Engine

Agreed. I think most states have fairly strict unemployment benefit systems now. Food stamps are food stamps. Why should the government pay employees to monitor the spending of food stamps? The cost/benefit ratio would just get even more ridiculous.

Sounds like y'all should start cooking meth. Just as a side income generator (tax-free until the US acknowledges that its War On Drugs is a complete disaster).

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gunnels

My dad's side of the family does that. Didn't work out too well lol. Though it was always funny to see my uncle wear three sweaters at once when it's 102 degrees F outside...

ANYWAY to answer the OP, I think the verification process needs to be better. We're given a phone interview every six or so months and have to send our tax return every year to Human Services. There is a lot of room for deceit in that system, especially if you get paid in cash. I'd only support drug tests if the government was willing to provide rehabilitation services and temporary food stipends in lieu of food stamps if they were truly starving. Then again, that is a lot of extra funding, and may just be cheaper to give them food stamps (albeit less moral imo).

Also, lobster is delicious wtf is wrong wit chu.

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Engine

Haha, touché.
And, I also feel that lobster is a disgusting food choice no matter who's paying for it.

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Janszoon

I always knew you were one of the smartest people around.

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Freebase Dali

And that is probably one of the biggest underscoring factors here, because the adults are the ones making these decisions, and when there are children involved, they don't have a say in how their parents spend that government assistance.
Irresponsible decisions in how that assistance is utilized is very likely to affect those children negatively, and offering assistance without more oversight into preventing that is simply not doing any more good.

hip hop bunny hop

The problem with restricting what items can be purchased with food stamps is the complications which would arise for grocers & what have you. As most grocery stores have such dramatic diversity of products stocked, it’s simply subdivided into various groups for various reasons, one of which is – simply – “groceries”, with a few subdivisions such as dairy, fresh produce, etc. To require further subdivisions, which would be in constant flux due to the inevitable revisions which would take place the Government & constant changes in stock, this would likely result in a cluster****. Whether or not the push-button-monkeys who work as cashiers at grocery stores have the mental capacity to remember an ever fluctuating list of what is questionable, but I doubt they’ve the inclination. So it’d have to be automated somehow, but I dunno how feasible that’d be considering the how much the administration of these programs is left up to individual states….

Then there’s the whole issue of how programs like these end up benefitting, you know, multinational corporations – link, that’s from the liberal viewpoint, but it gets the gist across.

Regarding abusing foodstamps – it’s stupidly easy and the amount of money you can get from it is retarded. In Montana you’ve no dependents, you don’t even have to bring in a bank statement or what have you – and you can get two hundred a month, for one person. Seriously, the only real deterrent to abusing food stamps is the threat of bureaucracies working together, which is to say there is no real deterrent.

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Neapolitan

Rip Van Winkle most cash registers are computerized by now, and it's programmed in the system whether or not something can be paid with food stamps. These cashiers you called "monkeys" are actually working. They could have possibly a college degree or working for one, or been laid off from a job and now have to work those service jobs you think are "monkey" jobs - you really don't know so you really shouldn't judge. Besides your negative epithet to those who work in the service industry, I like your up-beat attitude for those who abuse the system.

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hip hop bunny hop

Did not know this. I guess the job is even easier than I thought.

Now, yes, of course people who abuse welfare are preferable to those who "need it". The former will trade me food for cheap vodka/drug money. The latter are sadsacks.

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someonecompletelyrandom

This personal experience actually illustrates exactly why this weird anti-welfare camp annoys me. They'll use images like this as memes to circulate the idea that the welfare system is a scam and everybody is getting free money for not working. It's a wholly Republican feeling where I'm located, but ignorance knows no political boundaries.

My family has also used foodstamps in the past. If we hadn't been granted them, we would have gone hungry. Foodstamps are not checkcards with no limits, and as a large family we had to be selective with what we bought with them.

I'll often see sentiments such as "If you can afford cigarettes, drugs, alcohol, cable, and porn, you don't need food stamps."

Not only are such memes attacking strawmen, they show zero empathy for their fellow man. I've personally witnessed an astounding lack of altruism coming from Christian conservative Republicans, in my state at least. Jesus was a socialist passing around free welfare, according to their holy book. I don't mean to set up my own strawman, but these people, whom I know personally and work with daily, disgust and morally offend me.

Now, if we're not speaking personally, I don't think wanting welfare reform is a bad thing. I can understand that people don't want their tax dollars going to waste. I am, however, in favor of a type of socialist and non-judgmental Government mandated altruism which extends to all citizens, not just the financially insecure -- so I find arguing welfare as a United States political issue a waste of time with my views being so far left field.

Janszoon

I can't believe anyone would want to eat giant red sea bugs!

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