Louisiana Suspends EBT Cards for Food Stamp Cheats

reply to post by bloodreviara


Believe me I am not saying it shouldn't be handled as theft. I didn't write the law. To me it's similar to filing a fraudulent tax return to scam the government out of money. Although this isn't tax fraud we severely punish those that steal from the IRS. So I agree the penalties should be criminal. They are stealing from the government and the tax payer.

benrl

wantsome
I'm disabled and have a bridge card I would have never participated in something like that. I was hoping someone would nail their ass to the wall for doing that. They got what they deserve.

And just screw the children who are now assed out for food for a year because of poor parental decision making...

If anything stricter controls are needed for these people, not taking away of the one lifeline their children could have.

Im all for "correcting" the problem, denying food for a year though...


eta:
76% of EBT households have elderly or children under their care.

edit on 8-11-2013 by benrl because: (no reason given)

"Stricter controls?"

It's a shame more people don't realize how horribly misguided this school of thought is.

I'll try to make it simple: the more something is always DONE FOR YOU, the less you ever learn about DOING IT YOURSELF.

Those kids screwed by poor parental decision making from day zero, the EBT cheating will have little effect on that sad fact.

I have a solution. Since these people are obviously dirt balls and willing to rape the system for their personal benefit...take away their EBT cards for one year and allow them to fend for themselves. Because they broke the rules and in turn, endangered their children...take the kids away for the year also and house them with food, shelter, etc. Obviously these people don't care about anyone but themselves. Leave them by themselves, alone and take care of the children they obviously don't care about either.

While there are many people who need and deserve EBT cards, I've seen many who f the system. I see them at Walmart paying cash for a new, flat-screen TV and then using their cards for "food". I quote "food" because what is often purchased is crap that is more entertainment than nutrition.

EBT cards and all welfare should be applied for but followed up with accounting of WHAT was purchased and true accounting of the money to assure there aren't trades, etc. going on. I can go a few miles down the road and buy some food from someone for about 1/2 price. And they always have more food to sell. Hmmmm...I wonder who paid for the food to begin with? Us??? I've never participated, but others have. Where is the accountability?

Oh...I know. The Government doesn't care because they are often simply buying votes. Who that is abusing the system would dare vote against someone supporting their theft?

reply to post by xuenchen
What we have here is a quagmire. What the adults did was wrong, and what Wallyworld did was wrong. And once again the children may have to suffer, because of the so called adults behavior. Maybe we should put the children in charge, they seem to still have innocence on their side. I say we fine the snakesnot out of Wallyworld, and give the adults a choice, loose your food debit for a year, or except a mark on your new criminal record. Oh and take the fine from Wallyworld and use it to feed the poor, but don't put the government in charge of it.

About the children guys. They don't have to suffer because if the parents cant feed them they will be taken away. There is no "we should" to it. If child protective services came to my house and I had a kid or two and there was no food in the house they would take the kids. However this does depend on someone calling child protective services when there is no food. Not sure how this will turn out but it was supposedly only two stores that did this and a small group of people. Not an entire state or anything.

kmb08753
Come on, a raise in benefits?! I saw some of that footage, people had 2-3 big screen TVs in their carts.
I am sure that wasn't everyone, but enough of them.

Both Walmart and these people are to blame. Rob the system, lose your benefits. Seems fair to me.

Now they will have to sell their ill gotten goods to feed themselves.

Well, seeing as how food stamps don't pay for TV's...

I haven't seen much said about the companies that allowed this to happen. They still get paid, they still get all of that money. So...if these people are getting their benefits ripped from them for the offenses, why can't the companies get the money taken back from them? I understand that the people still got the products they purchased through this whole scenario, but the companies are just at fault for doing this as the people are. Why is it ONLY the consumer that has to pay? If the consumer is going to lose food off their table, so should companies like Walmart so to speak. Everyone is about equality and this and that, let's make it equal. Takes two to tango.

TheJourney

kmb08753
Come on, a raise in benefits?! I saw some of that footage, people had 2-3 big screen TVs in their carts.
I am sure that wasn't everyone, but enough of them.

Both Walmart and these people are to blame. Rob the system, lose your benefits. Seems fair to me.

Now they will have to sell their ill gotten goods to feed themselves.

Well, seeing as how food stamps don't pay for TV's...

The food side of it wouldn't, no, but there is a cash side of it. Can't say that's what happened, but if someone has that much cash from the EBT program, something is wrong with the system anyway.

Just who gave Walmart the permission to allow the EBT cards to be used in the first place?
Seems obvious to me that the Gov't allowed this, and probably had an agenda. I mean really--since when can anyone use credit that isn't accounted for. And why would Walmart allow this unless they knew that they were going to be paid for these purchases...?

Walmart in collusion with the Gov't allowed this to happen. Those who abused the system should be made to pay back what amount they went over. Any further discipline is beyond me. I'm sure abuse of the system already has rules that would apply, and surely there could be something in place to protect the kids from going hungry. Maybe give only half the amount until the overspending is accounted for.

A good parent won't allow their child to go hungry, then again a good parent wouldn't knowingly abuse the system either. That isn't being self righteous, it's being right.

benrl

wantsome
I'm disabled and have a bridge card I would have never participated in something like that. I was hoping someone would nail their ass to the wall for doing that. They got what they deserve.

And just screw the children who are now assed out for food for a year because of poor parental decision making...

If anything stricter controls are needed for these people, not taking away of the one lifeline their children could have.

Im all for "correcting" the problem, denying food for a year though...


eta:
76% of EBT households have elderly or children under their care.

edit on 8-11-2013 by benrl because: (no reason given)

Perhaps you should stick to commenting about the Statistics of EBT users in your own area. I actually LIVE here. Let me tell you something about the EBT system here in good ol' Louisiana.....


Many people are on it who don't actually need it.


EBT is handed out down here like candy, especially if you have an old person who lives with you or a child who lives with you. I know people who get EBT and claim a child, but the kid lives in another State. I know strippers who are on EBT, not because they are poor, but because they only want to strip 3 days a week instead of 4. The system down here is an absolute joke. Many people who actually do need the EBT system, can't get it, but abusers are all over the system and sucking it up like a sponge. It's absolutely disgusting.

One of the big things in Louisiana that amazes me every time I see it..... let a hurricane come through. One of the first things you will hear from people is, "Did you get your food stamps yet?" Because apparently if there is a hurricane and an evacuation order is given, you automatically qualify to receive assistance. I have seen adults with full time jobs, who make more money than I do, apply for and receive EBT.

So in the opinion of someone who actually lives here...... I don't give a rat's arse what the stats say. They are not truly representative of reality. They are numbers, and numbers can be manipulated, especially when the data is skewed to begin with. If people abused the system- they deserve what they get. It's called being held accountable for your actions. If those actions cause pain to others, then that is the way it is. A responsible person wouldn't have placed their loved ones in harms way by acting stupid to begin with.

If I was on EBT and had a child living in my home who depended on that EBT to eat, I wouldn't do anything to ever jeopardize losing that assistance. That is what responsible people do who actually depend on assistance.

StoutBroux
A year is too long. Maybe just until that spending amount was reached by offsetting of the SNAP card credits. So if they spent $700.00 in grocery's they would have to wait until they had credited it all back through their monthly allotments. Once they reached a zero balance, they would begin receiving their food funds the following month. After all, they just bought a sh#tload of food so it should last for a while.

Their is no excuse for the bad behavior and once the full carted people in line heard the glitch was fixed, they all abandoned their carts. They KNEW it wasn't a raise.

Your idea seems to be one of the most sensible and adult ideas out there. Makes good sense to di it that way.

ITS NOT THE P;OOR OR THE GOVERMENT WHO SHOULD PAY ITS WALMART .THE SNAP SYSTEM ALLOWS UP TO 50 DOLLARS TO BE SPENT IF SYSTEM CRASHES WALMART DECIDED TO LET THE PEOPLE GO OVER THAT THEREFORE THEY SHOULD HAVE HAD TO EAT THE LOSS. AND I WOYLD NOT FEEL SORRY FOR WALMART IF THEY DID IT WOULD BE JUST KARMA FOR ALL THEIR THEFT.

I'm baffled by people's defense of the individuals that took part in this, for the lack of a better term, looting of a place of business.

In essence what these 'shoppers' did was load their carts with stolen items that they then wheeled out the door. The only difference between your run of the mill thief that sticks one item in their pocket and these people is that they took the time to swipe a government subsidized gift card that had no funds on and pushed out cartloads of merchandise out the door.

Theft is theft. If you defend these people then you must also defend every other form of theft, up to and including corporate theft, as none is morally superior to the the other.



Side note: Personally I'd like to see Louisiana strip Wally-World's ability to accept EBT. Think of the long-term implications, such as the possibility to see the rise of corner grocers again.

reply to post by xuenchen

Those people are probably the reason food stamp funding got cut.

Whatever I originally read of this should have made it a lot more clear that this was nothing more than "a couple stores for a few hours." Either I read the wrong thing or read right past that part. (Had seen a ref on another forum, as opposed to the source article.)

I seriously thought we were talking about an entire system being down for an unspecified period of time and that people acting-out by going over were somewhere between confused (multiple buys over time and losing track) and acting-out in sheer panic. Panic doesn't excuse crime, but it creates context. I see now that wasn't the context at all.

I doubt these people understood the consequences of that behavior. Yes crime is wrong but I suspect they thought of it more like overcharging a debit card, where you have to pay it back.

Or maybe they thought they'd get it free, if they were unusually stupid. (Well, I keep going back to shooting at rescue helicopters during a flood... assuming any degree of intelligence on the part of some people is clearly a mistake.)

I can see the gov't wants to make a highly public example so people in the future will know there are consequences to that kind of thing. That is reasonable I suppose. Though I am suspicious about nearly everything these days when it comes to the gov't and things which become so highly public in media.

Of course they'll have to pay it back, that it should come out of their funds, and they should probably have to pay back more than that (significantly more) as a fine as well. If we put them in jail it just creates a massive amount of money we pay more for them during that and dealing with the state caring for their whole family while they're gone, so some kind of other punishment seems more reasonable. I thought the suggestion for picking up trash in community service was a good one.

But I think it should be deducted as a % from their allotment, so they are still getting at least something monthly, though it may take longer to pay it off then. Not for their sake, but for the overall household maintaining some stability. It's not just a matter of compassion, it's a matter of messes like that just costing us more money and trouble to clean up when they're taxpayer dependents to begin with.

*

I think one of the problems in discussing this topic is that there is so much abuse of the system that it's harder to be sympathetic for the people who genuinely need it. And it's a given that people who abuse it don't deserve it whether they need it or not. But the dude with the card should be punished, not the whole household. I'd like to see them work out a way to make that happen.

reply to post by CranialSponge




Your logic is failed...... I could explain in detail why people not receiving the Food stamps and Walmart having to pay back the money is not the government getting double the money back.




Is it really that hard to understand ? With logic like this is it any wonder why people thought it was alright to steal.

reply to post by Xcouncil=wisdom


Glad you want to command the moral high-ground. Your corrupt government loves a do-gooder like you. Gives them cover to steal trillions while you moralize over a theft of twinkies. Baaahaaa. Baaahaaa...

reply to post by ozwest


Going by that fuzzy logic, it should be OK for me to go out and shoot a person or two I have a grudge against. Afterall, governments send people out to do that all the time, hell governments drop bombs on crowds, tossing a grenade should be OK too. It's not as bad as a hellfire missile.

I am quite sure your government is pristine and perfect as well eh?