Posted on 07/26/2012 4:42:06 AM PDT by RealTeen
Working at a large chain grocery store, you get used to dealing with EBT, WIC and other forms of welfare. Sometimes it is painfully obvious the person does need some sort of help. Other times, too often I believe, someone abusing their government benefits just makes you cringe and doubt the entire system. I find myself echoing an article from a former Wal-Mart employee at College Conservative, who says it’s time for serious welfare reform. Here are some of my ideas for reform and why I believe it:
Make EBT Recipients Ineligible for Large Lottery Payouts
There were several customers at Kroger who loved to play the lottery, to the tune of $10-$20 every single day, minimum. I’m not talking instant scratch-off tickets where they might recoup $10 of their invested cash, I’m talking the big games. Pick 3, Pick 4, MegaMillions and Powerball were their games of choice. Meanwhile, as they were dumping upwards of $300 into a loser’s game a month, they were buying their food with EBT. It would be too much of a problem to force retailers to look up EBT status (if even possible) for small wins, but the large lottery payouts that require winners to go to the state offices should be off limits for EBT recipients. Maybe that would disincentivize their gambling on welfare.
(Excerpt) Read more at jhpolitics.com ...
These are great suggestions. Are there cameras taking film of folks that buy lottery tickets? Can they trace the film to the winning ticket? Otherwise they’d still do it and use someone else as the winner, if they won.
I don't want them to be anonymous. If we are paying for it, they should be grateful and quite the whining.
Rather than people go hungry, I would abolish the entire "SNAP" system we currently have and institute two new mechanisms:
1. Take the savings from the SNAP program and put that money towards kitchens where individuals and families could find meals
2. Set up warehouse distribution of food that would be limited to the basics (pasta, rice, vegetables, dairy, etc). NO alcohol, tobacco, fast food, lottery tickets, candy, lobster, steak, etc.
NO MONEY FOR LOTTERY.....BOOZE.......CIGS.......STEAKS....GAMBLING!!!
>I don’t want them to be anonymous. If we are paying for it, they should be grateful and quite the whining.
Actually I would go even further myself. Screw this anonymity. They should be forced to dress like mimes if they are on public assistance. They have no inclination to get off the dole now, perhaps public shame will do it. They have no shame otherwise.
I do mean the whole white face, clown makeup and goofy french shirt. I cannot imagine someone they would abhor more. Make sure grocery stores and whatnot that accept the food stamps only redeem those used by appropriately dressed people.
I think food stamps should be limited to certain foods, labelled specifically for SNAP. Off brand, low dollar foods like mac and cheese, soup etc. No soda, no prepared foods. Just absolute necessities. Why make it so easy and fun? I mean other than to get votes.
One of guys I work with who comes from what he terms the ghetto, explains to me how the system can be gamed if I ever got assistance. The odd thing is that it is the “ghetto” if you are a minority but it’s just a crappy neighborhood with a bunch of losers if you are not. I find it interesting that things like selling your food stamp credit card to others in exchange for cash to buy unauthorized items is not even thought of as wrong.
If you are using your EBT card to gamble you have no shame. I’ve said it before; have a warehouse to purchase food basics & NOTHING ELSE. I bet the motivation to get a job would increase dramatically once all the goodies were locked up.
EBT should not be easy & fun, it should be sustenance level & that’s it.
Where I live, I was told the you can qualify for WIC with a $40,000 annual income.
WTF!!!
I don’t make that much in my wildest fantasies!
I think the only exception that should be made on the lottery tickets is if someone gives that person one as a gift, which does happen on occasions.
Easy to obtain EBT, continual unemployment - creating a dependent society. The EBT thing is way out of hand.
The lottery system is abhorrent already. People would (and have) be literally thrown in jail for doing what the government does with our lottery system. That being said, everyone needs to have the same rules.
We don't live in, nor should we encourage, a civil society with a caste system. There are plenty of people out there that are hurting in this economy and just because someone gets government assistance does not make them bad people. If government assistance bothers you as much as it bothers me, work to get rid of it, don't blame the people who depend upon it.
I once read a column by the great William F. Buckley Jr. that advocated each grocer having a space rented by the tax payers that stocks rice,lard, dried beans, corn meal, flour , powdered milk,hominy and dehydrated potatoes. These products would be free to every American citizen with a valid ID and the food stamp program eleminated. we can all thank ADM and ther K street cronies for adding all the frills to the program.
How about this.
Stop giving out money. Mail a box of rice, canned vegetables, instant potatoes, dry beans, and canned meat to the recipients. Maybe some of that UN people chow. If they don’t like the options, they can go work for something more pleasing to their pallet.
Even simpler, give them coupons that can only be applied to rice, potatoes, milk, etc. for 100% of cost with a “not to exceed” amount.
bump for later
Nope. No such exceptions. If you’re on EBT, zero lottery winnings. If you allowed such an exception, of course EVERY winning ticket “was a gift”, donchaknow.
That would be my choice as well. People need food, then that is what they should get, not a blank check and a system that is ripe for abuse. There is a food bank in my town (run by a liberal Dem, but no matter) that does an outstanding job of food distribution. They make their financial records available and have their operation audited by legitimate overseers (independent CPAs). They spend 95 cents of every dollar donated on food. They don't get involved in politics at the organizational level. I have no problem voluntarily donating to an operation like that.
The lottery machines aren’t near the registers at our Krogers so a cashier wouldn’t know who was playing.
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