I have an acquaintance that I text back and forth with. He mentioned that he was going shopping with his new food assistance check, and hoped to buy some caviar.
I replied “What is wrong with this picture?”
He asked if I was one of those people who thought that food stamps should only be used for staples, and I said “yes.”
Am I wrong? Should buying rare wines with food stamps be allowed?
It already isn’t.
Caviar is fish eggs. If that’s what you want to eat buddy, go ahead.
The grocery store I work at used to sell Manischewitz caviar for about $3.50 a tin. Not all caviar is imported Russian sturgeon.
Does it bother you that you are thinking like a Republican?
Not really, because in this case it’s exactly what he is doing. He’s a self-professed “foodie,” and is always telling me what fancy cut of meat he is cooking.
How is he qualifying for food stamps, and if he needs them how will he survive buying the expensive stuff?
Why stop there? Some staples are better value for money than others. Surely if we are concerned that people are wasting their food stamps on the wrong choices, we should mandate the most efficient option as the only choice.
Edited to add: I don’t think that we should, obviously.
The guy gets a set amount of money each month for food. It can only buy food. If he spends it all on something you find to be over-priced calorie wise, then he has to make up whatever shortfall he creates. It costs the government no more, no less. Why care what items he chooses to spend his money on?
Yes, you are the AH. It’s not your business what the person buys with food stamps.
I agree completely. I was on food stamps for over 20 years. I will say more after work.
ETA- I was agreeing with Peedin
Provided that …
then I don’t see an issue. And caviar is probably healthier than the potato chips or Oreos that many people purchase with food benefits.
If he’s disabled he’s already living at the poverty line.
If he has children. Good luck getting them to eat fish eggs once, let alone for a month.
He’s hurting himself.
OTOH, his food assistance, his business.
(But the government ain’t feeding him, the tax payer is)
“I’m not against government assistance, I just want to make sure they’re not enjoying it.”
These are the same people who think poor folks don’t deserve entertainment or nice clothing. They can get help, but only to a point. Only so long as they don’t start to think they’re allowed to act like normal civilized folks. They need to suffer, or else what will motivate them to tug on their bootstraps?
Holy fuck. Why can’t he get a treat every once in a while?
I started out after college on food stamps. Never occurred to me to do anything but maximize the amount of food they would buy. Even so, I totally believe that people who get food stamps are people. No different than the more affluent. They should live their lives as they want as long as it doesn’t hurt others. Food stamps are never their entire budget either, since the program is tied to total income.
A curiosity of language: Actual food stamps were phased out in the 90s for an electronic card system and the program was formally renamed the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in 2008. Yet the term food stamps lingers on as the default generic name for such assistance. Whenever people complain about the language changing too fast, I should remind them about how language is very conservative in many instances.
Yes YTAH. MYOB.
…that you are passing judgement on what somebody else does with their perfectly legal entitlement?
Why do you think that? Do you think poor and struggling people should forever live in misery or something like that?
Although to be fair to the acquaintance, it sounds like they are obviously messing with you. They seem to know what pushes your buttons and it worked.
Thank you.
Ah, “AITA” is “am I the a**hole”. I thought it was some new abbreviation for food stamps for most of this thread.