LTTE “Entitlements out of control” Press-Enterprise, Riverside CA 9/10/12

[jody]

http://www.pe.com/opinion/letters-to-the-editor-headlines/20120910-your-views-sept.-10.ece

I stopped at a convenience store recently to buy Slurpees for my family. A young man approached me while I was in line and asked me to allow him to buy our Slurpees with his food stamp (Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program) debit card if we’d give him cash to buy cigarettes.

No thanks, but apparently it’s legal to buy this kind of soft drink with a SNAP card.

I thought this program was intended to put nutritious food on the table, such as milk, eggs, meat, vegetables and fruits.

This country has way too many entitlements. People should not be entitled to junk food at the expense of hardworking people, or at the expense of our country borrowing from countries like China.

CA says, see http://www.calfresh.ca.gov/pg846.htm

What can CalFresh benefits be used to purchase?
CalFresh benefits can be used to purchase:
• Foods for human consumption.
• Seeds and plants to grow food for household use.

What can you not purchase with CalFresh benefits?
CalFresh benefits cannot be used to purchase:
• Any non-food item such as pet food, soaps, paper products, household supplies, grooming items and cosmetics.
• Alcoholic beverages or tobacco products.
• Vitamins and medicines.
• Any food that will be eaten in the store. *
• Any food marketed to be heated in the store. *

If the incident above is true, it doesn’t help those on food stamps who use them for the intended purpose.

Are other news sources reporting similar incidents?

[The Magistrate]

1. The Letter-Writer, Sir, Needs a Major Attitude Adjustment....

A complete cash-ectomy, followed by some disfiguring injury, sounds about right....

[Viva_Daddy]

2. No, it's Corporate Welfare that is "out of control".

[SoCalDem]

3. "All" people do not "always" use good judgment

"Some" people will try to game ANY system.. Romney & his rich pals do it all the time.
Poor people are no different.

Until the "food" lobbyists back off legislation that might "limit" what can and cannot be bought with food-stamps, what is LEGAL to be purchased will always raise and eyebrow or initiate "comments/complaints" from bystanders, and yes, some will "trade" their food stamps for items not allowed.

USDA (congress) could trim the eligibility if they did not need that Lobbyist money, but they always like to stay on the good side of pepsico/coke/gen foods/gen mills/kraft/etc.

The complaints should be directed to congress, and then to USDA.. They have the power to restrict eligibility, but something tells me that deep inside, many of those legislators LIKE the idea that food stamps are always an "issue" that is used to create a divide.

[R. P. McMurphy]

4. In the mid 1980's I worked in a convenience store . . .

and experienced two similar incidents. This was before the EBT cards and people still used the denominated food stamps.

One patron insisted that the manager allowed him to buy beer with the stamps and wanted me to allow him to purchase from me also. On another occasion a couple waited outside and sent their three small children in one at a time with a one-dollar food stamp to buy a nickle candy. The parents then came in with the change from the food stamps and bought a six-pack of beer.

I have no doubt that the story above is true. There will always be a few bad apples that cheat the system. To me that's not really important though. I'm convinced the vast majority of benefit dollars go for the intended purpose of feeding those who might not eat otherwise. What should we do with the cheaters? If they have no one else they are responsible for then kick them out of the system. I'd like to believe, though, that the couple that bout the beer with the change still bought food for their children. I'd hate to do anything rash and have a little one go hungry.

[Initech]

5. We live in a country where CEOs make 475 times the average worker. Which one is entitled here?