What's new
Fantasy Football - Footballguys Forums

Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.

New York Republican lawmaker wants to ban welfare recipients from buying steak and lobster (1 Viewer)

MattFancy

MattFancy

Footballguy
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/politics/ct-welfare-steak-lobster-ban-new-york-20160223-story.html

"You can be poor. You can eat steak.

But a New York Republican wants to ensure that you can't be poor and eat steak on the government's dime.

If the bill introduced by Sen. Patty Ritchie passes, families participating in the state's Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would be restricted from purchasing "luxury food items" like steak and lobster.
The proposal falls in line with a decades-old conservative fear that people use government assistance to purchase high-end foods. A strikingly similar proposal popped up last year in Missouri last year and another was signed into law by Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback, R, in April.

The New York SNAP program already restricts recipients from purchasing alcoholic beverages, cigarettes, pet food and hot or prepared foods, according to the state. But under the new proposal, non-essential items would be broadened to include things such as soda, candy and cake, along with luxury foods, according to a statement released by Ritchie, who represents Oswegatchie in St. Lawrence County.
Essential items, her proposal notes, include "milk, juice, fruits, vegetables, granola bars, peanut butter and dozens of other healthy foods."

 
Saw a bunch of people on my Facebook talking about this article this morning. Apparently poor people aren't allowed to buy "luxury" food like steak and lobster. They are only allowed to eat chicken and ground beef if they want to eat meat.

 
It comes across as extreme, sure, but I totally get the logical thinking behind it.

When I was a kid at my first job at a grocery store, I saw TONS of people buying top end food (and even tobacco products back then) using government assistance food stamps and vouchers and then I would wheel it out and load it into their brand new cars.  I remember telling my dad about it and he said (I was 16 at the time) "Yeah, I could probably buy you a brand new car, too, if I didn't have to buy food for 5 people". 

So I get it:  if you get help from the government, then by all means, let them help keep you safe and dry...but don't expect the tax payers to put you up in the Hilton and bring room service.

 
You realize these people get a set amount of money? If someone wastes their food stamps on luxury goods, it's not like they get more money than the family that eats beans and rice.

 
Shutout said:
It comes across as extreme, sure, but I totally get the logical thinking behind it.

When I was a kid at my first job at a grocery store, I saw TONS of people buying top end food (and even tobacco products back then) using government assistance food stamps and vouchers and then I would wheel it out and load it into their brand new cars.  I remember telling my dad about it and he said (I was 16 at the time) "Yeah, I could probably buy you a brand new car, too, if I didn't have to buy food for 5 people". 

So I get it:  if you get help from the government, then by all means, let them help keep you safe and dry...but don't expect the tax payers to put you up in the Hilton and bring room service.
Click to expand...
I do agree that the current welfare system could use some fixing. If you want to say they can't buy cigarettes and alcohol with the food stamps, that's one thing. But to say, "Oh you're on food stamps? Please shop in this section with all the crappy processed foods and cheap stuff. Please refrain from buying the healthy foods. Those are only for rich people."

 
Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:

  • Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
  • Any nonfood items, such as:
  • pet foods  
  • soaps, paper products   
  • household supplies
  • Vitamins and medicines
  • Food that will be eaten in the store
  • Hot foods
 
Many SNAP recipients live in food deserts anyway.  Good luck finding a prime steak or fresh lobster tail at the local bodega.  This is a pretty dumb proposal.

 
pantagrapher said:
Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:

  • Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
  • Any nonfood items, such as:
  • pet foods  
  • soaps, paper products   
  • household supplies
  • Vitamins and medicines
  • Food that will be eaten in the store
  • Hot foods
Click to expand...
Assuming the recipients are on state insurance too, why wouldn't the state want them to get vitamins and medicines? Is that some veiled way to prevent them from buying prophylactics (even though the state should encourage that too)? And why not hot foods? Those rotisserie chickens are like 6 bucks and feed two. So dumb. And calling all steak "luxury" is silly when many cuts are under ten per pound and, again, is healthy. 

 
Zow said:
And calling all steak "luxury" is silly when many cuts are under ten per pound and, again, is healthy. 
Click to expand...
$10/lb is expensive as hell if you're living on a budget that qualifies for TANF.

(Still an unnecessary policy, of course).

 
Seems like a waste of time. They need to crack down on places that do sell prohibited items with EBT and overall EBT fraud.

 
MattFancy said:
I do agree that the current welfare system could use some fixing. If you want to say they can't buy cigarettes and alcohol with the food stamps, that's one thing. But to say, "Oh you're on food stamps? Please shop in this section with all the crappy processed foods and cheap stuff. Please refrain from buying the healthy foods. Those are only for rich people."
Click to expand...
I think we agree in principal but have different experiences forming our opinions.

Of course every person has the right to eat nutritionally and healthy but there are factors that are playing into this and are very real. 

Mainly, we all live with natural consequences.  Whatever the scenario is that put them in a position to require assistance that comes from the government (and from other working citizens) is what forms part of the limitations on them.  Same for you and me.  If you, today, found out you had HIV, you would be limited in seeking treatment by the amount of resources you have.  Nobody is telling you that you can't have a right to choose it in any way you want and have the best service available but the fact is you likely don't have the same resources as Magic Johnson did.  Now, can you choose to sell your house and use that money for treatment also? Sure. But you don't want to do that. 

This is where my biases kick in, I admit, but in my experience, I RARELY see a person who is using food stamps and vouchers who doesn't have a cell phone, a car, and quite honestly, most people I see either have nice, clean, expensive shoes or purses or fashionable glasses or their nails done, etc.  In most cases, what I see where I live (and I'm sure it can be different, location to location) is I don't see welfare recipients choosing to do without cars/insurance/cell phones, etc. in order to make the decision to upgrade from tv dinners to fresh poultry. I see people settling into a lifestyle where the food stamps are an ongoing subsidy that helps them free up money to have all the other things.  

 
Zow said:
Assuming the recipients are on state insurance too, why wouldn't the state want them to get vitamins and medicines? Is that some veiled way to prevent them from buying prophylactics (even though the state should encourage that too)? And why not hot foods? Those rotisserie chickens are like 6 bucks and feed two. So dumb. And calling all steak "luxury" is silly when many cuts are under ten per pound and, again, is healthy. 
Click to expand...
maybe meds & vitamins fall under different govt benefit. You would think that with a limited budget for healthy foods vitamins would be needed for families in snap

 
Shutout said:
I think we agree in principal but have different experiences forming our opinions.

Of course every person has the right to eat nutritionally and healthy but there are factors that are playing into this and are very real. 

Mainly, we all live with natural consequences.  Whatever the scenario is that put them in a position to require assistance that comes from the government (and from other working citizens) is what forms part of the limitations on them.  Same for you and me.  If you, today, found out you had HIV, you would be limited in seeking treatment by the amount of resources you have.  Nobody is telling you that you can't have a right to choose it in any way you want and have the best service available but the fact is you likely don't have the same resources as Magic Johnson did.  Now, can you choose to sell your house and use that money for treatment also? Sure. But you don't want to do that. 

This is where my biases kick in, I admit, but in my experience, I RARELY see a person who is using food stamps and vouchers who doesn't have a cell phone, a car, and quite honestly, most people I see either have nice, clean, expensive shoes or purses or fashionable glasses or their nails done, etc.  In most cases, what I see where I live (and I'm sure it can be different, location to location) is I don't see welfare recipients choosing to do without cars/insurance/cell phones, etc. in order to make the decision to upgrade from tv dinners to fresh poultry. I see people settling into a lifestyle where the food stamps are an ongoing subsidy that helps them free up money to have all the other things.  
Click to expand...
I remember back when I was in 6th/7th grade (14-15 years ago), I was helping a local church hand out food for Thanksgiving. We were actually going to the peoples' houses and delivering the food. I remember going to a small apartment complex in the area. Not the nicest looking place. We walked in with a bunch of food and they were really excited and thankful about it. It really looked like they needed it. One of our other stops was at a couple's house. We pull up, there is a Corvette in the driveway and you can see through the window they had a big screen TV (back then it wasn't as common to see big screens). It seemed like we were annoying them by dropping off the food. So, yes, I've seen it from both sides of people that really do need the help and the people who seem to be taking advantage of it.

 
HellToupee said:
maybe meds & vitamins fall under different govt benefit. You would think that with a limited budget for healthy foods vitamins would be needed for families in snap
Click to expand...
Typically, the medical assistance side is going to cover that, especially for children under 18 where there are specific, outline vouchers on things that the parent must do and buy for the child's nutrition and ongoing medical good being. 

To understand this "culture", you have to walk in the shoes and work in the environment and, quite honestly, you have to become a bit of a cynic and skeptic because if you spend time in it, you see what happens when the recipients (some, not all of course) begin to figure out ways to skirt the system.  There are people who collect enough food stamps to feed themselves and three kids but then skimp by on the cheapest, lowest cost, non-nutritional meals they can (by choice) because they sell the value of their stamps for a reduced price to convert to cash (sadly, in most cases, to buy things they can't buy with their EBT card or stamps..like alcohol, drugs, gasoline, guns). 

It seems the more the system tries to be humane and save people from themselves or at least give their children a fighting chance in life, the more some people try to get around it.

 
pantagrapher said:
You realize these people get a set amount of money? If someone wastes their food stamps on luxury goods, it's not like they get more money than the family that eats beans and rice.
Click to expand...
What happens when they run out of money because they used it on steak and lobster?  They will just starve???

We should probably give them more money.

 
pantagrapher said:
Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:

  • Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco
  • Any nonfood items, such as:
  • pet foods  
  • soaps, paper products   
  • household supplies
  • Vitamins and medicines
  • Food that will be eaten in the store
  • Hot foods
Click to expand...
The pet foods thing is kinda interesting.  I spent a day with the local Meals on Wheels recently, one of the largest in the country, and they told us about how they started serving pet meals along with the regular meals within the last few years.  Why?  Because they found that the poor elderly people were damn near starving themselves to death by sharing portions of their meals with their pets, because they can't afford pet food.  Heartbreaking.

 
Nothing like a good scapegoat to keep everyone's minds off things that actually matter!

Yep, poor people buying Lobster. Definitely the cause of everything bad in this country.

 
People gaming the system really seems to bother us more than it does in other places. How much fraud really goes on? 

 
Not a huge issue, but I don't appreciate money coming out of my pocket for someone else's steak and lobster, when I rarely even buy that type of stuff.  If you want that type of luxury, pay for it yourself, but people just love be entitled to certain luxuries in life regardless of their financial situation.  That's what is wrong with America.   

 
Gustavo Fring said:
Not a huge issue, but I don't appreciate money coming out of my pocket for someone else's steak and lobster, when I rarely even buy that type of stuff.  If you want that type of luxury, pay for it yourself, but people just love be entitled to certain luxuries in life regardless of their financial situation.  That's what is wrong with America.   
Click to expand...
Hello, exactly.

 
Sometimes steak is on sale. My grocery store is fairly fancy but it always has a stack of old, cheap steaks they're desperate to sell at a huge discount while they can. Also, I'm in the midwest so there's rarely any fresh lobster here. 

 
Gustavo Fring said:
Not a huge issue, but I don't appreciate money coming out of my pocket for someone else's steak and lobster, when I rarely even buy that type of stuff.  If you want that type of luxury, pay for it yourself, but people just love be entitled to certain luxuries in life regardless of their financial situation.  That's what is wrong with America.   
Click to expand...
I theory I agree but its a huge slippery slope. Yuuuge 

 
Gustavo Fring said:
Not a huge issue, but I don't appreciate money coming out of my pocket for someone else's steak and lobster, when I rarely even buy that type of stuff.  If you want that type of luxury, pay for it yourself, but people just love be entitled to certain luxuries in life regardless of their financial situation.  That's what is wrong with America.   
Click to expand...
Delayed gratification has been completely removed from the playbook of most folks.

 
pantagrapher said:
Sometimes steak is on sale. My grocery store is fairly fancy but it always has a stack of old, cheap steaks they're desperate to sell at a huge discount while they can. Also, I'm in the midwest so there's rarely any fresh lobster here. 
Click to expand...
So maybe make it a $/lb regulation?

If people don't want to play by those rules, then by all means they don't have to take the handout.

 
pantagrapher said:
You realize these people get a set amount of money? If someone wastes their food stamps on luxury goods, it's not like they get more money than the family that eats beans and rice.
Click to expand...
This is the key point.  The government takes all of the financial information provided to them, compares the situation to values they have calculated and doles out a set amount of assistance so the family can substantially feed itself for the month.  If a person is using government assistance to purchase out of budget items, they either can not manage their money or do not need the assistance in the first place.

It never fails that on the beginning of the month I will see a mother in a convenience store, which is not really known for selling discount items, running up a $50+ bill on energy drinks, chips, tasty cakes .... and then whipping out a foodstamp card to pay for it.

 
I don't see a problem with giving people that incapable of taking care of themselves some guidelines. 

 
pantagrapher said:
Sometimes steak is on sale. My grocery store is fairly fancy but it always has a stack of old, cheap steaks they're desperate to sell at a huge discount while they can. Also, I'm in the midwest so there's rarely any fresh lobster here. 
Click to expand...
Good point , I've seen more expensive cuts near sell by date deeply discounted . In the summer one chain near me always has 1lb lobsters for $3.99 and $4.99. Now fresh haddock & scallops are way expensive 

 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Users who are viewing this thread

Total: 2 (members: 0, guests: 2)
Top