To the casual grocery shopper seeing someone buy expensive food, steaks, seafood and so on then getting into an expensive vehicle always seems like it should be illegal, but there's a little back story behind who these people typically are. They aren't who you think.
Anyone who has ever had to use food stamps to put food on the table for any length of time will tell you that they've had to sell their food stamps on the black market probably more than once and very likely every month.
Well I'm going to shock you and tell you just who drives a nice car and buys expensive food with food stamps..They're people who buy food stamps on the black market for half price or less. They are NOT that poor mother with 3 kids barely getting by. They're the guy down the street who sees the opportunity to get their food for half price or less.
You really want to clamp down on fraud with food stamps? Make buying food stamps on the black market a federal crime, but the problem with this is the people forced to sell their groceries for half price are then stuck trying to come up with emergency cash another way.
Yeah, I know..nothing really shocking about this especially if you ever grew up in poverty, but it certainly busts the myth of the welfare queen. The real welfare queens are the people who exploit poor folks with their backs to the wall every day of the year.
The reason this came to mind is an article in the Guardian about food stamps and the so called shame associated with it. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/12/food-stamps-poverty-america-shame?CMP
A guy in our town was recently arrested for dealing in black market food stamps. Don't do this at home, kiddies!
"Anyone who has ever had to use food stamps to put food on the table for any length of time will tell you that they've had to sell their food stamps on the black market probably more than once and very likely every month. "
That's a crazy statement. I was once one of those "anyone" people using food stamps and I never sold them.
Quote from: Jane Plain on July 12, 2017, 11:57:32 PM
"Anyone who has ever had to use food stamps to put food on the table for any length of time will tell you that they've had to sell their food stamps on the black market probably more than once and very likely every month. "
That's a crazy statement. I was once one of those "anyone" people using food stamps and I never sold them.
I was on food stamps once in the early 90s. I don't do drugs or gamble, so I don't have a tendency to sell my children or anything else. Also back then food stamps were controlled by JP Morgan/Chase aieee! They hadn't been outsourced to the Morlocks.
Quote from: Jane Plain on July 12, 2017, 11:57:32 PM
"Anyone who has ever had to use food stamps to put food on the table for any length of time will tell you that they've had to sell their food stamps on the black market probably more than once and very likely every month. "
That's a crazy statement. I was once one of those "anyone" people using food stamps and I never sold them.
Same here.
As for "people with nice cars", is this anything more than an effort to slander the people who get food stamps, call them frauds? I knew a guy in Indiana who was caught fucking a pumpkin. That doesn't mean every Hoosier is a pumpkin-fucker.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 13, 2017, 07:33:19 AM
Same here.
I knew a guy in Indiana who was caught fucking a pumpkin. That doesn't mean every Hoosier is a pumpkin-fucker.
Uhhhh.......................yes it does!
Quote from: Mike Cl on July 13, 2017, 11:29:08 AM
Uhhhh.......................yes it does!
It's most likely just the tip of the iceberg.
Quote from: SGOS on July 13, 2017, 12:26:55 PM
It's most likely just the tip of the iceberg.
Lettuce was the next field over.
Quote from: Mike Cl on July 13, 2017, 11:29:08 AM
Uhhhh.......................yes it does!
With such a convincing argument I will have to rethink my position.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 13, 2017, 12:31:15 PM
Lettuce was the next field over.
A pumpkin maybe, but a head of lettuce is just too kinky.
Quote from: SGOS on July 13, 2017, 06:21:29 PM
A pumpkin maybe, but a head of lettuce is just too kinky.
Head of lettuce ... how liberals get brain transplants? If you "did it"with a jack-o-lantern, would you "do it" in all the holes? Even the eye-holes?
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 13, 2017, 12:31:46 PM
With such a convincing argument I will have to rethink my position.
Yeah, I thought so!!! Drew is giving me pointers on how to argue---and see, it's working!
Quote from: Baruch on July 13, 2017, 06:56:06 PM
Head of lettuce ... how liberals get brain transplants? If you "did it"with a jack-o-lantern, would you "do it" in all the holes? Even the eye-holes?
Duh! What do you think???
My first year as a teacher I just barely missed qualifying for foot stamps. But I did qualify for commodities. You bet I took them. And I traded away the stuff I did not like. If I could have sold some, I would have. (As I remember it, the butter was top notch) Don't know if I would have sold some of the food stamps, but back in the day, money was hard to come by.
I was so poor once (5 guys in a 2 bedroom apartment) that I was eating hamburger helper helper. Double the dose. But I knew to buy cheap veggies, so I got along well even then.
If you wanted to enter the kitchen at night, you flicked on the light and waited for the roaches to fall off the ceiling and cabinets. It wasn't that our place wasn't clean, but the neighbors weren't.
We were all at minimum wage. The moment we got more, we left individually. And to this day, I will never eat anything that seems like a little ground meat in a lot of starch...
Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on July 12, 2017, 10:08:08 AM
To the casual grocery shopper seeing someone buy expensive food, steaks, seafood and so on then getting into an expensive vehicle always seems like it should be illegal, but there's a little back story behind who these people typically are. They aren't who you think.
Anyone who has ever had to use food stamps to put food on the table for any length of time will tell you that they've had to sell their food stamps on the black market probably more than once and very likely every month.
Well I'm going to shock you and tell you just who drives a nice car and buys expensive food with food stamps..They're people who buy food stamps on the black market for half price or less. They are NOT that poor mother with 3 kids barely getting by. They're the guy down the street who sees the opportunity to get their food for half price or less.
You really want to clamp down on fraud with food stamps? Make buying food stamps on the black market a federal crime, but the problem with this is the people forced to sell their groceries for half price are then stuck trying to come up with emergency cash another way.
Yeah, I know..nothing really shocking about this especially if you ever grew up in poverty, but it certainly busts the myth of the welfare queen. The real welfare queens are the people who exploit poor folks with their backs to the wall every day of the year.
The reason this came to mind is an article in the Guardian about food stamps and the so called shame associated with it. https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/jul/12/food-stamps-poverty-america-shame?CMP
Provide proof. Few people are dumb enough to sell food stamps at discount. You can buy darn near anything with food stamps.
I "suspect" you are listening to too much 'Fox News".
The observation of people using food stamps and getting into nice cars sounds purely anecdotal to me. Seeing someone using food stamps and then stalking them to see what they drive away in? Keeping records as to what percentage of stalkees do that? Having reliable records that can be cross-checked with independent witnesses? Etc.
I'm skeptical that this happens much, if at all. I do remember the parking lot outside the food stamp office looked like Western Australia.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 14, 2017, 08:53:15 AM
The observation of people using food stamps and getting into nice cars sounds purely anecdotal to me. Seeing someone using food stamps and then stalking them to see what they drive away in? Keeping records as to what percentage of stalkees do that? Having reliable records that can be cross-checked with independent witnesses? Etc.
I'm skeptical that this happens much, if at all. I do remember the parking lot outside the food stamp office looked like Western Australia.
And what did Western Australia look like?
Quote from: Cavebear on July 14, 2017, 02:31:42 PM
And what did Western Australia look like?
I think it looks great-----especially when I just took it over and gained the continent of Australia in Risk.
Quote from: Mike Cl on July 14, 2017, 06:00:28 PM
I think it looks great-----especially when I just took it over and gained the continent of Australia in Risk.
Outstanding move! Are you planning to move up the coast or west to take India? Where do you play?
Quote from: Cavebear on July 14, 2017, 07:06:39 PM
Outstanding move! Are you planning to move up the coast or west to take India? Where do you play?
My favorite is to simply keep Australia as an isolated source of income. I really like to get the US next--and Latin America if possible. I tend to stay away from Africa and Europe and especially Asia until the end game. If I remember right, the US and Latin America together have only 3 points to guard. Europe has 5 and Africa has 3--and Asia is just impossible to guard.
Sadly I have not played in 25 years or so. Just can't find anybody to play. As a child we used to play this game days on end--my dad loved games and with 5 brothers it was pretty easy to get another game going. But little since then.
Quote from: Cavebear on July 14, 2017, 02:31:42 PM
And what did Western Australia look like?
Let's put it this way, they have 200 years worth of iron ore out there.
Quote from: Mike Cl on July 14, 2017, 08:14:54 PM
My favorite is to simply keep Australia as an isolated source of income. I really like to get the US next--and Latin America if possible. I tend to stay away from Africa and Europe and especially Asia until the end game. If I remember right, the US and Latin America together have only 3 points to guard. Europe has 5 and Africa has 3--and Asia is just impossible to guard.
Sadly I have not played in 25 years or so. Just can't find anybody to play. As a child we used to play this game days on end--my dad loved games and with 5 brothers it was pretty easy to get another game going. But little since then.
I like to start with NA, then ruin SA and Asia and EU for others. Annoys them greatly.
I can tell you where to play.
Quote from: Gawdzilla Sama on July 14, 2017, 08:28:41 PM
Let's put it this way, they have 200 years worth of iron ore out there.
That's just rust. Oh wait...
Quote from: Cavebear on July 14, 2017, 08:31:07 PM
I like to start with NA, then ruin SA and Asia and EU for others. Annoys them greatly.
I can tell you where to play.
Yeah, that's a good way. I also remember trying to keep track of the other players cards so that I could pounce when I could wipe them out and get their cards and turn in a set for more men. Of course how one plays is dictated by your starting setup and how the others play.
I like to play the board games face-to-face; not wild about computer opponents. Do you play via the computer? And why not come on over one evening and we can get going! :))
Quote from: Mike Cl on July 14, 2017, 09:03:17 PM
Yeah, that's a good way. I also remember trying to keep track of the other players cards so that I could pounce when I could wipe them out and get their cards and turn in a set for more men. Of course how one plays is dictated by your starting setup and how the others play.
I like to play the board games face-to-face; not wild about computer opponents. Do you play via the computer? And why not come on over one evening and we can get going! :))
At pogo.com, you can play bots or people, but with people you have to schedule it a bit lately. There used to be more people there every night.
But *I* can meet you there sometime. Just takes a mutual time. I would say "now", but I've been online 24 hours and seriously crashing. I mean I can type, but there isn't much logic left in me. LOL!