The proposal is to issue benefits over 10 days each month, and print recipient's names on their benefit cards.

Surprised they don't do this already.  MN recently had to pass a law that prohibits the cards from being used out of state.  Too many people on food stamps were using them while on vacation.

Seems like a good idea. Decreases the temptation to over-spend on the first day of the month, and people still get their food stamps when they need them.

But what about those that sell for one lump cash sum at the begining of the month? Wont someone think about them????

Dammit! this is money that could be going to wall street bankers! Priorities america, the rich need their fair share.

Since this is not the politics tab, remember to be nice in this thread.

In general the increase in food stamps does not mean that there is something wrong with the recipients, it means that there is something horribly wrong with this country.

Is subby pissed that he only appreciates his health insurance and mortgage interest deductions once or twice a year? Those are worth way more than food stamps, you mooching piece of shiat.

I make sure to avoid food shopping on Welfare Weekend. There is nothing worse than getting stuck in an aisle behind Sweaty Betty's Hoveround  while one of her brood pushes a cart filled with processed foods.

Meh, if they change it up that'll just be several more days that I will have to remember to avoid walmart.

TheJenny666: But what about those that sell for one lump cash sum at the begining of the month? Wont someone think about them????

You mean outside of the meth dealers

TofuTheAlmighty: Is subby pissed that he only appreciates his health insurance and mortgage interest deductions once or twice a year? Those are worth way more than food stamps, you mooching piece of shiat.

Wait, so the guy who is actually paying into the system is the one who's the mooch?  I'm confused.

ZAZ: Switch to weekly electronic transfers instead of monthly.

This. You'd only need half as many transfer days as the current proposal -less than half, actually- and you wouldn't overload the retailers (or recipients) nearly as much since you'd be spreading things out over the whole month. Why did no one consider this?

Pelvic Splanchnic Ganglion: Wait, so the guy who is actually paying into the system is the one who's the mooch?  I'm confused.

I know people who take all sorts of tax credits and end up getting thousands more back thn they paid in. Those same people then turn around and complain about the poor getting a couple hundred dollars to buy food.

If someone gets back more than they paid in, how is it not welfare?

/not subby or tofu alt.

Spanky_McFarksalot: Dammit! this is money that could be going to wall street bankers! Priorities america, the rich need their fair share.

JP Morgan has the contract for running NY's EBT card program.

TofuTheAlmighty: Is subby pissed that he only appreciates his health insurance and mortgage interest deductions once or twice a year? Those are worth way more than food stamps, you mooching piece of shiat.

I'd be really surprised to hear that mortgage interest is worth more, monetarily speaking, than food. It is true that demographics have changed such that total housing costs are now, on average, a bigger household expense than food. But the interest alone?

FTA : "I would like to use this money to educate people on how they can use their food stamps more efficiently and stretch them over the month. They do not have to be used on the first of the month. They can be used throughout the month," said Senator Pattie Anne Lodge, R-Huston.

I'd imagine that the guy the recipient sells the card to for 50 cents on the dollar is well aware of that fact.

sigdiamond2000: Idaho?

I thought food stamps were only used by lazy "urban" welfare queens with plasma Xbox flat screen refrigerator Obama phones?

Thanks, came here to say pretty much the same thing.  There are no welfare recipients in Idaho as those are limited to libby lib states.

here to help: Millennium: Why did no one consider this?

Because rich white guys who go into politics as a career have no fuggin' common sense or experience with anything other than pandering just enough to stay in office and screwing over the competition. Real life problems make no sense to them... that's why all their "solutions" suck balls.

Accepting your caricature for the sake of argument, I'd think they would at least have noticed that they'd only have to be open for half as many days under the per-week plan as the 10-day plan, which should save a significant amount of money in the long run. That should have gotten their attention.

Make it the full disbursement over the first 10 days of the month, based on the last digit of your social security number.

It's what Oregon does, and yes, you'll have to adjust to the change and it will probably suck the first few months for both recipients and businesses (despite businesses driving the change).

Long term it will make things easier on all shoppers and the businesses.

Disbursing it all on one day is just dumb.  Why did they change it to all in one day in the first place?

//Former food stamp recipient, now making enough to gladly pay my taxes to help fund such a successful and valuable program.

Pelvic Splanchnic Ganglion: Wait, so the guy who is actually paying into the system is the one who's the mooch?  I'm confused.

You think food stamp recipients don't pay sales tax or payroll taxes (or state income taxes)? Pretty much the only progressive tax nowadays is the federal income tax. Why should my homeownership or health insurance be subsidized by public dollars? Food stamps, Section 8, the aforementioned deductions, preferential treatment of capital gains vs. wages - these are all transfers of wealth from the public coffers to individuals. They are all a form of welfare whether you want to believe it or not.

here to help: Millennium: Accepting your caricature for the sake of argument, I'd think they would at least have noticed that they'd only have to be open for half as many days under the per-week plan as the 10-day plan, which should save a significant amount of money in the long run. That should have gotten their attention.

They don't explain WHY it'll cost an extra million bucks to implement their current plan so one can only assume they're more interested in some more cheddar or they are completely incompetent. Don't try to figure out their thought process. It will only infuriate/confuse you. Just accept that the majority of them are half witted scumbags.

I am not prepared to deny that my opposition thinks. That form of dehumanization is Not OK.

The problem with spreading it over the course of a month is that it will increase costs to the recipients. Now they have to spend a couple hours of travel time and shopping 4 times a month rather than once a month not to mention gas/bus costs. If you don't live just down the street from a grocery store then you will be more likely to spend it at the local mart which is twice the price.

Smeggy Smurf: I hate the idea.  It's tough enough going shopping on Welfare Day.  If they extend it over a week it'll be neigh on impossible to get any grocery shopping done until the middle of the month.

You can always tell who's going to whip out their welfare card by the contents of their cart.  Junk food and boxed everything.

Neigh!!" said Claire the Welfare Mare.

Millennium: I'd be really surprised to hear that mortgage interest is worth more, monetarily speaking, than food. It is true that demographics have changed such that total housing costs are now, on average, a bigger household expense than food. But the interest alone?

The mortgage interest deductions cost $80B per year, about the same as federal outlays for SNAP. The health insurance deduction is even worse - it cuts about $200B from federal income tax receipts.

"Welfare" as defined by Republicans is a trivial cost compared to all the goodies the top 20% get.

nmemkha: Smeggy Smurf: I hate the idea.  It's tough enough going shopping on Welfare Day.  If they extend it over a week it'll be neigh on impossible to get any grocery shopping done until the middle of the month.

You can always tell who's going to whip out their welfare card by the contents of their cart.  Junk food and boxed everything.

You should change your handle to 'Bigot Smurf'.

Aw. Look who's an artsy type who buys locally-sourced artisan cheese with her food stamps.

Not that big a deal. Washington state has a system like this. It just means I have to wait until the 5th instead of the 1st to get my $200.

On my drive home from work a Burger King has a huge sign "E.B.T. accepted".
California, what next?

Millenium: "Why did no one consider this?"

Same reason they never considered just spreading out the single monthly distribution so not *everyone* got their money on the same day.

Because politics isn't about practical solutions. It's about tribal identity.
And if you can get an electoral boost out of reminding voters about 'those people' who are on food stamps, it helps if you're still creating those anecdotes to reinforce that tribal identity.

TofuTheAlmighty: Pelvic Splanchnic Ganglion: Wait, so the guy who is actually paying into the system is the one who's the mooch?  I'm confused.

You think food stamp recipients don't pay sales tax or payroll taxes (or state income taxes)? Pretty much the only progressive tax nowadays is the federal income tax. Why should my homeownership or health insurance be subsidized by public dollars? Food stamps, Section 8, the aforementioned deductions, preferential treatment of capital gains vs. wages - these are all transfers of wealth from the public coffers to individuals. They are all a form of welfare whether you want to believe it or not.

This. I think most of the people on food stamps, but no other assistance, work and pay taxes. The income cap is set based on income, living expenses, and family size. The closer you are to that cap, the less you get.

TofuTheAlmighty: Is subby pissed that he only appreciates his health insurance and mortgage interest deductions once or twice a year? Those are worth way more than food stamps, you mooching piece of shiat.

Typical mortgage interest deduction worth $1k-$2k a year? I bet food stamps add up to more than mortgage interest deductions.

I know a great way to get money throughout the month. It's called "Getting a job and receiving a paycheck". I received a deposit in my account today, and I'll be expecting one in another two weeks. It's an amazing concept.

another cultural observer: Smeggy Smurf: I hate the idea.  It's tough enough going shopping on Welfare Day.  If they extend it over a week it'll be neigh on impossible to get any grocery shopping done until the middle of the month.

You can always tell who's going to whip out their welfare card by the contents of their cart.  Junk food and boxed everything.

Neigh!!" said Claire the Welfare Mare.

I'm waiting for the equally ignorant follow up of "People using WIC checks to buy cigarettes and beer" statement.

Setting aside the idea that junk food translates to a cart full of chips and soda for a sec, consider the calorie to dollar ratio of chips and soda vs a lb of ground turkey and a bag of frozen tilapia, then see how long you can store it. Yeah there are a lot of fatasses who lounge around on the couch watching Maury and shoving pringles down their cavernous gullets but they don't all pay for that shiat with food stamps. I guess the ones who pay by cash or charge are playing WOW instead of watching daytime TV though.

Hell, do you have any idea how expensive it is to get fresh fruits and vegetables? Beans and rice are cheap but having lived on that and pasta for a year while in survival mode with a kid who had a dairy allergy, it's not that cheap even when you're right next to a farmers market.

DubyaHater: I know a great way to get money throughout the month. It's called "Getting a job and receiving a paycheck". I received a deposit in my account today, and I'll be expecting one in another two weeks. It's an amazing concept.

When I was on food stamps, I had a job.

A job with a Fortune 500.

That job paid $11.50/hr with the constant threat of it being eliminated and sent to India, while the CEO raked in millions and he, like hundreds of other CEOs keep their employees wages as low as possible knowing the government will step in and help out his lower echelon employees with food stamps, the Earned Income Tax Credit, the Child Tax Credit, and other programs.

Walmart is a worse offender, and their low wages cost us billions in expenditures as the government steps into support those people and families that can barely make ends meet.  And then Walmart gets a good chunk of the money they pay employees back, as they are often the cheapest around, and their employees often shop there for food and other stuff.  Hell, Walmart is one of the biggest benefactors of food stamps.

rev. dave: Since this is not the politics tab, remember to be nice in this thread.

In general the increase in food stamps does not mean that there is something wrong with the recipients, it means that there is something horribly wrong with this country.

yeah, worse residents.

If everybody was getting enough money to buy food for the whole month there wouldn't be a run on the store on the day the benefit was issued.

Most people in this country do not have the knowledge to cook from scratch and make wise food choices. When you see a cart full of frozen entrees, canned chili, chips and pop, that's usually a person that would not know what to do with a five pound bag of pinto beans and a hamhock. We can pontificate all we want on the fact that they shouldn't be buying this crap, but without some education when they are young, like required home economics for both sexes, This will just continue to get worse. I've seen two year olds where I work eating from a bag of cheese puffs with a bottle full of cola. And don't get me started on the two ton Tillys. It's mostly driven by lack of knowledge.

Smeggy Smurf: I hate the idea.  It's tough enough going shopping on Welfare Day.  If they extend it over a week it'll be neigh on impossible to get any grocery shopping done until the middle of the month.

You can always tell who's going to whip out their welfare card by the contents of their cart.  Junk food and boxed everything.

To be fair if you buy all your food at the start of the month it's not like you should buy a bunch of food that's going to rot in two weeks.   Boxed food tends to have a longer shelf life than a banana.