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If taking food stamps is "wrong over right", I guess the good Christian thing would be to let the poor starve. What do you have against feeding the hungry, have you ever read The Bible?

Food Stamps is not about feeding the hungry, as it was intended to be. Instead, it is an unregulated free for all. Since Obama has come into power, 39% more people receive food stamps - or as Nancy Pelosi said, it's the best bang for our buck to stimulate the economy.

Then why do I have to work hard to earn enough for hamburger and so many get free steaks, etc., or sell their food stamps for drugs/booze/whatever?

The Christian value is to teach a man to fish and/or share a meal. Not take the fish from someone else to hand to beggars.

The easy way to stop fraud is simple. Simply offer cash rewards for tips leading to food stamp fraud. NO ONE WILL KNOW ads will say...ITS YOUR DUTY TO THE REAL NEEDY...The food stamp community will then police itself for profit!

"Dookiestain LaFlair at June 23, 2011 10:19 AM"

What about the FRAUD? How many "hungry" does that feed?

I have a terrible time understadning it, but it sounds rather bad. At least its helping some people.

I have heard of LINK cards (Illinois food-stamp program)being used not just for luxuries like steak and lobster, but used to post bail!

I was on 'stamps' for a short period of time soon after I ended up on Disability, and one of the things I couldn't understand was that I could buy broasted chicken at the supermarket ONLY if it was cold (i.e., left-over, day-old) - NOT if it was freshly cooked. The store owner didn't understand it, either, but told me the government regs considered hot deli items 'fast food', and stamps couldn't be used for them, but cold deli items weren't 'fast food'.

If taking food stamps is "wrong over right", I guess the good Christian thing would be to let the poor starve. What do you have against feeding the hungry, have you ever read The Bible?

The compassionate answer, regardless of religion, is to provide staple foods to individuals who are trying to better themselves but unable to completely make ends meet.

Giving food stamps to gluttonous idiots, profligate consumers, financial squanderers, and drug addicts acts as an enabler of waste, obesity, poor money management, government dependence, and drug addiction.

Enabling someone to remain on a dependent, self-destructive path is not help.

This is part of Obama's Cloward-Piven agenda. The Cloward Piven strategy is to increase welfare spending until the taxpayer can't afford it anymore, and a socialist government is elected nto power. Obama is just the semi-socialist puppet to collapse the economy. The hardcore commie scumbag is waiting in the wings for it to get even worse. They tried this in NYC but Guiliani beat the Cloward Piven candidate in the election. They tried it in Detroit and it worked. The whole country is next.

I was on 'stamps' for a short period of time soon after I ended up on Disability, and one of the things I couldn't understand was that I could buy broasted chicken at the supermarket ONLY if it was cold (i.e., left-over, day-old) - NOT if it was freshly cooked. The store owner didn't understand it, either, but told me the government regs considered hot deli items 'fast food', and stamps couldn't be used for them, but cold deli items weren't 'fast food'.

The distinction grew out of the original food stamp program, in which vouchers were provided to make unprepared agricultural surplus staples available to people with genuine need. In those days, there wasn't a plethora of prepared food, hot and cold, available in every supermarket in the nation. In those days, grocers sold almost exclusively unprepared "cold" food, leaving the "hot" food for the restaurants.

TV dinners and pop tarts came after, and were brought into the fold when everything which wasn't "hot" was distributed on a cash, rather than a voucher basis.

We coupon like crazy @ my house - save about $70 a week if we're diligent (we also pay 40% income tax & I have had the same horrid job for 22 years, whether I want it or not).

I never thought my "middle age" years would be reduced to clipping and counting and worrying, after 2 decades of non-stop grind.

Couponing is foodstamps for producers, instead of breeders. But we actually have to work at it to make it worthwhile.

Sad - some trolls here say we don't help the poor. Real deep thinkers in those weak gene pools, eh? It's producer tax money that funds those stamps, er, red white and blue debit cards.

Generally, due to economies of scale, the higher the quantity of something that is produced or distributed, the less each costs per unit. In the world of government "oversight" however, these rules go out the window.

In 2007, 26 million recipients cost us $33 billion. That's $1,269 per recipient. Now, 44 million recipients cost us $77 billion. That's $1,750 per recipient.

So not only has the number of recipients skyrocketed in 4 years, the cost of each recipient has increased 38% in the same 4 year period.

It is clear the government cannot be trusted to administer anything efficiently.

I'm getting real tired of standing in line behind illiterate illegal aliens with their WIC cards "buying" 20 gallons of milk at a time.

I was at my local grocery a while back and got behind a guy who was checking out a whole basket load of food. It was good food, too. Fancier than what I was buying. He was reasonably well dressed and had a pack of cigarettes in his shirt pocket (I noticed this only because the practice is rare today even among smokers). He swiped his card which I assumed was a credit or debit card. The cashier alerted him that something wasn't covered so he had a balance due of $3.85. Apparently the guy had no cash on him so he went through his purchases and found the disapproved bag of "designer" salt & malt vinegar potato chips. His other bags of snacks apparently were OK. I was surprised he was using a SNAP card as this is a reasonably affluent neighborhood. He probably lives in a trailer park about 10 miles down the interstate.

I've shopped at the big grocery stores downtown and watched the professional food stampers at work. They put all their taxpayer funded food out first. Then they separate their toilet paper, batteries, shampoo, dog food, kid's toys and beer. Their card covers the SNAP items. Then they peel of cash off a roll of bills to pay for the other stuff.

"I worked at Republic Steel for 10 years, until its closing in 1983. The
best line I ever heard there was when this young black kid was being
reprimanded for the last time before being fired.

The black youth said to the shop foreman, you're firing me because I'm
black!

The boss said, "No, we hired you because you were black. Were firing you
because you are useless!

Same goes for the President of the United States.."

"They sent my Census form back!

In answer to the question, 'Do you have any dependents?' I put "Asylum seekers, illegal immigrants, crack heads, unemployable bastards, the cast of The Jerry Springer Show, 3,000,000 people in our penal establishments in the U. S.., leftovers in Texas from Katrina, half of freaking Mexico, some of the Congress, most of the Senate and a sorry ass Muslim President!'
Apparently this wasn't an acceptable answer."

Apparently this wasn't an acceptable answer."

Posted by: TED at June 23, 2011 12:41 PM

Perhaps they like The Jerry Springer Show.

The easy way to stop fraud is simple
Posted by: sunbat at June 23, 2011 10:29 AM
I agree, but the best way to eliminate fraud is to simply make the entire program not worthwhile to game. If recipients would actually have to shop, and shop hard to get enough food to fill their bellies, the steak and lobster eaters would have to eventually move on.
Or we could look at it as the wise and intelligent one (Eric) and rain down prime rib, lobster tails and maybe even some tins of caviar by the ton, and if by chance one person in a million truly needed the help got some, it was all worthwhile.
Would it be too "rude" to consider how much this fraud costs the economy in lost productivity ? How many potential jobs could have been created, if not for the money lost from this fraud ?
Eric, the US government is counting on you not "understanding" any of this. After all, it is not THEIR money that is being wasted. When they run out, they do not have to work harder, they simply tax people more, borrow it from the Chinese, print it, or heaven forbid all three at once. If turning a blind eye to fraud garners them just a few more votes, it is all worthwhile.
The Socialist utopia's around the world you plan to court have mostly figured this out. By now they are broke. And as for the Communist utopia's, you better read the fine print on the travel brochures first.

Ha Ha Ted LOL...Great post!

@Ghost of FA Hayek: Take the fun out of the game, by returning SNAP to it's roots, i.e. basic staples. If people actually had to spend some time and effort preparing food, instead of popping overpriced boxes into a microwave, the SNAP abuse would drop like a rock.

Of course, the whining masses would flip out, because they've been sold on the idea that eating over-processed junk is somehow a status symbol. Well, that and most families have lost, in two generations, the knowledge to cook from scratch. You'd end up with a bunch of people sitting in puddles of their own tears, munching on a handful of uncooked rice.

"At least its helping some people.
"TheDarkEricDraven at June 23, 2011 10:40"

So on that basis, should we alow the FRAUD to continue?

Heard about the flooding in the midwest? Hey, at least the DUCKS and FISH like it!

It doesn't matter how they dole out conservative's money - lazy apathetic socialists will find a way to abuse the system so they can continue to be lazy apathetic socialists. They are children of the system and will never change - we can't continue to "breed" such a population. Eventually everyone starves.

If they're hungry; make them stand in line at a soup kitchen. Charities deliver food to the disabled poor – all they have to do is sign up. I whole-heartedly support soup kitchens and food banks, etc. - they do it the way it should be done. The Salvation Army is my charity of choice. There are socialist liberals somewhere, who, upon seeing my tax return, writhe their hands in copious rage because they believe I'm supposed to give my money to THEM and let THEM decide who is worthy to get it. Silly liberals.

There was a time real honest-to-God charities did all the stuff silly liberals can only try to do now. What’s the difference? Charities work on behalf of a… “Higher power,” they do it for free, and reach those who REALLY need help. Liberals believe they are THE “highest power” and do it for billions for anyone who can keep their socialist racket going. This is why liberals are shutting down Christian charities across the country – THEY want to be “god” but most of all they want the money.

Slap a silly liberal HARD – you’ll feel much better. Fools need to be slapped.

As a follow-up on my last post – to prove my point about the liberal “need” to be god – I give you the little bearded imp, Neil Abercrummy (or Abercrombie or something); the new liberal governor of Hawai‘i. He recently decreed (well… strongly suggested) that charities should quit feeding the homeless. In little Neil’s mind, that’s the job for one of the Hawai‘i State Government Unions. Let’s see – the Churches feed the homeless and it cost the taxpayer nothing – government unions feed the poor and it costs MILLIONS. Hmmm. Neil doesn’t hide his reasoning; the homeless must be controlled by the government. Charities get in the way of that.

I have no problem with food stamps for the truly poor. They should be "Stamps" like they used to be, so that it is clear that the person spending them is accepting public assistance. If you are hungry enough to bear that stigma then you are hungry enough to merit them.

Whats that you say, this is communism? Normally I would agree...HOWEVER

Maybe if the Government didn't distort the food markets with ridiculous subsidies to ethanol and ridiculous taxes like Dairy taxes maybe regular working people could actually afford to buy food at the market. End the subsidies and I am happy to end food stamps. Keep food artificially high due to pork barrel politics, we get more of the same...

I actually think Food Stamps should be refitted to mirror the WIC program. Instead of money for food ( n theory), its free actual food, BUT it is nutritious food, not crap and not luxuries like the lobster and steak on the receipt up above. You don't see WIC people getting those things. they get Milk, eggs, bread, Orange Juice - stuff that isn't all corn syrup or chemicals.

Again, take away the market distortions and I am on board with ending these programs. But the ppl in DC and the ones out pounding the Caucus circuit will never touch these subsidies; its far better to fill gas tanks than bellies.

Ideal blog!