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What would it take to change EBT distribution?
vanity ^ | March 8, 2023 | Linda Martinez

Posted on 03/08/2023 2:25:08 PM PST by eccentric

One of the major causes of "food insecurity" is that low income people often have problems with money management. This is well demonstrated by people using their EBT money on junk food when they first receive a deposit on their card and then having no money/credit left at the end of the month. The once a month delivery made sense when the stamps were sent though the mail, but now everything is down on a debit card. It seems that it would be simple to change the card to a weekly or even daily dispersal instead of once a month. After all, it is all on computers.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Government; Society
KEYWORDS: ebt; foodstamps; vanity; welfare
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How hard would it be to change this system?
1 posted on 03/08/2023 2:25:08 PM PST by eccentric
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To: eccentric

A war. That’s where we’re going.


2 posted on 03/08/2023 2:30:44 PM PST by HighSierra5 (The only way you know a commie is lying is when they open their pieholes.)
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To: eccentric

Besides bureaucratic resistance, or resistance from lawmakers, it would be trivial to change it to weekly or even daily.

But I suspect people who can’t manage a monthly deposit won’t be able to manage a weekly one either. I don’t think the key factor here is “bad money management”, thought that probably contributes. The key is that until it’s YOUR money that you worked for, you don’t have the proper motivation to learn to manage it properly.


3 posted on 03/08/2023 2:31:34 PM PST by Boogieman
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To: eccentric

“This is well demonstrated by people using their EBT money on junk food when they first receive a deposit on their card and then having no money/credit left at the end of the month.”

I remember when you weren’t allowed to buy “junk food” and other items with food stamps. Like every other intelligent policy, that was changed because it was “racist”.


4 posted on 03/08/2023 2:34:25 PM PST by Brooklyn Attitude (I went to bed on November 3rd 2020 and woke up in 1984.)
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To: eccentric

Apparently extremely - as it will be caged as “taking away benefits”...

I marveled years ago when I was trying to help a young couple that had mastered gaming the system. They knew very well what could and couldn’t be purchased with their EBT...

They bought lots of Valentine candy, for example... also energy drinks. You cannot buy liquor with EBT...buy you CAN buy jumbo bottles of Vanilla Extract! You cannot buy a hot rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store... but you can buy an entire box of Hershey Candy Bars...

Within a day or two of their EBT being reloaded - they would be back trying to get folks to buy them some food...

It is a system that is, I believe, set up to encourage and promote bad decisions and scamming the system (aka - taxpayers).

Then again - the fact that the system went to the “debit card” format - ostensibly to reduce the “social shame” of being on public benefits itself was a flawed idea. While there is no shame in needing help - LIVING on it forever ought to be a huge shame. EBT is supposed to be temporary and/or supplemental - not a way of life.


5 posted on 03/08/2023 2:35:11 PM PST by TheBattman (Democrats-Progressives-Marxists-Socialists - redundant labels.)
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To: eccentric
"One of the major causes of "food insecurity" is that low income people often have problems with money management."

Yeah, instead of flour and beans, they buy pot and meth..

Want change it.? STOP GIVING AWAY FREE MONEY..!!!

But, that's just my opinion...

6 posted on 03/08/2023 2:38:13 PM PST by unread ("It's not enough that we do our best; sometimes we have to do what's required." W. Churchill.)
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To: eccentric

Math is racist


7 posted on 03/08/2023 2:39:41 PM PST by rainee (Trump won! )
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To: eccentric

I know dozens of kids, at an Ivy League university, who are receiving food stamps. And that’s just the ones I know.

I bet the true amount on the campus is thousands - as an easy-buck scam like this spreads very quickly

They have little income (they are students after all), they apply, they receive $300+/month - no questions asked.

The system is totally corrupt. The amount of people who it truly helps and are needy, is probably tiny


8 posted on 03/08/2023 2:43:02 PM PST by PGR88
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To: eccentric

They’re not children. Let them spend it as fit. Do we hear stories of end of month running out of food? I have seen that.


9 posted on 03/08/2023 2:45:38 PM PST by napscoordinator (DeSantis is a beast! Florida is the freest state in the country! )
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To: eccentric
I grew up on food stamps & cash assistance. Mom worked a few times looking back, but it was never more than for a few months. She did really good, being a single mom with two kids on state assistance. Always very frugal with the little she received. She always said she knew she could work, but it would mean putting me and my brother in daycare/having unknown babysitters, etc. I clearly remember "cheese day", when we would go down to the local community center and stand in line for the big bricks of cheese, canned meats, etc. I remember mom would make tamales out of the meats and sell them locally.

Well, as I got older and watched friends being able to do whatever they wanted. At the time, I wore corduroy pants and pumas while my friends were all wearing stone washed 501 jeans and Reebok high top sneakers. Very materialistic, but my intentions were different. As a fat kid, my thighs always rubbed together and I hated the "VPP! VPP! VPP!" sound they made when I walked. While friends would ask their parents for $$$ to go to McD's in high school, I was lucky to be able to buy a cheeseburger at school. Most times I went to school and stayed hungry all day, then I would eat when I got home.

Anyhow, all of this made me somewhat resentful of my mom for a time. I couldn't understand why she insisted on keeping us in poverty, just because she wanted to be home to raise her kids. Of course, now as an adult, I look back and understand her intentions, if not the best, she was doing the best she knew how. Growing up on state assistance also made something in me snap. I had NO interest in making my kids grow up the same way.

10 posted on 03/08/2023 2:46:46 PM PST by dware (Americans prefer peaceful slavery over dangerous freedom)
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To: eccentric

If nothing else, reducing the total dollar value available by making them weekly rather than monthly would stop some of the sbuses like buying luxury foods to trade for drugs.


11 posted on 03/08/2023 2:48:19 PM PST by Valpal1 (Not even the police are safe from the police!!!)
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To: PGR88

Big food comapanies such as General Foods, Kraft, etc are big donors to politicians and they love the EBT giveaway.


12 posted on 03/08/2023 2:49:41 PM PST by entropy12 (Food is most popular anxiety drug, exercise is the least popular.)
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To: eccentric

how about going to any martin luther king jr. avenue/boulevard across our country and asking those inhabitants...


13 posted on 03/08/2023 2:54:23 PM PST by heavy metal (smiling improves your face value and makes people wonder what the hell you're up to... 😁)
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To: eccentric

Why change something that works?


14 posted on 03/08/2023 2:55:00 PM PST by Sacajaweau ( )
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To: eccentric

‘ How hard would it be to change this system? ’
It’s government. It will take forever and cost huge money and then be wrong. Heavens, what do think will happen.


15 posted on 03/08/2023 2:58:58 PM PST by Track9 (You are far too inquisitive not to be seduced…)
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To: HighSierra5

Yep, unfortunately.


16 posted on 03/08/2023 2:59:29 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: TheBattman

“They bought lots of Valentine candy, for example... also energy drinks. You cannot buy liquor with EBT...buy you CAN buy jumbo bottles of Vanilla Extract! You cannot buy a hot rotisserie chicken from your local grocery store... but you can buy an entire box of Hershey Candy Bars...”

An extremely rare ACCURATE FR comment on what can and can not be purchased using SNAP.

Only correction is energy drinks can only be purchased if they have fruit content ...


17 posted on 03/08/2023 3:03:01 PM PST by steve86 (Numquam accusatus, numquam ad curiam ibit, numquam ad carcerem™)
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To: eccentric
Changing the system would be difficult unless the move came from within the federal bureaucracy. In the economy of the slums, it is relatively easy to convert EBT credits and foodstuffs to cash for other purposes. Issuing or delivering only healthy, nutritious food would simply result in much of it being thrown out.
18 posted on 03/08/2023 3:03:19 PM PST by Rockingham
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To: eccentric

Honor the 10th Amendment and end federal funding of the program.


19 posted on 03/08/2023 3:14:32 PM PST by Rurudyne (Standup Philosopher)
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To: Rockingham

Confine EBT usage to rice and beans. Complete protein. They’ll get so sick of it the obesity problems will go away.

Fast food. Ok give them one day a week to eat out. Mondays. That way I can watch my MNF in peace while the cops are working overtime breaking up the fights at Popeye’s.


20 posted on 03/08/2023 3:16:35 PM PST by DIRTYSECRET
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