Biggest waste of government money ever

[MamaRoo]

Very nicely written.

I wish I could find it now, but last year or so I read a blog entry from a mom detailing her experiences using food stamps. Both she and her husband had lost their jobs at the same time, and they had to buy food for their child, so they did the food stamp thing. She talked about how she'd drive up in the nice car (bought while they were employed) dressed in nice clothes (bought while they were employed and being worn because she was usually shopping in between interviewing clients for her self employment) and have to deal with the rude comments and stares from people who just assumed she was a scammer. No, she just had a hungry child and no other way to feed her.

Judging someone from what you see for thirty seconds just isn't fair.

 

[oldrooster]

Sometimes you can find chuck or round steak cheaper than hamburger, or perhaps someone wants one meal a year that they eat a lobster or t bone or such I won't begrudge them, but if it is several high end steaks and seafood then that is a wrongful use IMHO.

 

[WeGotTheBeet]

Would you rather:

1. Fund food stamps so people on hard times can feed their families?

2. Fund last year's $40 million bailout of Tyson chickens (USDA bought their unpurchased product) because the greedy sorts running the company continued to increase production while demand remained flat?

There is abuse in the system....it's just not single moms abusing it. They don't have good enough lobbyists and accountants.

 

[Ferrret]

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2226

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[KristyHall]

Very nicely written.

I wish I could find it now, but last year or so I read a blog entry from a mom detailing her experiences using food stamps. Both she and her husband had lost their jobs at the same time, and they had to buy food for their child, so they did the food stamp thing. She talked about how she'd drive up in the nice car (bought while they were employed) dressed in nice clothes (bought while they were employed and being worn because she was usually shopping in between interviewing clients for her self employment) and have to deal with the rude comments and stares from people who just assumed she was a scammer. No, she just had a hungry child and no other way to feed her.

Judging someone from what you see for thirty seconds just isn't fair.

Very true. Too many people have pre-concieved ideas of what constitutes as needy. That is until those people need help themselves. We are all one disaster, one day, one illness, one injury, one credit fraud, away from loosing everything.

 

[KristyHall]

http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=2226

Thank you Ferrret

 

[hemet dennis]

Just because someone criticizes the food stamp program doesn't mean they think no one should get them.

We have been fighting the "war on poverty" the same way for 50 years and we just keep losing. $15 trillions later we are still losing.

Would you keep raising your chickens the same way after not getting eggs for even one year ? How about 50 years of no eggs ?

 

[newfoundland]

There is some very interesting contributions here and it would appear that many people recognise the obligation to help those in need. In these difficult times it is all too easy for us to find ourselves unemployed and depending on where we may live, little prospect of finding work quickly. Common sense dictates that not every recipient of welfare benefits is a sponger, scrounger or loafer. My suggestion is this. Since food stamps are an area of controversy, do away with them. We do not have food stamps here, just a weekly/monthly allowance awarded according to one's individual circumstances. This way no one will even be aware who is in receipt of welfare benefits and it will save much ill feeling. It also leaves some of the most vulnerable in our societies with their personal dignity.

 

[duckinnut]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...ollars-handed-out-to-dead-welfare-recipients/


While I think we can all agree that we need to help those in need,period. But we need also to root out those who collect benefits for which they are not entitled to. Fraud is what gives any program a bad name. Also contributing are those who are perfectly capable of getting a job but feel they are entitled to be taken care of by the government.

There is a family in the town that I grew up in and went to school with that were on welfare and food stamps some 40 years ago. Which was well and fine. The problem being is that they are now on their fourth generation of the same thing. All of the 5 kids,now adults and some with grandchildren were perfectly able to get jobs but preferred not to. The daughter of a the woman I went to school was quoted after the passage of ObamaCare that everyone should have free health care. Free is not free, someone has to pay. Usually the employed by way of taxes or higher insurance rates. The problem I see is that people feel that they are entitled to everything for free. Work for it forget it. Again it is bad apples that give the deserved a bad pie. People need to get some pride to get their butts a job but with government programs that give them no cause to. Where is the incentive?


http://www.masslive.com/news/index....raud_difficult_to_track_in_massachusetts.html
http://dailyfreepress.com/2012/11/27/food-stamp-fraud-forces-legislation-government-commission/

I think the food stamp program needs to be overhauled big time. And also needs not to be attached to the farm bill and should be its own free standing bill.

 

[KristyHall]

Fox News isn't exactly unbiased