Trump Wants To Replace Food Stamps With Boxes

[ayin jade]

I thought I would interject this into the conversation. 

My husband grew up extremely poor. His family got government commodities, which were the boxes of food and clothing. He said it was like Christmas. The family was happy with to get the boxes. They didnt feel like they were cheated or that it was too controlling. 

Quite frankly, the idea that it is too controlling strikes me as unreasonable. It is a handout. Not something you are owed. One should be grateful for whatever one gets instead of thinking one should be able to do whatever they want with it.

[Guest shiloh357]

1 minute ago, ayin jade said:

I thought I would interject this into the conversation. 

My husband grew up extremely poor. His family got government commodities, which were the boxes of food and clothing. He said it was like Christmas. The family was happy with to get the boxes. They didnt feel like they were cheated or that it was too controlling. 

Quite frankly, the idea that it is too controlling strikes me as unreasonable. It is a handout. Not something you are owed. One should be grateful for whatever one gets instead of thinking one should be able to do whatever they want with it.

So what Trump is doing is taking us back to a time when it was harder to defraud the US government.   And yet, he gets condemned for it.

[ayin jade]

3 minutes ago, shiloh357 said:

So what Trump is doing is taking us back to a time when it was harder to defraud the US government.   And yet, he gets condemned for it.

Of course. 

And yet there was nothing wrong with the way it was, and the way trump wants it to be.

[Guest shiloh357]

7 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

Of course. 

And yet there was nothing wrong with the way it was, and the way trump wants it to be.

In the eyes of some it is wrong because it is Trump that's doing it.  It's actually a good idea and if it were a different president, it would be praised.  But since the president is Trump, suddenly it's wrong.  Completely irrational.

[missmuffet]

51 minutes ago, ayin jade said:

I am curious. How would you recommend the feds and states cut back on the rampant fraud that occurs with food stamp cards?

I know that there is a lot of fraud and that makes it bad for those who genuinely need to benefits. I do not have an answer for you. There is also a lot of fraud in those getting SSI who are working the government.

[LadyKay]

2 hours ago, shiloh357 said:

You're not supposed to be able to do that, but it is not enforced.   You can take out a cash withdraw on the debit card and then buy whatever you want.  

Well that really should be looked into and fixed. 

[LadyKay]

1 hour ago, shiloh357 said:

So what Trump is doing is taking us back to a time when it was harder to defraud the US government.   And yet, he gets condemned for it.

For the record here. I personally am not condemning. Just an exchange of ideals.  

[LadyKay]

1 hour ago, ayin jade said:

I am curious. How would you recommend the feds and states cut back on the rampant fraud that occurs with food stamp cards?

Stores are fined and people go to jail if they get caught buying or selling their food cards.  Undercover cops I say. Like they do when they check to see if the gas station is selling smokes to people under age. 

[ayin jade]

1 hour ago, LadyKay said:

Stores are fined and people go to jail if they get caught buying or selling their food cards.  Undercover cops I say. Like they do when they check to see if the gas station is selling smokes to people under age. 

Grocery stores operate on very thin profit margins. They do not have the manpower to "waste" checking everyones grocery items against the food cards. That also assumes they want to check it. Undercover cops do not remotely catch most of the fraud. 

[walla299]

2 hours ago, LadyKay said:

Stores are fined and people go to jail if they get caught buying or selling their food cards.  Undercover cops I say. Like they do when they check to see if the gas station is selling smokes to people under age. 

I can tell you from personal experience that food card fraud is rampant. I learned that from my time staying in a homeless shelter - there's a market for just about anything you can think of on the street. There's a few you didn't think of too. It was a real eye opener. There are many more people selling food cards than cops enforcing the rules.

I remember those food boxes when I was a kid. Our family didn't get them, but some of our friends did. I'm probably dating myself, but we (my brother and I) grew up on tinned (canned) food and what ever would grow in the garden. Yeah, we got to work the garden after school too.  Granted, fresh can taste better, but if canned all you have you make do.