Posted on 02/19/2016 10:38:02 AM PST by nickcarraway
The concept of the food-stamp queen was first proffered by Ronald Reagan during a 1976 campaign speech. "In Chicago, they found a woman who holds the record," he told the assembled crowd. "She used 80 names, 30 addresses, 15 telephone numbers to collect food stamps, Social Security, veterans' benefits for four nonexistent deceased veteran husbands, as well as welfare. Her tax-free cash income alone has been running $150,000 a year." Reagan's story turned out to be a gross exaggeration of a minor case of welfare fraud, but since their patron saint conjured her up, conservatives have been unable to rid themselves of the image of the food-stamp queen. And despite her nonexistence, they've tried over and over again to stamp her out.
Their latest attempt takes the form of a bill introduced by New York senator Patty Ritchie designed to keep people from using New York's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to buy things like expensive steaks, lobster, decorated cakes, or energy drinks. "The goal of this legislation is to improve dietary quality and reduce obesity," as well as to "restrict the abuse of the program," reads the bill's memo.
Even if it passes the Democratic-controlled senate, the bill is unlikely to accomplish either goal. According to a 2007 report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, "no evidence exists which indicates that food stamp benefits directly contribute to poor food choices and negative dietary outcomes, such as obesity." The majority of food-stamp recipients still buy a portion of their food with their own money, with which they can make as many unrestricted choices as they want.
The Republican fear of "abuse" of food stamps to purchase "luxury items" is founded on a decades-old and highly unrealistic stigma. Last April, when Missouri politicians introduced a similar bill, Representative Rick Brattin told the Washington Post, "I have seen people purchasing filet mignons and crab legs with their EBT [Electronic Benefit Transfer] cards. When I can't afford it on my pay, I don't want people on the taxpayer's dime to." Similar outrage flared up in Kansas when a bill was introduced to limit "a long list of items, including alcohol, cigarettes, concert tickets, theme park tickets, or cruises," and in Wisconsin, where another aimed to strike "crab, lobster, shrimp, and any other shell fish" from the list of available foods. Yet in studies of the diets of people on food stamps, they're shown to eat less seafood than the rest of us, and about the same amount of beef. (How they would buy cruise tickets with their benefits is unclear.)
"It's seeking to legislate urban myths in our society," Milwaukee representative Evan Goyke told WSAU when Wisconsin's bill was in the spotlight. "Forty-one percent of the people who receive food stamps are under the age of 18, and the next largest chunk are the elderly. And they're not eating lobster; they're struggling to get by."
Everyone I see at the Food Lion that uses EBT usually drives a new car.
I hate to tell the NYT, but I have seen the Food Stamp Queens and Kings with my own eyes. Sorry, guys, but the phenomenon is real.
I was about to say the same thing! Why even waste the electrons to publish this article if it REALLY isn’t a problem.
I can’t count the number of times I’ve watched someone use their money for beer and cigarettes and my money for food. The system is fraudulent by nature.
“I hate to tell the NYT, but I have seen the Food Stamp Queens and Kings with my own eyes. Sorry, guys, but the phenomenon is real.”
Me too. Two very well dressed ‘Hispanic’ ladies with two carts full to the brim with the best food. Saw them getting into a brand new Escalade later. What a great country, unless you work for a living.
ding-ding-ding!
Exactly....
How about passing a bill that would work? The grocery that I usually shop at has a program where if I buy certain items then I get a one or two or five cent reduction in the per gallon cost of gasoline as participating filling stations. If their computer system can handle something like that then why can't it handle identifying items that can be covered by food stamps from items that can't? Swipe your card at the beginning and as the items are scanned then those which are ineligible won't get applied to the food stamp total and have to be paid for in cash. Wouldn't be requiring stores do something like that be more effective?
Since everything in the major grocery store chains is electronic and collected for endless analysis I’d love to see a spreadsheet of most common food types purchased with EBT cards. I’ll bet the data is already on someone’s computer.
It is a well known fact that many very wealthy people receive food stamps. They show no income because they have blind trusts they live off of. I have professional knowledge of this.
My brother owned a house in a very bad section of town
He rented it out, and they paid the first month rent and moved in. They never paid again. it took him months to evict them
The next tenant did the same thing. And the next, and the next...
Finally, he learned his lesson and showed up to collect the welfare check for rent on the first of the month when the mailman brought it and THE FIRST FOUR TENANTS WERE THERE TOO WAITING FOR A CHECK - THEY WERE STILL GETTING RENT FROM THE GOVERNMENT FOR MY BROTHERS ONE APARTMENT.
You would think a simple database check would have noticed 5 rent checks being sent to the same address.
So don’t even try to tell me there is no fraud, I’ve seen it first hand.
He reported them to Welfare and the checks stopped, so they burned his place down. He didn’t learn anything, he is still a stupid liberal.
I know a Chinese guy who runs an Asian grocery store.
He just put in big tanks for Alaskan crabs, oysters, Lobsters.
One Alaskan crab was $35/lb. I asked him - who pays that for crab?
Then he said “its all EBT.” He pointed to a group of Russians out in the parking lot getting into a Lexus and said “they paid with Foodstamps.”
I only know what I hear and see....
A guy I work with calls Escalades “Welfare Wagons”
It is not a myth. I’ve waited behind some of these people in the checkout line. Very few of them spend money on the kinds of groceries that will stretch a dollar and are actually better for you. Flour, corn meal, potatoes, greens, beans, onions, peppers, corn. Mostly I see prepared kludge, meats, and high fat junk food. And yes, I have seen crab legs and shrimp in abundance.
This is such unmitigated horse crap. The pixels to produce this tripe were completely wasted. I’ve seen with my own eyes grocery carts loaded down with food I can’t afford as the shopper hangs up their iPhone and pulls out and swipes their EBT card with their extravagantly-done fingernails. Back when I was trying to feed a family of 6 on $120 a week. Do we need a safety net for folks who need one temporarily? Absolutely. Do we need a Tempur-Pedic California king sized bed for them? Absolutely not.
Anyone remember this dude!!!
Recently in Phoenix we had a couple that defrauded the Food Stamp system of 93,000 in a little over thirty-six months. Well reported, but not to the author of this article.
Many college student seek emancipation to get grants and food stamps while on an extended play time in their twenties.
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