I got food stamps

reply to post by ZenTam

You described one of those people that exploits everyone and everything they can out of sheer laziness, the system just happened to be one of everything else she abused.

There are not very many people like that, I have met a few and suffered the consequences...

Who benefits directly from the system itself is a bigger part of the problem I think, like those overpaid "Administrators", oh, and don't forget those who produce the food. Somewhere this all turns from something real to something conjured and artificial.

reply to post by METACOMET


It's almost as if all the wealth in the world were no longer in the hands of 99% the people so we are forced to tax it out of those who have it to feed those who don't.

I have used food stamps in the past, I am not nor have I ever been ashamed of this fact. I still might need it in the future. Working full time in a field that has nothing to do with my degree while helping out a disabled parent while having almost 20k in student loan debt is no fun. I use to be very conservative when it came to food stamps but, I didn't truly understand how much it could help until I experienced (currently still experiencing hardship but making it without assistance) what it meant to be in hardship. I am sure that I will need it again in the future as every day I have debt collectors harassing me. Times be tough but you gotta stay hopeful.

First post BTW!

hounddoghowlie
your on food stamps, yet you can afford what ever the cost of your internet service provider charges. even if your on one of the cut rate ten dollar service plans, you could take that ten bucks and
buy a couple of loafs of bread, or at some stores 20 cans of beans, peas, corn. or two gallons of milk, or countless other food items. you don't need the internet, but you do need to eat.

now that being said, i got no problem helping those that need it or who are working and trying to make it and can't. or those who are working to get a better life than what they have. but they also have to learn that there are some things they don't need to survive.

i do have a problem with those who, sit around and do nothing and think that we should pay them to do it.

as far as school, look i understand wanting to get a degree and not have to bust your hump everyday.
but everybody can't be lawyers, doctors, cpa's, scientists, and such. there are only so many jobs out there for that. there are people that have degrees that are flipping hamburgers and are standing there right beside you drawing food stamps.

i hope what ever your studying for is a high demand job, and has a long term need.

i can't find it now, but in the past week or so i saw a news story about manufacturers coming back to the U.S., thing is they are going all automated. so even if you get into robotics, there will only be so many jobs there. the best thing i could tell you to do is be a plumber, electrician, or something that people will always have a need for.

Manufacturing never really left. Not all of it. It's also not all automated. U need manual machines to do prototyping, cnc's are for production. The big problem I see is noone wants to train machinists any more. But even in automation... U need programers, and operators to push the green button and sit and watch the machine... In case the tool breaks or somthing.
I recieve food stamps as well as work full time, and school full time. I'm 24 and have a family to take care of. I don't know what I would do with out the help

Lucky for you...
I'm still waiting for my Disabled Vocational Resources to come so I can get employed, and now I have put in for Social Security.

It really depresses me, a person in my situation doing all I can to survive and get shafted.

hamdoguhoh
reply to post by Drezden

 

Food stamps were intended for hard working folks like you, don't be ashamed!

I agree 100%! I as well have seen the fraud. Several stores here were busted for fraud they had made over 1 million in selling beer or cigarettes and charging them as other items. Undercover officers were sent in to do the busts. I know one store had made close to 3 million in the fraud. I am talking about corner stores where illegal aliens hang out not your everyday grocery store. Would be nice if there was some kind of regulation in the system to restrict the usage of EBT to certain stores who apply for licenses.

reply to post by Pimpintology

Would be nice if there was some kind of regulation in the system to restrict the usage of EBT to certain stores who apply for licenses.

I think that would be a PERFECT idea!!!!!

LewsTherinThelamon
reply to post by Drezden

 

If the state tax didn't take so much out of my paychecks I'd have way more than $67 a month extra to pay for groceries and wouldn't be getting food stamp assistance.

Exactly!

Honestly, I think you just solved the riddle.

This country should do away with income tax,replace with a flat tax system and revamp the sales/consumption tax. It would be a start.

spartacus699
food stamps don't buy diapers

Yes, but they buy sugary/fatty/salt laden foods. So not only do my hard earned tax dollars go to those who are food stamps who aren't jobless/disabled, but my medical premiums also go up for the obese/diabetic freeloaders these foods are causing.

I feel ya man. I've been there.

Public assistance is only to get you back on your feet.

And actually I think they should tweak the law to allow food stamps for those who are hit with an unexpected turn. Layoffs, illness of bread winner... A situational kind of thing.

Now this may sound cold, but truly it isn't.

Broke happens, just don't stay broke.

Later my friend.

There is absolutely no shame in getting food stamps when you need them. Don't feel bad at all. My mom was on food stamps after my parents got divorced for a brief period because we NEEDED them.

The problem is that people really do abuse this system. I stood in line behind a woman at a Dollar General store (I call her a woman as a loose term, she was maybe 20) who had two kids in a shopping cart, and was pregnant. I was in line behind her for 20 minutes because she was talking to the cashier, the only cashier, while I simply waited to pay for my things. I overhead her say "yeah, I got pregnant for the third time so I could get a bigger check. Three kids is the cutoff, that's how many you can have and still make money off food stamps." Now, that legitimately ticked me off. I think we simply need more oversight in the system, or better parenting, or something because that isn't a good attitude to have. Imagine being the kid who grew up with a mom who only had you to make money.....It disgusts me.

I've also known people who would sell $200 worth of their food stamps for $100, and a call to the food stamp office got me a "prove it" from the woman who answered.

Edit: to say that my mom is now a very successful woman who owns two businesses. The system worked for her, she didn't go into it treating it like a career.

I think the best plan for food stamp cards would be to have government run stores that sold things to people wth EBT cards only AT COST. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Excallibacca
I think the best plan for food stamp cards would be to have government run stores that sold things to people wth EBT cards only AT COST. Just wanted to throw that out there.

Honestly, I don't trust the government to choose what foods are healthy. Just like with the FDA, companies would be bribing the government to put their foods in the store. Foods that appear healthy but are really high in high fructose corn syrup and other junk. I see it all the time in stores. Foods labeled healthy and nutritious and have a TON of sugar in them. Just because the FDA say's it's healthy, doesn't make it healthy.

reply to post by calstorm


To be real, if the people are going to be buying these foods anyways, it doesn't matter what the stores sell. Stock it just like any other store, get your products from wholesalers, and sell them to EBT holders at cost. It would definitely make the hit to taxpayers a little softer and bring us that much closer to a balanced budget if you could cut everyone's EBT funds by a considerable percentage.

I won't pretend to know the math and figures well enough to say to you how much it would save, but I worked for a wholesaler for years and can say that what we sold to a store from and what the stores price was on an item. The markup as about 45% on our products. So, if that held true across other products, we could save 45% on the EBT program (though less because the program would have to fund light bills and store employee salaries). And that sounds good to me.

reply to post by hounddoghowlie

your on food stamps, yet you can afford what ever the cost of your internet service provider charges. even if your on one of the cut rate ten dollar service plans, you could take that ten bucks and
buy a couple of loafs of bread, or at some stores 20 cans of beans, peas, corn. or two gallons of milk, or countless other food items. you don't need the internet, but you do need to eat.

You would have the OP negate their internet for food. It is a good thing you are not running the country you would be up on human rights abuse charges. The UN has declared internet access a human right.

There are prisons for people like you but luckily you are on ATS so have a cookie..

reply to post by Drezden


When I was young I needed aid and I got it. I had a newborn and a new wife to support. I worked three jobs to feed and house them and myself but still needed help. That is what it is there for. A helping hand up. But I tell you what, I busted my ass to get off it.

I was raised to stand on my own. So I never wanted any help. I swallowed my pride and took the help. There are so many that think it is there to carry them throughout their whole life. It is to help someone in need to get back on their feet and support themselves.

To this day I know some who use the system as part of their lifestyle. When we speak of it, they say, hell i might as well use it, everyone else does. Those of us that pay into the system, to help those that need a hand, hate that the system is broke and so many millions are abusing it and are getting away with it.



Good luck getting back on your feet.
If you utilize your system the way it was meant, there is no reason to be ashamed.

reply to post by calstorm


Yes I do. Dude is single. I have moved across country many times while single and with a family. While single I could do it for a few hundred dollars. If you have all that stuff, you should sell it to provide for yourself instead of leaching off your fellow citizens.

reply to post by yamammasamonkey


I assume you moved in with friends, because you can't get a place and get the electricity turned on for a few hundred. You are looking at a couple thousand for a single person with move in costs.

Secondly, if the OP qualifies for food stamps, he doesn't have even a few hundred for for moving expenses.

Also if you are on food stamps, the likely hood that someone on food stamps has anything of value to sell is pretty low. I know when I was struggling and on aid, you couldn't even give away what little furniture I owned aside from my kids beds which were a gift, and I wasn't making my kids sleep on the floor.

It cost us several thousand for a family of 5. And we left a lot behind, The only major furniture we took was beds and dressers. We cut cost every where we could. Very little of what we took had any resale value that wasn't a necessity.
So why don't you go into a little more detail o how a minimum wage employee and student on food stamps can move for several hundred dollars, let alone afford to move period.

Drezden
after submitting this info they took my food stamps down to $60 a month.. 35 cents extra an hour doesn't balance that out at all.

Boy, how quickly we feel we are being screwed by receiving subsistence, or not near what we thought we should get for free...

I ended up in a backwards job because I refused a direct order which would have put me in charge of a team directly violating the civil rights of hundreds of Americans. This moral imperative and being true to my oath instantly flushed near 20 years of experience in my field down the drain. So be it, I sleep well at night.

So at 40+ I found myself like so many other Americans around the country - reinventing myself. Alot of construction when you could find the work. Learned a new construction trade - which I'll get back to. Extended periods of unemployment which is a no go if you pay child support. And finally settled in a very stable job which payed $300 a week and child support only took $150 of that. I payed $80 to $100 a week in gas for the privelege of going to work. On weeks when I budgeted very carefully I might take the wife to McDonalds and tear up the dollar menu.

During my period of unemployment my license was revoked for failure to pay child support and the reinstatement fee was near $2000. I drove to and from work with a suspended license for near 2 years. Ironically the only time I was ever confronted on this I was broke down on the side of the road in my 13 year old (paid off) 2000 ford explorer.

I accrued $22,000 in arrears because I did not make enough at my job to pay my full obligation to child support. But despite all of this I never took one single solitary cent out of the Government coffers. I weigh everything of a political nature against the Constitution and clearly there is no express power for the dissemination of the peoples monies for welfare. Freedom cuts both ways - the freedom to excel and the freedom to fail. With the help of family and friends I survived the difficult times and now going forward with a trade I learned along the way relocating for a job paying $25-$30 an hour.

There is only one true constant in the universe - Change... Good times will give way to bad and bad ones will always get better. Thanks for letting me share.