Posted on 01/07/2019 10:21:21 AM PST by amorphous
We werent expecting to see a loss of food stamp benefits until the end of January, but a grocery store in Indiana reported they are unable to process EBT payments.
In Clay City, Indiana, the local IGA discovered the problem last week. Initially, they thought it was a technical glitch.
Our machines werent taking any EBT cards and we didnt really know what was going on. We didnt know if it was a technical issue. And then we found out it was due to the government shutting down, Tristen Malone said. (source)
UPDATE:
Officials at the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration have confirmed that issues with EBT payments at one Clay City grocery store are due to a technical error, and arent related to the government shutdown, as the stores management previously claimed. (source)
And although its for a slightly different reason, The Red Lion store in York County, Pennsylvania has also had issues. New owners recently purchased the grocery store and sent in their application to accept government benefits before the shutdown occurred.
Right now were officially frozen because the government is shut down and we cant process our application.
Tom Lohr is the new owner of D & K.
He says they tried to get pre-approved for the license before the sale went through.
We tried to be proactive and start this in December, late November, early December , set up the new entities with the businesses it just has not worked out.
Lohr purchased the business, but doesnt own the company name, so the license belongs to the original owners.
We were trying to make it a smooth transition where it would happen the first day we opened, they said if we didnt hear anything by January 4th to give them a call back. They went dead basically just before Christmas, I think, said Lohr.
Sixteen percent of their business comes from people who use food stamps.
D & K wants to be able to serve those in need, theyre just waiting for the government to re-open. (source)
And by the end of January, these two stores may only be a drop in the bucket. More than 42 million Americans rely on food stamps.
A lot of people are very smug when it comes to those who rely on EBT benefits for food, picturing people driving Cadillacs to pick up their government-funded lobster and then go home and watch daytime soaps. But if you consider the state of the economy, its no surprise that there are millions who cant make ends meet. Almost half of all Americans can barely afford both food and rent every month. Prices are just getting higher and wages are not increasing to meet the demands.
Really, the average EBT user isnt always who youd expect. Any considering 15 million children are living in homes below the poverty line, the kids will be the ones to suffer.
Its pretty easy to be judgmental about those who accept food stamps if you have a good job and a full pantry, but remember that not everyone is in their situation by choice. Nobody is immune to hard times. Ive been there myself. Imagine the unpleasant surprise
Imagine going to the store to make a purchase, fully believing you have money in your account. But when the cashier tries to ring through your purchase, its denied. You ask her to swipe it again, because you know theres money but again, its declined. No funds available, youre told.
The people who are going to buy groceries with EBT cards that are supposed to be working right now must be feeling desperate. And their frustration will cross into anger very quickly.
A cashier from Clay City, Indiana confirmed this.
Theyre really upset about it, which is understandable. I mean thats like, you know, really discouraging that they cant use it. And I mean weve had some people even get mad about it but its like out of our control, theres nothing we can do about it, Malone said. (source)
Now imagine what the situation would be like if suddenly, at the end of January, 42 million people across the country discover they wont be able to feed their families.
It could be chaos very quickly. You know the saying, Were just nine meals away from anarchy. Its all part of the Government Shutdown Theater.
Every single time the government shuts down, an example is made of ordinary Americans. With the Obama shutdown in 2013, all sorts of people suffered, from Native Americans to migrants to victims of domestic violence. In the current shutdown, its the poor people or those working government jobs paycheck to paycheck who will pay the price.
Why do they do this? Why do they make those who are suffering, suffer more?
Because the members of Congress and the government wants to impress upon us all how very essential they are to our well-being. They want to provide us with dramatic evidence that we cant get by without them.
Its delusional to think our representatives in Congress are there to represent anyone but themselves and their sponsors. No one actually from the government is hurt by the shutdown.
Meanwhile, the important people arent noticing any hardship from the government shutdown. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi took a trip to Hawaii (but she promises it wasnt a vacation.) And members of Congress get paid, but their staffers do not. (Kudos to this handful who have chosen to donate or forfeit their salaries during the shutdown.) It would be difficult for my opinion of these people to be much lower, but Im sure theyll manage to undercut my expectations even further.
The IRS will still take your money and track you down, but they wont issue any refunds.
The system, as it stands, is anything but by the people and for the people.
The system is for the people who are benefitting from it. Its for the people who are playing Americans like disposable chess pieces on a board. Its for the people who literally benefit from the suffering of those less fortunate.
But its not for the rest of us. Get prepared for some serious repercussions.
There are no signs of this shutdown ending any time soon. (Although that can change on a dime.) If it runs through the end of the month, be prepared to see some serious fallout when millions of people cannot purchase food for their families anymore. But dont worry your members of Congress will be just fine, regardless of how long this charade continues.
If you, personally, are relying on SNAP benefits for food, I strongly advise you to stock up now on low-cost items like beans, rice, oatmeal, peanut butter, pasta, flour, and canned fruits and vegetables. If you have money left on your card for the month, spend it now on things that wont spoil.
If you are in a position to donate to food banks to help others, the need could soon be at an all-time high. A package of pasta and a can of sauce could at least provide a family with a warm dinner.
And no matter what your situation is, be prepared for the potential of unrest. Because hungry people with hungry children will do desperate things.
OPEN UP GOVERNMENT COMMODITIES TO THEM. WE'VE TONS OF FOOD IN RESERVE, and being shipped overseas to S-Hole countries for the dictators to steal and sell on the black market.
It's what we got when dad company was on strike back in the 60's.
Please, do NOT inject truth, this is a media article and the media feeds on corrupt inaccurate fake news as long as it can be twisted to be anti-Trump
> Really, the average EBT user isnt always who youd expect.
That’s true. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been behind someone who used up multiple EBT cards then pulled out a wad of money and gave the cashier $100 bills (plural) to cover the rest of the cost of a cart full of much better stuff than I was buying. I never expected someone with an EBT card to be buying $500+ worth of stuff at walmart or having multiple $100 bills (for any liberals reading: I can’t tell you the number because I stopped counting in the 20s not because the answer is ZERO)
I will say the frequency has gone down the last few years. I see way fewer EBT cards these days - just wads with $100s (Trump?).
Didn’t someone do some writing on what happens a few days into this scenario . . .
Its delusional to think our representatives in Congress are there to represent anyone but themselves and their sponsors.
Which is why we need TERM LIMITS and ALL POLITICAL DONATIONS TO BE ANONYMOUS. Don't let them stay long enough to create their fiefdoms, and they can not sell influence if they don't know who's buying.
Everyone is addicted.
And where did all the suffering [as described in the article] come from, such that so many people rely on government for their susteNANCE?
It's like the article I read here recently about AI. It has no conscience. It's motive is to keep itself going and going.
"Artificial" is another way of saying "trans", i.e. fake, like EBT money.
I’ve had this bookmarked for years. I read it once a year or so.
Excellent writing.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2926391/posts
“I cant tell you how many times Ive been behind someone who used up multiple EBT cards then pulled out a wad of money and gave the cashier $100 bills (plural) to cover the rest of the cost of a cart full of much better stuff than I was buying.”
And then drive off in a late model Escalade with bling rims.
No more lobster and strip steaks. How dare they be forced to choose between mac-and-cheese and ground beef.
IF there are 15 million children living below the poverty line, then there are TOO MANY ADULTS that keep having kids when they cannot feed them.
If I had my way, that's the only stuff that would be eligible for SNAP anyways.
The first of many unforeseen events as this shutdown progresses. I think POTUS has done well to ensure the optics favor the GOP. And he has planned to further this effort:
President Trump to visit southern border Thursday to tout wall, may address nation
VA disability?
this kind of krap is what happens when people are trained (and enabled) to be dependent on government
the answer is to phase out food stamps and welfare for anybody who is reasonably capable of self-support
that I think would cut the welfare budget by about 3/4 or so
Guess folks’ll have to GET A JOB.
Total BS. That program is not federally driven.
Headline is TOTALLY fake news.
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