It's rare for me to agree with you, but I completely do here. Every time I'm in the store I see some 300+ lb women (both white, and black women) with half a dozen unminded kids terrorizing other customers, checking out carts full of steaks, lobster, Coke and frozen foods. The white women invariably also have hundreds of dollars worth of tattoos. Meanwhile... a couple years ago..... my mom has degenerative bone disease and cannot be on her feet for more than 10 minutes at a time, and cannot sit in one place for longer than half an hour or so. She is on disability. Her husband is the sole income, and he is lower wage. So a couple years ago, he got some sort of infection in his foot that resulted in a hole in the top of his foot the size of a golf ball. Doctor told him he could not work, he told the doc he had to... Doc said, "Well ok, but if you do, you WILL lose your foot." So, he took a leave of absence. Between her disability and his reduced worker's comp, they were bringing in less than $1500/month. I told them to go apply for food stamps. Even though I hate the program, in my mind, what it was designed for was exactly that situation... someone needing a little help until they can get back on their own two feet. They were flat out denied. I guess $1500 a month is too high of an income?

As for the food pantries... during that same period, I took my mom to a food pantry deal I saw advertised, said they were giving away boxes of fruits and veggies. I was shocked when I got there, as there was well over 100 cars in line in a town with a population of maybe 1000. Every single vehicle in the line was MUCH newer than mine, and I wasn't the one looking for free food.

BigBrownie,
If you can't get by on $28500 a year, maybe you need to learn how to budget. I don't feel that any one person or couple that is getting that much a year should be eligible for anything with the possible exception of help with emergency medical.

You are spot on, it was designed and sold to the public when passed as a safety net, not a lifestyle.

Here's one my wife went to school with

Food bank gold card member

Go fund me , record holder

300 lb club .....yep

An audit just found that pop and junk food purchases with SNAP went up this last month, once recipients found out that SNAP benefits may be effected by the government shutdown. The logical thing to do would have been to buy low cost staples. Poor people in America apparently worry more about sugary, salty and fat addictions being met than actually not starving.

Keith

Im for helping ones that help thierselves and just need something to get them by. But I have said for many years it needs to be different set up, like missouri wicc program x amount of money for fruit,amount of money for beans,amount for veggies. Not a free for all on anything processed, junk or pre made meals. The least you can do is learn to cook for your family a good healthy or some what healthy meal! How many times i watch 2 cart fulls of soda and chips and a eat cart gets pulled out. Drives me crazy, most stay home do nothing get discount housing food stamps and they are 300 plus, and 200 pound 12 year old because they dont cook!

But they will get their hair and nails did…