I’ve been reading this thread, every post, and trying not to get even more angry each time I read a new post. The unmitigated gall of so many of the posters here is just mind-boggling! The idea that because you pay taxes you are somehow entitled to dictate the life and actions of people whom you have no contact with or affect over, who doesn’t affect your life in any way, is the most laughable one I’ve heard in a long, long time.
I receive WIC. Right now. As we speak, I have four checks for four gallons of milk and assorted other things. I have also received food stamps in the past, but we finally “incomed out” of that program.
Want to know a secret? I pay taxes too. Just as much of my own money goes to pay for my federal assistance as yours. Do you know what that means, my entitled friends? I have just as much say in what I buy as you do. Making more money than I do does not somehow make your opinion count for more. In fact, since it’s my family I’m buying for, I’d say that makes your opinion worth about jack.
Where I live, the WIC program doesn’t work the way you describe. There’s no “cash value” to these checks at all. You get prescribed amounts, to be used for prescribed items, no substitutions unless the item listed in unavailable, (for example, you can’t substitute sliced cheese for block cheese unless there IS no block cheese in the store). The WIC office TELLS you what kind of formula you buy. You don’t get to pick and choose. If they say “use the RTF” then you do. I’m fortunate enough to never have fed my child a drop of formula… we breastfed for 17 months. But had I been forced to use it, I would have used what the gubmint tole me too.
That “$2” whatserface has been obsessing over? Wouldn’t happen. You don’t get to pick and choose on my program, or supplement your checks. Now, the checks will never cover the entire amount of the formula you need, so anything beyond that comes out of pocket.
Here’s a real-life example that comes from a friend. She has twins, and receives 18 cans a month for her babies. 9 cans a piece. She goes through a can a day feeding them.
You do the math on how much she has to buy to finish out the month. And babies aren’t like dogs… you can’t just switch their formula and expect them to not have problems. She has to buy the same expensive, name-brand formula she was prescribed for them every time. If it were RTF formula? That’s what she’d buy.
My food stamps? Always went to buy one steak dinner per month. Why? Because you get SICK to DEATH of chicken. You get tired of hamburgers and hot dogs. I spent the other $260 on healthy, nutritious food, why the heck can’t I spend $15 on a nice set of steaks? Newsflash: High quality meats ARE nutritious. A t-bone is healthier than a hot dog.
Oh wait, I forgot, poor people aren’t permitted to have things that other people don’t, because it’s not fair. I’ll tell you what’s not fair. Having to endure the condescending looks as you use your food stamps to pay for your groceries. The getting your phone cut off because you had to pay the power bill. Lightning striking your stove and not being able to buy a new one, so you make do with a toaster oven and an electric eye that trips your breaker if you use them both at the same time. Putting off going to the emergency room because you know you can’t afford the bill, so you wind up with a more serious condition (and more hospital time) than you would have otherwise.
That’s what’s not fair. So I think you can take your poor, unfair life, and stuff it up your nose. You poor thing eating ramen noodles and not being able to have a little convenience once in a while. Somehow, I’m not sympathetic.
Tell you what. You send me your home address, and I’ll send you the $.002 you contributed to my food stamps last year. I’ll be nice, and round it up to the next penny. That way, you can stop bitching about how other people live their lives with “your” tax money, and start looking to your own life for once.
