There should be more of a limit to what you can buy with these things. I see people buying steak, shrimp, and name brand cookies with their free food card. I think we should go back to commodity cheese, rice, flour, beans, eggs, and milk rations.

@JoeDirt: Maybe I'm wrong, but doesn't EBT have a monthly limit? If they blow their limit on one trip because of poor choices, that's their own damn fault.

Plus, what you proposed is just down right bad.

I can't say I'm really in favor of the EBT food stamp system. It does not come with enough restrictions, IMO.

I think it should be usable for staples (rice, sugar), fresh fruits and vegetables, and meat. Check out the eligibility list, look at all of the heavily processed foods:

[www.fns.usda.gov]

Atkins Advantage chocolate peanut butter bar? Power bars? Promax energy bars? Come on.

Wow fellas, way to support the right of a person to choose what they eat! Guess you guys also support drug testing people who receive work supports (which, btw, will include you if you get tax credits like the EITC, child tax credit, or mortgage interest credit).

@JoeDirt: You'd think that until you were forced to use them yourself. Which of course you're convinced you never will.

@Princess Leela: I know. "Let them eat sub-standard, expired food. Fuck yeah! Fuck the poor!!!"

People are opposed to giving them more money, but then will be the first to complain when they eat like crap and we have to pay for their medical costs. Do you really think eating everything processed won't take a toll. If you only have a few dollars and you have to buy something to drink, are you going to buy a $3.50 bottle of V8 or a ton of Kool-Aid?

I think those that are on food stamps should have the option to take and pass a class on spending and diet. If they pass, they get an increased stipend (even if marginal) so they can actually buy healthier food.

@JoeDirt: Are you willing to pay for all the increased medical costs because all they eat is processed, high fat, high carb foods?

@ARP: That's a great idea. The other thing I've been happy to see lately is that some farmer's markets are setting things up so they can take food stamps.

@FormerlyAnonymous: If they're overweight, that should be an option for them. They're probably healthier than candybars and chips.

@ARP: Actually, many food pantries offer nutrition counseling to their clients. It does no good if your neighborhood has only convenience stores and you have no transportation to a grocery store, let alone the cost of buying said nutritious food.

Food stamps in Ohio tend to last those who use them 2.5 - 3 weeks out of the month. Recipients have to utilize food pantries to make it through the rest of the month, where they are at the mercy of what's available, and their own dietary needs if they have something like diabetes.

@JoeDirt: Mmmm, government cheese. We were dirt poor so we collected commodities. The cheese was always the best treat.

I wonder if the 39MM number is a count of the EBT cards issued or if it is a count of all of the theoretical beneficiaries. Either way that's about 38-39 percent of the population. Wow.

@merekat: Are you high? Do *you* need to be drug tested? You are honestly going to compare income tax credits for working people with above poverty wages to government programs such as unemployment and food stamps? Do you know how much most of us pay in unemployment tax? You're damn right I want mandatory drug testing! I want weekly renewal and job skills testing too!

A: Illegal drugs are just that, illegal. Why should my employer and I pay someone to buy and use them?
B: Unemployment should NEVER equal paid vacation, i.e. use the benefits right up until they run out.

So yeah, same thing with food stamps. I'm simply unwilling to shell out tax money so people can consume "luxury" items like power bars, steak, shrimp, etc.

I'd love to hear your explanation of why someone actively working and receiving a tax credit is somehow the same as someone receiving life preserving benefits whilst sitting on their ass.

Some people can't eat just the 'staples'. what about people with celiac disease? Or vegans/vegetarians?

@nwaasob: Wait, what? 39 million is about 13% of the US population. (Assuming they are counting each individual member of a family that is issued food stamps, which I don't know if they do.)

Still, it's a lot. 1 in 8 Americans getting food stamps. Another sign of the unfortunate times ...

@JoeDirt: I agree . I also think that the fact that alot of these stores can take food stamps raises prices . I can't get over the price of cereal these days . And I frequently see cereal on an approved or recommended list of food stamp purchases .

It's frustrating when I look for sales , buy genirs , got to the dollar stores etc and someone in line is buying name brand food . I'm buy Save A Lot cornflakes and yet I see many buy Kellogs cereals at quadroople the price .

I love how people who have never been in a position where they have to use food stamps to get by like to judge what goes in someones shopping basket. Let me inform you of how this stuff works... cuz its not champagne and caviar idiots. for one single person with no kids.. you get about $150 to last the month for your entire food supply. People on food stamps don't generally go around blowing their money on high priced items... if you saw someone buying shrimp.. why don't you take a look at the price they are paying.. specials, coupons.. ever heard of them??i can bet they weren't paying $20 a little box of deep fried shrimp from Gortons is like $3 WOW OOOOOHHH super extravagant there!!!!! They should eat like prisoners because they have food stamps... oh wait.. with what your saying prisoners actually eat better!!! you know that its not just moms with 8 kids who have food stamps right?? single college students, the handicapped, and the elderly!!! sooo you're saying that Grandma should eat only WWII style war rations?? And that lady with chrons disease should eat only milk eggs and cheese??well aren't you a ray of freaking sunshine to this world! i would tell you to go live somewhere else.. but um. most other countries take care of their poor too.. oh i know.. you could go live in a 3rd world country.. then you can walk by with your nose up as emaciated children beg for a piece of bread and feel good about yourself for giving them "what they deserve" for being poor

@u1itn0w2day: How do food stamps increase the price of cereal?

@JoeDirt:

Was this a troll, or do you have no soul?

@Princess Leela: I grew up poor but we was too proud to get the stamps, insted we had a garden, chickens, and close family to help out.@JustinSane07: Yeah, free real food is bad. Insted we should buy poor people processed junk food and prime cuts of meat.

39 M people is 1 in 8 Americans. Wow.

Food stamps used to be more restrictive, but things have changed, and the bureaucrats have wisely expanded the number of eligible foodstuffs. Many poor people don't have the tools & appliances or the money for utilities to cook their own food frequently. They also work more hours and spend more time getting everyday activities done (riding the bus takes longer than using a car, e.g.) and therefore have less time for cooking. An increasing number of Americans do not have the knowledge and skills to cook from scratch, and would end up wasting money purchasing foodstuffs they cannot use or store properly.

There is no more welfare cheese, because cheese is too expensive, and the USDA changed the way dairy farmers are subsidized some years ago, which eliminated the dairy surpluses that made the cheese available. These days shrimp sometimes costs the same or less per pound than cheese (as can steak on sale). Even in the days of welfare cheese, the people receiving said commodities usually also received food stamps.

Fresh vegetables are very expensive in many localities, especially in urban areas, and in rural areas without many grocery store choices. They are not economical, and for the reasons stated above are not a good choice for many poor families.

It's such a sad testament of Americans that they are so willing to jump to classist, moralizing and punitive ideas regarding helping the poor (remember, 1 in 8 Americans), rather than using their brains. Such lack of intellect and compassion only increases suffering and social problems.

@calquist: While I agree with you on celiac, vegans and vegetarians? Seriously, I'm not to keen on shelling out more in taxes because a destitute hippy vegan or veg needs to go to Whole Foods to get the good seitan or tempeh. Being poor is a good excuse to give up your niche lifestyle choice.

@ARP: Thats what their getting with the free food cards. Rice, beans, potatoes, and milk are not processed.

@nwaasob: Mac and govt cheese is the best. Try a grilled govt cheese sandwich. Out of this world.

My first job was as a cashier in a grocery store, and meeting the people who paid with EBT (and in Mass, WIC checks) was an eye opener for me. It was usually a young woman toting a kid or two; against my preconception most were neatly dressed and friendly, shopped from a list, with a modest amount of groceries separated carefully into eligible/non-eligible groups. A saw a lot of minor tragedies played out at the register when a young mom saw the total, checked her wallet and had to decide whether to take off some small food item that she obviously really needed.

@u1itn0w2day: I know, right... Cereal cost more than beef per pound. Whos pricing this stuff?

@mm16424: You can easily eat a vegan/veg diet without shopping at whole foods. Meat and dairy are some of the most expensive items at the store. And regardless of whether it is a "niche lifestyle choice", I'm not arguing for more money. I'm just saying that the money they do have shouldn't be restricted to flour, eggs, milk, etc. You get the money, spend it on the food that you choose whether it is Oreos, Lucky Charms and Crisco or eggplant, radishes and tofu.

@u1itn0w2day: What an amazingly simplistic, self-serving argument. First off, maybe you can blame food stamps for your taxes being higher, but they do not, in and of themselves, raise everyone's food prices. The cost of the program infrastructure, etc, is borne by the government; with the debit cards they have now, it's very easy for stores to participate. And food costs have risen of late for a variety of reasons, including the higher price of oil, the rise in popularity of biofuels (which takes farmland away from use for food crops), droughts and storms that spoil crops, and other factors.

Second, yes. It would be good if people spent their allocation more wisely. However, they too are on fixed costs, so if they haven't learned this, it means less money at the end of the month for THEM. Not for you. Maybe that nutrition class for food stamp recipients could also include a section on being a frugal grocery shopper. Otherwise, not your business what other people do.

Again, I'm sure you think you would never need food stamps and therefore are OK to judge those who do, but with 1 in 8 Americans (see my comment below) having been forced to resort to this kind of help, I would watch what your high horse is stepping in.

@JoeDirt:

I recall the last time I saw someone using their food stamp card. The lady in front of us had 2 piles. The first pile was a huge mountain of food. Nice name brand stuff, top of the line. Her second pile was cartons of cigarettes and beer, probably about $70 worth. My wife and I (both of whom work full time), pondered at our stack of food, that was 1/3 as much as she had, and was made up of store brand and sale items mostly.

Ok. Now does anyone have any statistics on the number of US citizen children of illegally immigrated parents who are using this program?

I am not saying that the children shouldn't eat. I am pointing out that a portion of the food stamp benefits may be going to a class of people who engage in ID fraud in order to work and so may be getting foodstamps illegally because their work pay is not being associated with the benefits...

@yagisencho: I guess I'm bad for wanting prople to stop spending govt money on $7 Digiornos pizza and cook their own beans and rice for less than $0.50.

It's all a scam. I feel bad every time I pay with cash while everyone around me is paying with food stamps.

@JoeDirt: Not saying that that kind of pride/independence isn't important. Or that government cheese (I've had it!) wasn't tasty. But some people don't live where they can have a garden or chickens. And I'm not sure why it's a crime to want a nice steak once in awhile.

@tinmanx: And no, they are not poor or unemployed. Most are probably better off than me, they just get paid off the books.

@merekat:

I'm totally serious when I say...if you are on long-term government assistance (welfare specifically), you should have IUDs or clamps placed on your reproductive organs until you are able to support yourself. As for food...should only apply to basics. Fruits, veggies, milk, bread and small portions of meat. Maybe that will give some people incentive to actually work.

Food Stamps actually help local/state/national economies through the multiplier effect. If a store knows that a percentage of their shoppers use Food Stamps, they can count on that to increase their inventories and hire more people to work at the store. Farmers and food processors benefit cause their food gets bought.

And Food Stamps did not raise the price of cereal. The rush to make corn-based biofuels raised the price of cereal. And everything else (beef, dairy, processed foods) that rely in one way or another on corn.

@Saboth: Amen, my food budget is much less than most peoples that get govt assistance.

@merekat: I will take a drug test any day of the week. I work my tail off to earn an honest living and to keep my job. My problem is that while I work as hard as I do, my family barely makes it by.

All I ask is that people respect the community, the people that work hard to pay taxes, and themselves enough to do the right thing.

The right thing = Trying to become a productive, respectable member of your community. Not taking drugs. I wouldn't even be offended by occassional drinks, but keep that to a respectable level, too.

I hope to not ever need Food Assistance. But if I do, I would prefer it to still exist. My main objective if I ever need it... to not need it.

@redfox1: Thank you for attempting to break the stereotype here.

@econobiker: undocumented parents do not qualify for food stamps or other work supports. their children, being US citizens, may receive these benefits, using their parent's income as the basis for eligibility, but the amount received would be for the kids, not the parents (i.e., if it was a family of two undocumented parents and two kids, their monthly food stamps allotment would be for the two kids, not the four people in the family).

@tinmanx: Then I certainly hope you never need them yourself. You'd be surprised at the number of people who do (or who have to go to food pantries, even in wealthy suburbs these days ... sometimes it's a choice between that and losing your house to foreclosure). You just don't notice them because they are "dressed nice," etc, and don't fit your stereotype of a welfare recipient.

@FormerlyAnonymous: Mixers and non alcoholic wine? really

@Princess Leela: I understand about the not being able to farm, but thats what commodities are, farm type food, good stuff. I also believe everyone should have a nice cut of meat every now and then, but not on the peoples dime. Save your money and but that rack of ribs yourself for yourself.

@Saboth: Because it's so easy to get a job right now with unemployment at 10%.

@Saboth: Wow, the ignorance on here is absolutely stupefying. I hope you, Joe Dirt, and the rest of your ilk never find yourselves unemployed, too sick to work, and unable to make ends meet, cause if it were up to you guys, you wouldn't get any help either.

I just wish Costco would start taking them!

In Detroit people with EBT can get tokens to use at Eastern Market (a huge farmers market in the city). I think it's really beneficial.

@knackeredmom:

That's why I stipulate "long term". There are people that have never really worked a day in their lives and simply pick up their government check and food stamps every month, while popping out kids left and right. 1-2 years of government assistance I can see...but not life long. If you can't support yourself, then you shouldn't have children.