Regulating use of food stamps in NYC...

[mom418]

how much money you receive for food varies alot with your income and family size. however, if you are on the extremely low side of the income spectrum, (with no cash assistance) you have money for healthy food, but not much for non food items families need everyday. diapers,shampoo,tp. or to pay bills.
just saying having 'alot' of money for food doesnt help much, if you're having trouble paying the electric bill. if you live in hud housing and it gets cut off. thats a lease violation. you can get evicted for that.

i really understand both sides of the issue- slippery slope and govt has a right to have a say. i think its in the interest of the greater good to limit the junk food as a public policy.

theres alot that we could be doing to help these people
enough hud housing for people that truely need it.

dental cleanings for adults on public aid. a whole mouth deep cleaning can cost $400. but preventative reg. cleanings are quite cheap. and done in just 1 visit.

renewable energy sources for hud housing. solar panels won't happen anytime soon, but it would help those families sooo much. and govt wouldn't have to help so many families pay for heating and cooling.

cooking classes and education-budget food fast and easy.

i really disagree about the people using the system. most people are just trying to do the best they can. i try to not judge people either until i know the whole story. and we all learn as we go. i used to think shredded wheat bites w/frosting were a pretty healthy cereal. now i can't even eat them, its too sweet. but i like healthy veggies i hadnt even tried before.

 

[mabdoo]

Even though there may be people who abuse the system we have come a long way. When I was a cashier almost 20 yrs ago we had to put each item into the cash register and hit either taxable, non-taxable, food stamp taxable, etc so the register knew how much to collect in food stamps and cash. The cashiers had to know what counted and what didn't. We also had to match up stamps with the main book and we could only give back $1 food stamps. Now there are cards instead of stamps and the machine does all the work. Also, we had lots of people who would send their kids in to buy 25 cent gum and get the change. they would do that a few times and then they would come in and buy their beer and paid for it with change. I also would get irritated when the people bought crappy food or really good cuts of meat. I didn't get to eat junk and we certainly didn't have filet mignon for dinner. Because I worked in a small store I knew the customers and most, not all, were abusing the system. It typically wasn't a once in a while thing with buying junk.

I would like to see a lot more regulations put out there but the problem is that any new regulation costs money to implement. By then it is a wash. You may as well let them buy what they want, they are going to figure out a way to get it anyway.

 

[DEEDEE2]

I was watching VH1 Oddest Music Moments (or weirdest or something) but one thing that grabbed my attention was a rapper from I believe it was the Wu Tang Clan in line getting foodstamps...even though he was a millionaire. It made me SICK! They spoke about it like it was cool because he was 'getting his from the system'. GMAB!