Welcome Instapundit readers. In response to some emails and comments, allow me to add two points. First, creating more beneficiaries (even if the budget doesn’t immediately increase) will increase the number of entities that have an incentive to lobby to preserve the program and/or make it bigger. Second, this development is part of the effort to de-stigmatize food stamps, thus making the destructive dependency lifestyle more attractive. Here’s the original post.
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Should food stamp recipients be able to buy taxpayer-financed meals at fast food restaurants?
That’s actually a trick question. Setting aside the controversy about Obama turning America into a “food stamp nation,” the federal government shouldn’t be involved in income redistribution, so the right answer is that the program shouldn’t exist.
But let’s relax our principles and ponder this story from USA Today. A group of fast-food restaurants wants to be eligible to accept food stamps as payment.
The number of businesses approved to accept food stamps grew by a third from 2005 to 2010, U.S. Department of Agriculture records show, as vendors from convenience and dollar discount stores to gas stations and pharmacies increasingly joined the growing entitlement program. Now, restaurants, which typically have not participated in the program, are lobbying for a piece of the action. Louisville-based Yum! Brands, whose restaurants include Taco Bell, KFC, Long John Silver’s and Pizza Hut, is trying to get restaurants more involved, federal lobbying records show.
Is this a good idea? The answer, of course, is no.
Indeed, this is downright reprehensible, perhaps even worse than the story about college students mooching off the program. Shame on Yum! Brands. This is another distasteful example of how big business is willing to rape taxpayers and/or consumers by using he coercive power of government.
For what it’s worth, I will now try to avoid eating at any the restaurants owned by Yum! Brands (which will be fairly easy since KFC is the only one I like).
[…] Let’s call him Exhibit A for the decline of social capital in the United States (though certain fast food restaurants might be an even more ominous sign of eroding cultural […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
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Im sicken by the idea we as a nation are obese and lazy so the rest of us should just work and pay our taxes so they can draw there gov.checks and go out to eat at restaurants on food stamps all I can say is wow
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
Excuse me for saying so but i am on foof stamps and have been now for 41 years and a half now due to being Mild Mental Retardation since birth i dont think its fair that you people are also talking about the people with handicappeds have a little respect will you? any concerns or comments could be forworded to me and i will respond back thanks. my email address is chrispricejake@gmail.com an out raged of all this.
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
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[…] And Pizza Hut, joined by other fast food joints, lobbies for food stamps. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
grew up poor. not even on foodstamps. i pay taxes. and i hate every single one of you for how you speak of 46 million people as a single stereotype. you act as if every single person on foodstamps is that crackwhore you see at the family dollar running cons to cop a score. these people are people who have been laid off trying to support a family. military families with husbands and wives in middle east. how many of you snobs had well to do families that helped pave your way to college and a nice cushy job? how many of you have never had to struggle a day in your life? no i don’t think food stamps should buy them fast food. but then again.. who the hell am i to pretend like i know what it’s like to live in their shoes. and who the hell are you to tell 46 million people they should eat canned foods and bruised fruit because they need to feed their children. you ever think about the children in these situations? do you think they had a choice to be brought up poor? do you think they enjoy eating tomato soup and week old bread because their parents may have made mistakes in their lives? and this is what you wish on 46 million people.. the people leaving nasty comments in this forum. you are the reason america is becoming a laughing stock in the international community. we have cut out the middle class. now you either have money or you don’t. and the people with money have enough time on their hands to come on here to berate the people without… land of the free, home of the brave.. more like land of the snobs and home of the soulless.. i hope you all lose your jobs. i hope your loved one gets sick and you can’t eat because of medical bills. maybe food stamps can buy you a soul when you fall on your ass like so many other unfortunates have done. and i completely one hundred percent agree that fast food should not be allowed to food stamp nation. my only qualm is with you ignorant snobs who grew up without a struggle or had life come easy to you think you are somehow better than people that you clearly have no understanding or compassion on where these people came from. were talking about a program that allows these people 200 dollars a month to eat.. go out next month and spend 200 dollars on groceries for your family. see what happens.
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
If you don’t get food stamps you should not get a vote……..just kill yourself
[…] Proposals to make it easier to use food stamps at fast food restaurants. […]
What people are neglecting to see is the millions of people who benefit from food stamps. More resturants should except food stamps for those who don’t have a stove to cook on. For those in a shelter and have kids to feed. Not every food stamps recipient is on drugs or spend all there stamps on fast food. Just look at it objectively
United States of America before the event the increase in internal debt ceiling had the option to negotiate their debt securities in the possession of other Countries. You can still do this, of course with minor success. But it can. The internal political struggle did not let anything happen. Now lost again with China buying all the gold possible in the world. All believe that Chinese is to control inflation in China. It is not. China buys the gold at ridiculous prices through exploration contracts with miners and mining cooperatives worldwide. What astonishes and terrifies any observer is that the United States observes everything as if oblivious to the fact that serious. Or into this vein of gold with purchase at ridiculous prices or will bitter over a big headache to balance its economy very soon. You should see who knows. Political fights are for later.
After working good full time jobs over the last 29 years, paying taxes and never missing a child support payment for 11 years, my company was sold almost 2 years ago. I’ve applied at hundreds of companies…willing to take anything. No luck. FoodShare has helped me immensely and I buy Banquet dinners, when they’re on sale for a buck, or Stouffer’s. I eat once a day. I don’t buy steak and feed it to my dog, as some I’ve heard of. I’ve got lots of Campbell soups, when on sale for a buck, varieties of Creamettes pasta, also on sale for $1 for a 16 oz. package so I can cook a good pot of food that lasts a couple days. I don’t buy lobster or shrimp or tenderoins. Am I an exception? I don’t think so. SOME people use EBT responsibly. My biggest “treat”??? Maybe a bag of Doritos once a month or 6 weeks. And for the first time in 3 years I got a Papa Murphy’s pizza, that will last me 3-4 days for $12. If you have a problem with the EBT card, change the rules for the abusers of, not the followers of, the rules!
[…] I’ve posted about fast food restaurants trying to sign up for the program and the Obama Administration’s crazy policy of bribing states to create more food stamp […]
I personally think that a lot of you people are bigots and have your head up your ass. To be mad at a company for a very wise marketing strategy shows how dumb you are in the business world. Hats off to Yum brand for doing this and making their money. Can’t be mad with the times we have if they find other means of revenue. Now on a different note yes it is very stupid to buy kfc or taco bell when you have a family to feed. the grocery store should be the only place to use these cards but it is not up to Yum brand now is it. Not one of you really said that the government needs to step in and not allow this but rather went on a rant about Yum brand. That is what I hate about this entire situation. People are always so quick to point the finger but never at who it belongs to.
[…] posted several times about the dangers of creating too much government dependency, including a set of cartoons that illustrates how small welfare states inevitably erode social […]
[…] capitalism, thy name is Yum! LD_AddCustomAttr("AdOpt", "1"); LD_AddCustomAttr("Origin", "other"); […]
the idea of allowing some food stamp recipients the ability to go to a fast food place is for the homeless that don’t have a place to cook or store the food.
I just love the way that no matter what the topic is, somehow it will become a Christianity debate. I have as a Christian, a duty to help my fellow man, but so do a lot of other faiths as well, does it bode well for someone’s “karma” to ignore the suffering of a hungry child? I don’t think so. This is not a debate on taking care of the indigent of our country. This is more of a debate on the abuse of our country’s attempt to take care of our poor. The frustration comes from seeing people abuse the system while knowing we are paying for it. A coworker of mine is unmarried and has 3 children. She receives almost $600.00 per month in food stamps. Every month she sells $100.00 of her food stamps for $50.00. We all know someone like this, they may be the nicest person around, but the system is designed to be cheated. I am not begrudging the homeless child that through no fault of his own is living on the street, but we aren’t teaching people who are working yet are still falling below the poverty line how to save money by eating at home, or making their own food, where are the programs to help these people learn how to can back yard produce? The government is too big to handle entitlement programs. Let local churches and agencies do it. Our church has no end to the people that come to us looking for help, but we not only help them, we try to help them find a job if they need it, or we try to help them learn ways to budget, and the churches in our community also communicate to let each other know when we have people that are making the rounds just trying to get handouts. Why not give entitlement money to the local food pantries? Everyone on the food program shows up and gets their share of FOOD. Good wholesome food that they can feed their families. There has to be a better solution than what the government has come up with. As far as being a Christian doormat, 2 Thessalonians 3:10 For even when we were with you, we would give you this command: If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat.
If the food stamp receipent wants to eat out, needs to come from their pocket. I can buy alot of groceries for the cost of eating out. You know when I went through tough times I ate at home.
I know to many people that are receiving food stamps who work under the table and live well. I would be to ashamed to live that lie.
While, I’m not a supporter of the Food stamp program, I am a strong believer in the moral obligation of public corporations duty to maximize profits, It is only right that YUM brands attempt to expand their market. It is up to the government to look after the taxpayers interest. If this rule makes it, It will be the government that has failed us, not Yum brands.
I would imagine that many of those commenting here would consider themselves to be Christian. How Christian is it to “shame” those who receive charity? And why do you say that someone is “abusing” the program if they follow all the rules?
If you don’t like the rules, blame the people who make them, not the people who follow them.
[…] These companies are owned by Pepsico, the same company that funded the “Kill the Tea Party Zombies” game and whose CEO said shortly after 9/11 that America gives the world ‘the middle finger’… Shame on Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell for Trying to Mooch off the Food Stamp Program […]
This is but another example where government is willing to consider distributing money to another recipient based simply on the idea that it is “easier” for the recipient. The donor, however, still has to get up daily to go to work, accept the W-2 or 1099-MISC tracking their efforts, pass drug tests, and file with the IRS yearly (quarterly?). Isn’t it really about time that all ‘income, redistributed’ be tracked with a 1099-GOV? Yes it is! 1099-GOV 1099-GOV 1099-GOV
I’ve always felt that food stamps should be marked in a way that recipients could only purchase specific kinds of foods such as tofu, chopped spinach, liver, etc.
As Benjamin Franklin said, “I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it.”
That’s not to say we should be abusive, but I think Ben had it right. The incentive for those on welfare should be to rise above it; not to make it a lifestyle. I think our policies have encouraged the latter.
These guys are in the business of making money. The problem is government, never private enterprize. People always have a choice with private enterprize, never with the government…
[…] Mitchell has an interesting article about Yum! Brands lobbying Fedgov to allow Yum! restaurants (Pizza Hut, KFC, Long John Silvers, […]
The food stamp program needs to be cut. I am all for taking care of the elderly and disabled, but if the government would get their noses out of it maybe the people that could work would. I am a finance manager for a auto dealership and I am appalled at the misuse of social security and entitlements I see every day. I have elderly people all the time come in and tell me stories of how they broke their back, got cancer, or very sick and they had to fight over a year to get benefits. The next customer I get will be a single mom dragging in a bunch of kids and they are ALL on social security making more at 24 years old per month not working than the elderly couple who worked all their life barely able to hang on.
How about those fingerprint things at the checkout so we are sure who is getting the food? I know they’d still be able to cheat, but it would be a little harder for them. Maybe mandatory nutrition classes? Or parenting courses?
And you fail to accuse Papa Murphy whose hole business model is EBT…..Loons all…
Why’d you rob that bank?
That’s where the money is.
Why’d you rob the public?
Do you want me to just go on repeating myself?
For the most part, the commenters here are a pack of fools.
Poor people are poor largely because they make poor economic decisions. The ones who DO make rational decisions and are still poor are the ones we don’t have to worry about nannying.
So, take that subset of welfare recipients who are likely to spend their food stamps at KFC. If they can’t get KFC, do you think they’re going to goto the supermarket and buy fresh greens and healthy lean meats that they need to actually spend effort in preparing?
You’re off your frigging rocker.
No, they are going to head straight for the frozen pizza section. If Food Stamps won’t pay for delivery, they’ll pay for Digornio’s.
Also, you noticed something during your little stroll through the frozen foods aisle? Like all the RESTAURANT BRAND NAMES like TGI Friday’s, etc?
So, for all your thrashing, all you’ve accomplished is to shift the money from restaurants that cook the food fresh to similarly-priced restaurants that freeze it and ship it instead.
Cut welfare, or do not. There is no Fry.
Totally agree w/ Dan Mitchell.
1. Allowing fast food outlets into food stamps expands the circle of people and organizations dependent on welfare. Bad idea to grow the entrenched interests of the “welfare-industrial complex.”
2. If recipients are currently able to afford more expensive fast food restaurants (vs groceries) w/ food stamps, we should lower food stamp benefits.
3. Recipients should have the inconvenience of preparing their own food as an incentive to get off welfare.
Folks above who complain about “picking winners and losers”, or that immediate costs won’t increase by approving fast-food, can’t see the forest for the trees.
Forget food stamps… the next big idea is beer stamps.
Nobody is saying that food stamps, or food assitance should be eliminated. But a major reform is in order. Personally I favor subsidizing public and private food banks, eliminating the grocer and restaurant entirely. Allow grocers and aditional tax break for donated items.
I have also had experience with delivering (Thanksgiving) food to elderly poor and discovering that they were completely unprepared to cook it. The next year we delivered roasted chicken. The year after that the city prevented us from delivering anything cooked. But I digress.
I thought that healthy food was too expensive for poor people to buy, this plan will save them money by allowing food stamp reciepients to buy the cheaper prepared foods served at these fast food joints.
Think of how much further they can stretch the welfare dollar now!
“Forced wealth distribution”, “The program shouldn’t even exist”, and more. I consider myself a conservative, but in the 1980s when steel and coal went away in western Pa.(there were no bail outs), and working three part-time minimum wage jobs around the clock wasn’t enough to keep me from begging for the basics at food pantries, where generosity has limits, my wife finally talked me into applying for food stamps. Without that help I’m not sure what would have become of my family. Have you people ever been at, or close to the bottom? You and your pompous rhetoric, spouting verbatim what your favorite columnist or talk show host has to say. This country needs safety nets. Constant vigilance is necessary to limit abuse, but there are those who are trying desperately to stay afloat, should we let them drown because of circumstances over which they have little or no control?
Allow me to respectfully disagree. I have often thought that no one should go hungry in America if they live within walking distance of a Taco Bell. For three or four bucks, you can get a full day’s caloric intake, especially if you skip the (high-margin) sugary drinks. You and the many commenters here may consider it “junk,” but what’s so wrong with meat, chees and tortillas (and a little lettuce and tomato)? Half the world subsists on similar fare, and its probably better prepared, and more sanitary, than what some of these people could do at home. Take it from someone who subsisted on Taco Bell all through grad school (and, upon graduation, a la Scarlett Ohare, swore, “as God is my witness I’ll never eat Taco Bell again”).
Sometimes, good people find themselves in bad situations and need some help getting out of that bad situation. If the representatives of the American people decide to afford you the privilege of eating for free, you should not complain about the restrictions placed upon that free food. People who are given free food should not be eating better than people who work for it. Food stamps should be a painful and embarrassing reminder that you can and should work hard to remove yourself from the situation you are in. If you have no shame or work ethic, you can deal with the pain until your desire to be a productive member of society outweighs your desire to sit around and be a drag on the economy and society.
One thing that strikes me as odd is the fact that these Socialist programs are described as “Entitlements.” You are entitled to three things; Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. All of your rights are derived from and support these three entitlements. You have the right to earn money to buy food, you are not entitled to be given free food whenever and wherever you wish with no strings attached.
It’s just YUM shortselling the economy – and they’re probably right
An old boss of mine, a tough as nails conservative, but also a practical systems guy, won me over to point years ago, long before this most recent suggestion of allowing
Many of the folks who need foodstamps to get by have neither the capability, capacity nor the equipment to cook food that requires preparation. Many on foodstamps do not even have a place suitable for food preparation.
I can’t help but think of that story about a pizza delivery driver figuring out that a regular customer, an elderly woman who lived alone, was in trouble because the customer had not ordered her daily pie in three days. The customer ordered a medium pepperoni pizza (1680 calories) delivered every day for years. Probably the only thing that woman had to eat, for years was that daily bread. Kept herself fed for around $60 a week.
(Ignoring for the sake of argument that forced wealth transfer itself is wrong,) If the goal is to feed people, and not to punish them, then we should allow folks to buy pre-cooked food with benefits dollars.
http://consumerist.com/2011/02/dominos-delivery-driver-saves-life-of-regular-customer.html
I can’t believe that would go over well where I live. Here they passed a law that WIC money (women/infants/children) can’t be used for white tortillas. Because of the processed flour. Which is just weird, because most users are hispanic and that’s a staple food. But it passed.
DSmith, it costs three or four times as much to eat at a fast food restaurant every day than it does to buy meat and vegetables at the store and cook them yourself. So if the food-stamp program is extended to fast food restaurants, the taxpayer money that funds this program will run out much faster and our taxes will go up. That is one objection.
And what would we get for this increase in payment? Happier, lazier, less healthy welfare recipients. Not something we want to incentivize. (If you create an incentive for something you get more of it.) That is another objection.
Yes it makes sense from the perspective of the fast-food companies to tap this market if you focus only on their desire to increase their market.
What Dan seems to be arguing is that these firms should not look at the issue in isolation from only their own perspective, but should consider the full results of their actions (creating another incentive for people to go on food stamps and contributing to the skyrocketing costs of this program).
You can argue that these firms do not have a moral responsibility to take those issues into account, but if that’s what you believe the onus is on you to explain why you think that. I think it is quite rude to tell your host that HE should reconsider his views in keeping with yours.
It is commonplace to see foodstamp recipients at the grocery store “buy” items that my family that is not on the foodstamp program cannot afford. Why should these people buy t-bone steaks, veal cutlets, and jumbo shrimp with foodstamps and then throw in tons of pre-packaged foods that are also expensive? They ring that up on the plastic foodstamp card and then buy the beer and wine to go with it with cash. If these people are out of work and on foodstamps, they have more time than I do to fix inexpensive meals from “scratch”. Anyone expecting to be fed from their neighbors should not be eating higher on the hog than their hosts. Foodstamp recipients should be given a home-economics class and cookbook before they are allowed to get the foodstamps and then only be allowed to buy non-processed foods with a cap on the meat prices that floats with inflation.
Subsidize food, or don’t. Period.
Don’t micromanage it – what food, where it’s acquired, how it’s prepared, when and where it’s consumed. Government shouldn’t be in the business of deciding what people consume, no matter who’s footing the bill. No real virtue in turning yet another bad government program into a truly awful government program.
I see Quentin’s point and I don’t believe food stamp recipients should be publicly shamed, but otherwise, I agree with Dustin. Food stamp recipients should feel a responsibility to (1) get off public assistance as soon as possible (I realize this is easier for some than for others, but recipients should do what they can to get off food stamps ASAP), and (2) eat responsibly and healthily while on food stamps, which will benefit both that person and society in general. Taxpayers pay for other people to eat so that those people can be nourished with healthy food. We help those in need so they can get what they need, not what they want. Generally, healthy food costs more, e.g., fresh produce costs more than mac & cheese. But if food stamp recipients have enough food stamps to hit these fast food restaurants, they have enough to get healthy food at grocery stores—foods that will prevent rather than cause obesity, metabolic syndrome, hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc., which are all problems more associated with the poor than the rich or middle class.
I find it ironic that just as we consider providing more unhealthy food choices to food stamp recipients, the rest of us endure more and more government interference with our food choices. I propose that government stop telling those of us who buy food with our own money what to eat and direct their nanny statism toward those whose food is bought by the taxpayer.
DSmith above has it right… reconsideration is required…
If you decide to try and control how Food Stamps are used you are calling for an additional expansion of the government bureaucracy and that introduces waste and inefficiency that affects us all. E.g., go to the grocery store and wait in line behind a Food Stamp recipient as the cashier needs to have someone else check if an item is eligible, or even just sort the items. You and I are paying for that time both directly and indirectly.
Charity in my view should not be merely another means of employing social control either by individuals or government.
Have you ever eaten Taco Bell? This is a savings program. Every $1 spent today at Taco Bell will save $10 in Medicaid costs when these people die at 49.
[…] THE EVER EXPANDING LOOTER-AND-MOOCHER CLASS: Dan Mitchell: Shame on Pizza Hut, KFC, and Taco Bell for Trying to Mooch off the Food Stamp Program. […]
Food stamps should not be used to purchase junk food, or used in any restaurant. To say that it doesn’t impact the cost is moronic. You get more food for your money in a grocery store than at a fast food outlet, hence we get more for our tax dollars.
While I can’t blame the the restaurants for trying, I will blame my government for giving in to them. But I suspect that the campaign contributions the lobbyists give out will again outweigh common sense and the will of the taxpayers.
What is the difference between frozen pizza and Banquet meals and Taco Bell burritos and KFC fried chicken? None are staples, none are particularly economical sources of calories.
If you are going to allow TV dinners as food for Food Stamp recipients, then why not fast foods?
You want to fix the system? Make up food packages that are distributed by stores or government outlets that consist of staples which need preparation. Potatoes, flour, meat, veggies. Make packages up for each person on food stamps per week. But we don’t look for value for our aid….
Instead, we allow frozen pizzas, Lunchables, frozen TV dinners, desserts, Soda pop, etc.. And we allow the items to be purchased at 1.5 times the supermarket price at corner conveneience stores. Hardly a good value for calories to feed the “poor”
Why the double standard?
Yum brands is just maximizing their business. That’s a good thing. You’re correct the program should not exist in the first place, but it’s not appropriate for criticize business for taking advantage of a program that exists.
Occasionally my wife and I stop at KFC and buy a family meal. Spend $20+. How many cans of veggies, cartons of milk and eggs etc can I buy for $25? Lots. Way more than an 8 piece meal at KFC. And the veggies eggs and milk will provide more meals and better nutrition as well. Huge waste of tax payer dollars.
DSmith you are actually presenting a good case for reforming or shutting down the Food Stamps program. It was never intended to be a support for the fast food industry. If it morphs into that it should be killed immediately.
Why not provide a program to subsidize the purchase of cars? Toilets? A/C Units?
Oh wait. Seems we’re out of control and getting worse. It’s almost like the government has too much revenue and are trying to find ways to spend it!
Why does it matter whether a food stamp recipient receives their food from the grocery store or Taco Bell?
If you’re going to boycott Taco Bell, then you should boycott the grocery store as well.
Don’t forget, David C. Novak, Chairman of Yum! Brands, is a big Obama supporter and contributor. He’s probably just looking for pay back.
I’m not getting the outrage. Is it reprehensible for there to be a food stamp program? Maybe so. Is it reprehensible for any business to accept food stamps? if so, then it’s reprehensible for grocery stores to take them.
All these non-grocery-store food sellers are doing is trying to compete. If only certain food sellers are allowed to sell to the 46 million (!) food stamp recipients, then the government is, once again, picking winners and lowers in the marketplace. 46 million customers is a whole lot to just give up and leave to the competition. I don’t blame these businesses one bit for what they are doing. They’d be derelict in their duties to their shareholders if they didn’t.
I think your outrage is misplaced, and could stand some reconsideration.
Hell, better yet, let the grocery stores pick the food for the stamp recipients.
Toss in the bruised fruits and veggies, and whatever other foods are in high supply or low demand that week. Give a bag per family member in the recipient family.
Last time I saw someone use this program, they had much nicer food in their bags than I was putting on the conveyor. I was paying them to eat better than my family gets. That’s sick.
Quentin,
It’s junk food. Food stamps should not be used for wasteful junk food and soda.
It’s pure waste. It doesn’t nourish hungry poor people. In fact, it probably would increase their health problems a lot.
If poor folks have to go to the grocery store to get their food, because they are on the dole, that’s a lot better than if they are going to Long John Silvers.
These same people are on Medicaid, and when they get diabetes or heart disease or cancer, obviously that does increase spending a hell of a lot!
Ordinarily, it’s none of my business what my neighbor eats. But if I’m paying for it, I get to say what they eat.
Food stamps should be limited to a very short list of foods. Ground beef, bread, whole chicken, milk, eggs, rice, flour. Stuff like that.
People on food stamps should be stigmatized and publicly named. They should have a running total of benefits accrued listed by their name that they are expected, but not legally required, to pay back.
If they are able bodied, recipients should be put into labor.
“increasing the number of outlets that accept food stamps is irrelevant to the costs.”
Also, some people will sign up for these outlets. They will find the program more appealing. But I agree the key here is to reduce the number of people on the dole drastically. One way is to make the program much less appealing.
These restaurants signing up for the program shouldn’t increase spending in the least. Increasing the number of people in the program or the amount paid to individuals would. But, unless significant numbers are receiving food stamps and not using them because they don’t like the outlets, increasing the number of outlets that accept food stamps is irrelevant to the costs.
People could, like, you know, totally cut out the middle man in the whole food stamps program by allowing crack dealers to accept food stamps. That way food stamp recipients wouldn’t have to sell their food stamps so that they can have the money to buy the crack.
And when people are staying in the hospital, they eat, don’t they? Why not let hospitals accept food stamps?
Wait, churches often have pot luck dinners after services or in the middle of the week. Why couldn’t they accept food stamps? Oh, silly me–that would be a violation of church and state.