EBT/Food Stamps

Before we get into the great debate, let me make sure you know what Food Stamps are. They are defined in several ways:
1. The United States Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) , historically and commonly known as the Food Stamp Program, is a federal-assistance program that provides assistance to low- and no-income people living in the U.S.
2. These benefits are measured as the value of the food stamps issued to qualifying low-income individuals in order to supplement their ability to purchase food.
3. Coupons issued by the U.S. government for the purchase of food.
4. A Federal program which supplements the food-purchasing ability of low-income households through the distribution of coupons which can be used to purchase food for human consumption. Source: MN Dept. of Health and Human services.

Look this over and what does it tell you? I'll tell you what I get out of this.

Hey this sounds pretty nice right? You can sit around and do whatever you want all day, then just wait for your EBT card to get refilled and go raid the grocery store and get what you want!
Ok. Maybe it isn't all that easy. But pretty close. The Eligibility for Food Stamps isn't extremely strict, but you do have to be eligible. Not jut anyone can get them. However, once you qualify, you can be rest assured that you now have someone else paying for your food. How sweet is that? You can use the money you do have for other, better things that you want to buy!

Sure... the idea that people who really can't afford food will now be able to get it is nice idea! It really is. But.... the government cannot solve everyone's problems. The Food Stamps program has helped many people who truly need it, I am sure.
This lens is not trying to disrespect those whom it has helped. This lens is about Food Stamp abuse. When people try to make the government pay for their food, when they don't really need the government's money, or when they just want someone else to pay for it so they can afford other things that they want.

As you read this, you may be wondering.... "Whoa. What on earth do you have against Food Stamps?" It's just that from my experience, I have seen too much Food Stamps abuse. From working at a grocery store, I saw people use EBT/Food Stamp cards all the time. When I first started working, I didn't understand what they were. But then I learned! I learned that it was the way the government paid for people's food. Since I was working and paying taxes, I realized that, in a way, I was the one paying for some of stuff! Since I realized I was paying for some of it, I thought i'd stop and look at what people bought with the money my government took from my check every week.

I noticed some people would buy staple foods, such as: eggs, milk, meat, vegetables... stuff like that. Real food! This didn't bother me so much, because I realized that this food really was going to help somebody. It really was going to feed them and help take care of them! That's a great idea!

Then, I saw people come through my line who would buy all kinds of expensive junk food. Name brand foods. Chips, donuts, fruit snacks, microwave popcorn, all kinds of stuff like that. Then they'd pull out their little EBT card, and I would stand there and think "Wait... is our government really helping you?" Obviously, I had to keep these comments to myself.

A final area I saw Food Stamps abuse is when people would bring up a cartful of groceries, and I would ring that up. Then, they would pull out their EBT card and use that to pay for their "groceries". THEN, they would buy beer and/or cigarettes and pay cash for them! This always confused me. If someone can afford beer and cigarettes, can't they afford their own groceries? Oh wait... maybe if they had to pay for their own groceries, then they couldn't afford their beer and cigarettes. Hmm. Wouldn't that just be a problem?

No worries! They never had to tell the government that they were buying beer and tobacco products! They just had to put out their hands and tell the the government they wanted some help paying for their groceries.

In my opinion, you do not need someone else paying for your food when:

1. You can afford to buy beer.
2. You can afford to buy cigarettes.
3. You do not know how to spend money wisely.
4. You think you can only survive on expensive, name brand, junk foods.