I think the way it works is that the lobster cannot be live, but refrigerated is ok.
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."
I think the way it works is that the lobster cannot be live, but refrigerated is ok.
And of course they tell the truth about their steak, lobster, booze and vacation cruises because everyone knows they can't buy those things with their food stamps or welfare.
Somewhere there is a guy with a ring around it.
With my own eyes: King Crab legs, steaks, & the most expensive bagged dog food in the store. Two carts full of stuff that I (working full time at a good salary & living independently) could not afford. The man & woman were dripping with what appeared to be very nice gold jewelry, they both had cell phones, & the woman was dressed to the “T”. I’m still pissed off ..... and this was a few years back.
—Everyone I see at the Food Lion that uses EBT usually drives a new car.—
A couple months ago I was standing in the “No more than 12 items” line behind a minority woman. She had at least 30 items in her cart. Paid with an EBT card. I had one item so I was right behind her out the door. She was parked a couple spaces from my 15 year old Highlander. She got into a giant black Caddy Escalade. It still had the stickers in the back side window and temp plates! EBT!
I was actually in a store when a guy was peddling food stamps to people waiting in line in an Illinois town.
There were no takers. Only looks of disgust for the guy who wanted to sell something back to us that we had already paid for.
I play that game too. It’s fun in a weird kind of validation way.
Exactly. And, if it's an urban myth, why have so many of us (myself included) witnessed such purchases first-hand?
When you (hire lawyers to) word things as carefully as that, you can make any study support any conclusion you want.
So, I guess I gotta learn not to trust my lyin’ eyes week after week? Like the woman I got stuck behind in line who used $325 on her EBT to buy a cart full of spare ribs, steaks and chops? Or the woman who bought $30 worth of flavored bottled water, gum, candy and chips? At our local discount grocery store, because of people’s EBT habits, clerks are actually trained NOT to judge or react to the things people buy with EBT. It’s tough to work a low-wage job at a grocery store and see person after person using EBT to buy things you can’t afford.
Yup.
And a checker at Top Foods told me about the gal earlier that day who bought $30 worth of GUMMY BEARS...
True story.
With my own eyes, 6 raw oysters per package. 4 packages bundled together. 5 bundles of packages. All EBT.
You have to admire the widespread, powerful clairvoyant abilities of New York-based writers.
The writers can accurately depict, predict and critique people and actions in states the writers have never visited.
+1
It was real when I worked in a grocery store in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
I read a story about how this is done in rural Kentucky.
Folks buy 100 bucks worth of soft drinks in cans with EBT.
Then they take the cases of soft drinks to another store which buys them at the back door for 60 bucks cash.
And repeat.
The WIC program works better than Food Stamps at providing basic nutritional items, because it mandates what items can and can’t be purchased. I would rather see Food Stamps eliminated and WIC expanded. Most of the fraud would weed itself out of the system.
A drive through section 8 areas will fail to unearth any fighting fit females.
I’ve literally seen welfare queens buy lobster with EBT.
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