My renters on food stamps have used it as their income. They buy stuff and resell it at a discount. Then, they buy drugs, alcohol and cigarettes. (Found this out through a police raid at one of my properties.)
Others have told me they have WAY more EBT than they can consume.
The problem is, once you establish a program for anything, you have to develop a set of rules. Then, you hire people to staff the program that no private company would hire. The people in the program conspire with those outside to tell them how to maximize their take. They start beating the rules because the rules can’t possibly be comprehensive enough to stop these creative people. The ones running the program are just as at fault as the cheaters.
My sister’s church will help people. They will give you a place to live and get you a job. But you can’t have a cell phone or cable TV or all those toys poor people seem to have. Damn few people will accept their help. Those who do are usually on their own in months. Fantastically successful. But like the old saw, how many psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb? One, but the lightbulb has to want to change. These people, for the most part, don’t want to change.
Bush was right. Let the churches run the program. (All right, give me a chance to get into my foxhole.)
From what I understand the practice continues, SNAP, fifty cents on the dollar.
Why would you need to jump into your foxhole? You are spot on with your observations. The federal government needs to get out of the benevolence industry.
I have a cousin that wound up with nothing through a divorce. She receives Social Security and lives in an old person complex that is government funded. Huge step down for her. Anyway, she filed for food stamps and got them. She told me she gets way more than she needs and has never eaten so well. lol