 |
|||||||||||
|
|||||||||||
|
October 7th, 2010
03:38 PM ET
NY officials: Take soda out of food stamp program
Take sugary drinks and soda out of items eligible for purchase through food stamps, New York officials said Thursday. New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Gov. David Paterson urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to exclude sugar-sweetened beverages such as sodas and sports drinks from food stamp eligibility, because of their effects on obesity. Under the New York proposal, city food stamp recipients would not be able to buy soda using food stamps for two years. “This initiative will give New York families more money to spend on foods and drinks that provide real nourishment,” Bloomberg said in a press release. The Big Apple has been the vanguard in many health initiatives – banning trans fats in restaurants, proposing the end of smoking in outdoor public areas and requiring calorie counts on the menu. The Chart: New York tries to ban outdoor smoking The city also released this graphic that showed how neighborhoods that had the most food stamp recipients reported that 32 to 45 percent of the residents drank more than one sugar-sweetened beverage a day and experienced higher obesity rates. New York’s poorest households had 30 percent obesity compared with the wealthiest at 17 percent. This trend also reflected in the rate of type 2 diabetes, which was higher in poor residents (14 percent) compared with the wealthiest at 7 percent. “The use of Food Stamp benefits to support the purchase of sugar sweetened drinks not only contradicts the intent of this vital program, but it also subsidizes a serious public health epidemic,” said Paterson in a statement. “There is clear evidence that low-income individuals have higher rates of obesity and are more at risk of becoming obese than other groups. The serious chronic illnesses related to obesity – diabetes, cancer and heart disease – take a toll on our family, friends and neighbors, but also carry a cost that we all bear, as nearly half of the $147 billion spent nationally on treatment per year is paid by Medicaid and Medicare.” Obesity-related illness leads to nearly $8 billion in medical costs annually for New York state residents, according to the press release. The USDA runs the food stamp program, known as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. New York authorities say they seek to align the food stamps with USDA’s rules for the national school lunch program and the Women, Infants and Children program which does not allow for the purchase of sugary drinks. WIC provides foods and nutrition education for low-income pregnant and mothers to children under the age of five. Dr. Kelly Brownell, director of the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity at Yale University said excluding soda from food stamps program would not unfairly target the poor. "Using government funds to pay for things that so clearly contribute to ill health does not make sense, particularly when government agencies, including the USDA, are struggling to address the nation’s obesity problem.” Read his statement here.
Next entry »Teens with eating disorders may also self-injure
« Previous entryCDC: Achy joints on the rise in U.S.
|
  About this blog
Get a behind-the-scenes look at the latest stories from CNN Chief Medical Correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen and the CNN Medical Unit producers. They'll share news and views on health and medical trends - info that will help you take better care of yourself and the people you love. Recent Comments
 |
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||||
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
| Advertise with us | About us | Help | Advertising Practices
I think they should remove candy and chips also. I see so many people using their cards at convience stores and grocerie stores and sodas, candy and chips . I believe it should be only used for staples. Bread , meat ,rice , eggs etc etc. I know of many on goverment assistant that dont work and could work . They get dishearted with the goverment because they eat better than i do. That's my opionon and my opinion is suppose to matter ....... but does it really
I hope like hell none of the insensative low lifes on this forum ever get into the situation where they have to worry about where their next meal is coming from ..some of the b.s I've seen on this forum is totally unreal..rich get the working class all juiced up about the economy and perpatrate the lie that it's the poor who have taken this country down. and while all of the know-it-alls on this forum spouting b.s out every opening are using the poor as a scapegoat, the rich will be looting and pillaging...I seriously wonder if any of you people have ever seen the inside if a church or any other religious house for that matter..
So what would you propose? A progressive income redistribution?
Most of them are incredibly ignorant as well and don't realize just how fast they too can wind up with nothing. I myself just a couple years back had a pretty decent job making around $15 an hour (a lot for where I'm at) and even bought a house...but due to an injury I suffered as a teenager (getting hit by a car in the cross walk) I started to get progressively worse nerve pain and wasn't able to get proper pain meds. As a result I got in a nasty habit of "hiding the pain" by clenching down on my teeth as hard as I could. Unfortunately that in turn screwed my whole jaw/head up to the point where I now suffer from endless migraines (on top of all the fun nerve pain) which basically makes it wholly impossible to work at all. The horrible head pain isn't even what's preventing me from working so much as the horrible dizzyness, constant throwing up and eye stabbing pain from the light that comes with my migraines. I'm already up to taking around 40 Tylenol a day and have kidney and liver panels done every few months just to make sure it's not killing me...and even that's only enough to keep me semi-coherent through most of the day. Tried a lot of different migraine meds too, with mixed results, usually I take around 4 to 8 Fiorecet too in addition to the Tylenol.
Anyway, I wound up losing everything, my job, my house and now I primarily live out of my car, a 1979 Oldsmobeater. Getting food stamps was fairly easy, but it took me about a YEAR to get government medical assistance, was rejected twice, reapplied over and over and over again, appealed every rejection and had over a half dozen different doctors pleading with them to let me on the program before they ~finally~ relented. At this point I'm told it may be too late, that even if they do surgery the migraines and pain in my head may be permanent, which is really gonna suck for the government because they'll have to pay me disability now every month until the day I die, all because they were too damn stupid to get the ball rolling when they should have. I try to be optimistic though and I'm hoping surgery will at least relieve ~some~ of the horrible freakin misery.
The point is though, just because you're "well to do" today doesn't mean you will be tomorrow. One little medical snafu can rip your entire life to pieces and you'll literally lose everything. For someone like me I *RELY* on the caffeine from sodas in order to help try and relieve some of the suffering from the constant migraines.
How do you have the resources to be connected to the internet?
If you have internet access and the time to read CNN and comment, then you're not trying hard enough.
Go start a pron website or buy and sell on eBay.
If you're thirsty, just drink water. It's practically free (don't buy the bottled CR#P), and that way you have more foodstamps to buy cigarettes!
@H20: While this idea seems to have some merit, you're neglecting areas of the country that don't have access to public water systems. For example, we didn't have "city water" until 1998 – so we were forced to buy bottled water (in gallons). Why? Well the well was grossly shallow, in brackish water area(s), and the water contained ferris oxide and other harmful chemicals...
In Texas, it's 9.5 hours (~580 miles) between Austin and El Paso, with many communities living off of wells. What would your proposal to them be!? Remember, well water equivocates no flouride in the water.
People, people, people you are beginning to sound more ignorant with every word typed. As many payouts the federal government has given to Victims of 09/11, Victims of Hurrican Katrina, Victims of Afghanistan, Victims of (you choose the disaster/tragedy) and you are crying foul about soda or junk food that people below the poverty line are buying with foodstamps?? Well, switch places with one of them...YOU give up your high paying job to one family and you spend just three monhts in their world...just three months. You will have a completely different view of what foodstamps can actually buy. From a demographic perspective, most people who live in poverty do not have access to fresh markets or to grocery stores; therefore, they have to buy most of their food from a high cost convenience store. If New York really wants to reduce obesity, have them bring in fresh markets instead of shipping the food to Third World Countries. If New York really wants to reduce obesity, have them fund fitness programs for the obese. If New York really wants to reduce obesity, how about investing in educating those who do not know how to cook healthy dishes?
Americans make so many blantant assumptions about everbody based on nonsense! Anyone with a pea brain knows how the welfare system was started and last I checked, there hasn't been one individual who volunteered to switch places with someone less fortunate, other than a reality show. So unless you are willing to look outside of your red brick home, with hardwood floors, stop whining because YOU haven't lost a dime nor do you know what real poverty feels like.
Just commenting to say that is the best post I have read throughout this entire thing, thanks, and I could not have said it better myself.
If people are in poverty they need incentive to get out.
If they can't get out then they need to be put into more efficient circumstances (work camp, reservations, etc), or be put in the care of a private organization.
No one has the right to live off others for free. If you have money that you want to give then you're free to do so, but don't go using the government to steal mine.
@scrumboy: workcamps? reservations? So, now we're to allow ourselves to treat the poor and destitute, in a similar manner as the Nazis did to the Jews?
I find it odd, that people are willingly lumping themselves in a sort of class war, in a free economy. Hey, guess what: there's always going to be poor people! It's not a socialist economy; having no poor people is a socialist ideal.
I'm not saying that it's excusable or that it's "fair", but I think your approach would lead to someone abusing that system and systematically reducing the number of poor, in this country.
Also, since the unemployment rate's back up to 10%, most of the people are not poor by their own volition, so why is there so much discontent, towards them all? Have we, as a society, become so adept to generalizations, that we're willing to accuse a whole group, based on the actions of a few? Why can we not judge a person, based on merit, instead of a generalization!?
poor people on welfare have higher obesity rates because BAD FOOD, IS THE CHEAPEST FOOD. 1 onion, costs more than 1 box of generic mac n cheese. All fast foods have 1.00 or less menus. Cheap soda is 55c to 99c vs milk at over 2.00 a gallon. 1 bag of generic potatoe chips, 89c to 1.50 vs 1 bunch of fresh carrots at 2.oo or more.
It's a lot easier to fill a shopping cart (stomachs) full of crap than to buy fresh/normal nutritional food.
It's also a lot easier to live well with a decent job than relying on a system...
I firmly believe in restricting the list of acceptable items w/ food stamps however I think people will not be able to fill up..fresh food is expensive and what is the base for a single mom w/ 1 child...? take away the crap food and make her buy fresh and she will come up short...
I do believe drug testing should be mandatory for government assistance as well...
Regardless of what food stamps are used for the same amount of taxes are taken out of my check... So what a person is buying at the grocery store is irrelevant. If the fact that people use your tax dollars to buy soda upsets you then you should do a little research on what else your tax dollars go to… you would probably want to riot after you see what the majority of our tax dollars go to.
Those that make it to assistance will be entrapped with no way out. It's designed that way. God bless you.
I think that what the government is trying to do is commendable. However, it is all of our tax dollars and I personally am tired of the "babysitter" mentality that the government has taken over the last decade and a half. This is supposed to be a free country where people are given the freedom to make choices, whether good or bad, for themselves and their families. Having said that, I think a better compromising solution, would be to set a monetary limit on what can be spent on sugary items with no nutritional value per month. That way you still allow the freedom of the people to choose what's right for them, while lowering the amount of money that maybe used for these so called "luxuries" of food and drink. By compromising somewhat, the politicians can save face as can the opponents of this idea. I would also like to add, that it is easier to give away freedoms of choice than it is to ever get them back. Our government needs to deal with other more pressing needs, like getting people back to work which would lower the need for the food stamps in the first place, and quit trying to regulate the few freedoms that they still haven't illegally stolen from us. SEMPER FI!!!!
All of you are being selfish. I pay the taxes and I make 6 figures easy. But why complain, the gov. Is doing it for our future. Think about the kids, not the adults. The adults are already screwed so why not help the kids. As long as they are happy then they can grow up and I guarantee that at least 7 out of ten will grow up and not rely on taxes. Plus, why u crying, cause if they sell it 2 for 1 you will be quick to buy it.
I know I grew up on foodstamps
If we had a flat tax rate system, I would be more sympathetic towards their needs.
I happen to bee on food stamps, i dont like it man. But if you live in the ghetto everyone is out to get you so its hard to get out. Black peope need help here, if people would spend more money on schools, then wew ould be alot better off. I know alot of people on food stamps and you do have alot more money to spend on the stuff you need. I'm just trying to make it in this world, its harder for me becuase of where I live. I didnt grow up in no rich white place ot nothing like that but if rich people would have to go through the things we do, I dont think they would be so mad paying just a little more instead of raising taxes for the poor.
Brilliant!
Allowing people to purchase soda and junk food with food stamps is akin to paying taxes so someone on government assistance can smoke cigarettes for free. People DO NOT need soda. It is a luxury item. If they want to drink soda, then they can pay for it. Food assistance is for things like food, not an addictive drug that targets children and hooks them for the rest of their lives. Its very subtle, but for most soda drinkers, they are on some level, addicted to it. After all, it is just (sugar/high fructose corn syrup) and caffeine in a fun package. Why should tax payers have to subsidize this garbage?
When it all comes down to it, soda and alcohol are ,in all likely hood, top contributors to obesity, especially when combined with a sedentary lifestyle.
How about no Twinkies, Krimpets & HoHos? No potato chips & Bugles? No cash option so they can go out and buy cigarettes & beer? And if you come in with a Bluetooth in your ear you should be dropped off the system automatically. The Food Stamp program is one of the most abused in the country – and THAT, not hatred, is what has taxpayers so riled up and has led to such groups as the Tea Party.
Ignorance is bliss!! Do you know how many Military Personell are on foodstamps that also has a blue tooth? Do you know how many Seniors are on foodstamps that also has a blue tooth? Do you know how many Disabled Individuals are on foodstamps that also has a blue tooth? Just think before you type. THERE are LOVING PEOPLE in this world who sometimes donate to PEOPLE LESS FORTUNATE...i, e. at Christimas, church giveaways, for charities. You can't punish a person for having a blue tooth device in their ear...you are just plain ignorant or inhumane...choose your poison!!!!
Why the F are soldiers on food stamps? They get a salary don't they?
If they're on stamps because they had too many kids, then that's their own fault and has nothing to do with being a soldier.
What,s next,Steak,beef,pork
This is yet another way for the wrong people to have power to do the wrong things. So are they going to take Sugar it's self off of the food stamp program too? It's not only Carbonated Drinks that are making people Obese,You got cup cakes potato chips pizza, well I would say that 90% of the items that can be bought with food stamps are fattening. So I guess we are just going to have to CUT the food stamp program all together...you know it's bad enough that these people have to go and ask for the governments help to feed their families,Now you got these A-s-s-h-o-l-e-s telling them they can't buy soda or as we know it here in Georgia,or the South Cokes. I would say Go to H-E-L-L..it;s none of your d-a-m-n business what ANYONE feeds their family as long as it isn't poison...B-i-t-c-h-e-s
If you are walking into a grocery store with YOUR money, buy whatever you like. If you are walking into a grocery store with OUR money, then buy what you're allowed to buy and deal with it. Just take some of the cash that you were going to use on cigarettes and beer and buy some soda.
You want a soda pop a sport drink then do as I do Get a job and buy it. You cant afford to because you have a large family Soda is not good for baby or expectent mom Food stamps are to keep you healthy where do soft drinks fit that program
SNAP as to provide assistance to low or no income people or families. There are 39.7 million people in the US on the program. The program was established to provide substance, i.e. nutritional food, not junk food. You can't buy certain categories of items like fast food, liquor, cigarettes, etc.
Based on my observations at checkout counters, yo-ho's, candy, ice cream, and sodas should be eliminated from the snap program.
Your tax dollars pay for SNAP and will pay more for unhealthy Americans, so stop complaining we are picking on the poor!
You ought to keep your eyeballs to yourself if it bothers you so much. I suppose you can automatically tell a person situation by looking at their purchases and the fact they have a SNAP card.
And why do people keep saying "your tax dollars" or "my tax dollars." You know, they're not yours or mine, they are the government's. I wish they wouldn't waste them on stupid programs which are actually discriminatory against less fortunate people.
i see nothing wrong with that at all. actually all packaged foods and red meats should be added to the list of soda as well as coffee tea or any other type of luxury food. why (now that everyone wants to flame me now) may you ask? us american citizens need to truly know and understand what socialism is. (because i dont think many do as they promote it). it is a form of welfare and when you go begging the govt to take care of you you need to learn that they now own you as long as you are taking from everyone else. plus it will save some money and maybe make some shed the burger britches and fat pants.
While their at it they should ban selling chocolate milk in public schools. I specifically asked that my kids only be able to purchase white milk. Do you think that worked? No. I do what I can to encourage my kids to make good food choices. Unless your with them 24/7 its a struggle.
Good. I'm sure the beverage corporations are going to be p*ssed.
Once again, big brother wants to run your your life. I have a diabetic daughter that drinks sugar free soda all the time. She cannot drink fruit juices anytime she wants. There is no way they could distinguish between regular and diet sodas on this. That might discriminate against someone. What's next, no cookies for the little fat kids. Government should try running the business of government, not peoples lives.
No offense but the government should make you big azz get out and get some exercise. That should help keep people with real jobs from paying for your health care, Now waddle you big butt down to the track and do a few laps
Yeah, like they don't have anything better to do than try to make poor people feel different and ostracized. This is discrimination against a class of people, pure and simple. It should not be tolerated in this country.
Actually, my big azz, as you say, goes to work everyday. I have a good job. I also have enough sense to realize everyone who drinks soda is not a fat azz. You generalize so easily. Give us a few facts about you and I'm sure there could be someone on here tell you what a pathetic azz you are.
Please do some research on diet soda. It is just as unhealthy as regular soda. It affects appetite and metabolism in a very negative way. People with diabetes should be drinking water, unsweetened tea, and perhaps a cup of unsweetened coffee in the mornings if you want it. I don't have diabetes but drink only these (the majority of the time) and although I thought I would miss juice, soda, etc. I found I do not. Keep a pitcher of cold mint ice-tea in the fridge for when you/your daughter feel like soda.
One commenter mentioned setting limits on the amount of "junk" that can be bought on food stamps. I think that is a good idea. Say 10%? Less? More? Exactly what items should be considered junk?
I think a lot of food stamp recipients spend all their food stamps at the beginning of the month. Why? What I have noticed is that often (not always) they are either traveling by taxi to do their shopping, or may have a junker car, or they can't afford the gas. I do live in a fairly rural area so that is probably why I see that. How long will fresh veggies and fruit stay fresh? Not long, certainly not for a month. I think that contributes to the purchase of the frozen pizzas and mac and cheese, ramen noodles ect.
I don't think there is an easy answer here, but setting limits is a good start.
Hay man look everybody knows that skim milk don't go with vodka.
Only the most basic, tasteless food which supports life should be part of the food stamp program.
The more uncomfortable poverty is, the more people will try to get out of it.
If you want to give nicer things, then do it on your own dime through a church or some other private organization.
How 'bout we give them your job. I'm sure they'd be willing to work cheaper than you. Then they could help decide what you could buy at the supermarket.
I just wanted to dispute the idea that soda/pop and candy bars are "luxuries". What does a six-pack of soda cost? $2 or $3 at the most? That's hardly a luxury item. It is, however, an extremely sugary drink that has virtually zero nutritional value. Sure, they taste good... a pretty common trait for things made with a crapload of sugar. Besides... even if you do want to consider them luxuries, the food-stamp program isn't designed to provide that for those who need it. People using food-stamps, like anybody else in this country, are free to use any cash they come up with to buy whatever they want. I can't eat filet mignon as frequently as someone that makes a significantly larger income than I do. I don't believe it's the government's responsibility to provide that "luxury" for me.
I think this is an excellent idea that would in no way deter from the real goal of the food-stamp program. That would be to provide those in "need" of assistance the things that they are actually in need of.
Yeah, let's throw them sacks of grain like they do in Africa or to natural disaster survivors. Everything else is a luxury. No need to send them to the supermarket to feel like real people.
TSK, you unintentionally make a good point. When I was young, I had to receive some assistance once. Once. That assistance came in the form of handouts from a food program–today I have no idea what entity, public or private, was running it. I got a box of powered milk, a block of cheese, a box of generic corn flakes like cereal and a few other similar items. Was it good? No. Did it fill my stomach? You bet. That help was very much appreciated and got me through a tight spot. That's what our programs should be like. Pandering to whether or not a person might feel ashamed that they are receiving government assistance should NOT be part of the discussion. If you're ashamed of it, then don't do it. It truly should be a program for those in need and when you are in need you don't have the luxury to harbor those kinds of feelings.
Sodas are a good start, but you would have to BAN meat, entirely, to make it an effective approach in obesity rate reductions.
Why? Well, poor people (including people on welfare) purchase the cheapest meats, which have the highest fat content. It's because the meat with the highest fat content has the lowest price per pound; it's the more bang for your buck precept.
It makes a moot point to say "you're going to eat healthy" and not even consider that one of the major food groups has the most fat content, and isn't even being addressed.
In the arguments for dental health, it's spot on; but the argument for attacking obesity and calorie/sugar content is quite fallible, when it doesn't include all the variables.
Nice of you to want to ban any item at any time of your choosing because you know better than anyone else. This is exactly what the New York politicians are proposing. You think it will stop at sodas? It's just the tip of the iceberg. Everything will be up for review. In other words, this whole idea is extremely misguided and discriminatory.
@TSK: I was pointing to the fallibility of it, because it just seems to address sodas, as a causal factor – and doesn't even consider any other variable for the obesity issue.
Yes, it is fallible. I think it best not to get started down that road.
There are many examples of situations where deserving recipients should and do become recipients of government aid and I don't have a problem with that. But, it is the programs created by our politicians that are flawed. They are over-simplistic in their analysis and excessively complicated in their execution. I have watched people at the grocery store buy their groceries with food stamps and then pay for their booze and tobacco with cash. What on earth makes our politicians think that this will be any different? Besides, if anyone thinks that this will be the magical panacea that will solve obesity for all, or even a measurable number, of people receiving benefits, they are beyond over-simplistic and are in fact just flailing about taking action in order to appear to be doing something. And one person will say that this change helped them lose weight and our politicians will bandy that about as evidence of the success of their program when in reality they are just causing unproductive churn and change that consumes the tax payer dollar while providing minimal measurable benefit to our society, rich and poor alike. As to the specifics of this proposal, I had a health teacher tell me in class once that it's not what you eat, it's what you do that matters. Now, I know that's not entirely true, but approaching the obesity problem from that perspective dramatically changes the results. With respect to obesity, what kind of calories you eat is far less important than how many you eat..and then how many you burn. Whether those calories are in a can of soda or a glass of all-natural juice doesn't make a whit of difference towards how much weight you will gain or lose. So, instead of looking for simplistic solutions like not-allowing people on food stamps to buy sodas with those food stamps, our well-paid politicians need to be developing real programs that will actually have an impact on the problems of society. Controls like this don't work because they are too easily circumvented. But, carefully designed incentives can and do work. Provide some sort of benefit for businesses that improve the health of the poor and provide a benefit directly to the poor for improving their own health. I don't have the answer, but I do know that it takes more creativity than banning food stamps from being used to purchase soda.
First off, I am a 26 year old single male, and I lost my job at Blockbuster in January after working hard for 3 years since our store closed down. I support myself and I have no family or friends to rely on. I been looking for a new job ever since with no luck. A little inside information: My rent is $500.00 a month, Electricity is $30.00 a month, Internet $50.00 a month, Phone $27.00 a month, previous school loan payment is $50.00 a month, Gym 55.00 a month which equates to $712.00 in regular bills every month. I get $195.00 in Unemployment every week which amounts to $780.00 per month. After paying all those bills that leaves me a mere $68.00 dollars per month for all my other living expenses such as laundry soap, shavers, T.P., food, etc. I went to a hospital in February because I was sick and had no medical insurance, so now I have a $3,000 medical bill on top of all that. In May, I painstakingly got myself to go to the county social services building and applied for foodstamps. My allotment is $68.00 a month. Now I am grateful for the extra help because every penny counts but any adult who solely supports themselves knows 68.00 for food per month is pretty much jack shitt in trying to buy nutritious food with that amount. So if you want to maximize the amount of food you get, many people go to the dollar store where food is the cheapest yet the most un-nutritious but you get more for your dollar essentially. Now while I do agree it's kind of stupid to buy soda with foodstamps, you can see why people do. Soda contains caffeine and sugar which is a fast acting carb, and for $1.00 at the dollar store you can buy a whole 2-liter to last a few days. So is it fair to say you can't also buy Coffee, Hot Cocoa, 100% Orange/Fruit Juice? (even though it's a natural fruit juice it contains ample amounts of sugar.) How about sweetened cereal? It contains just as much sugar as a cup of soda. People need to see the other side of things and not be narrow minded without knowing the facts. I'm nutrient conscious myself yet I feel it is a choice that if people want to buy soda with food stamps that is their prerogative. They have a reason and a right to do so. Poor people pay into the food stamp program as well if they hold a job. I worked all my life and this is the first time I ever asked for any kind of food assistance. With that being said, I poured hundreds of dollars into the food stamp program with my tax withholdings throughout the years I've worked so don't I have a right to say what I can or cannot buy? I go to Target to buy Nutritious food and after buying a bag of chicken breasts, whole wheat bread, FF milk, cottage cheese, FF yogurt, oatmeal, more than 1/4 of my Food Stamp allotment is gone with enough food to barely last me 5 days. Nutritious=More expensive. Plain and simple. If they really want Americans to eat healthy, than they need to rework the food industries logic of pricing. Healthy food needs to be cheap and plentiful while junk food needs to be expensive and more luxurious. Until they do, nothing is going to ever change for the better.
Cancel the gym membership and Internet until you are "back on your feet." Really, what do you expect people to tell you? You expect people to feel for you? Many of us are out of work with no unemployment benefits.
Lavendar, The internet is how I search and apply for jobs, pay all my bills online, submit my unemployment weekly, and contact friends/family (I have a pre-pay phone with a small amt of minutes solely to use if someone calls me for a job interview or for an emergency. It is not used to converse.) The internet is no longer for entertainment purposes in this culture, it is essentially required in American culture if you want to get anywhere. You try asking a business for a paper job application and see what they say. Most all jobs are applied for over the internet. As far as the gym goes, why should I cancel it? The government after all wants Americans to be healthy and I'm doing my part in staying healthy by working out. Maybe I should get a voucher, eh? For doing my part in fighting obesity since the government is so concerned about sodas, etc. And I don't want any sympathy from anyone, I don't get it anyways, why would I expect it now?
Very well written...I hope you find a job soon. Peace & Love.
Common sense? Well, it's about time!
How many people kept their jobs with the big bailouts to financial institutions in New York? Massive dollar amounts taken from the taxpayers given to corporations in "public assistance" programs and now people who are working don't want to buy the nameless, faceless "poor" a rootbeer.
Bloomberg and Paterson are nasty little rich men holding a Mickey Mouse court being paid for by its citizens.
Most of you people on here amuse me. On Foodstamps because you want to be? Yes I'm sure some people are. Bottom line is most don't want to be. And all you people that say "Find a job!" You try finding a job in a small town, I personally would LOVE to find a job. I'm not on foodstamps, and I can't get any help where I live unless a doctor says I cannot work. I believe people should be able to buy whatever they want. Soda is one of the little pleasures that they can afford... and I think this is down right lunacy. People are overweight because some can't exercise and some choose not to. Don't blame soda and candy. It's the peoples choice.
I used to be a single mom...made just too much to qualify for any kind of assistance because I was generally working 50 hours a week. Drove a piece of crap car because that's all I could afford. And I have to admit, sometimes, when I would stop at the store on my way home from work and load up my cart with store brand and generic stuff – yes, it would irritate me when I'd see a food stamp cart filled up with NAME BRAND convenience stuff. Almost never generic/store brand. (Why is that?) It made me question what I was working 50 hours a week for. :/
And yes, years ago I was in the position to need food stamps for a little while too – so I KNOW how demoralizing the whole thing can be. I'm not sitting here looking down on anyone from some kind of high and mighty position here. I also don't begrudge help to folks who genuinely need it. And yes, I volunteer, and did when I was a single mom, too.
All I ask from those of you on the "other side" is that maybe you take a couple of moments and look at it from my perspective too, and ask yourself if I might have had a little bit of a reason to get irritated when I was loading up with a cart full of generic and store brand stuff and working 50 hours a week while those in front of me in line were buying the most expensive, name brand stuff with food stamps. I understand that every once in a while everyone wants a "treat," but most of the time it wasn't even generic soda, or generic ice cream.
Can you understand why that would bug me? I didn't have the option to buy the six dollar Blue Bell ice cream. That was me in line behind you with the Kroger brand which cost a third as much.
Thats right, people on food stamps are not smart enough to know better, so we help them make better choices. Maybe drug testing would help them too. I know most people on food stamps don't do drugs. So they would be happy to go along with the drug testing.
I know the mexican drug cartens would finance drug testing for food stamp reipients.
I think many people are missing the point. The food stamp program is now called SNAP – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. Emphasis on SUPPLEMENTAL.
Some of the commentors speak as if the government is supposed to be supplying ALL groceries for the recipients. This is not the case (although from what I've personally seen, at least some of the recipients are allowed more than I can afford to put on groceries). This is supposed to be a helping hand, not an all-encompassing providence.
No people are being told that they can't have soft drinks. They are being told that if they want them, or if their children want them, they will have to pay for them. Not only do I agree, I believe this should be expanded. And like politicians terms should be, limit this to four years maximum lifetime.
So Clint – the seniors who are living on a fixed income, our young soldiers, disabled people, and so many others should just get the boot and told to figure it out if their "situation" hasn't improved within 4 years?
Like it or not SNAP fills a huge need for many people who legitimately need the program – even for long term scenarios.
Yes, everyone knows someone who was dressed to the 9s with a ton of crap in the basket at the store who pulled out their food stamp card. It's a common and pervasive stereotype. But to apply that stereotype to all welfare recipients across the board is akin to calling all blacks criminals, or all mexicans illegals (see where we're going here..).
No Soda is not a necessary food item. Yeah, it's even sort of a luxury. But I prefer to think that most people who need food stamps actually *need* it, so why not let them have a coke. It may be the only thing nice that they can get.
So anyone who, like myself, is permanently disabled (and certainly hoping to live more than just another 4 years!) and whose Disability checks will never be enough to get them above the poverty line should just be told to go to Hell and fend for themselves after 4 years? "We'll help feed you for 4 years but after that you'll have to decide between starving to death because you've no money left to buy food or freezing to death with a full stomach 'cause you bought food and then had no money to pay your utilities or your rent?"
I worked for 25 years. I paid my taxes. Now I'm incapable of working – ever again – and some of those tax dollars are finally helping me. They were ALL that was helping me during the two-and-a-half YEARS it took to get my Social Security Disability benefits, and I had to take my state's Welfare agency to court to even get that. I have a GENUINE NEED for the assistance I get and that need will continue until I die or win the Lotto. Until you've been on this side of the coin your ill-informed opinions on the subject should be kept to yourself.
This article brings about an interesting point, but hardly scratches the surface of some of the underlying problems. Food stamps are used by a variety of people (single moms, elderly, down on their luck folks, and lifetime welfare recipients). The lifer's (people on the system 2+ years) need to be screened by internal processes after a certain period of time to determine just how "effectively" their money is being used. I'm sympathetic to welfare's cause, and don't mind helping those who have trouble helping themselves, but I think we can all agree that as we look around the grocery store the first week of the month we all get a little bit disgusted with what we are seeing. Just a few days ago I watched a woman with several kids use two separate government assistance cards to buy, literally, seven cubes of soda, five boxes of sugary cereal, doritos, and a half a dozen other types of garbage food. I refuse to let anyone stand there and tell me that she (or anyone else) doesn't know that fruits and veggies aren't a better choice for her and her children, she simply doesn't care. It's a sense of entitlement. The reason I know this was from the way that she pulled our her new $200 dollar cell phone and started talking to her friend about the party they would be attending that evening. She was also rocking Sean John, some Air Nikes, and a gold chain. This bothers me, as it should bother everyone. We need to begin auditing the purchases of these people after X amount of time on the system, to begin sorting out those who truly need help from those who are helping themselves....Not to mention those who simply sell their food stamp cards to others for cash to buy drugs.
How about drug testing for our political leaders & all their cronies ?
I was on food stamps for a while after losing my job and didn't have problems buying healthy food. I clipped coupons, ate a lot of vegetables, and flavored my water with lemon or oranges if I could afford them that month. I noticed something a lot of people probably didn't while reading the comments. A lot of people are saying they should be able to use their stamps the way the choose. Internet access is something that has to be paid for. While on stamps I had to give up my internet access to make sure I had enough cash for tissue and things of that nature. A lot of people that get food stamps have never worked so they haven't paid a dime in taxes. It's time to get your priorities straight. Things are tough now and I would love someone to buy me a nice pack of chicken breasts instead of the legs I can afford. I'll drink water anyday!
headlines say Republican Senate nominee Sharron Angle's latest television spot doesn't hold back, accusing her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, of voting "to use taxpayer dollars to pay for Viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders." can't buy pop with food stamps FOCK YOU!!
The gal "BETSY" that responded to WELFARE MOM" called it dead on. There really are two classes of recipient. There's the temorary recipient, that has worked, normally earned their own way, and then fallen on hard times, and then the permanent , often multi-generational recipients that live welfare as a lifestyle. There are lots of these temporary recipients right now due to the economy.
Unfortunately, you can't practically have a dual system for these two groups of people. I don't think government should fund junk food and soda. However, what's to keep recipients from pulling out that wad of cash for Cigs, booze, sode, and Cheetos. A lot of the permanent recipients are experts at working the system to max the bennies.
My problem with Welfare (permenent) is that people feel that their fellow citizens (i.e the government) owe them something. I much prefer handling this through charitable organizations, and churches. When someone personally helps you out, it is accepted with gratitude. When the government helps, it is merely assumed that you got what was coming to you. That is the mindset of the permanent recipients that can never get off the system, I'm not talking about anyone that is disabled, or recently fallen on hard times. I'm talking about able bodied folks that through good times and bad don't keep jobs and work the system. Being grateful leads to independence, feeling entitled only feeds the cycle.
Let's just say that while soda is bad for you as well as 90% of everything else in the supermarket, there are no nutritional health programs associated to receiving food stamps. Taking out soda alone is not going to solve the problem. How about we provide knowledge to the poor at the same time giving them assistance, which by the way the pay for too when they get NY taxes taken out of the paycheck every week, to not only mentally feel better about yourself, but then transfer that to the physical form. Also take into account people, the pschy of the poor are filled with micro-aggressions and insecurities. Don't feel sorry for them, just know that can be any one of us at some point in our lives and its the support from community that gets you through. As a taxpayer that receives food stamps and buys soda and gatorade with it, I tell Bloomberg, grow up and educate your billionaire behind on how to help people instead of driving them out!
I grocery shop for county assisted people. One person buys a flat of off brand tuna fish for her cat with food stamps. And I say to myself, my cats don't eat straight tuna and this is my tax dollars. What is wrong with this picture.
Big brother is here.
Our government passed NAFTA, and my job (of 17 years) went to Mexico.
I am now getting food stamps.
Should i have gotten rid of my cat when i lost my job ?
I cant buy cat food. In fact i cant buy toilet paper, bar soap, shaving cream, vitamins, alka seltzer.
We elect people to do a job, they are NOT doing the job we elect them to do
they are sticking thier nose into our every day lives, and telling us how to live.
That soda i just had with my ham sandwich is not going to kill me.
Enough of big brother before they take over everything.
Want a soda?
Get a job
The feds need to take over NY fast. Whats next, Tell people how to spend unemployment check? It's not the city, state or fed to tell people how to spend their aid checks. Do we tell SS/SSI what they can spend or buy on? If NY is so healthy conscience, how about getting rid of your polluters, or how about all those Wine in the Fingerlakes??
I sick and tired of these Health Nuts, and the medical field telling people how to live their lives. Who cares if eating pork is bad, or drinking sodas is bad, it my RIGHT! This is suppose to be a FREE country with FREE states that belongs to it...Lets start acting like it
When you can float your own tail is when you have the right to eat or drink what you please. When aid also known as tax dollars have to float you and your family's tail then you will be told what you can and cannot buy with food stamps. Want a soda? go to work.
The recipients can eat whatever they want if they use their money. I'm tired of free people making free choices that cost the rest of the citizenry our hard earned money. Freedom to choose means means to choose wrong and accept the consequences.
Anyone who has worked as a cashier in a grocery store has seen some of this. I saw the cadillacs, the junk food, the steaks, etc., while i was buying the sale and generic items, ground beef, and other economical things. Not to say everyone on food stamps is like that. But some people think the bad ones don't exist and that it's something self-righteous people make up. It always irked me that they couldn't buy soap, toiletries and detergents, but could buy junk with the food stamps. The system is so messed up. as a single mom with 1 child after my divorce, i applied for food stamps myself, but because i was working, only qualified for a very small amount.
Everyone that wakes up every single day goes to work ect,during their 24hrs is doing and participating in something that isn't good for us. I could be here all if you want me to be specific,We have no right to decide what food folks buy with their food stamps
Nice name, do you drink soda with that mouth? When you go to work and contribute you can buy soda, when your on the dole you cannot. Pretty simple. We have every right to decide. Otherwise, lets make it so crack dealers can accept food stamps.
So by your logic because "we all do something that is bad for us" is the bargaining chip that makes this behavior condonable by the rest of us? You have to know that the system is abused, don't you?
The foodstamp program has become a joke. If you need the assistance and dont abuse it thats fine. I understand people need the help, and its great that we do have programs that can help. But i worked in a grocery store for six years. And the people on food stamps would by soda, junk food, the best cuts of meat, shrimp. Yet their kids have worn out, hand me down dirty clothes on and look like they havent showered in a week? The program needs to be revamped and monitored like WIC where you are told exactly what your allowed to buy and how much of it. The only way WIC can be abused is if the cashier or store allows it. People need to stop depending on the government to take care of them and pay thier way through life. Pretty soon, that help wont be there because you leeches sucked it dry. Get up off you lazy butts and get a job, Wal-Mart and McDonalds are always hiring. Again I think its great we have these programs for those who are having a temporary hardship, who really need help for a short time, and DONT ABUSE the system.