Food stamp users risk weight gain: study (in absurdity)

Reuters ^ | 8/18/09 | No one would own up to it

[Gabz]

One person you saw does not mean all do it, which was my point.

[MrB]

Is it time for a national divorce or what?

Time to not allow this crap anymore.
Time to implement “if you will not work, you will not eat”.
Time to stop robbing the responsible to promote the irresponsible.

In the “restored” United States of America, we’re taking down the bird feeder. Freeloaders, go poop somewhere else.

[4yearlurker]

Yes I’ve been there. I know the feeling. Also,in an area where there are a large percentage of FS bums,the store prices are inflated. Why look at the price when it’s free? That goes for WIC and baby formula too.

[I Buried My Guns]

I agree. In a similar vein, I propose a study to look at the correlation between welfare recipent-ness and handicapped placards . I foresee a strong correlation between the two, based on anecdotal evidence.

The day I am elected dictator of America, I am going to review all placard recipients. Those who are simply fat slobs will have them revoked. Heck, in my world they'd have their lives revoked. Why? because there are a lot of REAL handicapped folks in my city, many of them old people, who don't get the parking spot because a rude, 300-lb ghetto mama has "bad knees". Knees that are a direct result of her lifestyle, but for which everyone else has to suffer.

I also do the thing where I surreptitiously follow the welfare queens out to the parking lot, just to see their Escalade. Those little TV screens they are pretty cool; maybe someday I'll be able to afford that.

The fact that folks on welfare have nicer cars than those who work hard is an economic hate crime, IMO.

[4yearlurker]

You are right about the handicap card. MY mother in law’s neighbor got a handicap card to hang off the rear view mirror. Why? She is over weight and it hurts here knees to walk to far.

[steve86]

I mostly agree with the comments you’ve made. One difference is that I am aware of SNAP recipients who have serious health problems, are not able to prepare meals from scratch very well, and for whom the ready-made foods are a Godsend. Without them, these people would be in an expensive care facility of some kind. I certainly agree that the luxury and snack foods should be restricted considerably. Like you, I don’t really see the problem would much of the deli food, which is often cost effective. It could be limited, as you say. Besides alcohol and cigarettes and deli or restaurant food, about all that is banned is “energy drinks”.

[Gabz]

Well excuse me Little Miss Moral Enforcer. Maybe you spend some time in the big city and see that this is EXACTLY what these lazy bums spend their food stamps and money on. Ever been to an inner city supermarket (or at least one that hasn't been closed down due to theft and vandalism)? They tend to stock LOTS of junk food and alcohol.

I didn't say it didn't happen, I just happen to know that not all people who receive food stamps do such things.

I grew up in the inner city and I now live in a rather poor rural county. I know what's going on.

I also have read about other FReepers who have or even are, utilizing this particular bit of a help in bad times. The blanket generalizations also insult fellow FReepers. I can't speak for any others, just myself, but do you think any of us liked or were proud of it???????? You do what you've got to do to feed your kids and keep a roof over them while dealing with a difficult time.

Yes, there are huge abuses and I have never questioned them and have been trying to offer ideas of how to start chipping away at the whole house of cards.

[Oldpuppymax]

I had to check TWICE just to make certain this wasn’t an Onion or Scrappleface story!

[I Buried My Guns]

"...utilizing this particular bit of a help in bad times..."

Therein lies the difference: For some (FReepers are in this group), it is "help in bad times", and there is a certain amount of shame and embarrassment connected to taking a "handout". These folks are motivated to get on their feet ASAP and move on with their lives. They don't want to be a burden on others. They have a sense of decency. None of us here decry that.

Then there are those that see it through the lens of entitlement. They feel owed. They have no sense of shame or even decency. Also, oftentimes for them there is a racial component, where they feel like they're sticking it to the man by taking his money. Seen through that angle, it is but one more example of disrespect and hatred, kinda like folks who cross the street real slowwww when they are in front of your car in an attempt to diss you.

[woollyone]

...the only country on the planet with fat poor people

[MrB]

The solution is to remove the gov’t from the realm of charity - COMPLETELY.

This is the purview of churches, and charity must be voluntary for the system to work.

If someone is abusing the charity of others, it won’t be too long before they are cut off or brought to shame.

[Left2Right]

From your post 37:

"Wouldn't you rather see the mother who can't or won't cook (don't get me started on that) be able to purchase a rotisserie chicken from the supermarket deli counter, rather frozen fried chicken dinners for each of her kids?"

If it is a case of being to lazy to cook for her kids, then maybe her kids need to be taken away from her and left in the care of someone who will provide a more healthy home environment.

The fact that you think that a Rotisserie Chicken should be included in food stamps shows to me how misguided your thinking is. Give me a break, a Rotisserie Chicken? Even I consider that a special treat and usually only buy one for a special occasion. If you are feeling shamed for using food stamps, then that is probably a good thing. In case you forgot, you live in the most prosperous country in the world, no one is forcing you to live anywhere, and many Americans have had to relocate to find better opportunities. No one is forcing you (or anyone else) to live in a poor rural county or some poverty stricken area of some inner city. We don't live in some communist country where a person is not allowed to move around freely.

My shopping budget includes lots of rice and beans, manager's special meats (the ones that say "use or freeze" by tonight), and shared meals with friends. Even buying ANYTHING form ANY deli I consider a big treat. When I make a pot of stew or soup (in my $2.00 crock pot I bought at a thrift store) I often invite friends over and we share a meal (I usually ask them bring some bread or a side and whatever they want to drink, as all I have to offer is water - and most of my friends are OK with water).

For any Freepers that are feeling ashamed because they have to use food stamps or are sucking at the government teat, good for them. When I was younger and my wife and I had just had our first kid, we were so broke we even got the W.I.C. vouchers. I'll never forget the looks I used to get from not only the other customers, but even the store clerks. I couldn't get out of the store fast enough. Thank God those people did not sign off on my B.S. and made me feel shame. Thank God I took that shame and used it to change my life around.

[TruthShallSetYouFree]

I'm sorry you took my post as being mean spirited, but I was actually being sarcastic to prove a point; i.e., that the original premise (that being on food stamps causes obesity) was flawed. Here is a graph that shows the typical (inverse) relationship between poverty and high test scores. That is, on average, the poorer school districts (those wherein the students get free or subsidized lunches) do not do as well scholastically as the wealthier ones.

My (sarcastic) point was that even though there is a strong correlation between being on food stamps and getting low SAT scores (on average, which is what correlation measures--there will always be exceptions!) the issuance of food stamps was not causing the poor academic performance. I was mocking the bureaucrats who so often confuse commonality with causation.

I certainly do apologize if my attempt at sarcastic humor hurt your feelings (or anyone else's, for that matter) in any way. I appreciate your knocking some sense into me. I need that from time to time. :)

[Gabz]

Perhaps you live in a town where there are no "ghetto fatties" and everybody eats arugula and tofu, but I live in the other world, where lazy, shiftless folks use my tax dollars to stuff themselves with junk food. I have seen it countless times, and if I ever see otherwise, I'll shout it from the rooftops.

You can't even find arugula, and tofu is rather difficult to find in this county.

I've seen it as well, and don't deny it. My gripe is there are people who DO NOT do those things, but are being lumped in with the lazy shiftless folk that do do it, just because we may have had to or still do need a bit of a hand.

I'm not lazy, I'm not shiftless, nor is my husband, and don't stuff myself, my husband or child with junk food. But I needed a little bit of help. Junk food is NOT cheaper than real food. My food shopping habits have not changed one iota. Sales, coupons, manager's specials, etc. I don't go to the store without a list. Certain times of the year I can cut back on the fresh veggies because they are growing in my garden.

[airspirit]

I work in the grocery industry and the food stamp program disgusts me. If I broke down the typical food stamp expenditure, it would go down something like this:

30% - Soft drinks
20% - Candy/ice cream/chips/assorted junk food
20% - Premium foods such as king crab legs, filet mignon, $8 a serving organic premade meals, etc
20% - Preprocessed food: hamburger helper, frozen dinners, etc
10% - Healthy food for at-home preparation: vegetables, budget cuts of meat, ingredients, breads, milk, etc.

Almost exclusively people under the age of 30 spend their entire food stamp budget on soda and junk, with the occasional $10 lunch for work thrown in from our deli. Single people also have a tendency to spend their food stamps on pricey items: at one store I worked at I never witnessed a single sale of $30/lb. king crab legs that wasn’t on food stamps over the course of a couple years (college town that had $100k/yr professors coming in with their food stamp cards).

Healthy food purchasers come in two flavors: 30-40ish family buyers or the elderly. I have never witnessed a single person under the age of 30 purchase healthy food on food stamps once in the last five years other than milk or bread.

The way I see it, there are two steps that could be taken to greatly reduce food stamp usage and expenditure.

Step 1: Place food stamp use on a sliding co-pay system. Lets say you are in the middle of the income level that qualifies: you would pay a 50% co-pay on groceries up to a certain pay-out cap incentivizing you to make wise purchasing decisions. If you upgrade your cut of meat it will hit your pocket too. If you have no income it would be the same as today, but if you’re right under the cut-off line you might pay 80-90% of the grocery cost out of pocket. This would also put a damper on people that spend like idiots on food stamps then whip out their cash to buy alcohol and tobacco.

Step 2: limit eligible purchase items to milk, bread, certain dairy products, flour, sugar, vegetables, meat, and certain other ingredient sundries similar to the WIC qualification system. This way if you want a government handout to buy food you’re actually getting food and not junk. I can’t tell you the amount of people that fight with checkers because they aren’t allowed to buy energy drinks in my state on their food stamp card. If you want luxuries or crap you should have to pay for it yourself.

If you instituted these two steps you’d probably cut the immediate usage of food stamps in half overnight and see the overall costs drop dramatically. Of course, this would piss off the welfare queens so it would never happen. Those that use their food stamps wisely due to genuine need wouldn’t see much of a change at all.

The current system pisses me off to no end. Half the wedding cakes at my current store are purchased on food stamp cards (the wedding party or friends will all bring in their EBT cards and split the $500+ bill with their food stamps). There is no rational reason that such abuses should ever occur even if you are a complete bleeding heart leftist that loves the current program.

[Grumpybutt]

No problem. :o)

[Yaelle]

Are we linking FOOD to obesity? I do think there might be a correlation.

[KittenClaws]

Yes I’ve been there. I know the feeling. Also,in an area where there are a large percentage of FS bums,the store prices are inflated. Why look at the price when it’s free? That goes for WIC and baby formula too.

I've seen young mothers paying with food stamps who have an assortment of baby formulas, milk, etc. Somehow, that does not bother me - at least the money is being used for its intended purpose.

But food stamps for a week-end BBQ, when the holders have a brand new mini-van? I think not.

[AD from SpringBay]

The fact that you think that a Rotisserie Chicken should be included in food stamps shows to me how misguided your thinking is. Give me a break, a Rotisserie Chicken?

Rotisserie Chicken you say? Yum... might I recommend a small home rotisserie to hit your spot? I have one that holds up to seven pounds of anything and we have those yummy fall-off-the-bone chickens on a regular basis. It only takes a few meals for the device to pay for itself. Cooking at home also takes a little work and burns a few calories.