On a late Christmas Eve run to the local grocery, I realized how much Christmas cheer I’ve really been spreading!
by Michael Naragon
Due to my new addiction to the children’s Christmas gift, a Nintendo Wii, I’ll make this relatively brief.
On Christmas Eve, I, my three small children, and my wife, who works the graveyard shift at a truck stop to supplement our meager income, visited our local Kroger store to pick up a loaf of frozen garlic bread to go with dinner. I refrain from writing much about myself in this blog, as it seems somewhat egotistic to assume anyone would want to read about my personal life. However, on this particular night, we ended up checking out behind a group of ladies. Their hair was newly done, obviously at a salon. Each of them had had their fingernails professionally manicured. They wore expensive leather jackets. They were buying steak, chips, soda, and a cart overflowing with other items, all name brand. No Kroger or Great Value brand for them.
Their total? $170. They paid for $11 of it in cash. The other $159? The leader of the group whipped out her trusty EBT/SNAP card and scanned it through.
Now I know that there are those of you who couldn’t care less about such anecdotes. Live and let live, you say. But it bothered me. Each of these women wore clothing that was worth more than anything I or my wife own. Each of them had been pampered lately. It’s been years since my wife was able to afford a professional haircut, much less a trip to a salon. She’s never had her nails done. Yet these women, despite all this, paid for the vast majority of their “essentials”–including steak which I’m also unable to afford except on amazingly rare occasions, such as birthdays that end in a zero–with money supplied by taxes taken out of the paychecks of me, my wife, and people like us.
I’m not whining. I’m not looking for sympathy. I just want the freedom to make my way through the world and provide what my family needs. If I want to give to the less fortunate, then I’ll give. But I’m at a complete loss as to why the government, in its omniscience, seeks to take from my income and give to those like this group of women that obviously had money for other things because I’m paying for their groceries.
So Merry Christmas, welfare recipients! Happy New Year, Food Stamp users! I and my fellow hard-working Americans have sweat a lot of hours to keep you well fed and happy, to keep your hair looking good and your nails nicely painted, to offset your costs so you can make the payments for your cell phone and satellite/cable bills, to allow you the financial freedom you enjoy. And in return for all the goodness you receive from me through the all-knowing, all-compassionate Government, be sure to vote Democrat in the next election, regardless of who’s running. Sell your votes for handouts… that’s the American Way in 2010.
Thinking back to the leeches at Kroger, it kinda gives “Ho Ho Ho” a whole new meaning.
December 27, 2009 at 1:13 am
Oh, and before someone cynical says, “But you got a Wii for Christmas,” let me clarify. My wife’s parents bought it for our children. We bought the kids several small items within our budget, but nothing even close to what the grandparents spent. But isn’t that what grandparents are for?
January 8, 2010 at 3:17 am
totally agree!
December 27, 2009 at 1:16 am
I understand where you are coming from. Our Walmarts and Targets among others in central NY, as I’m sure the rest of the country, are full of this abuse to our system. That is while honest everyday working people are getting along on what they have to do.
Our politicians promote this, trying to making more and more Americans dependent on “The System” everyday. The sad part is that they are being successful at it.
December 27, 2009 at 1:38 am
Hey, publius772000! It’s the same around here, in rural SC. It hurts to be getting hamburger for your kids while somebody else in front of you is buying t-bone steaks and paying with Food Stamps. My son loves corvettes, every single one we have seen was driven by a welfare-recipient minority. My husband and I sacrifice a lot (clothes, visits to the doctor…) to afford the private school tuition that will allow our son to escape our situation, just to see the school bring in some minority students, tuition-free, so they can play football!
December 27, 2009 at 2:00 am
I’ve seen that sort of thing done at schools here, as well. Fortunately, not mine yet, but we just started a football program this year…
December 27, 2009 at 7:32 am
I’m sorry but your post has a strong implication of bigotry. There are obviously people who are abusive of government aid but when you load statements like “welfare-recipient minority” and “some minority students, tuition-free” you imply that minorities are the only abusers of the system and the only people who gain any benefit. Neither of these things is true and they detract from the authors frustration with abusers, black, latin, chinese or white.
February 1, 2010 at 3:25 pm
I hate post’s like this cause some of us who get these programs need them but because of a few who abuse we all are accused of this.
I have two special needs children and due to this I cannot work,
My husband does and pays his taxes.
We still struggle while everyone else comnplains about college money and private schools we use very little money to stretch for our son and daughter to have the best quality of life without medicaid and foodstamps we would be starving and my two children would have to given up.
So You can just shutup and count your blessing that you have happy health children who might go without somethings.
Not being able to talk and being sick with cancer or other things is far worse.
So maybe we should all send prayers and I guess if I wanted to go buy a steak with my food stamps I shouldn’t cause no one else can that is just plain horsecrap.
Most of us g’et these things cause we dont make enough the others well it will catch up to them.
PEACE LOVE AND SUNSHINE!
December 27, 2009 at 3:52 am
Publius, I understand and agree with what you say. Just…not all food stamp recipients are like that. Some work long hours and still qualify for food stamps, because their pay is so low.
When both a husband and wife are disabled, it can be close to impossible to earn a decent living. So close as to make no difference.
People like that don’t have leather jackets, Corvettes, manicures, and steak dinners. They have cloth jackets that are years old. They have maybe two pair of pants and two shirts. They have Hamburger Helper without the hamburger, spaghetti with canned sauce, canned green beans, and when they can afford it, chicken with rice.
People like that would rather not be on food stamps. People like that would starve first, if not for their children. Can’t ask the kids to starve.
BTW, how in the world does a person who qualifies for food stamps buy a Corvette?
December 27, 2009 at 4:01 am
HB&B, I understand what you’re saying, as well. I just don’t agree that food stamps are the answer, even in the circumstances you describe. In fact, the circumstances you describe are eerily similar to the ones my family lives through right now. Again, I am looking for no sympathy, so I won’t go into our day-to-day decision making processes such as, do I go to the dentist and have this cavity dealt with finally, or do I put it off yet another month in order to pay for groceries? Suffice it to say that I have a major issue with those who take from my check and are not required to make such decisions. This is not a blanket condemnation of all who take food stamps. My darts are directed at those who abuse the system and take from me while living a lifestyle superior to mine, which, admittedly, would not be terribly difficult. They are also directed at the system itself. Were there no such public option, to coin a phrase, then those in need would receive their help from churches, charities, and people like me, who would be more able to give to those in need if the government wasn’t stealing our charity from us.
December 27, 2009 at 4:26 am
I feel bad as I have done the same thing..some people with EBT card used to be well off, or middle class…so now we wonder what will we eat..I have bought some of the things we were accustomed to. But everything else has changed, and at this point there is nothing we can do so having a little control over what we buy foodwise is a bit of relief. I wish we could work..it makes a difference in self respect.
January 3, 2010 at 11:41 pm
well, my family recently went on foodstamps. My husband works but his hours have been cut and he has to take a furlough (love that word) a week usually once a month. we recently had twins (naturally) so that put us over the threshold of qualifying for foodstamps. my issue is not of being on foodstamps (we hit the food pantries as well) it is what you are allowed to buy with the foodstamps. ever wonder why we have a serious obestiy epidemic?? why our children are lead poisoned into stupidity?? why type II diabetes is on the rise?? everyone needs help at some point in their lives but my husband and I believe that you should not be able to buy luxury items with your foodstamps. no pop no candy no chips no frozen pizzas (make them like we do!!) no junk!!! we live in cleveland and see people sell them or trade them or go to the corner store and buy a 20 oz and a bag of chips. I believe in foodstamps but there needs to be definite reform the name snap is a joke in no way shape or form is this promoting nutrition!!
January 7, 2010 at 5:09 am
If you qualify, by all means, take it. I qualify as well, but I don’t bite that hook. What happens to a fish when they grab that tasty bait? The government knows what it is doing. Perhaps your husband should use his furloughs to work a second job? There are answers other than handouts and they involve something called self respect.
January 8, 2010 at 3:11 am
Gosh, I am sorry that you feel that your tax dollars are being stolen from you. Do you also refuse the child tax credit at return time?? If you qualify for food stamps, you almost certainly qualify for the EIC (earned income tax credit) as well. Essentially, your taxes are not being stolen from you, they are being put into, as I like to think about it, a sort of savings account. Of course the more you make the less you get back. Do you wonder about the people whose money is really being “stolen”? Money that also pays for our infrastructure, care for our elderly, our saftey, among other things.
Assistance of any form (with the exception of disability maybe) is suppose to be temporary. I do not plan on using foodstamps forever, just at this present time. Eating healthy is costly. I choose my health and the health of my family over my self respect (of which I do have some). I give back as much as I can as well. I donate the clothing my children outgrow, I volunteer within my community and try to make my city a better place to live.
As for my husband getting a second job during his furloughs, they are erractic at best. Sometimes they are once a month, sometimes he will not have one, and sometimes (just recently) he will have two in a month. If you can tell me an employer who is that flexable, my husband will take the job.
Again, the point of my post is that yes, too much of our monies go to assistance programs. Not because people are not “deserving”, but because the policies are too loose. Much monies will be saved once people are again made responsible for their choices. Then maybe we will rebuild this country, and once again be respected.
January 8, 2010 at 5:39 am
Justify yourself all you want. You are stealing from my family and others like me. And no, we do not take the earned income tax credit or the child tax credit b/c they are hand outs taken from others by force.
As for the assistance being temporary…social security was pushed as a temporary program as well, and look where we are now.
Someday, my children will look back and understand that we worked hard and that if we ever got assistance it was because people freely gave us a hand out. I want them to know that we never took money from others for their gain. I care too much about my children to do that to them.
Nutritious food can be bought on a limited budget…it just takes a little more hard work. Things like making things homemade, gardening, canning. I put a good many hours into our garden each year to supplement our food budget with good food. It’s hard work, but I am providing, not taking.
January 8, 2010 at 6:35 am
For your information, James Madison, one of our Founding Fathers, said the following, which applies here:
“I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.” -James Madison, 4 Annals of congress 179 (1794)
Congress does not have the right to expend, on you, my money. End of discussion.
January 8, 2010 at 4:28 pm
Well I hope I never become as jaded as you. I imagine your parents do not use social security either? Wow well you said it end of discussion.
By the way do you shop at walmart as well??
January 8, 2010 at 4:34 pm
Oh and I notice that you only focus on what you believe to be the negative of my post. I garden and can and freeze as well. Hell we even make our own wine from the mulberry trees in our backyard. Where I live 60.00 for two weeks will barely buy the amount of fresh fruits and veggies my children go through in a few days (without what my husband and I eat if we do eat). Extreme will get you nowhere but angry.
January 7, 2010 at 4:33 am
My family too has struck on hard times. We have been eating pb&j, cup o’ soup, and hot dogs for months on end. We tried applying for food stamps/snap months ago and we were denied. We were just dollars over the limit. We just reapplied last week and thankfully we got it this time because the price tables readjust to the poverty rate. I have received benefiets in the past; when I was a single mom (with no child support) I was truly greatful then, as I am now, and plan to spend these benefiets wisely. It is quite apparent that the people who buy chips, soda, and bubble gum at the convenience store; and steak and lobster at the grocery store, are not in dire need of these benefiets like my family is. It enrages me as much as the next person to see the abuse of “free money.” Especially when hard working people, who really do need help, and are honest about their earnings and assets, can’t get any help. Rest assured you can find me at Walmart, buying great value items, with my stack of coupons. If the abusers were smart enough they would be able to figure out that the farther they stretch those snap dollars the better off they are. My goal is to not have to send any money out of my pocket for groceries, so I can pay my bills.
And to go even more in depth; I have also witnessed snap recipients having bad attitudes toward their cashiers. I know I have read before that benefiets can be terminated if you mistreat staff while using snap benefeits. But does anyone care that the system is being abused in any way? No, they are too busy denying applications from deserving people.
January 7, 2010 at 4:38 am
by the way I do own a leather jacket. It was $7 at a thrift store, so I splurged.
January 7, 2010 at 5:06 am
Deserving people? Just what did you do to deserve to take money from my family and spend it on your own? Just where in our Constitution were you given the right to steal my money and use it for your gain? That’s right, steal. There is no other name for it. Taxes are not voluntary. I work hard for every dime I have and I struggle to put food on the table. Then along comes the federal government and forcibly removes money from my hard-earned pay check. They then turn around, and because you “deserve it” they give it to you?
Think again. Next time you need help, go to a charitable organization. That money was freely given, not stolen from the mouths of babes. The food you are eating tonight was taken from my children. We had $60 for groceries for the next two weeks, and we made it work.
I’m so tired of everyone having an excuse as to why the other guy is abusing it, but they deserve it.
If you are having rough times, I’m sorry. But there are other answers that don’t involve the government taking from one and giving to you. The next time you use your SNAP, remember it was stolen from someone else. And that someone else is very likely struggling in this economy as well. The struggle is made harder by people like you.
And my children understand that mom and dad work hard for the food put in front of them. They know we didn’t take it from someone else. That is priceless.
January 10, 2010 at 6:46 am
My father got in line behind a woman with a cartload of food and all he had was laundry detergent, so he asked her if he could get in front of her since he only had one item. She cussed him out and called him racist. She then proceeded to pay for her cartload of groceries with food stamps.
January 23, 2010 at 6:48 pm
I could be one of the “leeches” described in the article. I dress well, my hair and nails are always professionally done and I am often seen buying steak with my EBT/SNAP card. Before you are so quick to judge me you need to realize that my husband and I work very hard, we make an excellent income and receive benefits due to the fact that we are foster parents. I have often heard the comments and seen the looks directed at me when I use my card to pay for groceries for my family. I have 3 biological children and any where between 2-5 foster children at any given time. So please think twice before making assumptions on the the reason someone who you believe is not deserving of food stamps may be using them.
February 8, 2010 at 7:39 pm
yeah umm first off you obviously have the internet and if your that damn poor get some help or are you to good for that too? asshole
February 8, 2010 at 7:50 pm
yeah im homeless and 22 i need to be on that or i’d starve and now that there is so many people w oppionions im eating steak lobster and beef jerky the whole week, yeah i don’t give a shit if you think im stealing because everyones a thief if you look at it like that, are you overweight? stealing food from starving people, are you excessively rich? stealing from poor people, only so much in the world to go around, food or money and if you eat or spend excessively on pointless crap. that extra hot dog you ate could have gone to the homeless, if everyone did that, alot of food would be around, that abercrombie shirt? could have bought 50 shirts from good will and gave some poor child clothing.so your a thief a hoarder and a glutten, “here comes the devil, and jesus looks pissed”.
February 8, 2010 at 8:06 pm
So as you say, you’re homeless (yet on a computer researching the opposite opinion?) and you buy steak, lobster, and beef jerky with your snap benefits. Why must you use other people’s money to buy the expensive? We’re not ’stealing’ by being successful. Yes, there’s only so much to go around, but that doesn’t mean that everything should be equally distributed, and if it’s not, the more benefited are considered ‘thieves’. In that mentality, you’re being extremely communistic. Go live in China and work for a factory if you want everything to be like that. And another thing, don’t you dare call him an asshole.