Food Stamps and the $41 Cake (1 Viewer)

[Slapdash]

I was talking with a coworker about this yesterday. He told me he once picked up a receipt in the grocery store parking lot. It showed that someone had bought about $350 worth of food with their food stamp card and still had over $1000 on the card for the month? How much per month are we wasting on these deadbeats? Damn use your welfare money for some of that food. He wold me about another time when a guy tried to buy dog food with food stamps. When they told him he had to pay for that with cash, he put it back and grabbed 5 lbs of ground beef instead. It is true social injustice when dogs of people on welfare eat better than working class people.

 

[humpback]

Not too small, just not nearly as definitive as you seem to think it is. They repealed most of the other interest deductions, left and then expanded the mortgage interest one, and you think it has nothing to do with mortgages or encouraging home ownership?

I think it has to do with it's a program that is almost universally popular and if you killed it, it would cut home values and equities by 20-30%.

Isn't that essentially the same thing? It has encouraged home ownership, which has raised prices, and getting rid of it would do the opposite.

 

[Jackstraw]

I was talking with a coworker about this yesterday. He told me he once picked up a receipt in the grocery store parking lot. It showed that someone had bought about $350 worth of food with their food stamp card and still had over $1000 on the card for the month? How much per month are we wasting on these deadbeats? Damn use your welfare money for some of that food. He wold me about another time when a guy tried to buy dog food with food stamps. When they told him he had to pay for that with cash, he put it back and grabbed 5 lbs of ground beef instead. It is true social injustice when dogs of people on welfare eat better than working class people.

This is like your drunk conservative uncle at Thanksgiving.

 

[Slapdash]

I was talking with a coworker about this yesterday. He told me he once picked up a receipt in the grocery store parking lot. It showed that someone had bought about $350 worth of food with their food stamp card and still had over $1000 on the card for the month? How much per month are we wasting on these deadbeats? Damn use your welfare money for some of that food. He wold me about another time when a guy tried to buy dog food with food stamps. When they told him he had to pay for that with cash, he put it back and grabbed 5 lbs of ground beef instead. It is true social injustice when dogs of people on welfare eat better than working class people.

This is like your drunk conservative uncle at Thanksgiving.

Close, but he would need to up the racist content to contend.

 

[bostonfred]

True social injustice.

 

[Notorious T.R.E.]

Pin it.

 

[Captain Quinoa]

E2TA: Or let's make this even more concrete. You own 2 houses. For the past 10 years, you lived in one and rented the other out for $1,000/month. Then you had a sister-in-law and niece who moved out of their house after the divorce and needed a place to stay. Your wife convinces you to let them live in the rental. They live there for a year and pay you $50/month "which is all that we can afford right now." Have you given your sister-in-law a handout?

No she is paying the agreed upon price.

 

[Wrighteous Ray]

E2TA: Or let's make this even more concrete. You own 2 houses. For the past 10 years, you lived in one and rented the other out for $1,000/month. Then you had a sister-in-law and niece who moved out of their house after the divorce and needed a place to stay. Your wife convinces you to let them live in the rental. They live there for a year and pay you $50/month "which is all that we can afford right now." Have you given your sister-in-law a handout?

No she is paying the agreed upon price.

Now you're just being difficult.

 

[parasaurolophus]

Not too small, just not nearly as definitive as you seem to think it is. They repealed most of the other interest deductions, left and then expanded the mortgage interest one, and you think it has nothing to do with mortgages or encouraging home ownership?

I think it has to do with it's a program that is almost universally popular and if you killed it, it would cut home values and equities by 20-30%.

So it would cut home prices by 20-30%, but it doesnt reward home ownership or encourage it? You just basically contradicted yourself.

He didn't contradict himself. He said the purpose of the law at the time it was enacted was not to reward or encourage home ownership. That just turned out to be an unanticipated result of the law.

He did contradict himself. The current law was written in 1986. It reduced the benefits that owners of rental properties got and increased it for homeowners. Why do you suppose they did that?

How did the 1986 law increase the benefit to homeowners?

You are correct, I was thinking the 86 law was the one that also changed the capital gains rules regarding home sales, but that didnt happen until 97 after a little further reading.The reduction in benefits to rental owners though still serves as an increase in benefits to owner-occupiers, but not a direct one.

 

[parasaurolophus]

E2TA: Or let's make this even more concrete. You own 2 houses. For the past 10 years, you lived in one and rented the other out for $1,000/month. Then you had a sister-in-law and niece who moved out of their house after the divorce and needed a place to stay. Your wife convinces you to let them live in the rental. They live there for a year and pay you $50/month "which is all that we can afford right now." Have you given your sister-in-law a handout?

No she is paying the agreed upon price.

Now you're just being difficult.

A better comparison would be if he rented to his sister in law for 50 bucks a month and his sister had to give 950 dollars a month to a charity. Would the sister in law be getting a handout?Or how about if I go to a store and I buy beer and charcoal together and if I do that I get a 4 dollar discount on the charcoal. Did I get a handout? (Which is a real promo going on at my local grocery store)

 

[parasaurolophus]

A better comparison would be if he rented to his sister in law for 50 bucks a month and his sister had to give 950 dollars a month to a charity. Would the sister in law be getting a handout?Or how about if I go to a store and I buy beer and charcoal together and if I do that I get a 4 dollar discount on the charcoal. Did I get a handout? (Which is a real promo going on at my local grocery store)

You're missing the point.He (and others) are maintaining that no matter what else is going on, it's not a handout so long as money isn't being given to someone. Not collecting money owed to you isn't a hand-out. That's it.Now, if he accepted that was wrong, you could start talking about to what extent tax deductions constitute a gift and to what extent they constitute a reward for a service rendered or behavior taken. But we're not there yet.

You created a fictitious scenario which I don't believe applied to mortgage interest deduction. I agree that your fictitious scenario would be a handout. If that is all you were trying to prove, then fine you proved it. I just don't see how it relates to anything discussed here.

 

[parasaurolophus]

In essence, people want to say categorically, "I did not get a hand-out. I paid taxes." and make the first sentence an automatic follow-on from the second.

You want to say categorically that anything less than x% of your salary that the gov't didnt take equals a handout.

 

[Carolina Hustler]

Whether she bought a 40dollar cake, of a 2dollar box of Duncan Hines, it still cost the tax payer the same.. What the #### do you care.. She was given her allotment, the way she spent it doesn't affect your life.. And it's not like she was trading it for drugs.. She bought her child a ####-ing B-day cake...

 

[Tuco]

Whether she bought a 40dollar cake, of a 2dollar box of Duncan Hines, it still cost the tax payer the same.. What the #### do you care.. She was given her allotment, the way she spent it doesn't affect your life.. And it's not like she was trading it for drugs.. SheWe bought her child a ####-ing B-day cake...

FYP

 

[bostonfred]

This is a ridiculous semantic argument. Theres a difference between a tax break and a handout, but both of them are the same thing, in essence: a redistribution of wealth. The liberals are arguing that entitlements like food stamps are on par with other wealth redistribution, while the conservatives, who would generally prefer no wealth redistribution, are even more adamantly against entitlements than tax code manipulation. But right now, they're more interested in a game of linguistic gotcha, since that's what the hot talking points are these days: Social security is not an entitlement! Tax cuts are not spending since the money doesnt belong to the government in the first place!

The thing that bothers me is still the assumption that all or even most people receiving food stamps are "deadbeats", and that they are choosing to receive food stamps instead of working, and thus stealing from the system. There are people like that, but they are a relatively small minority.

 

[parasaurolophus]

In essence, people want to say categorically, "I did not get a hand-out. I paid taxes." and make the first sentence an automatic follow-on from the second.

You want to say categorically that anything less than x% of your salary that the gov't didnt take equals a handout.

Not true.I would say that taxes are complicated for a number of reasons. The first major complexity is figuring how much your income really is. So you have rules on income and appreciation and dividends and rents collected and everything else. And those have permitted adjustments to reflect your "true" income. The second major complexity in tax law is the government rewarding people for doing stuff. These become debatable and situational as to whether or not the government is giving you a hand-out or rewarding you for doing something that they like and whether or not there's a real difference between the two.

In my eyes, once you've gotten through all the first complexity to figure out what you really earned you arrive at how much you owe based on current tax rates. If you reduce from that, it's possible that you were just given a hand-out by the government not much/any different than if the government sends you a check. So if people want to claim some sort of moral high ground that they don't accept a hand-out because they pay taxes, I say hogwash.

If all deductions were eliminated do you think tax rates should stay as is?

 

[Rohn Jambo]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

 

[cstu]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Looks like I've got some errands to run...

 

[Ursa M]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Sorry, but I'm calling BS on this.

 

[Chairshot]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

 

[Rohn Jambo]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

 

[Ursa M]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

 

[Rohn Jambo]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Sorry, but I'm calling BS on this.

Nope. She buys gourmet food with her card all the time. The stores will ring up eligible food items instead of what she actually buys.

 

[Chairshot]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

You believe that there are a large number of people in $2 million homes abusing SNAP benefits?If so, what do you think should be done about it?

 

[Chairshot]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Sorry, but I'm calling BS on this.

Nope. She buys gourmet food with her card all the time. The stores will ring up eligible food items instead of what she actually buys.

This doesn't make sense. Gourmet food would be just as eligible as any other type of food. The store would have no reason to ring up other items in place of "gourmet" items.

 

[Chairshot]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

 

[Ursa M]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

You'll get no argument about that from me. IMO, welfare fraud in general is far from the big deal the right makes it out to be and pales into comparison with some of the other places money could be saved. In many ways, the constant drone from the right is a distraction by the man behind the curtain, another step in the process of setting groups of people against each other.All I was doing was agreeing that there IS some food stamp fraud going on and my state is going to see if it can curtail some of the more prevalent abuses.

 

[djmich]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

 

[cstu]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

They catch 1%.

 

[djmich]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

They catch 1%.

 

[toadstool]

We are screwed as a country.

Not because someone wants to splurge and buy a $41 cake for a birthday party, but because they are looked at as evil, lazy, dirtbags, ... for wanting to give their child at least one normal day.

America has lost it's empathy.

 

[hutchins929]

I wonder if they ran over a rabbits nest while mowing the lawn, too? Evil Bastards!

 

[Chairshot]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

From the SNAP website. www.fns.usda.gov/snap/government/integrity.htmIt sounds low because it is low. The level of fraud is low because the best you can scam the program for is a couple hundred a month, in most cases. Alot of the people enrolled in SNAP are getting less than $100 a month in benefits. Most fraud ends up being people selling benefits/cards, as mentioned, and they usually are only selling a few dollars worth. So, while that's wrong and needs to be addressed, it's not exactly a windfall type scam.There are exceptions and I'm sure there are a few people who are scamming for more, but overall its not a real big problem, at least I haven't seen an real evidence of widespread abuse. I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

 

[Ursa M]

I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

Interestingly enough, one of the best ways by far of reducing the deficit would be to employ thousands more IRS personnel to carry out audits. The estimated return for every dollar spent on them is $10. The IRS estimates tax evasion to be in the region of $350 billion annually. It was $385 billion net in 2006.I wonder if a presidential candidate advocating for more IRS would win?

 

[pittstownkiller]

I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

Interestingly enough, one of the best ways by far of reducing the deficit would be to employ thousands more IRS personnel to carry out audits. The estimated return for every dollar spent on them is $10. The IRS estimates tax evasion to be in the region of $350 billion annually. It was $385 billion net in 2006.I wonder if a presidential candidate advocating for more IRS would win?

A link for this estimate? I would find it hard to believe that an IRS agent salary and benefits could be multiplied by 10, as a return to the treasury; unless of course this is total outlay and not just evasion.

 

[Anthony Borbely]

I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

Interestingly enough, one of the best ways by far of reducing the deficit would be to employ thousands more IRS personnel to carry out audits. The estimated return for every dollar spent on them is $10. The IRS estimates tax evasion to be in the region of $350 billion annually. It was $385 billion net in 2006.I wonder if a presidential candidate advocating for more IRS would win?

It would be easier and much more efficient to simplify the tax code.

 

[Rohn Jambo]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

They catch 1%.

I'm not saying people who abuse food stamps are all rich, just that it seems too easy. There are 46 million people on food stamps and I suspect more than 1% do not meet the real criteria. I want people to get help when they really need it. I'm just pissed when my hard earned tax dollars go to people who have more money than I do.

 

[Ursa M]

I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

Interestingly enough, one of the best ways by far of reducing the deficit would be to employ thousands more IRS personnel to carry out audits. The estimated return for every dollar spent on them is $10. The IRS estimates tax evasion to be in the region of $350 billion annually. It was $385 billion net in 2006.I wonder if a presidential candidate advocating for more IRS would win?

A link for this estimate? I would find it hard to believe that an IRS agent salary and benefits could be multiplied by 10, as a return to the treasury; unless of course this is total outlay and not just evasion.

Here you go - the tax gap.Actually, thinking about it, the return might be much greater than $10 on the dollar. If 10,000 IRS agents were employed at $100,000 each in salary and benefits, that's a billion dollars, a drop in the ocean compared to the $385 billion that's uncollected.

 

[Rohn Jambo]

I did a little investigation into food stamp fraud. Appearantly one can qualify if one's liquid assets does not exceed $2,000. This means it doesn't matter if you live in a mansion and drive a Lamborghini. I asked a senior who lives in a $2 million home how she got her SNAP card because she definitely does not look cash poor. She said someone told her she just need to open a new bank account with $800 in it because the government would not check if she has other accounts.

Did your investigation lead you to believe that this type of fraud is rampant?

Yes. People selling their cards for cash on eBay or Craiglist all the time. They just ask the government to give them replacement cards.

This definitely isn't BS. Minnesota has just begun a crackdown on people who repeatedly "lose" their card or have it "stolen".

As already noted earlier in this thread, fraud amounts to about 1% of the program. The average person is getting like $130 in benefits a month. We aren't exactly talking Madoff level scams here.I agree that fraud should be curtailed as much as possible. But the current fraud levels are miniscule compared to the number of people actually being assisted.

Where exactly does that 1% come from, sounds pretty darn low.

From the SNAP website. www.fns.usda.gov/snap/government/integrity.htmIt sounds low because it is low. The level of fraud is low because the best you can scam the program for is a couple hundred a month, in most cases. Alot of the people enrolled in SNAP are getting less than $100 a month in benefits. Most fraud ends up being people selling benefits/cards, as mentioned, and they usually are only selling a few dollars worth. So, while that's wrong and needs to be addressed, it's not exactly a windfall type scam.There are exceptions and I'm sure there are a few people who are scamming for more, but overall its not a real big problem, at least I haven't seen an real evidence of widespread abuse. I'm sure Uncle Sam is getting taken for far more from people cheating on their taxes, for example, than they are with SNAP.

I guess I'm old school. I was brough up to believe that personal integrity is important. I live a honest life and I hate it when other people do not. You think a hundred dollars a month is no big deal but it all adds up when a lot of people do the same thing. That money could have paid the salaries of policemen, fire fighters and teachers who got laid off.

 

[Rumor]

What gets me mad is the large scale farmer that uses his welfare checks to buy that $50,000 pickup when he could get by with the $30,000 truck instead.

 

[Captain Quinoa]

We are screwed as a country.Not because someone wants to splurge and buy a $41 cake for a birthday party, but because they are looked at as evil, lazy, dirtbags, ... for wanting to give their child at least one normal day.America has lost it's empathy.

Even the kid knew it was a ridiculous price for a cake.When was giving your kid a 41 dollar cake considered a 'normal' day? I had a pretty normal childhood. Pretty sure all my cakes were $5 for a box and a can of frosting.

 

[Tuco]

We are screwed as a country.Not because someone wants to splurge and buy a $41 cake for a birthday party, but because they are looked at as evil, lazy, dirtbags, ... for wanting to give their child at least one normal day.America has lost it's empathy.

Even the kid knew it was a ridiculous price for a cake.When was giving your kid a 41 dollar cake considered a 'normal' day? I had a pretty normal childhood. Pretty sure all my cakes were $5 for a box and a can of frosting.

Yeah, but it's harder to justify $41 for a cake when you earned that money working, and after taxes for some people, that could have been an entire shift's worth of money.

 

[parasaurolophus]

We are screwed as a country.Not because someone wants to splurge and buy a $41 cake for a birthday party, but because they are looked at as evil, lazy, dirtbags, ... for wanting to give their child at least one normal day.America has lost it's empathy.

Pretty sure it is empathy that is screwing us.

 

[Rohn Jambo]

We are screwed as a country.Not because someone wants to splurge and buy a $41 cake for a birthday party, but because they are looked at as evil, lazy, dirtbags, ... for wanting to give their child at least one normal day.America has lost it's empathy.

Pretty sure it is empathy that is screwing us.

 

[Ministry of Pain]

WSJ

Food Stamps and the $41 Cake

How did this great nation travel from the common sense of our grandparents to where we are today?

By WARREN KOZAK

Beware of little expenses.

A small leak will sink a great ship.

—Benjamin Franklin

There is a large chain grocery store in my neighborhood that I rarely frequent because the prices are too high. Instead, I will travel an extra 30 blocks to another store where the costs per item are 20%-30% lower.

I arrange my travel around this activity. It takes a little extra effort, but within a year the savings are substantial. As it turns out, I am not alone. The average income of Costco discount shoppers, it was reported recently, is $96,000—so perhaps they're not the millionaires and billionaires the president talks about, yet not the folks one might immediately expect to be watching their pennies either.

But every so often I will need one item late at night—a quart of milk, a missing part of a school lunch—and I run over to the high-price store nearby. There, I've noticed something happening with increased regularity: The person ahead of me in line or at the next checkout counter is using a benefits card. Since we are now in the third year of our national recession and unemployment remains depressingly high, I understand this.

Recently I had to run into that store and, sizing up the three lines, chose to stand behind a woman with one item in her cart. It was one of those large ice-cream cakes. When the checkout person said "Forty-one dollars," I wasn't the only one who blanched. The shopper's son, around 12, repeated it as a question: "Forty-one dollars?"

I quickly calculated that the woman's cake was eight times more expensive than the kind I make at home to celebrate birthdays. The mother ignored her son's question.

She took out her benefits card, swiped it through the machine, and they were off. My turn.

I stood there, wondering what lesson the young boy takes away from this transaction. Does he grow up with the faintest understanding of delayed gratification—that you have to earn your money before you can buy candy—or, in this case, an ice-cream treat? I wondered how we arrived at this point as a nation. I also felt like a chump.

The vast majority of Americans—Democrat, Republican or independent—will readily help someone who cannot make ends meet in a bad economy. Americans want a hungry child to be fed. I know this because in no other country do people donate more to charities. Americans will go far beyond what our taxes already pay for to help the less fortunate. We have been blessed with overabundance in this land, and we are a very generous people.

But over the last four decades, our government has quietly done away with almost all of the restrictions once placed on food assistance. SNAP cards (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) can be used to purchase practically anything with the exception of liquor and cigarettes. These cards are also openly and illegally sold for cash, which allows the recipient to buy anything they want, including cigarettes and liquor.

Food assistance is helping many families keep their heads above water when they would otherwise not get by, and many of these families watch every dime. But the system also allows people to flagrantly disregard the program's original purpose.

Of course there are instances of fraud in every corner of the government, from Congress to defense spending. Why single out food stamps? Because, with over 48 million Americans now using some form of food assistance and few restrictions, the possibilities of waste are unlimited.

My grandmother did not serve on the president's Council of Economic Advisers. She did not have an M.B.A. from Harvard. She never went to high school because she had to go to work to support her family. But she gave me an astute piece of financial advice when I was about to enter the world. "Never," she told me, "spend more than you earn" and "always try and save a little something."

When we wonder how this great nation traveled from our grandparents' common sense to where we are today, it might be easier to understand with this question: How did the country that created the strongest middle class in history, the country that offered everyone the chance to succeed, the country that built and paid for the transcontinental railroad and the Hoover Dam, won World War II and put Neil Armstrong on the moon—how did that country rack up trillions in debt?

One $41 cake at a time.

Not sure whether to be angry at this customer or the government that allows it or we the people that put these folks in office. I imagine these are the little things that quickly added up to votes in the last election.

 

[Doctor Detroit]

Ice cream cake is delicious.

Let's keep this thread about cake and not politics.

 

[Joe T]

I was behind a lady and her five kids in a convenience store last week. Each kid had one bag of Funyons and a large softdrink. The bill came to roughly $15 which the lady paid for with her "Lone Star Card" which is the equivalent of a SNAP card.

She didn't even thank me for the free food.

It made me pretty sad for America.

 

[Dinsy Ejotuz]

I was behind a lady and her five kids in a convenience store last week. Each kid had one bag of Funyons and a large softdrink. The bill came to roughly $15 which the lady paid for with her "Lone Star Card" which is the equivalent of a SNAP card.

She didn't even thank me for the free food.

It made me pretty sad for America.

I'm sure she looked at a self-righteous turd with no empathy for people less fortunate than himself and felt exactly the same way.

 

[Joe T]

I was behind a lady and her five kids in a convenience store last week. Each kid had one bag of Funyons and a large softdrink. The bill came to roughly $15 which the lady paid for with her "Lone Star Card" which is the equivalent of a SNAP card.

She didn't even thank me for the free food.

It made me pretty sad for America.

I'm sure she looked at a self-righteous turd with no empathy for people less fortunate than himself and felt exactly the same way.

FYP

 

[McGarnicle]

I'm glad I live in an affluent area and never have to see these dirtbags with their welfare debit cards buying their junk food. That's got to suck.