The only shock here is that the New York Times is reporting it.
“The U.S.D.A. report found that milk, cheese, potato chips, beef, cold cereal and baked bread were among the top purchases for all households.”
I find this astonishing.
I raised a family and the only time potato chips entered the house was on a special occasion,as a treat.
What a waste of money.
.
It’s because these people have been forced (by the man) to live in food deserts where one can only buy junk food and purple drank. And weave.
The amount of stamps someone receives should be divided by the food groups and no more than a certain percentage can be spent on any one of them. Any and all junk food should be eliminated from the program. Personally I feel the program of issuing EBT cards should be replaced with food pantries where only bare essentials are distributed. Don’t like your choices? Purchase your own food with your own money like everyone else.
They should only be able to buy a few commodities such as bread, milk, beans, rice, cheese, some meats, etc.
wawawawa what!! michelle O had no effect on her healthy food choices? Soda? the bodega trade off to cash and for cigarettes, lotto is big, beer, liquor, dog food. Please the NYT is worried about thier health how wonderful
The Trump administration has a lot of work cut out for it.
“...said Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition, food studies and public health at New York University. “It’s pretty shocking.””
She obviously doesn’t do much grocery shopping at Wally World or outside her upscale neighborhood’s Whole Foods.
Pretty much all normal people have been behind that woman with a cart full of sodas, chips and steaks who whips out her EBT card to pay for it.
Some small store owners scamming the system - family members collecting EBT, then using the money to buy sodas to sell in their stores.
The only thing I have used soft drinks for in the last 20 years is as a toilet bowl cleaner.
They left out chips.
I was behind a mother/daughter a couple of days ago and you couldn’t believe the crap they were buying with their SNAP card.
Two observations:
1. These people tend to be morbidly obese. No I’m not talking about a little padding but rolls regardless of age.
2. The are universally self-centered. At a busy time of the day they thought nothing about holding up the checkout line while the daughter secured four more rather gigantic bags of chips.
Disgusting people. Yeah, I know, there are some real cases of need out there. I’m not talking about the exception but the rule.
I would like to see who funds these PSA’s like the Food Council, etc. who bombard us with guilt driven radio ads telling us how many starving children there are. Bullshit. All of the poor kids I see afe fat and hardly starving. Wouldn’t surprise me if the food industry is behind a lot of this.
zero reason drinks except maybe milk should be allowable on food stamps.
Many food stamp users don’t cook. They buy junk food with EBT cards and take their fat kids for fast food meals from the time they are infants, causing diabetes rates to soar. This is true of Black, Brown and White mothers.
(Crock pot meals can cook while you are at work, so that’s not an excuse.)
In Mexico, they give bags of rice, flour, beans and milk to the truly indigent. They do not give them credit cards to buy lobster, filet mignon, caviar, frozen pizzas, sodas and junk food — as in the USA.
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 — in part to pay for that EBT card.
Of course, as one commenter pointed out, sodas are easily sold or traded at discount for alcohol, cigarettes, and lotto tickets (a poor man’s tax... selling the impossible dream.)
Perhaps the US should adopt the Mexico model on food assistance.
Mexican Immigration requires proof of financial ability to take care of yourself and proof on a clean criminal record.
Their voter registration requires photo ID and fingerprints.
These are two other good ideas that should perhaps be discussed.
they can't eat one.
I’ve read that a lot of times they buy lots of soda to sell for cash, so they can buy booze, cigs and lottery tickets. Well, and drugs too.
To them, it’s free booze, cigs and drugs, compliments of us taxpayers.
Also most fast food places like KFC and McDonald’s accept EBT cards. Incredible.
In the olden days, when someone could not provide for their family, they could sign up at the county court house and get “commodities”, a box of government food stuffs. No choice on what you got.
Many people would be too ashamed to sign up. Others had no problems because it freed up personal cash to buy beer and cigarettes at the county line.
Then came L B Johnson and the welfare acts. Soon you could put a down payment on a brand new car with Food Stamps!
Hey, how about linking the food stamp computers with the healthcare computers? That way when the food stamp computer talks with the healthcare computer and sees that little Johnie has high cholesterol, diabetes, and is overweight, food items that allegedly contribute to little Johnie’s condition cannot be purchased.
But why stop there? If everybody is mandated to buy healthcare insurance, why should people who are physically fit have to pick up the tab with high premiums for those who eat a diet of crap and spend lots of time (and money) at the doctor’s office. Why not issue a healthcare card that can also be used at the grocery store to ‘reward’ those who eat ‘healthy’ by giving them reduced prices in the checkout line. After all, the super duper computer created by merging the healthcare database and the healthy choice food rewards program card knows best. Our overlords won’t even need to go to a cashless society to gain control, the lower food costs offered by enrolling in the program will be enough incentive for most. (Sarcasm- off)
Instead of handing out money, hand out MRE’s. If it’s good enough for the troops, it’s good enough for welfare.