Welfare...Public Aid....Food Stamps???

dcfaithful · January 2010

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

Kathy and I see a young couple, very young, in there 20's.....

With enough fucking food to feed an army....
Yet there is no way these KIDS can afford this.....
So I am going to guess they are on some type of public aid......Yet they are in there 20's? Already feeding off the government????

Its a way of life...right???
Its the way they were brought up....right???
This is the way they are SUPPOSED to behave.....Because this is the way they were taught to behave.....right???

Jennifer and I just went to the grocery store last night and got everything we needed for under $300. One cart. I'm 21, she's 25...

, please note us as an exception to the rule.

A lot of families buy way too much shit they don't need. Jen and I try our hardest to stick to the essentials, and we buy healthy stuff like fresh produce, and wholesome meal ingredients. It'll be a very different day when we're filling our carts with twinkies, soda, and bags of doritos.

youngster · January 2010

I live in MA and was unemployed in November. My wife is 9 months pregnant and we have a 2 yr old boy. My wife was told about the WIC (Women, Infant, Children) program. We are eligable because we have a young boy and no one works currently in the house. The state gives us checks every month for specific items we can buy. And I mean specific. 4 gallons of 1% milk per month. Canned vegetables. Wheat Bread. Juice. Fresh Fruits. It helps us out a lot. But nothing on the list is remotely junk food. We have to buy most of the groceries ourselves. Which is fine. The funny thing is, I apparently make too much on unemployment to qualify for any other govt program. The checks we get add up to about $50 a month in food. At first I felt like a bag of shit paying for certain items with a state check. But then I found out that my hard earned tax dollars I pay when I am working fund this program, I'm OK with it. I definately put more in than I am taking out.

PJPixie · January 2010

I hear ya Speedy!! I've gone off once in the last month at this woman in the grocery store who was buying a bunch of shit groceries (junk food) with her food stamps. This woman had a ring on every finger and nice manicured nails, a coach purse (which I'm sure was fake) and got into a brand new Toyota Camry. And I can't get a stitch of help (at a time when I really need it)..........just blows my mind!! As the poster above said......."I apparently make too much money on unemployement to qualify for any sort of aid to feed my two kids" Just amazing.....

oh and to the poster above.......that WIC program is a very good program. They only provide food (as you stated) that is healthy and necessary. In order to receive the vouchers they provide you have to attend certain nutrition classes that they provide so you can feed your families healthy and stretch your dollar.

DewieCox · January 2010

pineapplesandwaves. wrote:

DewieCox wrote:

My other point.....Can people not wash up a little or put somethin decent on before goin in public? People would stink, have dirty clothing, ratty hair, slimy teeth....... How bout take 5 freakin minutes and do somethin about that?

Meh. I've been one of those people who has literally rolled out of bed (brushed my teeth) and ran to the grocery store to pick up a few necessary items.

Short little jaunts into a store are forgivable, and you had the decency to brush your teeth. I'm think more along the lines of the op and overloaded shopping carts being pushed by the stinky rat haired folks.

TravisTheSky · January 2010

"Wake up, let's go, it's first o' the month!" - Bone Thugs' n Harmony.

LOL! This post is filling me with recent memories of my life in Rhode Island, which I left just two years ago...

For a decade, I lived in an apartment building that had originally been Housing For the Elderly. Majority of the tenants were still old people who received Social Security cheques. On the third of the month (or the business day prior, if the third was a weekend or holiday) they would do the majority of their shopping. Food stores, banks, and discount/department stores were INSANELY crowded on Cheque Day.

Welfare moms got AFDC payments on the first and fifteenth of each month. SSI recipients got theirs on the first. So the first, third, and fifteenth of every month were the days to avoid the shops. I outgrew the big chain grocery stores in favour of healthier ones like Whole Foods: Even Whole Foods Market was packed on welfare days!!!

Better food is cheaper. I spend less than $5 a day to keep myself in organic, vegetarian food. I started a thread about it in AET to see how my spending compared with the rest of you. Here in Los Angeles, I buy food from Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, and sometimes a few things at Fresh 'n Easy. I am not surprised to see people spend $80 on a bag of items at WFM. But I pop into the almighty chain store "Ralph's" once a week to cash in my recycling. I have to wait in line where there is a live cashier to receive my five bucks. I often see very ordinary-looking folks spending $200 at once, without blinking. It boggles my mind.

Please don't stress about your tax dollars going to food stamps or welfare moms: That money is a drop in the bucket to distract you from the fact that over TWENTY EIGHT TRILLION of your dollars has been handed over to the banks in 2008-2009. That's "trillion" with a capital trillion. Get angry at the Banksters. Whilst the populace was quibbling about social programmes, the banks robbed us blind.

Horos · January 2010

BabaBooey1979 wrote:

Holy shit. I was in the super market last month and this couple was buying 6 gallons of milk and doing it in 3 different transactions. All I could think of was the family selling the milk for 2 bucks a gallon and buying some crack with the profits. And they were using food stamps. I was seething in anger.(at the store for doing it and at the people)

This was surely the WIC program mentioned by another poster. It only allows certain essentials(milk, eggs, unsweetened cereal.)

I collected public assistance years ago. There are job programs that some recipients are required to participate in but even this is pretty easy to coast through on. The problem is when you do start earning your benifits go down, the same is true of housing assistance. Thus there is no real motivation to better yourself.

When I was collecting food stamps I did use coupons but I bought what I liked to eat and it included much junk food(if you want to discuss eating habits then start a new thread.) I would spend most of what I got as soon as I got it. Thus the full cart Speedy saw. Again maybe it's my spending habits but I wouldn't shop as wisely if I spent just a little at a time.

There is a mentality that you are not spending real money and I'm not saying that plenty of people are not abusing the system. But it did get me and my family off the streets and I'd like to think that I've contributed back.

Heatherj43 · January 2010

SPEEDY MCCREADY wrote:

Dont know much about how it works....
Do you get your check once a month?? Once a week??? Twice a month????

The reason I ask?? I went to the grocery store yesterday, spent $100, and barely had half a cart full of food...

I notice people walking throught the store with shopping carts just LOADED with groceries....Hundreds and Hundreds of dollars in food, and stuff......

I work hard, Kathy works hard, we both make good money.....
These people walking through the store with these grocery carts just LOADED with food??? I am just going to say that 90% of them dont even look like they can spell the word employed.

So I was wondering...Did they just get their 1st of the month check?
Is this supposed to be a months worth of food?
Is there a limit on the amount of time you can collect public aid??
Or is this there way of life? Get government aid, buy groceries........

The other thing I noticed about a majority of these people?? There shopping carts were just LOADED with CRAP....Nothing healthy, just loads and loads of crap.

Most people on welfare get more in food stamps than they do in money. Like, if they get $180 in cash for a family of 4, (that's once a month), they'll get about $450.00 in food stamps!! They really need the money more, but the state pays the money and the fed. pays the food stamps. Thats why the difference. Some people will take a friend or family member shopping and pay for the other person's food and then have the other person give them half of what it cost, so they can get more money to support their family. So, if they get $450 in stamps, they can get $225 in money. Some stores, in a poor part of town, will let them buy stuff not allowed with food stamps, like cigarettes, booze, toilet paper, paper goods, pet food, etc.
As long as they have kids and no income, or very low income, they can get stamps forever. They do make them go to some kind of training thing, but it only last a week or two. Sometimes they have to go to school or work at least 20 hours a week, but I think that's only if their kids are over 6 years old.
People get their stamps at various dates at the beginning of each month. It varies according to their case number, but its during the first 12 days of the month. It is for the entire month.
I think they should be able to buy toilet paper and stuff like that, but not soda pop, chips, ice cream, cake, etc. Its stupid. We all need toilet paper, but not junk food. Did you notice how fat food stamp people generally are?

Oh yeah, there is a program called W.I.C. for pregnant women and those with kids under 5. It gives them cards to buy baby foods, and certain foods to build up their vitamins. They can get apple juice, cereals, cheeses, milk, eggs. They only can buy certain kinds of juice, cereal and cheeses too, to make sure its nutritious.

Years ago, I collected this help and was scared to death to get a job. I knew that if I did, my kids may not eat. It took a lot to get me off the help. I finally did and was so relieved. My kids didn't starve. One problem is that they don't go after the dad's of these kids strong enough. Mom's are put thru hell just to feed their kids, while dad is off the hook, and when he does do something, he is treated like a hero. Thats another thread!!

Heatherj43 · January 2010

TravisTheSky wrote:

"Wake up, let's go, it's first o' the month!" - Bone Thugs' n Harmony.

LOL! This post is filling me with recent memories of my life in Rhode Island, which I left just two years ago...

For a decade, I lived in an apartment building that had originally been Housing For the Elderly. Majority of the tenants were still old people who received Social Security cheques. On the third of the month (or the business day prior, if the third was a weekend or holiday) they would do the majority of their shopping. Food stores, banks, and discount/department stores were INSANELY crowded on Cheque Day.

Welfare moms got AFDC payments on the first and fifteenth of each month. SSI recipients got theirs on the first. So the first, third, and fifteenth of every month were the days to avoid the shops. I outgrew the big chain grocery stores in favour of healthier ones like Whole Foods: Even Whole Foods Market was packed on welfare days!!!

Better food is cheaper. I spend less than $5 a day to keep myself in organic, vegetarian food. I started a thread about it in AET to see how my spending compared with the rest of you. Here in Los Angeles, I buy food from Whole Foods Market, Trader Joe's, and sometimes a few things at Fresh 'n Easy. I am not surprised to see people spend $80 on a bag of items at WFM. But I pop into the almighty chain store "Ralph's" once a week to cash in my recycling. I have to wait in line where there is a live cashier to receive my five bucks. I often see very ordinary-looking folks spending $200 at once, without blinking. It boggles my mind.

Please don't stress about your tax dollars going to food stamps or welfare moms: That money is a drop in the bucket to distract you from the fact that over TWENTY EIGHT TRILLION of your dollars has been handed over to the banks in 2008-2009. That's "trillion" with a capital trillion. Get angry at the Banksters. Whilst the populace was quibbling about social programmes, the banks robbed us blind.

Old people on social security is different. They do get paid the 3rd of the month, but they earned that. Leave them alone. They don't get enough money anyway, then to have to get paid when everyone else does and have to deal with those long lines sucks!! Maybe other people should shop on other days!

Heatherj43 · January 2010

DewieCox wrote:

pineapplesandwaves. wrote:

DewieCox wrote:

My other point.....Can people not wash up a little or put somethin decent on before goin in public? People would stink, have dirty clothing, ratty hair, slimy teeth....... How bout take 5 freakin minutes and do somethin about that?

Meh. I've been one of those people who has literally rolled out of bed (brushed my teeth) and ran to the grocery store to pick up a few necessary items.

Short little jaunts into a store are forgivable, and you had the decency to brush your teeth. I'm think more along the lines of the op and overloaded shopping carts being pushed by the stinky rat haired folks.

Food stamps don't pay for soap and toothpaste. LOL!

LikeAnOcean · January 2010

It's even worse when rich people pay with food stamps. As a teenager I worked in a grocery store located in one of the richest towns in the country. You could tell the people had money, but still payed with food stamps. They knew how to cheat the system. It used to piss us off.

I won't point the finger at the nationality of these people, but they were foreigners working as doctors in this country for the most part.

Heatherj43 · January 2010

LikeAnOcean wrote:

It's even worse when rich people pay with food stamps. As a teenager I worked in a grocery store located in one of the richest towns in the country. You could tell the people had money, but still payed with food stamps. They knew how to cheat the system. It used to piss us off.

I won't point the finger at the nationality of these people, but they were foreigners working as doctors in this country for the most part.

I live in a very affluent area, but trust me, not everyone has money!! Especially since that whole mortgage thing came down the tubes. Most owe more on their homes than they are worth.
I live in Rochester, Michigan. Google it. You'll see its affluent, but if I live here, not all have money...LOL!!!

LikeAnOcean · January 2010

Heatherj43 wrote:

LikeAnOcean wrote:

It's even worse when rich people pay with food stamps. As a teenager I worked in a grocery store located in one of the richest towns in the country. You could tell the people had money, but still payed with food stamps. They knew how to cheat the system. It used to piss us off.

I won't point the finger at the nationality of these people, but they were foreigners working as doctors in this country for the most part.

I live in a very affluent area, but trust me, not everyone has money!! Especially since that whole mortgage thing came down the tubes. Most owe more on their homes than they are worth.
I live in Rochester, Michigan. Google it. You'll see its affluent, but if I live here, not all have money...LOL!!!

Trust me, they had money. If not, maybe they should have considered selling their brand new BMWs or Lexus's that they pushed their carts out to and loaded up. They were well dressed and well educated by their manorism. It was also the mid-90s. The economy was far from bad.

Franny · January 2010

SHit I WISH they had a food stamp program in australia, and that it was only for specific healthy necessary items. I am so over seeing kids with no teeth, greasy hair and resembling jabba the hutt, whilst thier parents smoke thier ciggies, buy thier slabs of VB (ewww, worst beer ever) and go to thier dealer to get thier gear.

There needs to education implemented with these programs to ensure that they are used not abused, and ramifcations for those who do decide to abuse the system. I also believe that feeding your children on a diet that is high is salt, fat and sugars constitutes child abuse...they are failing to provide the necessties.

It is actually cheaper to buy healthy foods. The benefits far out way the convenience. The food tastes better, it looks better, it's healthy, and it keeps more people out of public hospitals and there saves $$$$$ in the long run.

PureandEasy · January 2010

I was at the bus stop one morning, when a woman sat next to me and started telling me about her day. She said I’m going down to housing authority, then to welfare, then to the doctor and then she was “going to get her drink on”

I felt like saying, yeah, guess where I’m going, TO WORK to earn money to pay my bills.

I was not a happy camper by the time I got to work that morning.

But i look at it this way, I accomplish good things in my job and I help people and that gives me pride. I'd rather that than be handed everything.

but it's still frustrating.

Lizard · January 2010

PureandEasy wrote:

I felt like saying, yeah, guess where I’m going, TO WORK to earn money to pay my bills.

You should have.

PureandEasy · January 2010

Lizard wrote:

PureandEasy wrote:

I felt like saying, yeah, guess where I’m going, TO WORK to earn money to pay my bills.

You should have.

Yeah, but I'm pretty much of wimp

Heatherj43 · January 2010

PureandEasy wrote:

I was at the bus stop one morning, when a woman sat next to me and started telling me about her day. She said I’m going down to housing authority, then to welfare, then to the doctor and then she was “going to get her drink on”

I felt like saying, yeah, guess where I’m going, TO WORK to earn money to pay my bills.

I was not a happy camper by the time I got to work that morning.

But i look at it this way, I accomplish good things in my job and I help people and that gives me pride. I'd rather that than be handed everything.

but it's still frustrating.

That woman was nervy, but please don't think all are like that. Some people have disabilites. Some of the disabilities are not visible to the public, but nonetheless make it so some cannot go to work. I don't think they need to explain it to anyone either. Don't prejudge.

Cosmo · January 2010

Wow.
From what i've read here... it sounds like the only smart people are the ones who can get all of these great services and products for free. I mean... FREE health care, brand new BMWs, jewelry... sounds like the American dream, to me.
And from the originating post... I never did find out if those people paid for the 5 carts briming over with the bounty of whole foods... with food stamps. Did they?
Or did they just look like bums... like the way I look when I go to the grocery store? I don't know, i just never seem to feel the need to get dressed up or drag a comb through my stringy hair, just to go down to the Ralph's to pick up my groceries. And yeah... I sleep in late on the weekends and sometimes am so damn lazy... I just throw a pair of shorts over my pajama pants, pull a 'not too smelly' t-shirt over my head, lace up them nasty boots and head out. I'm very scary. I guess... i really don't care what I look like. Now... i'm going to wonder if people are looking at me... and my shopping cart and that bottle of Napa Valley Chardonnay in it. Oh well... fuck 'em.
I don't know why I never see these people... maybe I'm just oblivious to what's going on... or maybe I don't concern myself with things other people are doing.
...
But... I'll tell you one thing for certain... If I knew of or saw someone pushing 2 carts of food that they paid for with 'Hundreds of Dollars' in Food Stamps to load up in a 2010 7 Series BMW... I'd take down their license plate number and send it into the government agency in charge of handing out the food stamps with a letter, explaining my concern that these people were using resources that should be going to someone who really does need our assistance... like that guy that sleeps on Fairfax every night. I feel it would be my duty to the American taxpayers to report such suspected criminal activity. If i didn't... I would feel like i was being a bad American Taxpaying Citizen (as well as a wuss) who actually allowed this possible crime be commited right under my nose. And that is something I do care about.

Heineken Helen · January 2010

BinFrog wrote:

QuarterToTen wrote:

but it would make more sense, at least to me, to try and stretch your food dollar
especially now, no matter who is paying for it. junk food is expensive.

what a waste in every sense of the word.

Actually, junk food is cheap...that's why people on welfare/food stamps get so much of it and, in turn, is why obesity rates fr those in poverty is higher. It's cheaper to buy Oreos and McDonalds than it is to buy some fresh produce. Junk food is cheap, which is why they load up on it: they can.

Agreed... you can buy a microwave shepherds pie for less than £1. I made me own the other night and it cost way more than that per portion. You can buy a bag of chips for less than £1... a bag of potatoes often costs more than that (and half of them seem to be rotten these days). I think snacks are much cheaper to make your own... but meals... it's WAY cheaper to buy junk.

Although my sister is a super shopper, filled her trolly over Christmas for about 100euro... including about half of it was meat... things are now much cheaper at home than here in England.

Heineken Helen · January 2010

TravisTheSky wrote:

Please don't stress about your tax dollars going to food stamps or welfare moms: That money is a drop in the bucket to distract you from the fact that over TWENTY EIGHT TRILLION of your dollars has been handed over to the banks in 2008-2009. That's "trillion" with a capital trillion. Get angry at the Banksters. Whilst the populace was quibbling about social programmes, the banks robbed us blind.

Nicely put... leave the poor bankers alone... they need their bonuses to pay their third mortgages :?

'we' always tend to pick on the wrong people and blame the wrong people for everything. It wasn't people on welfare who got us into this mess... but they'll probably suffer.

Welfare...Public Aid....Food Stamps???

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