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Government

Washington Post editor doesn’t want poor people using food stamps for ‘Cheetos Puffs’ and the like

Mar. 19, 2013 10:27am Eddie Scarry

A Sunday report in the Washington Post told the story of a town in Rhode Island almost entirely dependent on federal aid in the form of food stamps.

It was a stirring read for Post editorial writer Charles Lane…

What really caught my attention, though, were the photographs that showed what some SNAP recipients bought with their government-funded debit cards: Cheetos Puffs, a one-ounce handful of which contains 10 grams of fat; a box containing two dozen 12-ounce cans of Fanta Orange soda, each of which contains 44 grams of sugar; a carton of six-ounce Capri Sun drink pouches, each of which contains 16 grams of sugar.

In short, this immense nutrition program pays for a lot of stuff that is the opposite of nutritious.

Lane’s column calls on Congress and the president to establish stricter guidelines as to what food stamp recipients can purchase. “Of course the federal government should be able to leverage its purchasing power for socially beneficial purposes,” he says. “If you take Uncle Sam’s help, you play by his rules. I repeat: This is a nutrition program, or so the taxpayers who fund it are told. It should nourish.”

He also says there’s no “stigma” in shopping healthy. (I’d add that for those on food stamps, a stigma in healthy eating is the least of their worries.)

@eScarry

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Comments (6)

Lifelinelanding
Posted on March 21, 2013 at 5:56pm
Good story – but there’s several other benefits that people who receive Government Benefits like Food Stamps (SNAP), Medicaid, Section 8 Public Housing Assistance, TANF and others. Another program is Lifeline where people can qualify for a FREE cell phone and up to 250 minutes of monthly service.

Lifeline Landing is a new service that allows consumers to compare and evaluate different wireless carriers for their FREE Government Cell Phone Service and find the best deal for their individual situation. Visit http://www.lifelinelanding.com to learn more – hope this helps!

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noslave
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 5:27pm
just make free food depots,stocked with healthy food to LIVE ON,hire people out of WORK TO RUN THESE STORES,and make the truley NEEDYgo to these stores if they truley need help??this will end the scammers who by booze,lottery tickets,etc.with their un-controled debit card of hundreds of free disposable dollars??the return on investment will save tons of taxpayer dollars,feed the needy,and make the lazy fat azzed moochers find somewhere else to go for freebies?

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tung
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 1:02pm
Everyone is difference , we can’t force they do the way we want , Just Advice only , if they think it is right for them then your advice will be useful. No one deaf or or Blind , just depends on situations only . try to understand

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alexegz30
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 12:37pm
Free money is free money. What makes anyone believe that if you have someone out of work, they’re going to suddenly eat healthy and create a utopia of responsibility? What do people do who win the lottery? Hire a dietitian and work on a budget or eat whatever they decide on a whim and spend like a kid in a candy store?

Seriously, if you want people to get out of welfare slavery, you need to stop giving free money and make them work for it. If welfare folk had to put in time at a job to get food stamps at the end of each day or week, they would see how working without the leash of welfare makes more sense.

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rosegrower
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 12:29pm
Try limiting the items people can buy with food stamps, and listen to the roar. They’ll tell you they have a “right” to eat Dove bars, Cheetos and buy a $40.00 birthday cake with their free money. So truth be told, food stamps actually contribute to the “health care crisis” in this country by subsidizing bad, unhealthy food choices and encouraging obesity in a demographic that is also more likely to smoke, develop high blood pressure, diabetes and have a stroke. Democrats want to kill people and hurt children…………….

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noslave
Posted on March 19, 2013 at 10:54am
maybe instead of stopping the abuse of the food stamp program??we should increase the money?so they can buy champagne and liver pate”??is everybody deaf,dumb,and blind??

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