I worked in a grocery store for a couple of years, and became very well acquainted with food stamps, or the more politically correct term here in Ohio, the "direction card." Not sure why its called that, as it goes in one direction: more dependence on the government. Not in any particular order, here are the problems I have with food stamps:
1) It breeds entitlement. People get used to it, and feel they are owed.
2) It was intended to be a temporary thing to help people in tough times, but it becomes a way of life. People stay on them all their lives, and pass it on to their kids who stay on them all of their lives.
3) No id is required to use them, which makes it easy for people to sell them so they can buy beer, cigarettes, and drugs. And it happens. Just in my county alone, they have caught people doing that, and there are news stories about it happening across the country.
4) There is no regulation on what kind of food they buy. The WICK program has strict guidelines, but not food stamps. They can buy all of the chips, candy, and pop they want - and they do.
5) People have them who don't need them. I saw people covered with tattoos - which cost a lot of money, expensive manicures, expensive phones for them and their kids, expensive cars.......if people need food stamps, they don't need expensive cell phones, cable, and other non-necessities, but no one wants to cut back and go without anything, so they go on food stamps so they can keep up with the Jones and still have food for their table.
6) There are able-bodied people on them who can work, and will not.
I actually had a guy use his card once and apologized. He felt bad that he had to use one.... how refreshing. Most people that shopped where I worked, acted like they were owed and we were their humble servants.
A young girl came in one day with 3 boys, and as she grabbed a pop out of the cooler, she asked them if they wanted one, and they said no. She then told them she had her mom's food stamp card, so the pop would be free........ so they all had a pop on the taxpayers.
Another day, a woman came in with a voucher from the Catholic Charities in town to get free food. She left, then returned with a $100 bill, which she broke to buy a 16 pack of beer.
I am not against people getting help who truly need it, but I believe they need to work on the program. My ideas:
1) Require an id to be shown to prevent fraud such as people selling the cards
2) Don't allow pop, candy, chips, etc to be bought, but only healthier foods..... hey, if Michelle Obama wants to tell us how to eat, she can start there.
3) If people are jobless and able to work, require them to apply for so many jobs a month, and prove it. And while unemployed, do community service to earn their food stamps.
4) Make it a little harder to get food stamps. From what I see, you can make a lot of money and get them. People should truly need them to have them.
and one more I was reminded of after I submitted this post:
5) Drug tests. As someone said, if we taxpayers have to be drug tested to work at jobs that help provide food stamps, people who use them should have to be drug tested. Makes sense to me.
Anyone who dares criticize issues like this, are made to look bad and uncaring. Obama himself claimed that Jesus would want us to grant amnesty and give handouts....... the same Bible Obama uses to his advantage also says "he who does not work, should not eat". And again, that is people who are able to work, and won't, because they can get a handout from the government.
There are people who need assistance, like food stamps, but from my personal experience, and from stories I have read on news sites, there are a whole lot more people getting them who do not need them, and should not get them, but our government seems to not care.
Amen!!
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