Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Many people on welfare and other public assistance programs live better than a young college graduate, working an entry-leve professional job. When I was in my 20s - before Internet and cell phones - I remember comparing phone plans carefully before deciding I would buy the LIMITED phone plan rather than unlimited, saving 30% off my bill. It was what I could afford at the time.

In the meantime, I rented an apartment in a dumpy building where I was afraid to come home after 10 pm. At the same time, a 19-year-old with a baby was living in a government-subsidized 3-bedroom apartment for $87 a month, and renting out the other two bedrooms for cash, under the table. She had money to spare, and was always dressed in nice clothes and fancy hats. (Yes, I remember the hats in particular. People didn't even wear them and she had one for every day of the week!) In the meantime, I did all my shopping at JCPenney and Sears. Something is very wrong when a teenager living on government assistance programs has a higher lifestyle than a college graduate in her 20s.

I think this is what so many people are upset about. So many of us had lean years without assistance and it's hard to see people getting assistance and still not using it to their full advantage.

I agree that this probably resonates with a lot of people. I too had the lean college and post-grad years. I also worked as a clinical social worker early on in my career and had clients like the 19year old you describe who received more in benefits than I earned in salary. But that life is a struggle and every day is a hustle. If you think this is a plush way to live you are mistaken. Many people live like this for many many years, teetering on the edge while appearing to have these little luxuries (iPhones, hair/nails, TVs). The truth is many live hand to mouth.

I was fortunate enough to excel professionally, change careers, and I now make more than I ever imagined, albeit I'm sure I'm poor by dcum standards.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have called her on it OP and then slapped the crap out of her. Snatched the iphne away from her and took the ebt card. Your tax dollars are paying for them anyway, right? Why wait for Trump? Poor people certainly don't deserve nice things/delicious food at Golden Corral.

I've been through hard economic times, where I didn't take public aid. I didn't have an iPhone or eat out. I lived on boxes of pasta, day old bread, and tomato sauce. There was no protein because meat was too exoensive. I ended up in the emergency room on thanksgiving, where they did give me a food basket. That's what you do when you have hard times. You save your pennies, and don't cry "I deserve xxxxxxxx." You don't spend every last dime on Air Jordans or iPhones because that's one of the things which perpetuates poverty, this type of entitled consumerism.

No, that's what YOU chose to do in hard times. You should have taken the public aid.

No, some people have pride and would rather "do for themselves" as best they can. I qualified for food stamps at one point - for several months - but didn't take it. Lots of people feel the same.

But you didn't do for yourself. You subjected the taxpayers to a bill for you ER visit that cost more than a year of food stamps.

Two different posters that you responded to. I'm not the one who went to the ER. And I DID do for myself. I spent money very carefully at that point - I even remember being at the store and hesitating whether to splurge on a tomato! - but I managed. Never had to go to the hospital, that's for sure.

Someone on DCUM went to a Golden Corral?

I always buy Ben and Jerry's ice cream at the 7-11 near my house. The manager said the only other people who buy it are the nearby public housing residents who use their EBT cards. I don't care as long as they keep up the demand so that the store continues to carry it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You should have called her on it OP and then slapped the crap out of her. Snatched the iphne away from her and took the ebt card. Your tax dollars are paying for them anyway, right? Why wait for Trump? Poor people certainly don't deserve nice things/delicious food at Golden Corral.

I've been through hard economic times, where I didn't take public aid. I didn't have an iPhone or eat out. I lived on boxes of pasta, day old bread, and tomato sauce. There was no protein because meat was too exoensive. I ended up in the emergency room on thanksgiving, where they did give me a food basket. That's what you do when you have hard times. You save your pennies, and don't cry "I deserve xxxxxxxx." You don't spend every last dime on Air Jordans or iPhones because that's one of the things which perpetuates poverty, this type of entitled consumerism.

No, that's what YOU chose to do in hard times. You should have taken the public aid.

No, some people have pride and would rather "do for themselves" as best they can. I qualified for food stamps at one point - for several months - but didn't take it. Lots of people feel the same.

But you didn't do for yourself. You subjected the taxpayers to a bill for you ER visit that cost more than a year of food stamps.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

Different poster but I don't think any of us here with the luxury to sit at a computer and type out our grievances has the judgment to decide "wise use of money" for someone who needs public assistance. Yes, there are scammers out there up and down the socioeconomic strata but that's not a reason to leave the huge gaping holes that exist in our social safety net. There are way more people at the higher end who are bilking public funds to ensure prosperity never trickles down. I don't know if you've been paying attention in the last couple of election cycles, but our culture celebrates these people. You're buying into a decades-long stereotype that people who need assistance are nothing but lazy moochers with no incentive to work, but it's that very lie about poverty in America that has helped poverty in America grow to unfathomable proportions. They're called "entitlements" because the other lie we tell ourselves about America is that everyone is entitled to basic life necessities. It's just not true, is it?

We're always going to put profit ahead of lives in this country and if poor people are the ones most likely to buy cheap, unhealthy food well then you can bet corporations are going to figure out how to get whatever money poor people have to spend. http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/business/2011/09/fast-food-chains-getting-into-the-food-stamp-act/

We spent a year on SNAP food benefits after my third child was born. You'd never guess it looking at us, but we met the requirements and chose to make good use of the help available. Im sorry if you don't like it, but you don't get to decide how people on SNAP spend the rest of their money. Their poverty does not entitle you to dictate every aspect of their lives.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

IIRC SNAP benefits are only available for 24 months of any 60 month period, with a lifetime cap of 60 months.

The point is the op has now idea how the iPhone was acquired or when. They saw one moment in this person's life and judged their whole existence.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

Very few recipients of "food stamp" are eating at Golden Corral. 7-11 or Subway, sure. Sit down meals? Not likely. By the way, I still have a functioning iPhone 4 that is now six or seven years old. Isn't there a saying about judging others?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

IIRC SNAP benefits are only available for 24 months of any 60 month period, with a lifetime cap of 60 months.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

Not the PP, but I agree with you. In fact, back in my grandparents' day, they referred to it as "relief." The word "relief" implies that government assistance is temporary, and not a generational welfare program as it is today.

Anonymous wrote:Yup. I've been behind an EBT card user who paid for the groceries with the card and then bought beer and cigarettes with cash............as my dad used to say about my cousin: "Johnny can afford the luxuries--he just can't afford the necessities..........."

In the 80s, I knew people who called them "beer stamps" - they sold them for 50 cents on the dollar and used the cash for beer.

A newer ploy in states with 5 cent bottle deposits is to buy a case of 24 bottles of water at Walmart for about $3.50, then pour the water down the drain, and return the empty plastic water bottles for $1.20 in cash. Not quite as lucrative, but beer money it is anyway.

There are plenty of other scams out there too.

Yup. I've been behind an EBT card user who paid for the groceries with the card and then bought beer and cigarettes with cash............as my dad used to say about my cousin: "Johnny can afford the luxuries--he just can't afford the necessities..........."

Anonymous wrote:My nephew and his young family have an Ebt card. And he and his wife have iPhones. The phones were free with service and are paid for on a family plan my parents pay for. Each additional line is 15 dollars a month. Living several hours apart and having no other computer, phone, Internet, so on, this allows my family to keep in contact. Both my nephew and his wife work full time jobs. They are back breaking low paying jobs however and they have two small children.
You are judging something you have no knowledge about.

And you are defending a different EBT recipient about whom YOU have no knowledge - based on what? Your personal experience, which amounts to a sample size of one family. That's it.

In general, EBT recipients should be saving their money so they don't end up on EBT long term.

I personally do not believe that iPhones and eating at restaurants is a wise use of money by someone on EBT. Don't you agree?

I was trying to find an article I read a few years ago about how being poor costs more time, money and energy than anyone could imagine without going through it. The writer followed around a homeless mother as she applied for benefits and what I remember most was how she had to wait until she had bus fare to get to the office, a ride that took at least a couple of hours with transfers and waiting time factored in, then waiting to get seen, then told she she had file more paperwork at a completely different location. A location that she had neither the time nor the bus fare to reach.

There was a blog I used to read with real life stories about the maddening way poverty perpetuates itself, with every compromise or sacrifice made in the moment creating another costly problem. There really is no way out without help, luck, rule breaking, charity, or all of the above. I'm grateful I live in a country that at least does something to make sure people don't starve, but ashamed that we do in fact let people starve all the damned time. For all the morality that people attach to decisions people make that lead to poverty, we're remarkably lax about the corporate leeching that's basically created a caste system. You're "free" to scratch and claw your way out of poverty (there's no bootstrap pulling) but profit making entities are way more free to rummage through your pockets and pull out everything they can while your hands and feet are busy with the climb.

But anyway, I found a whole site for the OP and other judgmental types to feed their righteous indignation about poor people "cashing in." Happy hating, folks! http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/@working_poor/