# Food Stamp /Lobster and Steak **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [February 8, 2005, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009 "2005-02-08T15:56:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 10
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/181 "2005-02-09T20:54:56Z")
> [@Shodan](#): > > … don’t see how it would be horrifying to limit access to lobster and junk food, but let limits on the Great Goddess Reproductive Freedom pass unchallenged… On that topic: I have brought this up in this thread before but it is worth mentioning again. What do you think would happen, politically, if some idealistic Congress Critter were to introduce a bill that defined specific foods a “junk” and suggested that said junk not be subsidized by the Federal Government. Think some special interest groups might have a thing or two to say about it? I do ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/182 "2005-02-09T20:54:58Z")
> [@Binarydrone](#): > > That may be the case. To be honest, I really am not what you could call a straightforward Liberal. I don’t know that there really is any school of thought that has yet emerged that can describe my politics. I do know that on the Conservative and Libertarian side of things, I see far too much willingness to give Big Business a pass, yet demand absolute personal responsibility from the “little people”. They also (in my perception) seem to be far to willing to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet that I am pretty sure will not be all that tasty. > > On the other hand, the Liberals seem to be far to willing to let the State act as some surrogate parent. They also seem to think more with their hearts than with their brains (as a group) and to have this smug superior attitude that I find unproductive and annoying. > > I guess that I wish that there were some true center or synthesis between the two, where emphasis was put on personal responsibility (both on the individual and corporate levels), yet there existed a real and viable safety net that would help fold that have fallen on hard times in a real and productive way, and that would care for those who will never be able to care for themselves in a dignified way. Finally, I guess that I would like to see the State act more as a referee on behalf of the people and to make sure that everyone plays fair. Welcome to the middle, my friend. I know it’s kind of lonely around here, but one of these days one party or the other will come back. Would you like some punch? Gobear’s in charge of new members, see him for the secret handshake and the complimentary bozo button. ---
**Author:** ![Zabali\_Clawbane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/ecd19e/32.png) [@Zabali\_Clawbane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zabali_Clawbane)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/183 "2005-02-09T20:58:08Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > I wonder how many fell into a nice job either through dumb luck, help from daddy (contacts, **paying for education etc** ), or any other source that has nothing to do with their innate ability or hard effort? I also wonder if they would sing the same tune if their personal applecart was to suddenly turn over. It’s easy to talk the talk, if you’ve never had to walk the walk. > (huge massive gigantic eye roll). Hey now, careful. 😉 My husband’s welding courses are being paid for by his grandparents. He does “walk the walk” though, welding is hard work, in cramped conditions, and not many are willing to do it anymore because it’s manual labor, and riskly. There aren’t many welders on the job market, (worldwide if I understand correctly) and even less that can do MIG, TIG, and SMAW (Shielded Metal Arc Welding) so those who are around get [paid](http://www.aws.org/pr/jan18-2005.html) easily $50 a hour on the East coast. (This from a Union representative who spoke to my husband’s class a month ago.) It’s not unheard of for welders who travel from site to site to make 100k a year. Just saying, some people who get “handed a career” by a relative go into jobs that actually are hard work, that actually [help out](http://www.aws.org/video/) communities by building things they need like water towers, pipelines, etc. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Binarydrone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3da27b/32.png) [@Binarydrone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Binarydrone)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/184 "2005-02-09T20:58:43Z")
**Weirddave** , Does someone get a toaster out of the deal? ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/185 "2005-02-09T21:04:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > Drawing a correlation between poverty and stupidity typically has less to do with any realistic assessment of why some people are poor than it does with giving the person drawing the correlation a warm fuzzy about himself. Refusing to admit that there is any type of correlation only goes to prove that blatant stupidity isn’t limited to people of meager means. > [@Scumpup](#): > > Those people are poor. > I am not. > Therefore, I am not only richer, but also smarter, than they are. > IOW, it’s just one more bit of wanking over how much better you are than “those people.” That’s a wonderful, heartwarming, touching fantasy you have there. I know am certainly not superior to anyone, and my personal self esteem isn’t based upon putting anybody down. Anyone who knows me can verify that I do not treat anyone with contempt, regardless of economic class. OTOH, you are an obvious pustulating prick, so if I wanted to feel superior to someone I wouldn’t have to look very far. ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/186 "2005-02-09T21:08:39Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > As to the rest of your post, all I have proposed is that people on food stamps should not be allowed to buy any meat that costs more than $5.99/lb. Everything is bar coded, certain products are already excluded, the additional line of programing to check the price of the meat would be a trivial thing to implement. If lobster goes on sale for 5.99, they can knock themselves out for all I care. You act like it would be so hard to implement this when in reality it would be child’s play. It’s not quite that easy in most POS systems, as meat that the in-store butcher cuts is packaged and sold as a “random weight” item. The UPC does show how much that package of meat costs, but not its price per pound. Next time you buy meat look at the UPC. You’ll notice that it starts with a 2, meaning “random weight” meat, and that the last five digits, which normally are the product code, are instead the actually price of the product. Not per pound, but full price. If you bring a $6.00 package of meat to the register, the system has no clue if you are buying 6 pounds of meat for $1.00 a pound, or a quarter of a pound of meat that sells for $24.00 a pound. Some of the more expensively equipped stores have their entire operation networked. In other words, the deli scales, the meat packing scales, etc., are all tied into the POS network, and all share information such as price per pound, etc. The problem is that this is VERY expensive, and it’s much more likely to be seen in high end stores, as opposed to the small stores in poorer neighborhoods. While it seems like it would be easy to implement your solution, as they do it for things like cigarettes, booze, etc., that’s not always the case. For booze and cigarettes, they simply mark the category as non-foodstamp eligible, and any UPC you assign to that category or department is ineligible. WIC is a great thing, but it’s also an expensive nightmare. You’re attempting to do the same thing with food stamps. > [@gobear](#): > > There is definitely a need to subsidize food for the indigent and the temporarily distressed, but the liberals here have yet to answer a question the conservatives have repeatedly asked. . . . how do you prevent permanent dependence on public charity? That’s a very valid point, but it’s also already addressed in the food stamp program. Food stamp allotments are based on a sliding scale. The formula for a family of four who fall below the maximum income is ($499 - (net income \* .3)). We’ll use three families of four as an example. Family A has zero net income, and therefore receives $499 in food stamps. Family B has $500 in net income and therefore receives $349 in food stamps. Family C has $1000 in net income and gets $199 in food stamps. Obviously, Family C is in better shape than A or B, so getting a job is still attractive. While I’ve tried not to take a political stance in this thread, so as not to add a perception of bias to the technical side, I think this same method is a possible solution to other areas of assistance. If all welfare was done on a sliding scale, with marked benefits for those actually employed, even if underemployed, I think we’d see more progress. Finally, the vast majority of food stamp users are indeed trying to make ends meet. Only about 17% of them also receive TANF. Aside from the disabled and elderly, it’s mostly people who have an income, but a very small one. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/187 "2005-02-09T21:17:36Z")
> [@DMC](#): > > That’s a very valid point, but it’s also already addressed in the food stamp program. Food stamp allotments are based on a sliding scale. The formula for a family of four who fall below the maximum income is ($499 - (net income \* .3)). We’ll use three families of four as an example. Family A has zero net income, and therefore receives $499 in food stamps. Family B has $500 in net income and therefore receives $349 in food stamps. Family C has $1000 in net income and gets $199 in food stamps. Obviously, Family C is in better shape than A or B, so getting a job is still attractive. Not as attractive as it would be if Family C got $1,000 in food stamps. I could easily see Family A saying, “I’m going to work a 40 hour week for a very marginal increase in money? Why, I’m getting enough to get by now.” P.S. (I do understand that your numbers are made up hypotheticals - I’m not suggesting that you attempted to give a real world example) ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/188 "2005-02-09T21:32:48Z")
> [@Cleophus](#): > > Unless I’m missing something, don’t welfare recipients get a fixed amount of food stamps/EBT funds a month? It wouldn’t matter whether the recipient uses all their month’s benefits for a small amount of expensive food or a larger amount of less expensive food, since if they blow it all on expensive food they aren’t getting more benefits until next month. Indeed. You’re on a budget. And most people on food stamps are quite good at finding ways to manage that budget. I was on food stamps while working at Pizza Hut. As a result, I frequently got to take home “abandoned” pizzas (plus my employee meal) without paying for them. As a result, we’d get ahead of our food stamp budget (because of free meals). There were times we were ahead $100 in food stamps. Would it really have been so wrong to buy lobster under these circumstances? Note that it’s illegal to continue to use food stamps after you’ve been disqualified from the program for any reason; any food stamps you have left over at the end you’re supposed to surrender. With EBT, this rule is enforced (your EBT card is cut off when you are disqualified). ---
**Author:** ![DMC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dmc/32/18049_2.png) [@DMC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DMC)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/189 "2005-02-09T21:33:09Z")
> [@SlyFrog](#): > > Not as attractive as it would be if Family C got $1,000 in food stamps. I could easily see Family A saying, “I’m going to work a 40 hour week for a very marginal increase in money? Why, I’m getting enough to get by now.” > > P.S. (I do understand that your numbers are made up hypotheticals - I’m not suggesting that you attempted to give a real world example) Actually, those are not hypothetical numbers, as that is how they calculate it. Family A has $499 after all is said and done. Family C has $1199. I think that difference is enough to encourage employment, but wouldn’t have any problem with someone adjusting it to make it even more appealing. The vast majority of recipients are employed, as only 22% of households receive the maximum benefit, so at least 78% (actually more, as many of those 22% actually have no choice) are getting income of some sort. Since a very small percentage of recipients receive TANF, that’s not the source of their income. [Here](http://www.fns.usda.gov/fsp/applicant_recipients/fs_Res_Ben_Elig.htm) are the calculations used, but keep in mind they have all sorts of other things they take into account. For example, your car must be valued below a certain dollar value, etc. ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/190 "2005-02-09T21:37:05Z")
> [@gobear](#): > > There is definitely a need to subsidize food for the indigent and the temporarily distressed, but the liberals here have yet to answer a question the conservatives have repeatedly asked. . . . how do you prevent permanent dependence on public charity? First, **you** need to demonstrate that it is necessary to prevent permanent dependence on public charity. What, exactly, is so bad about that? ---
**Author:** ![KellyM](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/57b2e6/32.png) [@KellyM](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KellyM)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/191 "2005-02-09T21:38:54Z")
> [@Weirddave](#): > > I absolutely guarantee you that it’s more expensive to live in the Baltimore/DC corridor than it is to live in Kansas, and basically on par with any area of the country, yet by checking the circular for [Giant](http://www.gsnrecipes.com/giant/admaximizer.cfm), the largest chain of supermarkets in the area, we find that that my paltry $5.99/lb limits our hypothetical food stamp shopper to a choice of only New York strip steak, center cut pork chops, boneless salmon fillets, fresh turkey breasts, country style pork ribs, London broil, boneless chuck roast, lamb chops, chicken wing drumettes, boneless skinless chicken thighs, split chicken breasts, chicken drumsticks, whole chickens, sausage, bacon, Angus beef ground round and ground turkey, and that’s just on the first two pages of the circular. I have two words for you: Alaska, and Hawaii. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/192 "2005-02-09T21:41:23Z")
> [@SteveG1](#): > > \ I wonder how many of these “social Darwinists” really ever had to break their ass to get where they are. I wonder how many fell into a nice job either through dumb luck, help from daddy (contacts, paying for education etc), or any other source that has nothing to do with their innate ability or hard effort? I also wonder if they would sing the same tune if their personal applecart was to suddenly turn over. It’s easy to talk the talk, if you’ve never had to walk the walk. > (huge massive gigantic eye roll). This is an asinine thing to say. You don’t know anything about anybody’s circumstances here. I would say that a lot of compassionate conservatives haven’t had _anything_ handed to them, beyond being lucky enough to be born to parents who raised us to not accept being poor and feeling sorry for ourselves. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/193 "2005-02-09T21:49:09Z")
> [@KellyM](#): > > First, **you** need to demonstrate that it is necessary to prevent permanent dependence on public charity. What, exactly, is so bad about that? If you’re asking what is so bad about permanent dependence on public charity, I submit Canada’s Aboriginal people, and their poverty, suicide, incarceration, teen pregnancy, child abuse, and drug and alcohol dependency rates. ---
**Author:** ![SlyFrog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a3d4f5/32.png) [@SlyFrog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlyFrog)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/194 "2005-02-09T21:50:28Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > This is an asinine thing to say. You don’t know anything about anybody’s circumstances here. I would say that a lot of compassionate conservatives haven’t had _anything_ handed to them, beyond being lucky enough to be born to parents who raised us to not accept being poor and feeling sorry for ourselves. Because it’s clear that conservatives should not make assumptions regarding the poor, for they can not possibly know what it is like to be poor, spending all of their time using $100 bills to light their cigars and swimming in their money vaults. It is, however, acceptable for people to make assumptions regarding conservatives, as it is clear that conservatives’ viewpoints come solely from a life of privilege and ignorance about how the masses live. Liberals, who are open minded and do not make snap judgments about classes of people or worldviews, somehow have the ability to intuit exactly what a conservative is made of. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/195 "2005-02-09T21:52:34Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > Hey now, careful. 😉 My husband’s welding courses are being paid for by his grandparents. He does “walk the walk” though, welding is hard work, in cramped conditions, and not many are willing to do it anymore because it’s manual labor, and riskly. Just saying, some people who get “handed a career” by a relative go into jobs that actually are hard work, that actually [help out](http://www.aws.org/video/) communities by building things they need like water towers, pipelines, etc. 🙂 My jab wasn’t directed at you at all. It was directed at what I will call the Country Club Conservatives. You know, the ones who become VP because daddy owns the company. The ones who go right from (the right) high school to (the right) college and then to (the right) country club and a cushy job because daddy already greased the wheels. The ones who sit on their dead asses behind a desk and do less than nothing (if they were paid what they are worth, they would starve). Your husband is working to get ahead (a good thing). The family is helping (a good thing). For all I know, you may be risking your “entitlements” for accepting family help and for trying to learn a trade. That is a bit different than some smug spoiled shit who never had to DO anything for himself and now feels entitled to slam the (what did they call it) stupid poor people. I’ve never been on welfare, neither has anyone in my family. But, I had a short period of unemployment years ago. It was enough to make me very nervous, and a bit more understanding of the frustration you must feel, being forced to live that way AND being told that you are poor/stupid/worthless/eeeevilll. ---
**Author:** ![Weirddave](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/919ad9/32.png) [@Weirddave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weirddave)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/196 "2005-02-09T21:58:50Z")
DMC, Thanks for the technical info on the scanners, that’s very interesting. Now I have something to look for/at the next time I go to the store. What about Alaska and Hawaii? If food prices are truly so much higher than the rest of the country, different rules could be applied to them specifically. It’d be pretty stupid to change the rules for the other 48 states to match the situation in just 2 states rather than vice versa, wouldn’t it? I’ve never been to either place, but food prices in Yellowknife, NWT are only about 10-15% higher then food prices in Calgary, I’d be surprised if it was markedly different in Alaska. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/197 "2005-02-09T22:01:17Z")
Slyfrog and Featherlou, Have you read this thread? It is OK to make assumptions about people you know about, if they are poor=stupid=lazy. It is not OK to make a different assumption that the ones saying this are spoiled brats or well fed know-nothings? I guess assumptions and blanket statements are only acceptable if they come from one side. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/198 "2005-02-09T22:11:54Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I don’t see how it would be horrifying to limit access to lobster and junk food, but let limits on the Great Goddess Reproductive Freedom pass unchallenged. > > So, Shodan, then you’re saying we should subsidize birth control? For poor adults, you mean? Sure. Although it seemed that **Binarydrone** would go beyond that, and encourage it by penalizing people for having more than one child. Are we going off on a eugenics rant here? > [@Binarydrone](#): > > On that topic: I have brought this up in this thread before but it is worth mentioning again. What do you think would happen, politically, if some idealistic Congress Critter were to introduce a bill that defined specific foods a “junk” and suggested that said junk not be subsidized by the Federal Government. Think some special interest groups might have a thing or two to say about it? I do True, although the liquor and tobacco industries seem to have adjusted. I am not disagreeing that federal controls on what welfare recipients can buy would be massively unwieldy and produce only limited benefits. There has been enough strawman argumentation and excluded middles that I probably ought to get that clear. I am arguing against the principle that tax payers ought to have nothing to say at all on the subject of how welfare recipients can expect to spend their subsidies. I want to forestall people complaining that their welfare subsidies are inadequate, **if** they are spending any significant proportion of the money on HoHos or steak. And I react very badly to people who say, “people who support themselves can buy such-and-such, therefore so should I”. Welfare should provide what you need, not what you want. The necessities of life, and opportunities to better yourself so you can get off the dole and earn some self-respect. Twinkies are neither a necessity, nor will they make you better off. And all this stuff about how they can’t get enough calories to live unless they stock up on Cheet-os and porterhouse steaks is, quite simply, nonsense. I’ve seen people at the food banks. Judging by the size of some of those ass-cheeks, those folks haven’t been in calorie deficit since the Eisenhower administration. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/199 "2005-02-09T22:22:09Z")
Years ago, welfare recipients got “surplus food”. I remember this (because an elederly grand-uncle was alone and living on a miniscule disability pension. he was given HUGE 10-lb. blocks of yello , “velveeta”-like cheese, huge cans of peanut butter, and also5 pound cans of spam-like meat. All of this stuff had the USDA seal on them, with the logo “not for purchase or resale”. I always wondered what an 80-year old man was going to do with a case of peanut butter…but anyway, is this stuff still distributed? Also, years ago, there was a major food stamp scandal in Chicago. it seems that crack addists would sell their food stamps to agents, who would pay something like 10 cents on the dollar…with the money they could buy crack. How does the government monitor the redemption of food stamps? ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2005, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009/200 "2005-02-09T22:29:03Z")
> [@Zabali\_Clawbane](#): > > I brush and floss every day. I still got a cavity, and since I wasn’t able to get it taken care of right away, it became abcessed. It could be due to the fact that I’ve been taking [carbamazepine](http://www.peacehealth.org/kbase/multum/d00058a1.htm) for 16 years though. (It’s for both my seizure disorder and my bi-polar.) I was a bit chagrined when the doctor told me that bit. I’ve dealt with a [dry mouth](http://www.geocities.com/drkhosla1/drymouth.html) for years. (Yes, I drink lots of water.) Thanks for the subtle dig at my hygiene, it sure bolsters my self esteem. Jerk! :rolleyes: Why did your doctor tell you that, Zabali? AFAIK, there is no truth to the statement that Tegretol causes tooth decay. I’ve been taking it for about 16 years as well, my mom is a doctor, I’ve never had a neuro mention it and the PDR makes no mention of it. Sam [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009.md?page=9) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/food-stamp-lobster-and-steak/289009.md?page=11)