Foodstamps

[lgemini]

Please stop food stamps, because all I see is people abusing the system.

[ladavia89]

Please stop food stamps, because all I see is people abusing the system.

You've obviously never struggled or know people who truly struggle

[msmoneybags48]

I don't think the food stamps should be abolished completely.  I have been a recipient and they came in handy because I had a daughter to feed.  I worked a job for 12 years, was laid off, and was forced to go on food stamps in order to eat.  My grandmother raised my sister, my cousin and me from the garden because she could not get food stamps.  I have known children who don't get enough to eat.  I know of a situation where a woman got her behind whipped because she was in the store and a woman was shopping with food stamps; this other woman had the nerve to say something about shopping with food stamps.  There are children whose only food they eat comes from in school.  Cutting off food stamps causes people to have to figure out another way to eat.  How heartless can you be?

[king4cash]

There has to be something we can cut before cutting food stamps. Maybe we could cut back on our military bases in the seemingly 100+ countries we have around the world.

[stretch1967]

Foodstamps are there as a temporary means and not used to make a living

[ro901]

The abuses get a lot of attention. There are a lot of people who have worked over40 years for minimal pay and paid their taxes the whole time and had to take home as much as possible to take care of their family and not enough to invest in retirement plans and then after all that time working hard, they find themselves in a position that whatever money they have is needed to pay rent and expenses of living and these are honest hard-working people but they cannot scratch up enough money to feed their family and they go to the food banks and get out-of-date food to take home and try to live until the next month of food stamps comes in and they can go to the cheapest grocery store and stock up on the CHEAPEST food they can find to hopefully last another 2 weeks.  Again, these are HARD-WORKING people who just cannot AFFORD to live in today's world where what cost a dollar last week goes up to $1.98 next week. It can happen to you. Don't be so quick to judge.

[bowrunner]

Food stamps should go to those who truly need them and I am opposed to them being used for the most expensive items in the store.  They should be for the basics.  When I read about these college kids getting food stamps (because they don't live at home and don't have a job) then selling them it makes me ill how the system is being abused.

[poochee]

No, I don't think that food stamp should be completely cut off. So many kids would starve. Most of the people I know who get food stamps work FT jobs. The problem is that a lot of them make minimum wage, so they can't afford to buy food. Then I know some people who make above minimum wage, but the cost of living is rising while their pay stays the same so they use food stamps to supplement their grocery budget.

[skrogman]

Thank you.  Yes.  I agree that random drug testing would be a better idea.  But's let's talk about the truly handicapped who are honestly not able to do an honest day's work.  In today's world, the sad fact is that Social Security does not even cover the bills.  I believe 100% in what you have said that food stamps should be used as a temporary fix between jobs and a person should get back to work after losing a job as soon as possible.  Yes, but in the case of a truly handicapped person, going back to work again may not be an option.
I have just recently had this same argument with a very close family member.  I have a family member who is 21 and ADHD and collecting Social Security based on the ADHD.  I think this is wrong, wrong, wrong.  I have spoken up and said either channel your hyperactivity into a high-paced job or if it is an attention problem work a split shift in the day or something, but ADHD is not a permanent disability to get a check and stamps to live on.  On the other hand, I have another family member who in the last few years has lost his vision and is not going back to work.  I can't imagine.  That would horrify me.  Without his vision, yes, he needs to be at home with his check and even after working from age 16 to age 50+ he only qualified for SS at a rate of $780/mo.  That does not pay the rent, electric, water, etc.  Does a trip to Burger King have to be considered a luxury?
He also qualified for food stamps at a rate of $210/month for a family of two.  Okay, $210/month breaks down in a 30 day month to 7 dollars a day or $3.50/person per day.  What are you going to get to eat for your day today on your daily $3.50 allotment?  I would like to put President Obama in a Kroger with $3.50 and say "Here ya go...go get your day's allotment and I'll give you the same tomorrow".  How would that go over?  NOT!

[nguzman1]

I don't think so. I believe that people who don't need them shouldn't take advantage of the government but single parents without any support definitely need them.

[catchow]

not at all, yes some people do abuse the system, I used to work for a convenience store when I was younger, I would get people come in with $1.00 food stamp bill, buy a 5 cent piece of candy, and get the 95c change, leave, and walk around the building, come back in and try to buy a pack of $1.00 cigarettes.

After awhile you learned who would do this and refuse to sell them the cigarettes.

Now they have a card they use, but for some, they cant afford food, and if they have children, those children would go without food if they didnt have this program

[sigmapi1501]

Please stop food stamps, because all I see is people abusing the system.

I am willing to bet all of the money I've earned on this site on the fact that you have never personally seen food stamps abused.

[king4cash]

Too late for wisdom. We are in waaay too deep. Time to plan for offgrid survival and security. Hope u started brother!!

[maxinmotion]

Times are very hard for some of us. The fact that we are here on sites like this shows that a little extra money is needed. In my opinion Food Stamps for a long time was the only means of getting food or anything else for a lot of people. Food Stamps like a lot of things that support a large mass of people get a bad rap because everybody don't or won't follow the rules.

The struggle is real and why start with cutting off food stamps from those who need them the most. I've heard more about cutting off food stamps than anything else.

America's issues are way bigger than the food stamps.

[bowrunner]

Some people need the help but the system is being abused by many and the government either can't or won't try to clean it up.  A lot of college students are getting food stamps because they don't have jobs and aren't living at home.  Then they sell them for cash and the taxpayers have to pay for it.