When we see signs like this one I saw in a supermarket near me, you know things have gone off the rail.
Posted on 01/15/2017 7:12:22 AM PST by Drew68
What do households on food stamps buy at the grocery store?
The answer was largely a mystery until now. The United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees the $74 billion food stamp program called SNAP, has published a detailed report that provides a glimpse into the shopping cart of the typical household that receives food stamps.
The findings show that the No. 1 purchases by SNAP households are soft drinks, which accounted for 5 percent of the dollars they spent on food. The category of ‘sweetened beverages,’ which includes fruit juices, energy drinks and sweetened teas, accounted for almost 10 percent of the dollars they spent on food. “In this sense, SNAP is a multibillion-dollar taxpayer subsidy of the soda industry,” said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “It’s pretty shocking.”
For years, dozens of cities, states and medical groups have urged changes to SNAP, or the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, to help improve nutrition among the 43 million poorest Americans who receive food stamps. Specifically, they have called for restrictions so that food stamps cannot be used to buy junk food or sugary soft drinks.
But the food and beverage industries have spent millions opposing such measures, and the U.S.D.A. has denied every request, saying that selectively banning certain foods would be unfair to food stamp users and create too much red tape.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Agree - take chips, soda and the rest of the junk off the list of what can be purchased with food stamps. IMHO, take pet food off the list as well. If the taxpayers are footing the bill, pets are a luxury.
The U.S. did things better in the 50’s. There were a couple of grandparents across the street from us, raising their three grandkids. They grew their own veggies, raised chickens and rabbits (we lived in a county “island”) for eggs, and for eating. Their welfare assistance consisted of an occasional box of things like flour, corn meal, cheese, stuff like that. They picked grapes with the kids during summer vacations to outfit the kids for school, dawn ‘till dusk, and the Grandfather cut all our lawns for a few dollars, too. They were the most respected family in our block.
The WIC program is “celebrating” it’s 40th year
https://www.health.ny.gov/publications/4099/
Seems like the WIC program has digressed into subsidizing a bunch of overpriced cereals.
I can always spot a WIC recipient. Overweight tatooed and pierced millennial daddykins pushing the grocery cart around with a bunch of kids pointing out the overprocessed, overpriced cereals they want to get and he checking the list to see if it’s on there.
I saw one guy fighting with the cashier over the quantity of sweetened “juice.” The millennial quipped after the tattooed guy got safely out of distance “he shouldn’t complain—it’s free.” I retorted: “It’s NOT free; taxpayers are paying for it.”
Well, technically they are eating mountains of junk food with NO nutritional value, so they think they are starving when they get hungry again 2 hours later and their blood sugar drops.
So they get fatter and fatter with no actual nutrition. Our food system is so messed up!
Welfare has become a Catch 22. If you don’t give them it, they will TAKE it. That is where we seem to be positioned now. We’d have to build more and more prisons...to supply free, 3 hots and a cot, just a less appealing welfare.
Milk AND fruit juices “fortified” with High Fructose Corn Syrup!
Best,
John
The person I was referring to is white; that much I do know.
—
I know of a white couple in Colorado that live together and have children together. They don’t get married because it would cut into their welfare money.
He’s got a descent job. They buy big screen TVs, etc. while taking in the welfare.
I once knew a welfare mom who wouldn’t buy real potatoes because she said it took her a half an hour to peel them. Then cook them and the kids ate them and she had the mess to clean up whereas a bag of chips cost about the same and no fixin’ or mess.
I tried to tell her there wasn’t any nutrition in those things but it took “too much time” to cook.
“Another 40 cents of every dollar was spent on “cereal, prepared foods, dairy products, rice and beans”
.
.
.
I’ve read stories similar to this over the years, maybe decades, I don’t know. But the concept wasn’t “sugary drinks”, everyone seems to be on that band wagon right now, it was as you said “cereal”. I’ve always heard that the government is subsidizing General Mills. Interesting that you and I noticed the odd grouping of foods in this article.
Same here. My late mother fed us seven kids Saltines as a treat or she would bake us a chocolate cake.
Yes, in the form of taxes, used to supply these scammers with EBT cards. Yes, we should dictate their eating habits.
No , not even close.
The hope is they will purchase healthy food. That is an individual choice we should not be making for them.<.I>
Sorry, my $, my choice.
The food industry is largely to blame for this.
“It is disparaging to see the EBT recipient in line ahead of you purchasing higher quality meats and luxury items (such as junk food) that you cannot afford because of the taxes taken out of your check”
I’m puzzled how they can afford all that high-end indulgence when the average SNAP allotment is about $125 per person per month.
“So you would be against making homosexuals pay more for health insurance? They have and spread more expensive to treat diseases. “
-
Yes I would be against that.
What makes homosexual diseases more expensive anyway??
.
In the wine and spirits department of a large grocery chain I witnessed on several occasions a customer paying cash for a bottle of cheap whiskey and whipping out his food stamp EBT card to buy the $1 soda to mix with it. Food stamp abuse could quickly be ended by limiting purchases only to healthy food items like the WIC program. I personally have seen food stamps being used to purchase not only soda, but junk food of every description, steaks and lobster tails as well as imported bottled water.
Gay people have many more partners than heteros. The vast majority of aids patients are homosexual. Other diseases like drug resistant syphillis and hepatitis are spread more commonly by gays. The drugs to treat these diseases are very expensive. As a twenty year married normal I am tired of having to pay extra for health insurance because these promiscous individuals are driving the costs up for us normals. Imagine how cheap health insurance would be for normals if we could get a discount for being normal.
The lunch at schools is your money too. Or did you forget that. Tax payers pay for school lunches and breakfasts the kids refused to eat and I for one agree with them.
I disagreed with Moochelle butting into the choice of what our children eat and I disagree with you butting into their choice at what people want to eat and drink. Once money has been given it is no longer yours it is theirs.
Its hypocritical to say Moochelle can’t do it but you can. Its her money too. Heck its all of our money. This nation was founded on freedom and that comes with the freedom of choice. Whether we disagree with that choice is utilizing our freedom of speech. Freedom of choice falls in the purview of pursuit of happiness. We choose how we are to be happy through the choices we make. When we start dictating choices because a subgroup of people are on food stamps then we are no betterthan what Moochelle tried to do and failed at.
If it is your money and your choice then change the law, if you don’t like the choice proffered.
When we see signs like this one I saw in a supermarket near me, you know things have gone off the rail.
Not in every case is going on welfare/food stamps a choice they make. I am not on either nor do I agree in every case someone should be on welfare foodstamps. Lunches could be brought from home where the choice was made up by the parent. However time and time againwe heard stories about how the choices parents made for their own children were discarded by nazi police teachers. When the parent makes a choice, that choice is subverted because of stupid idiotic teachers, the parent is also robbed of their choice. A parent should have the choice on what to feed their children. If you don’t want soda as part of food stamps then change the law but don’t judge someone if they are on food stamps. I am diabetic. I became diabetic through A PILL. Diet soda is worse thing you can drink. Will you judge me if i buy an Ocean Spray grape juice which has more sugar in it than if I were to buy a Mountain Dew?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.