.