lee,
I was not commenting on whether you were right in taking food stamps, or the government in giving it to you. But your attitude in insisting that no one should be judging what you buy ignores the fact that these are some of the same people who’ve been taxed to pay for these purchases. If you take the attitude that we’re all responsible for each other, than you shouldn’t also be saying mind your own business.
I have a feeling this is going to go where the “should Viagra be covered by insurace” thread went… oddly enough, I’m coming down on the opposite side of this one.
The major dilemma we face is one of whether the government (and, by extension, society) has a responsibility to maintain the welfare of its citizens. Current public opinion seems to be that there are some citizens who are more worthy of care than others. Which is why everybody worries about senior citizens, but not the poor. Even though, in the end, the money for SS comes from the same place as the money for AFDC, I don’t think most people would get too worked up about their social security-dependant grandma springing for premiun cable even though they’d be livid upon discovering that <gasp> some people on food stamps also have 36" TVs.
Like somebody said above, how do you know that the person buying a New York Strip with food stamps isn’t getting it for their kid’s birthday, or to celebrate his/her passing the GED, or graduating from high school, or any one of those small occasions that middle-class americans can celebrate without having to worry about where the funds are coming from.
Yes, you helped pay into the system. But you very well may need it some day. If the economy heads south again, and you, god forbid, get downsized, and have to go on food stamps, do you really want a grocery store clerk giving you a hard time for, just once to relieve the grinding monotony of macaroni and cheese and ramen, engaging in America’s favorite pastime: buying extravagant crap???
Yeah, it’s close. Could I ask people who want to, um, debate this issue greatly to open a thread in the appropriate forum?
[rant]
I do not think it is ever acceptable to publicly embarrass someone. If you feel you are entitled to judge what other people do (legally) with money funded by taxes, that’s fine. Keep it to yourself. Don’t lecture, or even treat badly, those of whose particular circumstances you are unaware.
[/rant]
Rick
I would spend $70 or more on soft drinks with foodstamps, get 10 or 12 cases and sell them for 50 cents each in a Coke machine, and I NEVER got dirty looks from a cashier or customer, or if I did I didn’t notice it. I think they knew that I was buying them or figured I had a scam going on and didn’t want to bring attention to that fact. I was kinda surprised.
I think a LOT of the people who buy luxury foods or 10 lbs. of steak are people who bought food stamps. Sometimes if I had leftovers from buying sodas for the vending machine I would buy the expensive frozen pizzas or snack foods.
Guess not.
This is an outrageous statement. The money does come “in the end” from the same place - the US Treasury. But the source of the money is different. As is the rationale for giving it. The SS income represents money that the recipient has paid into the system on behalf of their own retirement. The money represents their own hard earned money, saved for them by the government. As such it is no one’s business what is done with it. By contrast the food stamps do not represent money that the recipient has any inherent claim to. It is being taken from its owners on behalf of the recipients, based on the justification that the recipients need it for basic living expenses. As such, evidence that the recipients do not actually need the money for basic living expenses is very relevent indeed.
Its unfortunate that the attitude promulgated by black455 regarding SS has gained some credence. This is reflected in the call by some for means testing SS recipients. Perhaps this would be one advantage of shifiting SS to retirement acounts- to clarify what SS actually is. But that’s another issue.
I heartily agree with the RickG’s “rant”. This should go without saying, but is case there is room to confuse my words as meaning otherwise, I will state so directly.
Actually, some SS payments are NOT necessarily “what you’ve put in”. Many people apply for and recieve SS disability payments without any significant work history. And, of course, survivor benefits have no direct relationship to that payment history either, in that if you die at age 20, having say 2 years SS payments into the system, but leave 3 children, those children are NOT cut off from SS payments after they’ve been paid the amount you paid in.
So how do you feel about armed forces personell with families that are receiving food stamps?
It is unclear who this question is addressed to. Perhaps you might clarify this, and spell out which position you would like to see applied to service personnel.
[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by IzzyR *
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The government doesn’t save SS money for individuals. Whatever money comes in from SS taxes goes right back out again in the form of payments to retirees, and most of today’s retirees will get back much more from the system than they paid in. If any is left over, it is invested in treasury bonds (i.e. government IOU’s). Nobody has any money in an SS account created especially for them, and the government doesn’t save specific funds for specific individuals. Basically SS is a pyramid scheme. Eventually the government will probably wiggle out of SS obligations by continually raising the retirement age and gradually reducing the benefits until the retirement age is so high and the benefits so low that SS will no longer be an important part of anybody’s retirement package.