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The ‘Steak and Lobster’ Food-Stamp Myth Refuses to Die
New York Magazine ^ | February 19, 2016 | Claire Landsbaum

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."


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Government; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: welfare
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To: relictele

Inner city youts...at least the ones not vying for D1 basketball or track scholarships...appear to be chubby despite their financial trauma.


61 posted on 02/19/2016 11:21:29 AM PST by nascarnation (RIP Scalia. Godspeed)
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To: nascarnation
Yep.

IMHO a slightly expanded WIC food list should be all you can buy with EBT cards.

The food is bland and boring but very healthy.

62 posted on 02/19/2016 11:21:34 AM PST by Harmless Teddy Bear (Proud Infidel, Gun Nut, Religious Fanatic and Freedom Fiend)
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To: Red Badger

50 cents on the dollar was the going price still in the folder, stores wouldn’t accept loose stamps.


63 posted on 02/19/2016 11:22:37 AM PST by Little Bill (o)
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To: Army Air Corps

And how many Jose’s and Maria’s have you seen who pay with EBT AND have a thick wad of cash to pay for the items that can’t be paid for with food stamps?


64 posted on 02/19/2016 11:24:28 AM PST by punknpuss
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To: Harmless Teddy Bear
They buy expensive and easily resalable items using their EBT card. They then sell those items for cash. They then use the cash for whatever they please.

Good point.

65 posted on 02/19/2016 11:25:09 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (Trump fans:'he's no more conservative than Mitt'-www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3389209/posts)
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To: Cementjungle

Seriously, Liberals are as ugly on the outside as they are on the inside...


66 posted on 02/19/2016 11:25:26 AM PST by Maverick68
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To: Pan_Yan

My step-son was a grocery cashier once. He said he could spot an ebt cart a mile away - 2 liters of soda pop, chips, frozen food, and chicken.


67 posted on 02/19/2016 11:25:36 AM PST by lacrew
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To: zedee

Lefties love their convenient, if contradictory and qualified, categoricals. They also love their double standards.

They’re fine with a publicly-purchased cart full of Twinkies, but they remove pop machines and chase all signs and mentions of candy from school property because the mere thought of having a Coca Cola or a Hershey bar might cause (all together now) a CHILDHOOD OBESITY EPIDEMIC.

They ban bake sales, birthday parties and any other enjoyable item or pursuit because someone, somewhere has a peanut allergy and who, along with parents, has not taken adequate measures to avoid exposure.

Every time, we are told that the ban placed on items, deeds and even thoughts will deliver Utopia.


68 posted on 02/19/2016 11:25:37 AM PST by relictele (Principiis obsta & Finem respice - Resist The Beginnings & Consider The Ends)
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To: nickcarraway
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.

That merely puts an upper limit on how often luxury foods are bought - it doesn't imply that it never happens. Liberalism is a mental disorder.

And I also have seen it with my own eyes.

69 posted on 02/19/2016 11:26:50 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (Trump fans:'he's no more conservative than Mitt'-www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3389209/posts)
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To: Wilderness Conservative

Thank you for posting that. I was thinking of the same thing when I read this. I think I’ll Tweet that picture to the author.


70 posted on 02/19/2016 11:27:50 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: ontap

Oh yeah. Surfer/ band dude.

I am sure he is feelin the Bern :(


71 posted on 02/19/2016 11:28:06 AM PST by Freedom56v2
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To: cincinnati65

Agreed, but the larger goal should be the reduction of Women, Infants and Children with no visible means of support, especially a reduction in the numbers of Infants and Children born to a guaranteed life on the dole.

If only intelligence and fertility were proportional.


72 posted on 02/19/2016 11:28:12 AM PST by relictele (Principiis obsta & Finem respice - Resist The Beginnings & Consider The Ends)
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To: relictele

Agreed. My point was if you HAVE to have a program as a safety net to feed the poor, I would much rather have one structured like WIC, than the free for all EBT has become.


73 posted on 02/19/2016 11:30:12 AM PST by cincinnati65
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To: Dr. Bogus Pachysandra

I ran into the post office the other day for the first time in quite awhile. I noticed that the stamp machine now takes EBT cards. Now you don’t suppose anyone ever exchanges postage stamps for cash, do you?


74 posted on 02/19/2016 11:31:10 AM PST by FirstFlaBn
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To: nascarnation
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 that 60 gets to the local dealer within minutes... which gets bundled and sent back to Mexico and Colombia and Afghanistan in exchange for the next shipments within a few weeks.

75 posted on 02/19/2016 11:31:57 AM PST by Teacher317 (We have now sunk to a depth at which restatement of the obvious is the first duty of intelligent men)
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To: punknpuss

That, and wearing the latest designer baggy pants, designer fad-of-the-month shirt, brand new high-dollar sneakers, etc.


76 posted on 02/19/2016 11:33:40 AM PST by Army Air Corps (Four Fried Chickens and a Coke)
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To: Wilderness Conservative; FourtySeven
A more complete image:


77 posted on 02/19/2016 11:34:05 AM PST by ConservingFreedom (Trump fans:'he's no more conservative than Mitt'-www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/3389209/posts)
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To: nickcarraway

“conservatives have been unable to rid themselves of the image of the food-stamp queen”

Sometimes I wonder WTF people even think the word “conservative” means.

It means someone who understands that the supply of everything is NOT unlimited, and unless conserved, will RUN OUT!

Freaking Morons.


78 posted on 02/19/2016 11:34:40 AM PST by rhoda_penmark
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To: ConservingFreedom

Awesome thanks.


79 posted on 02/19/2016 11:37:09 AM PST by FourtySeven (47)
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To: nickcarraway
It's no myth. I've seen it with my own lying eyes when shopping for groceries and paying with my own hard earned cash.

The state issued bank of America debit cards read EBT when swiped at the register, and I saw what the folks in front of me had on the belt.
80 posted on 02/19/2016 11:37:49 AM PST by mrmeyer (You can't conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him. � Robert Heinlein)
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