How Techies Rescued Food Stamps (wired.com) 292
New submitter rgh02 writes: There is an endless variety of apps designed to manage life for the upper middle class, but most low-income Americans don't benefit from the same time-saving hacks. Thanks to new trends in civic technology, that's beginning to change. The 43 million Americans depending on food stamps are seeing the introduction of apps like Propel's Fresh EBT, which allows users to check balances, track deals, and organize budgets accordingly. And Propel is only one of several companies looking to disrupt outdated social programs, Tonya Riley reports at Backchannel. But the Trump administration, with its hiring freezes and budget cuts, poses threats to these advancements. Riley dives deep into the progress that's been made and how companies are navigating these obstacles.
The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
Is to show how this not just reduces time for the EBT customers, but can reduce headcount in government call centers by reducing the need for customer service. I don't understand why techies have never figured out that government and business have similar goals.
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reduces time for the EBT customers
Time? What time? It appears as a balance on a card you swipe at checkout. There is no "time" involved; it's faster than handling cash. The balance refills with the sort of military precision I wish I could take for granted with my paychecks. No one drawing these bennies are mystified by the schedule.
This Propel thing looks like a marketing platform; pushing ads for "deals." Great. More power to them. But if it vanished tomorrow it wouldn't matter at all. And nothing is being "rescued;" Propel or
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
I don't understand why techies have never figured out that government and business have similar goals.
They have never figured it out because your premise is wrong. Government and business do not have similar goals. Just because Trump wants to cut some sectors of the government doesn't mean that most bureaucrats do. There are many in the government whose goal is to expand the number of people using their services, so they can justify increases in their budgets & staff. As Oscar Wilde put it, "The bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy."
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Government serves itself. You sound like you've chosen to remain ignorant of that fact.
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Sometimes, for business that has been co opted and made dependant by government. Same as 'serving people'...only those attached to the tit and guaranteed to vote for more government.
Government is run by 'power grubbers', not 'money grubbers'. Look at how easy the money part happens when they have power (Clinton), note how fast the money went away once the power did.
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Never worked an honest job in their lives.
Closest either had was when Hillary leveraged 'her husband the Governor' into a law partnership.
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I do not understand how the two above comments are opposed in any way. It's perfectly possible, actually preferred, to not work an honest job to be a business person. Business people make money off of the people working honest jobs.
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It's not that government
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I don't understand why techies have never figured out that government and business have similar goals.
Government and big business have similar goals in a Fascist State.
Government and true free market business, not so much.
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There is no true free market anymore, if there ever was one.
Because they don't (Score:2)
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:4, Insightful)
This is the "moral hazard" argument, and it's bullshit. Would you ever say that not giving tax credits to big corporations would encourage those companies to be more innovative and productive? Maybe raising taxes on rich people would make them work harder for a change?
Be careful, we are entering an age where it requires a smaller percentage of people working to provide all the goods and services of a consumer society. At that point, we're going to have to become more comfortable with a growing social welfare system or be prepared for some very bad days. And don't assume that when the time comes, you will be among the "makers" and not the "takers".
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Tax credits are given out to get companies to do specific things the government wants more of. But the government is clueless, so it works out as usual. I agree they are mostly terrible ideas, but because the government should be minding it's business, not picking winners.
They aren't the same thing as deductions, which are just expenses.
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But the government is clueless, so it works out as usual. I agree they are mostly terrible ideas, but because the government should be minding it's business, not picking winners.
This explains why countries with no government have much higher standards of living than those with....
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You don't know what your talking about.
Deductions come off your gross, reducing your taxable income, they are worth (face * marginal tax rate). Tax credits come off what you owe, they are worth their face value. Refundable tax credits are even worse, they can exceed your tax (e.g. earned income tax credit).
It's amazing you can be so wrong, but still project such confidence. Same for the sibs.
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When you incentivize something you get more of it. I'm not for making food stamps and such more difficult, but that's looking at the problem incorrectly. The biggest problems with our welfare programs is that they incentivize laziness and nonwork. Not everybody who gets welfare is lazy - some are actually very hard workers.
But the programs need to be structured in a way that encourages people to work by making sure that work always pays more than not working. We do this mainly by eliminating "welfare cl
Welfare - European countries haven't collasped yet (Score:4, Insightful)
When you incentivize something you get more of it. {...} The biggest problems with our welfare programs is that they incentivize laziness and nonwork.
The thing that you dare to call "welfare" on your side of the Atlantic pond would be considered as backward and medieval by European standards.
(Common you just recently started to try to provide universal healthcare like the rest of the developed world. And the guy who you elected president is even trying to repel it).
If "more welfare" leads to "less workers" as you suggest, Europe would have completly collapsed following 100% unemployment half a century ago.
That didn't happen.
In fact, some of the best faring countries in Europe (e.g.: Scandinavian countries, Germany, etc.) are also country with the most advanced social welfare systems. And those still aren't collapsing under unemployment today.
Not everybody who gets welfare is lazy - some are actually very hard workers.
There are large-scale studies which have been done in Germany and in France (yes, France, the country where "going on strike every other week to insist on social welfare and benefits" is a national sport).
Verdict : there are actually very few abuses of the welfare system.
Far less than what far-right parties would like you to think.
There are a few lazy people, but nearly the vast majority are very hard workers.
But the programs need to be structured in a way that encourages people to work by making sure that work always pays more than not working.
If you do that by making access to welfare more tedious and difficult, you won't be helping.
- The few lazy person, who have the intent of abusing the system will find more creative ways around your hurdles and still manage to get the money.
- Most of the remaining people, those who have real difficulties and need help suddenly are even more likely to get their help if it is so difficult. They are already in deep shit, if you make their life even shittier, you're not helping.
You need to help measures that can help finding new jobs :
- cover basic needs (food / shelter) without any question. If the people can't even get those, they'll never work.
- helping people move to where the jobs are, as you suggested in your comment.
- helping people retrain to other jobs that are available here. Cover the costs to make sure that education is available to anyone who wants a new job. (I know that seems hard in a country that relies on "college loans" and where the cost of a diploma is close to the budget of some small countries).
etc.
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How do the two American political parties explain Monaco? Luxemburg? Ireland?
You're going to have to look wider than that to find an explanation.
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Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
Smart phones are not a luxury any more; you're a second-class citizen if you don't have one. You can walk into a Wal-Mart or K-Mart and get a prepaid Motorola smartphone for forty bucks any day of the week; you can get a shittier one for twenty, or sometimes on sale for ten. So really, anyone who can afford to take the bus can afford a smartphone.
One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education, sacrifice so they can get a real job that pays enough so that they don't need to live off the govt. teet.
These people need help to get to that point, which is what food stamps represent. And if that's not enough help, you still don't want them starving, because that i
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I disagree with the concept of taxing income. Why would you discourage earning money? Tax consumption and reduce waste.
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According to TFS there are 43 million Americans "depending" on food stamps, I can only hope for you guys that they aren't all so poor that they can't afford a smartphone that you can pick up used any time for a few bucks.
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at this point it's the same price for a smartphone as a landline phone and service
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And in the unlikely event that one of the feckless bastards gets a job offer, I'm sure they can be informed by pigeon or something.
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'member when all the indestructible non-smart phones went away? And all the pre-paid plans where you could have service and a thousand minutes for $50/yr were no longer being offered.
Yep, everyone needs a new smartphone and data plan to stay in touch now days.
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the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones
Not sure about the US, but here it's cheaper to have a pre-pay mobile than to have a landline. If you don't make many calls, the line rental alone on a landline costs more than you'll pay for the calls on the mobile. If you're getting a mobile, it's pretty hard not to get a smartphone. A cheap 4-year-old second-hand Android phone will run the apps and cost next to nothing and can be bought from high street shops. You don't need a data plan, you need to stand near somewhere that has free WiFi, or you nee
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A couple of things I see.
1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....? Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
2. One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education, sacrifice so they can get a real job that pays enough so that they don't need to live off the govt. teet.
Food stamps are a zit on an elephant's ass in the grand scheme of things but please, by all means, continue trying to convince us that food stamps and poor people with obsolete smart phones are the real problem and not the corporations that spend millions on lobbyists and donations to Republicans and Corporate Democrat politicians who then pass tax breaks for them and poke the law so full of loop holes these bastards end up paying no taxes. What? We? Cheating on our taxes? ... through shell companies in Pan
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps...if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
Those expenses aren't even close to the same scale. There are plenty of low-end smartphones in the sub-$100 range, and data plans to be had for less than $30 a month (some of which is subsidized by the Lifeline program). Food stamp benefits can run several hundred dollars a month depending on family size.
One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education, sacrifice so they can get a real job that pays enough so that they don't need to live off the govt. teet.
Making the use and administration of a welfare program less efficient for all involved seems very much like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I don't know anyone that would disagree that food stamp programs are necessary for at least some people for at least some period of time, and that being the case there's no reason the program shouldn't be as efficient as possible in delivering service to those people.
States like Wisconsin have set up their food stamp programs with fairly stringent eligibility and work requirements to accomplish your (worthy) goal of reducing long-term dependence and promoting work ethic -- imo that sort of up-front approach is far better than the more passive-aggressive strategy of trying to make the user experience miserable.
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Informative)
1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....?
Social programs should be designed, not to help people be poor, but to help them OUT of poverty. A used smartphone costs $20, the cost of groceries for one day. The apps can use Wifi, so no "data plan" is needed. But having a cellphone can make a big difference in a person's ability to find a job, deal with childcare, and manage their life.
Rather than prohibiting smartphones, it may make more sense to make them mandatory.
2. One argument against making social programs like food stamps easier...is that making them a PAIN IN THE ASS might help encourage folks to double down on work and education,
It is a dumb argument. By making benefits only for the "truly poor" you create a poverty trap. As people start to do a little better, they lose their benefits, pulling them back down. So the incentives are exactly backwards. For a well designed program, look at EITC [wikipedia.org]. When a poor person works more, their benefits go UP, and only start to fade away when they are making enough to no longer be poor.
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A couple of things I see.
1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....? Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
If I'm out pounding the pavement looking for a job, chances are I NEED a smartphone and a data plan to chase down opportunities on the web, to send and reply to emails, and to help me not get lost when I'm in an unfamiliar part of town trying to make it to an interview on time. For a pretty large percentage of the population, (and perhaps even more so for the poor), a connected smartphone is no longer a luxury.
Overrated and irrealistic (Score:3, Insightful)
2. the puritain moral argument... The worst things ever. Program like food stamp make sure people and children get food and do not have to make choice like "phone/rent/food or medicine pick 1". Making it a PITA to ge
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Others have done the work to refute your cluelessness, so let me be succinct: Fuck you.
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1. If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....? Food stamps are for the poor, and the TRULY poor people can't afford luxuries like smart phones....if they can afford those, they can afford to buy their own food.
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If a person is on food stamps, they pretty much should not have enough money to buy a smartphone with data plan to use EBT apps....?
Smartphones are becoming the opposite of a luxury. We are arriving at a point where it is more expensive living without a smartphone than living with one. ... Jus
A second-hand Android can cost literally zero thanks to people discarding perfectly good phones because it is not the latest model. The other cost is the plan that goes with it, which can go to zero if you take advantage of free public wifi.
Now with a smartphone, you have : a phone (duh), a TV, a computer, a notebook, a camera, a flashlight, a map,
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:4)
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When foodstamps can be used at McDonalds (http://firstquarterfinance.com/what-fast-food-places-take-ebt-food-stamps-snap/) and to support tarragon rabbit habits of hipster foodies who won't stoop to eating Ramen noodles to get by, there's something seriously wrong with the system. Not to mention the fact that there appears to be a correlation between foodstamps and obesity, it hardly seems that a "supplemental nutrition program" is needed for people for whom foodstamps may just be adding to their already-ov
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Insightful)
Personally though, I don't think we should try to restrict what food stamps can be used on. It creates too much of a bureaucratic mess, and you can't possibly account for all of the different and unique circumstance people find themselves in. Sure it might be great if people learned to cook and make healthier food choices, but there's probably some single parent of 3 working 2 jobs already that doesn't always have time to cook family meals and kids too young to help with that themselves.
In general, individuals are going to be capable of making better choices for their own set of circumstances on average than some congress critter or other bureaucrat, so let people make their own decisions. Some will choose wisely, and others not. The only real problem is that government charity seems to be boundless. I'd even be fine with more government spending on programs like this if there was a cutoff point where we tell the people making bad choices that they can fuck off now because society doesn't owe them an endless supply of opportunity to waste.
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:5, Informative)
“In some areas, restaurants can be authorized to accept SNAP benefits from qualified homeless, elderly, or disabled people in exchange for low-cost meals.” Note that based on the published information, the Restaurant Meals Program (as this initiative is known) is available only for homeless, elderly, or disabled recipients of EBT. Furthermore the article states that the program is only widely available in a handful of states Florida, Michigan, Arizona, and California. The vast majority of states do not participate at all.
In short the program is optional for states and limited to those that aren't able to prepare their own meals
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Actually, it was part of a multi-year pilot program in a limited number of states. And sure, that's what they say they are limited to.
But if they only worked that way, then we would know that since vendors are not supposed to give cash for footstamps, then there's no arbitrage of foodstamp benefits either--no fraud ever because that's against the rules. But we know there's about $1B of such fraud every year.
Consider for example, how is Taco Bell supposed to ensure that the person purchasing "Chips, desserts
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From the link:
Taco Bell
Food that can be purchased with EBT card: Chips, desserts, specialty cold drinks, and soft drinks
Not to keep picking on Taco Bell, but if the program was serious about being supplemental nutrition for homeless, elderly, and disabled, I can see no reason why the program limits Taco Bell's EBT patrons--and let's keep pretending that every one of them is truly homeless, elderly, or disabled--to "Chips, desserts, specialty cold drinks, and soft drinks" It seems to me that those are exactl
Re:The key with businessmen like Trump (Score:4)
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Err...that $130 a month would go a LONG way towards buying food on their own.
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I know it would certainly light a fire under MY ass to get out and try to better my living conditions!!!
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Funny, I got all my beginning jobs like McD's, etc....by going in person, looking presentable when I showed up and filled out an application using good grammar, etc.
I never had a problem getting those early jobs. Why can't someone these days? I've yet to find a company that ONLY allowed online applications.
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1. If you are poor enough, smart phones are nearly free, thanks to another of those programs started by Obama.
s/Obama/Reagan+Bush
You are referring to the Lifeline program which started in 1985 under Reagan, and was extended to cell phones in 2005 under the 2nd Bush.
Re:Or just get rid of the EBT program completely. (Score:4, Informative)
Instead, the people receiving these taxpayer-funded handouts would have to actually do something productive with their lives.
Let's look at the how well this notion fares in light of Department of Agriculture figures on the program:
So the idea that ending food stamps will make people more productive isn't really supported by the data.
Contrary to the stereotype of a food stamp recipient as a black person living indefinitely on welfare (technically impossible since 1996), the most common food stamp recipient is white (not that that should matter but it evidently does) and has a job. Of those that *could* be forced to get a job by ending the program, most already do so within a few months.
For various reasons its also doubtful that ending the program per se will save much if any money. For example it is much easier to help a senior stay healthy and independent with food assistance than it is to institutionalize him.
You *could* save government expenditures by getting rid of medicare, medicaid and food stamps at the same time.
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It is amazing how many businesses have been started in the last 20 years since EBT and unemployment started encouraging people to become small businessmen while on the program.
Can we do that with just cash? (Score:2)
My major plan is to build our social insurances on top of a universal social security. This improves the financial position of all households, most-importantly the lowest-income households. When you do the computation for necessary aid, you're starting from a higher annual income, so the amount of necessary aid is smaller.
Can these apps provide deal tracking and budgeting from cash for lower-income households without EBT services?
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My major plan is to build our social insurances on top of a universal social security. This improves the financial position of all households, most-importantly the lowest-income households. When you do the computation for necessary aid, you're starting from a higher annual income, so the amount of necessary aid is smaller.
Can these apps provide deal tracking and budgeting from cash for lower-income households without EBT services?
Great idea except where do you get sustainable funding for it?
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Great idea except where do you get sustainable funding for it?
We already have plenty of welfare spending going on, only the recipients are defense contractors. Let's spend it on humans instead of corporations.
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We already have plenty of welfare spending going on, only the recipients are defense contractors. Let's spend it on humans instead of corporations.
I agree that we're pissing away too much money on stupid stuff, but most of the money given to defense contractors actually goes to people working in that industry. It's really a workfare program for the highest tech possible jobs.
So, if you're into handing money out to people, and I'm not, the defense industry is probably the best from a tech development standpoint.
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Great idea except where do you get sustainable funding for it?
Volume!
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Oh, that's not hard. It's about a trillion dollars cheaper than the current system to get the foundational benefit out; once you add back OASDI and such, it's still a hell of a lot cheaper.
Take the 2016 model [google.com], for example. Taxes taken by FICA (OASDI) total $810.20 billion; Federal individual income taxes are $1,546.10 billion; and business income taxes are $299.60 billion. Out of that $2,655.90 billion of total income-based taxes, we spend $1,346.20 at the Federal level on retirement, disability, food
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Can't afford to buy food but can afford a phone? (Score:2)
There is an endless variety of apps designed to manage life for the upper middle class, but most low-income Americans don't benefit from the same time-saving hacks
Let me get this straight, you need EBT because you can't afford food but you can afford a smart phone? Anyone else see the problem with this?
Re:Can't afford to buy food but can afford a phone (Score:5, Informative)
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WTF do you eat that you spend less than $100 on food for 3 every month
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Anyone else see the problem with this?
Scrolling through this thread, apparently you're not the only one, but one of the depressingly few.
rgh02 (Score:2)
how about killing food stamps? (Score:2)
The food stamp program says that poor people are too stupid to budget for themselves, while at the same time creating massive bureaucratic overhead and supporting fraud. How about we simply get rid of it and replace it with simple cash benefits, like most other civilized nations do?
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The tit suckers aren't responsible enough for cash. That's how you get malnourished poor kids and 22 inch rims on the parents junker.
They had to convert to cards to stop the routine sale of food stamps. Which just changed it to sale of food. But at least the kids get a chance to grab a bite before the food is sold to a neighbor with a job.
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Thanks for so clearly expressing the attitude progressives have towards the poor, while simultaneously arguing that economic outcomes are just a matter of class and luck. It's jerks like you that made me leave the Democratic party.
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Who are you calling a 'progressive'? (Progressive: reactionary wanting to return to the economics and politics of the 1930s)
Thems fightin words.
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I didn't explicitly call you a "progressive". You may well be some other variety of elitist and totalitarian.
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Not wanting to give people who clearly don't know how to handle cash, cash, makes me 'elitist and totalitarian'? Fuck you.
If 'they' want to be treated like adults, they should get off the tit.
How do you know you are talking to an ass-hole? (Score:2)
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When you see people in the checkout buying their food with EBT and then get $20 cash back so they can buy alcohol with cash at the same register. Your tax dollars at work.
I wish I had mod points for you. This also testifies to how excellent the education system is for these folks.
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I wish I had mod points for you
If you really want to be depressed, scroll up and look at how many socialist Bernie-bro's DID get modded up by people with mod points already in this thread.
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When you see people in the checkout buying their food with EBT and then get $20 cash back so they can buy alcohol with cash at the same register. Your tax dollars at work.
That is my tax dollars at work. Because now the kids of that alcoholic can still eat even though their parents are dead beats.
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It's even better than that. You can get your food at a good 25-50% discount by buying it from them for cash.
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But ... it's been touched by a poor person. Bleurgh!
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The squeamish don't go on Craigslist to find food. But the ads are always there.
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Seriously?
WTF is the government allowing cash back on EBT cards in the first place????
Stopping that would seem a quick way to make sure those funds are ONLY being used on food.
Re:EBT... a good idea, but... (Score:4, Insightful)
WTF is the government allowing cash back on EBT cards in the first place????
They are not. People are paying for the EBT-qualifying items with their EBT card, then paying for the remainder with their debit card, and then getting cash back from that.
Stopping that would seem a quick way to make sure those funds are ONLY being used on food.
The biggest benefit to the EBT card is not having to mail people pieces of paper, and then collect the pieces back. But a significant secondary benefit is that it does eliminate change.
Re:EBT... a good idea, but... (Score:4, Interesting)
WTF is the government allowing cash back on EBT cards in the first place????
The OP is likely either:
1. Lying.
2. Quoting a story he/she heard that was a lie.
3. Misunderstood the transaction, and the cash back came from a debit card.
4. The vendor was committing fraud.
AFAIK you can't get cash back from an EBT transaction. EBT won't allow you to purchase non-food items with it. This includes things everyone needs, like toilet paper.
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WTF is the government allowing cash back on EBT cards in the first place????
They don't for food stamp benefits. But what most tech-bro libertarian right slashdotters don't know is that the cards support multiple types of benefits and that some of the benefits are cash even if food stamps aren't.
For example, someone on unemployment could have both a "food stamp" benefit AND an unemployment benefit on the same card. They could use the same card to purchase food AND get cash from the unemployment portion on the card. Or purchase qualifying food and non-qualifying alcohol on the sam
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When you see people in the checkout buying their food with EBT and then get $20 cash back so they can buy alcohol with cash at the same register. Your tax dollars at work.
http://www.snopes.com/politics... [snopes.com]
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http://www.miamiherald.com/new... [miamiherald.com]
Opa-locka Fruit and Produce Market didn’t just sell fruits and vegetables.
Instead, owners Karla Rodriguez Diaz and Luis Marzo Machado allegedly used their produce market inside the Opa-locka Hialeah Flea Market to bilk the government out of $2.4 million, Wifredo A. Ferrer, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, said Wednesday.
Diaz and Machado were two of 22 people charged in 15 cases Wednesday in “Operation Stampede,” organized to bust busi
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When you see people in the checkout buying their food with EBT and then get $20 cash back so they can buy alcohol with cash at the same register. Your tax dollars at work.
Yeah because poor people shouldn't be allowed alcohol amirite? Also they shouldn't have other luxuries like netflix or cable or going to cinemas. Only what they get over-the-air on a TV set they got at Goodwill. And no vacations either. In fact they should be pretty much excluded from our shared media and culture until they're up on their feet, saved for their kids college, and able to afford a comfortable middle-class existence.
Lesson: whatever subsidy is given, be it in the form of EBT or tax refunds or U
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do you have any clue how little money you have to have to get food stamps? At one point I was "between jobs" (unemployed) and just for the heck of it, I looked into food stamps because I figured I had payed into the system for decades, why not benefit when I didn't have any income? And holy cow, the limit was something absurdly low. Basically you had to have NOTHING to be getting food stamps.
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It's basically meant for people with dependant children.
Considering how much bad nutrition in childhood can affect a person it should pay for itself long term. But of course it's abused to hell and back, so who knows.
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I'm sure it's abused. Just like I'm sure there are people calling themselves "software engineers" who leave behind steaming piles. The fake software engineers piss me off a lot more.
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You have a choice about where to work, clueful management is rare, but it exists.
Choosing nations is a little more difficult. (I have a small advantage, dual citizenship, not a difficult choice. Fuck the EU.)
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Right. They are all criminals.
Could you be more stupid?
No.
Re:Does not happen. (Score:4, Interesting)
This, of course, does not happen. It is a made-up story with the cynical intent to make middle-class people hate poor people.
I have seen this happen. There was a women that worked with my ex-wife who was not married but had a domestic partner. The domestic partner bought a brand new 5 bedroom house and this women and her kids lived there. She drew on every single social program they could including EBT. She drove a newer Durango to the store to use EBT. Yes, it does happen. People game the system. In addition to this anecdote, I have several white trash family members who engage in similar gaming. I can call them white trash because they are my family and we both know they are. They have no problems proudly admitting it either and emphasizing how they are justified in doing what they're doing because everything is corrupt and this and that. They consider it social justice.
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Every system has people who game it. The problem arises when your fury at the few gamers is so great that you are willing to cause drastic harm to those who are honestly in need in order to avoid it.
If you want to talk about fairness and equity, why should I have to pay for the cheaters who abuse the system? It is indeed a fairness and equity problem but what you seem to be suggesting is that we get out scales and weigh the cost of cheaters vs. the cost of those truly in need. Furthermore, you seem to be suggesting that those "truly in need" outweigh the "cheaters" but have supplied no evidence for that claim. By the way, what is the litmus test for that anyway? You seem to be taking the position o
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I worked at a grocery store checkout for 10 years, and the overwhelming majority of people using EBT did not appear to be gaming the system.
Don't let it change your world-view though.... stay woke.
Please do describe your profiling method in great detail. I'm sure it's very accurate. Perhaps you should supply it to Federal and State governments to use it as a means to differentiate between the gamers and non-gamers.
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