Can't we at least pretend that food stamps are going to buy, you know, food?

Nothing surprises me so I'm not sure why this should...

I took this photo of the self-checkout payment screen at a Hen House grocery store in Overland Park, KS.
Cash benefits for food stamps. And why not? This is America. Forward!

As a high school student and humble grocery store carryout (back in the 80's), it was common to watch someone pay for their government-approved items like milk and diapers with their food stamps and then, in a separate transaction, pay for their beer and cigarettes with their cash. Even as a kid I knew this was wrong. If you have money for booze then you shouldn't be asking your neighbors to pay your grocery bill.

Today, the dependency class can't even be bothered to fake it. We'll just give them the cash.

It's probably for the best though. They'll need that cash on their welfare-funded Hawaiian vacations. Oh, you can't afford one of those? Quit being so selfish and get back to work. 47.7 million food stamp recipients are counting on you and they're not going to just feed themselves, you know.

Posted by Milton Wolf