Food stamp receipt
 

It doesn't cost the taxpayer any more for a food stamp recipient to buy $141.78 of steak and lobster than it does for hir to buy $141.78 of "beans, rice, milk and fresh veggies." People only get so much a month in food stamps. If they use it all on lobster and steak, they won't have it to buy other things. So long as the people making the decision to use the food stamps that way are the only ones suffering, what difference does it make?

Now, if other family members are going hungry because somebody ate steak and lobster, that's a problem.

I think the idea is that food stamps funding should be setup so that the person can get just enough staple food to not starve to death. If there is any money beyond that, then they are getting too much food stamp money.

Also, everyone on food stamps is stupid and must be told what is the correct food for them to buy.

Perhaps this person saved up for a while knowing that there was an uber-special event happening, such as a graduation or anniversary and saved their pennies for staples to last the rest of the month, leaving them able to splurge one time for a special dinner?

Don't be silly. Poor people are too stupid and lacking in foresight to any such thing. ETA: Also, they have no impulse control. And they're probably fat.

That was my guess- 6 lobsters and 2 steaks is probably not a normal dinner unless you have a pretty big family!.

I wonder. There was a recent brouhaha about the Michigan lottery winner who was staying on food stamps. Then this recipt is "found" outside a Michigan store showing multiple luxury purchases on food stamps.

Hmmmm....

Do food stamps rollover? When I worked at a bakery they didn't, but I thought it got changed.

In reagrds to the reciept...Maybe one of their fat, worthless children got into college, on state fund of course (lazy slackers), and they wanted to celebrate? Or one of them stole a job from hard working americans, because they are probably illegals! Illegal African-americans who have never held a job and feel no need to!*

*Note: Sarcasm. Heavy, heavy sarcasm.

You might wonder that if you didn't know Michigan geography. The two towns are 400 miles apart.

A guy who writes a column in our local paper called the grocery store and verified that the recipt was real:

Schneider: Lobster and Dew on a Bridge Card allowance? You betcha

I checked Google Maps and there is an Angeli's Central Market at the address given - well, I think it said 'Central' rather than 'county' as the receipt shows.

The program formerly known as Food Stamps (I forget the current name) had restrictions on what you could buy, limiting it by certain standards of nutritional worth - no candy, pop, etc., IIRC. Also, it excluded Ready-to-Eat foods (which often had places requiring people to buy certain foods before microwaving them at the store, because once they were microwaved, the foods were not food stamp eligible). The idea is that assistance could be reasonably justified to help a poor family buy what they needed to eat a wholesome but not luxurious diet. Purchase of lobsters and high-end steaks runs afoul of this principle, if not the actual letter of the regulations. It is no surprise that people would have resentment at others using taxpayer-provided funds for buying fancier delicacies than one would buy for oneself.

I wasn't thinking it was a recipt from that guy, but someone putting it out there to further inflame based on previous outrage.

Or maybe that's near his summer home. :p

At least Ohio food stamps do not carry over. We (yes, currently my family is on WIC) have an alloted ammount of money from the 3rd of one month, to the 3rd of the next month. And we're getting roughy $3.50 per head each day.

No. It doesn't surprise me. People suck and they hate those poorer then themselves.

Curiously, this receipt is dated exactly one day before Michigan tighten(ed) college student Bridge card use.

There are some college campuses in this town - University of Wisconsin-Marrinette and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College - Marrinette Campus.

It doesn't seem unlikely that this purchase would have been made by college students.

It's even possible that the students deliberately made the purchase if they heard the news a day before the official announcement.

But most people are big big fans of those who are wealthier than themselves.

I don't hate poor people, I'm just bothered by lazy and entitled people. None of those traits are necessarily identified by this receipt. People get X amount of dollars in public assistance. It's not my business to tell them what they can spend it on.

And there are lazy, entitled people in every income class. i'd be willing to bet the percentages are higher as the income class rises, though.

And I would take that bet. :)

As to the question of whether the benefits expire in Michigan, I couldn't find a clear cite with a quick search. But:
This random person on the internet says they do rollover.

The Michigan EBT website says:
To me that suggests that the benefits do not necessarily expire.

No fruit, bread, pasta, canned or frozen veggies or meat of any kind?

This is absolutely not true.

This is and was true.