EBT spending spree?

Swank Force One wrote:

Bobzilla wrote: i'M 100% for mandatory BC until you can provide proof that A.) you're not retarded and 2.) you can and will provide for your child.

3) Must have blond hair 4) Blue eyes

How about 1.) Must be employed and not currently receiving assistance to stay afloat and B.) Not be mentally challenged and iii.) actually WANT to have a child.

EDIT: I'm for a simple written test and proof of employment at this point.

4cylndrfury wrote: Need food assistance? Here is your crate of dried grains and fresh vegetables. Have a nice day.

Screw that, here's some seed packets. See my previous post about the apartment gardens.

I've learned that being poor doesn't mean you can't help yourself. A guy just bought the house two doors down from me for a whopping $50k. He's been busting his butt on it for the last month and now it looks great. He's from Somalia and he bought the house for him and his mother. That 2 bed/1bath house is probably the nicest place they have ever lived and he's beaming every time I talk to him. He's still poor, but he's taken what he has and made the most of it.

Anecdotal story time.

When I was much younger, (22) and poorer, (making $6.50/hr) I stopped at the grocery store to buy some food for my wife and two children. I had $40 in my pocket and gas in the car and not much else. Payday was 3 days away.

I was standing in line behind a large lady with a buggy full of stuff. She had over $200 in food as well as some beer, wine and cigarettes. She was paying with some little slips of paper that weren't money. Food Stamps, for those of you that don't remember them.

The cashier wouldn't let her pay for her beer, wine and cigarettes with the funny money so she whipped out a roll of $20s, $50 and $100 dollar bills to pay for that. I bought my $38 in groceries and walked out to my 20yo rusty POS. The large lady was loading her groceries in a nice new Caddy.

Needless to say, I have been and always will be a little jaded when it comes to food stamps or EBT.

Something for nothing helps no one. I'd settle for "I Suck at Life" tattooed on their forehead.

If they want charity, they should try a church or a soup kitchen.

Toyman01 wrote: Anecdotal story time. When I was much younger, (22) and poorer, (making $6.50/hr) I stopped at the grocery store to buy some food for my wife and two children. I had $40 in my pocket and gas in the car and not much else. Payday was 3 days away. I was standing in line behind a large lady with a buggy full of stuff. She had over $200 in food as well as some beer, wine and cigarettes. She was paying with some little slips of paper that weren't money. Food Stamps, for those of you that don't remember them. The cashier wouldn't let her pay for her beer, wine and cigarettes with the funny money so she whipped out a roll of $20s, $50 and $100 dollar bills to pay for that. I bought my $38 in groceries and walked out to my 20yo rusty POS. The large lady was loading her groceries in a nice new Caddy. Needless to say, I have been and always will be a little jaded when it comes to food stamps or EBT. Something for nothing helps no one. I'd settle for "I Suck at Life" tattooed on their forehead. If they want charity, they should try a church or a soup kitchen.

I volunteer at the Salvation Army every year distributing toys at the main warehouse. Parents have to show up, go through a presentatiion, then they can pick up their bag of stuff, which is carried out to their car by volunteers if they need help. It never fails to amaze me how many people come to pick up toys driving cars nicer than I will ever own, or ever have owned. I don't volunteer for carry out because I'd just be mad at the end of the day. I prefer to pick toys and think of the kids that will be happy instead.

Sadly my family qualifies for WIC, which makes me mad. I think I've got a darn good job and make really good money, and yet I still qualify for assistance? That is screwed up. We don't use the program because frankly it seems like an insult for how hard I've worked to get where I am now.

In reply to Toyman01:

when i was a cashier at a grocery store (Giant in White Oak MD) about 1988, i had a woman come through my line and pay with food stamps. she tore a $20 stamp in half getting it out of the booklet, so balled it up and threw it on the floor. i asked her if i could show her a trick, and folded the booklet half of the stamp along the perforated edge, then neatly tore it out of the booklet. i picked up the other half from the floor, taped them together, and put it in my cash drawer. she looked at me as if to say, 30 years in advance,

In reply to slefain:

There is nothing wrong about qualifying for the WIC program. It's a good program to provide assistance and nutritious food for women and children when they need it most. The most important part of the program is it supplies only healthy foods that pregnant or nursing women and children need. It's not a blank check you can buy candy bars and soda with. You get X pounds of cheese, X gallons of milk, X pounds of beans or vegetables, X amount of formula, and so on. Around here the program also comes with some strings attached. You are required to take a parenting class taught by the county health clinic. You have to know the difference between healthy food and junk foods. How and why to stay clean and change your kids diapers.

We used it 25 years ago when my first child was born. It's a good program that is worth supporting. If EBT was run the same way, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

Toyman01 wrote: Anecdotal story time. When I was much younger, (22) and poorer, (making $6.50/hr) I stopped at the grocery store to buy some food for my wife and two children. I had $40 in my pocket and gas in the car and not much else. Payday was 3 days away. I was standing in line behind a large lady with a buggy full of stuff. She had over $200 in food as well as some beer, wine and cigarettes. She was paying with some little slips of paper that weren't money. Food Stamps, for those of you that don't remember them. The cashier wouldn't let her pay for her beer, wine and cigarettes with the funny money so she whipped out a roll of $20s, $50 and $100 dollar bills to pay for that. I bought my $38 in groceries and walked out to my 20yo rusty POS. The large lady was loading her groceries in a nice new Caddy. Needless to say, I have been and always will be a little jaded when it comes to food stamps or EBT. Something for nothing helps no one. I'd settle for "I Suck at Life" tattooed on their forehead. If they want charity, they should try a church or a soup kitchen.

Almost the exact same scenario happened with me once, only they got into a brand new Chevy Caprice that still had the dealer tags.

slefain wrote:

Toyman01 wrote: Anecdotal story time. When I was much younger, (22) and poorer, (making $6.50/hr) I stopped at the grocery store to buy some food for my wife and two children. I had $40 in my pocket and gas in the car and not much else. Payday was 3 days away. I was standing in line behind a large lady with a buggy full of stuff. She had over $200 in food as well as some beer, wine and cigarettes. She was paying with some little slips of paper that weren't money. Food Stamps, for those of you that don't remember them. The cashier wouldn't let her pay for her beer, wine and cigarettes with the funny money so she whipped out a roll of $20s, $50 and $100 dollar bills to pay for that. I bought my $38 in groceries and walked out to my 20yo rusty POS. The large lady was loading her groceries in a nice new Caddy. Needless to say, I have been and always will be a little jaded when it comes to food stamps or EBT. Something for nothing helps no one. I'd settle for "I Suck at Life" tattooed on their forehead. If they want charity, they should try a church or a soup kitchen.

I volunteer at the Salvation Army every year distributing toys at the main warehouse. Parents have to show up, go through a presentatiion, then they can pick up their bag of stuff, which is carried out to their car by volunteers if they need help. It never fails to amaze me how many people come to pick up toys driving cars nicer than I will ever own, or ever have owned. I don't volunteer for carry out because I'd just be mad at the end of the day. I prefer to pick toys and think of the kids that will be happy instead. Sadly my family qualifies for WIC, which makes me mad. I think I've got a darn good job and make really good money, and yet I still qualify for assistance? That is screwed up. We don't use the program because frankly it seems like an insult for how hard I've worked to get where I am now.

Here's the berkeleyed up part- We make about HALF of what we used to, can barely afford to live, and somehow don't qualify for WIC/EBT/medicaid. I have no idea how they calculate it.

Unfortunately, 75% of my crew guy's have ebt cards. It's unfortunate because the company pay is E36 M3ty, and because they spend all there money on alcohol and weed and probably pills. If they would pay more maybe we could get some quality guy's in instead of skimming the bottom of the barrel. I'm so sick of the revolving door we have. One druggie replaces another when the first guy fails a drug test or his probation gets revoked and the three weeks of training I sunk into him has to start all over again with another loser. God I hate my job.

Sorry got a little side tracked there

Its even more upsetting once you learn just how commonplace selling EBT cards is in your area.

What's worse, calling around to local law enforcement and other regulatory agencies to report a business that's participating in this fraud gets you a collective "Meh".

Racer1ab wrote: Its even more upsetting once you learn just how commonplace selling EBT cards is in your area. What's worse, calling around to local law enforcement and other regulatory agencies to report a business that's participating in this fraud gets you a collective "Meh".

This is very disheartening and one of the reasons I don't like the program. The penalties for cheating the system should be, both immediate and painful. The government gets screwed because they don't care. It's not their money and they can always get more.

I always find it interesting that the people wanting to remove Federal Assistance usually don't CURRENTLY need it.

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to Brett_Murphy: I don't think anyone wants to remove it completely, just clean up the fraud. Get caught scamming? Out. Fail a drug test? Out.

Pretty much, commit theft/fraud like this.....boom, gone. Pay restitution.

I don't think the article mentioned it, but allegedly the EBT system was screwed up for under two hours.....

EBT should only be used for nutritious food like soylent green.

yamaha wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to Brett_Murphy: I don't think anyone wants to remove it completely, just clean up the fraud. Get caught scamming? Out. Fail a drug test? Out.

Pretty much, commit theft/fraud like this.....boom, gone. Pay restitution. I don't think the article mentioned it, but allegedly the EBT system was screwed up for under two hours.....

This just in: "Poor" people in the U.S. have smart phones & twitter accounts.

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to Brett_Murphy: I don't think anyone wants to remove it completely, just clean up the fraud. Get caught scamming? Out. Fail a drug test? Out.

My point from the last page, if you do research on the subject, fraud is actually very, very low. But then you have high profile instances like this that make the system seem rife with problems.

It's just like violent crimes, etc,

In reply to poopshovel:

Nah, many have multiple smart phones and social media outlets.....

In reply to z31maniac:

I agree with you that its a low percentage compared to the other groups, but the problem with the fraud/misuse part isn't exactly known or they would have done something about it already. I'm sure I see many people use ebt/snap everyday uneventfully, but I still see at least one junk food, tobacco, booze purchase a day with them.

yamaha wrote: In reply to poopshovel: Nah, many have multiple smart phones and social media outlets.....

....and air conditioning, and indoor plumbing, and a TV or two, and cable, and a car or three, and a pet, and kids, and free daycare, and free books they don't read, and a computer, and high-speed internet, and a microwave...

Meanwhile, when I try to pay my "fair share" my berkeleying SS# gets jacked by these E36 M3 stains, and I have to spend hundreds of dollars and a pile of hours that could be spent making some EBT money for the berkeleying scourge just to keep the goddamned IRS off my ass.

In reply to z31maniac:

http://www.wbal.com/article/102769/2/template-story/Nine-Retailers-Arrested-for-Food-Stamp-Trafficking

Abdullah Aljaradi, age 51, of Baltimore; Second Obama Express and D&M Deli and Grocery, 901 Harlem Avenue, Suite A and B, respectively. From October 2010 through July 2013, Aljaradi allegedly obtained more than $2 million in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Dae Cho, age 66; and Hyung Cho, age 40, both of Catonsville; K&S Food Market, 3910 W. Belvedere Avenue. From November 2010 through July 2013, Dae Cho and her son, Hyung Cho, allegedly obtained more than $1.4 million in in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Abdo Mohamed Nagi, age 54, of Baltimore; New York Deli and Grocery 1207 West Baltimore Street. From February 2011 through May 2013, Nagi allegedly obtained more than $1.2 million in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Kim Man Chu, age 38, of Rosedale, Maryland; Long Hing Grocery Store, 1131 Greenmount Avenue. From October 2010 through July 2013, Chu allegedly obtained more than $750,000 in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Amara Cisse, age 50, and Fanta Keita, age 45, both of Windsor Mill, Maryland; Simbo Food Mart, 2103 West Pratt Street. From November 2010 through May 2013, Cisse, and his wife Keita, allegedly obtained more than $600,000 in payments for food sales that never occurred.

Jung Kim, age 51, of Ellicott City, Maryland; C&C Market, 4752 Park Heights Avenue. From November 2010 through April 2013, Kim allegedly obtained more than $600,000 in payments for food sales that never occurred.

John Cunningham, age 54, of Baltimore; Cunningham’s Amoco, 4419 Park Heights Avenue. From December 2012 through July 2013, Cunningham allegedly obtained more than $348,000 in payments for food sales that never occurred.

One Google search, $7 million in fraud. That's a lot of tax dollars. My question is why are only the retailers indited? Why aren't the recipients names on this indictment as well?

Welfare spending exceeded $400 billion last year. If fraud is only 1-3%, that's still fraud in the billions of dollars. Billions of dollars that we, as a country, don't have. (http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/welfare_budget_2012_4.html)

The EBT program estimates fraud in the $395 million range annually. That's $395,000,000,000.00. (http://www.bankersonline.com/security/sar/foodstampfraud.html)

But don't worry, it's a very very small amount. What's a billion here or there amongst politicians.

my dad died when i was 9...to get "free" food from the government after that, my mom had to go to the room above the local library and get her allotment of various kinds of "food" that came in white boxes with black letters- CHEESE, MACARONI AND CHEESE, etc.. they even gave out powdered milk for us to enjoy.. then they started with food stamps, which could only be used for limited and specific things... she would go shopping in the next town over in the middle of the week when she wouldn't have to worry about running into people that she knew because it made her feel ashamed to get food from the government.

this was in the late 80's.

once all of us kids were in school and more or less independent, she started working again and got off the public teet.. but we were still poor and got to eat more generic foods than i care to remember- but dammit, she worked for that generic food...

now she works at a grocery store in a small town, and tells me stories of what people buy with their government issued debit card.. it absolutely pisses her off how little shame and how much entitlement people that are on public assistance feel these days.. my mom doesn't get pissed off about very much, she's had a hard life and persevered.. i haven't talked to her about this recent incident- i bet she'd have a few things to say about it..

z31maniac wrote:

Datsun1500 wrote: In reply to Brett_Murphy: I don't think anyone wants to remove it completely, just clean up the fraud. Get caught scamming? Out. Fail a drug test? Out.

My point from the last page, if you do research on the subject, fraud is actually very, very low. But then you have high profile instances like this that make the system seem rife with problems. It's just like violent crimes, etc,

the last numbers i saw on it put the level of fraud in the tens of billions of dollars a year... but i guess that's just a rounding error in the big picture, i mean, what could a big country like this one do with such a small dollar amount to make life better for people?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzspsovNvII

In reply to Xceler8x:

Relevant Cracked.com

Put a warning in there next time. That E36 M3 hit close to home.

Toyman01 wrote: The EBT program estimates fraud in the $395 million range annually. That's $395,000,000,000.00. (http://www.bankersonline.com/security/sar/foodstampfraud.html)

$395,000,000. Fraud isnt 98.75% of the whole program. The zeros will get ya.