Food stamps help people live civilized lives. Survival is begging for scarps in the street and scrapping by. Birthday cakes and other small indulgences are part of a civilized life. If you don’t think people are not entitled to those things, then perhaps it’s time to look inward and wonder why you care so much.
Bingo.
If you (generic you) are getting angry about how poor people spend their food dollars, you need to step back and ask yourself WHY you’re angry, because no part of that is about you and your nano-cent contribution to their food allowance doesn’t come with the right to direct how it is spent.
As I said before, having better food on occasion was a treat that helped preserve my mental health and raise my morale through bad times. If you think poor people don’t deserve that, then the error is in YOUR head, not theirs. You should really step back and ask yourself why you even think that poor people don’t deserve nice things.
That’s easy. They cannot imagine themselves as being poor, as being poor is something that happens to people who are lazy, or immoral, or both.
On the mild end, it is a lack of empathy for those less fortunate than yourself, and at the extreme end, it is a hatred for those that you think are getting something that they don’t deserve.
Yeah, I was referring to the case where someone used food stamps to buy a birthday cake. Does it matter to me if someone gives money to a panhandler and the panhandler then buys booze or drugs with the money? Nah, it is an unwise decision, but they’re free to make that choice. The only person who has any basis to be upset about is the person who gave that money.
However, when you are being provided with money by a program that is taxpayer funded, then don’t be surprised if taxpayers have an opinion on how you are spending their money.
So, we, as taxpayers, should have a great deal to say about the running of companies taking advantage of federal tax breaks and incentives, correct?
When the wealthiest of americans got a massive tax break last year, did you feel that you can tell them what they are to do with that money?
PM me the info for your Venmo account so I can send you a bill for my upgrade to the latest iPhone. I really feel like having the latest iPhone is essential to living a civilized life, and if you don’t agree that I am entitled to have it at your expense, then I think you need to ask yourself why you care so much about depriving me of something that so many other people in society have.
What about this case, which has nothing to do with taxpayer money?
And as K9B said, how come those same people aren’t screaming about corporate welfare and tax breaks for the rich?
Yeah, we know, it’s because they think those people deserve it because they’re rich.
Perhaps you can tell me how much you take in tax deductions each year, so we can compare that benefit to the amount obtained by those receiving SNAP benefits.
In the spirit of openness, I probably take about $30,000 in deductions each year, which means about eight grand a year in tax savings. How much say do you think you ought to have on my life choices?
Right, because that is exactly an analogous situation.
Personally, I am not angry about this at all. I just don’t see how anyone can be surprised or upset that taxpayers have opinions about how you spend taxpayer money.
From some quick googling, it looks like roughly 20,000+ people in the world literally starve to death every year. Why should we care about the “morale” of poor people in wealthy countries while many less fortunate people in the world are fighting just for survival? Complaining that society owes you a free birthday cake because being poor is demoralizing is literally a First World problem.
Nobody is saying that poor people shouldn’t have nice things, just that it is not reasonable to expect taxpayers to fund it for them no questions asked. If you think poor people need and deserve birthday cakes, I don’t think anyone would object to you setting up a private charity to give free birthday cakes to the underprivileged.
How did you decide that birthday cakes are an essential part of a civilized life but iPhones aren’t?
Does that mean you think that EVERY poor person out there would agree with you that poor people are entitled to taxpayer funded birthday cakes?
Yes, there probably are poor people who would support this idea for their own benefit, but probably also those who do not feel entitled to a luxury that they can’t afford to purchase themselves.
What if I told you that it is in fact possible to be opposed to wasting taxpayer money on birthday cakes for the poor AND to also oppose tax breaks for wealthy megacorporations?
By all means, make Jeff Bezos and Amazon pay their fair share of taxes!
If the idea is to make sure they avoid starvation, then maybe you have a point. But I think we actually might want to help them improve their situation – have time and energy to look for jobs, improve their skills, help their kids become good citizens, etc., all of which can require more than simply subsistence. Humans aren’t robots, and most humans can’t improve their situation with only the bare minimum necessary for survival. It seems to me to be a far better investment to help them better their situation than merely help them avoid starving to death. Especially since the difference in cost is so tiny, and the payoff can be much, much larger.
Of course not, there are many poor people who believe that their circumstances are unique. That they are only poor due to some sort of unfortunate event. They look at other poor people, resentful that they are receiving the same level of support that they are, because their own current economic status is understandable, but the other poor people are just lazy bums looking for a free handout.
It’s not a luxury that they have purloined off the backs of taxpayers, it is one that they have sacrificed for themselves. They don’t get a birthday cake budget, they get a food budget. And if they make the personal sacrifice to eat ramen noodles for a week so that their kid can have something nice for his birthday, is that any of your business? Or, is what you are saying that if they can save money by eating ramen noodles for a week, the taxpayers can save money by only allowing them to eat ramen noodles ever?
As for the original case, I think it probably wasn’t the most efficient way to use the money, but that’s not my problem - because, as you said, the money came from a private donor and has nothing to do with me or any taxpayer. Generally, money goes a lot further when you donate to a homeless shelter or food pantry than to an individual homeless person, so personally I don’t donate to homeless people directly, but if the other person felt compelled to give, it’s not my concern.
You’re the one who said food stamps are for survival. I said they we aspire to do better than that. I trust the poor people to make those decisions with the allotment of money they are given. Once the decision is made that they are entitled to supplemental income then it’s up to them to spend their money as they see fit. Once the decision is made that I’m entitled to certain tax deductions it’s my decision to spend the money as I see fit.
My role in controlling how my tax monies are spent ends at the policy level, not at the individual level.
Bottom line is that all our lives are subsidized by other tax payers- I got Pell grants for college. Should someone else have a say in my major? It just easier to point at the person who has the obvious benefit and ignore all the benefits, direct and indirect, we all get.
What the fuck?
How do you feel about “taxpayer funded” cereal? Or butter? Or pepper?
Maybe he’d be happy if barrels of cold gruel were delivered rather than food stamps.
He’d bitch and moan about poor people getting free barrels.