Posted on 08/19/2011 7:08:33 PM PDT by Fitzy_888
Federal officials on Friday rejected Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg’s proposal to bar New York City’s food stamp users from buying soda and other sugary drinks with their benefits.
(...)
Tom Vilsack, the secretary of agriculture, said in a statement that the United States Department of Agriculture “has a longstanding tradition of supporting and promoting incentive-based solutions that are better suited for the working families, elderly and other low-income individuals” who rely on food stamps. “We are confident that we can solve the problem of obesity and promote good nutrition and health for all Americans and stand ready to work with New York City to achieve these goals.”
The city’s proposal was part of Mr. Bloomberg’s campaign to make the city a healthier place, which has included banning smoking indoors and in public parks, barring restaurants from cooking with trans fats and requiring them to inform customers about calorie counts.
The mayor was not pleased with the rejection on Friday.
“We think our innovative pilot would have done more to protect people from the crippling effects of preventable illnesses like diabetes and obesity than anything else being proposed elsewhere in this country — and at little or no cost to taxpayers,” Mr. Bloomberg said in a statement.
(Excerpt) Read more at cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com ...
Now I was once young and irresponsible and I know how I spent the $10 my father might give me to go to the movies -I bought junk. We all have an understanding of the simple facets of human nature. I have housing projects not far from where I live. At the corner store I stand behind the lady buying three jars of honey roasted peanuts with her snap card (food stamps). This is her kids dinner. And, I see similarly bad things all the time.
The cards themselves, they condition the recipient to be responsible with credit cards, as soon as they might get a leg up -they’ll get knocked down again with debt. I’ve heard this first hand. But, like most bureaucracy it’s designed to perpetuate itself or better yet grow -so the bureaucracy flourishes.
Here I’d be temped to say: “The road to hell is paved with good intentions.” But, I’m well past believing the intentions are good.
Now it seems Mike Bloomberg is having a hard time holding his nose in the air above the reality that he’s the steward of a system creating an obesity and diabetes epidemic. At risk is his world view, you can trust that his answer will likely be to try to control everyone.
The first sensible thing he has ever said or done.
Proves the old adage that even a blind pig will root up an acorn now and then.
Well...while I do think there are FAR too many people on Food Stamps and that the program is being taken advantage of by many who are unscupulous...I see no reason to ban soft drinks.
That is the least of the problem. If a family actually does need Food Stamps to get by - there is no reason a kid can’t have a Coca-Cola every now and then.
This is insane IMHO. Countless foods are higher in calories than a can of coke. Why do these national nannies not want to ban them too?
I can just see it now; denied a coke, food stamp recipients make themselves a milkshake instead.
Never forget the law of unintended consequences.
Food stamp program is a real joke. I personally think that it should be staples such as sugar flour and a certain amount of protein, vegetables, and dairy.
If you don’t know what to do with those items then you are required to take a simple cooking class. I feed a large family and those are the items I stock in my pantry and fridge. There are no premade dinners or processed crap. My kids eat real butter, real sugar, real food and at the same time they are all a healthy weight.
Yep, broken clock and all that.
I thought they banned that back in 1988, when I was growing up you could always tell who was on food stamps by the pallets of soda in the backyard and the garage.
We have the fattest, richest poor people in the world. I don’t think banning soda is gonna make much diff Mr. Blooming Idiot.
I agree. I think that stamps should start becoming more restricted the longer a person is on them. At the moment there are people on stamps who are using them to get by, not to abuse them. Bannig soft drinks is a petty move that won’t solve the fundamental problem.
We recently found out here in Vancouver Washington, that state EBT food stamp cards can be used to pay fares on Loot Rail trains!
What a deal!
They should ban anything that isn’t relatively healthy food. Meat, veggies, fruits, beans, bread, yogurt, ect. No candy, cookies, soda, junk cereal(cereal with more than 5g of sugar is considered no good)chips. Let them go to work if they want to buy that junk. Or they can buy the ingredients to make it themselves.
I honestly didn’t know you *could* buy pop (I’m from the midwest, I just can’t bring myself to say “soda”, lol) with food stamps.
As for Bloomberg...he can go suck eggs. It’s not that I think it’s a bad idea, necessarily. But the guy is just too big for his britches, to put it nicely. One government intrusion after another with this guy, none of which is likely to make a bit of difference in obesity or diabetes rates in the city.
Totally agree with that. If they want junk, make it from scratch. That’s what I did too. Didn’t drink soda, drank water, or ice tea. No reason people on welfare can’t do the same thing. They want a buy cookies, chips, soda, junk cereal, let them go to work, buy it with their own money.
The problem lies with who determines what is healthy.
You can buy all those items on food stamps...cakes, pies, ice cream, and candy. The one thing you can't buy are ready made items, like hoagies. You have to buy the ingredients and put it together yourself. No non-food items either...
I watched a lady buy 2 quart sized bottles of tart cherry juice from our health food store - $9 apiece - with her Oregon Trails (food stamp) card.
If I were having trouble making ends meet, and even if I am not, I sure wouldn’t pay that much!!
I say let them buy whatever they want with their own money.
When they’re mooching off the rest of us, we should have a say in what they buy. If I had a say, all a food stamp card would buy would be beans and rice with a little milk thrown in for the kids.
Of course the SecAg doesn’t want to ban junk food bought with food stamps. Those are Obama’s voters.
But food stamps are not about disease prevention. No, food stamps are the means to boost the economy. We're almost out of recession by giving food stamps to 45,000,000 Americans. Think how much more a boost there would be if ALL Americans got food stamps - the economy would be Booming!
You can buy most anything with a snap card and it also depends how the store might characterise an item.
The big package of Twizzler’s licorice candy is a local snap card favorite around here.
“I can just see it now; denied a coke, food stamp recipients make themselves a milkshake instead.”
At least a milkshake has some nutritional value.
I say as I sit here swilling a Pepsi.
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