SNAP benefits to end due to US govt shutdown

squatting dog said:
Quick question.... Does anyone think this is the answer??

"We are gonna stick together. Nov 3rd at 6:30 we're going to Walmart. We're going to Walmart. And at 7:30 we're gonna walk out of Walmart with our buggies. They can't catch everybody. All you gotta do is run."We have to stick together. It don't even matter.Remember, put it in your calendar. November 3rd, 6:30 to 7:30. You better be running off that."
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Unfortunately this kind of thing is happening everywhere. My local grocer has a guard posted at the exit, people come in fill carts with food, mainly meats and rush out the door with it. Employees cannot stop thieves, even the guard once that person makes it out the door.
It has become a big problem here.
Seniors who the store manager have known for years are even caught stealing and he feels really bad that they are in that situation, he politely askes them to leave the product and go home. Does not press charges on them.
It's an epidemic everywhere.
 

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StarSong said:
People can't get cash for SNAP benefits. In fact, grocery and other store computers are programmed to only allow SNAP cards to pay for permitted items - mostly food. People using SNAP benefits then pay out of pocket for non-covered benefits.

It sounds like a lot, but truth is the benefits are rather skimpy, qualifying for them is often an arduous process, and many are only available for a limited period of time.

Trust me, nearly everyone on on these kinds of US government benefits is barely scraping by. Are there occasional fraudsters milking the system? Undoubtedly. But they're a very small minority.
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Exactly....most receiving the benefits are working on minimum wages and trying to raise a family.

https://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/usda-efforts-reduce-waste-fraud-and-abuse-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap#:~:text=The sale/purchase of SNAP,current level of 1 perc
 
Aunt Bea said:
On the news last night they said the money for SNAP wasn’t available but it’s just paperwork, the same amount of money is flowing into the federal government just as it did before this nonsensical shutdown.
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I have thought this myself. The funds being collected have not changed; all of the payments for SNAP/EBT/SS/et al., are made by computers. There is NO reason for those benefits to stop!

Do I think some people abuse the system? Absolutely. I also know people who really need the help but refuse to apply for it.
 

squatting dog said:
Quick question.... Does anyone think this is the answer??

"We are gonna stick together. Nov 3rd at 6:30 we're going to Walmart. We're going to Walmart. And at 7:30 we're gonna walk out of Walmart with our buggies. They can't catch everybody. All you gotta do is run."We have to stick together. It don't even matter.Remember, put it in your calendar. November 3rd, 6:30 to 7:30. You better be running off that."
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Ha! Of all the stores to choose! Walmart might be the only one to call the cops. Many other grocery chains' employees will just cower in terror. No skin in the game.
Fred Meyer tells their employees not to confront shoplifters due to potential lawsuits.
 
StarSong said:
I'm sorry that your SIL uses SNAP benefits while also wasting money smoking and gambling.

To be fair, her lifestyle choices don't invalidate genuine needs of many desperate families reliant on SNAP to help feed their families.
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True, but she is an example of the ones shouting the loudest and causing panic over a shut down that could have been avoided if wealthy congress people didn't create this unnecessary shutdown for their personal political gain. I don't hear many truly needy shouting angrily and calling the people that represent the majority of American people, fascist or kings. They figure out a way to get by and there is lots of help in most communities. It is the entitled that shout the loudest and talk about poor folks suffering because they gain wealth and political power from it.

When congress people don't lose their wages or benefits during a shutdown, then something is wrong with that. They have no interest in resolving poverty in the USA, because they profit from giving handouts of the taxpayers money and keeping some people dependent on their socialism. If a politician advocates and is responsible for getting free money and benefits to their constituents, then it isn't difficult to guess how those folks getting free benefits will vote.

When has any of the politicians, especially congress and senate volunteered to forego their wages and have them go to the poor? The people need to demand that any congress or senate person, not working to stop this shut down, be fined $10,000 a day, money that would go to the programs effected.

It is about wealthy congress and senate people that have made millions since they got into office. The programs effecting the poor are just pawns in a game played by those that have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
 
outlander said:
The problem in a nutshell: Congress gets paid during a government shutdown.

If lawmakers who can't even agree on anything were subject to the same financial consequences of not getting paid, this wouldn't happen;)
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Millionaires don't sweat a couple missed paychecks so not paying them would make no difference. What they're concerned about is staying in office and that's why we are here.
 
Right now America is in the process of "othering" SNAP recipients by branding them all as low life, blood sucking lazy azzes and while I'm sure they're are some like that as referenced above it's just a deflection of the real problems. The fact that SNAP recipients get a few % discount for groceries at certain stores is now being used as a wedge to further divide the poors.


It's us against the billionaires!
 
Deya said:
When has any of the politicians, especially congress and senate volunteered to forego their wages and have them go to the poor? The people need to demand that any congress or senate person, not working to stop this shut down, be fined $10,000 a day, money that would go to the programs effected.
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Members of Congress continue to receive their salaries during a government shutdown because their pay is not dependent on annual appropriations bills. Compensation for representatives and senators is considered mandatory spending.

The Constitution does not permit fines or penalties that would reduce a congressman's pay during a government shutdown. However,many members of Congress, from both parties, have pledged to decline or donate their salaries during the shutdown, just as they have done in previous government shutdowns.
 
Sorry for the people who need these funds to survive, and feed their families … the ones who play by the rules.

But the whole SNAP program has been abused by thieves for years … reporting the ones stealing from it has never changed anything.

In years gone by, I knew someone who bragged about 'beating the system', and getting free monthly benefit funds for no reason.
 
We have a lot of people who depend on SNAP to get by. We also have a lot of people who game the system and live on a hodgepodge of government benefits rather than work. The benefits pay better than low end jobs, so why not?

As the shutdown has stretched out, it has become increasingly clear that it is the responsibility of one party. I will say no more.
 
DonnyO said:
Wealthy people or Corporations don't pay taxes or much. They usually manage their wealth in a way that reduces their tax liability.
Corporations simply raise prices for services or items.
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That's a load of BS. The top 10 percent of earners pay about three-quarters of all taxes. The bottom 50 percent pay almost nothing in federal taxes.

Welcome to SF!
 
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There are people who will cheat whenever the opportunity arises. These programs were designed knowing that you will always have bad actors…but to deny assistance to those in need is unethical. Wrong. And ultimately it is good business to assist people early…rather than late. Say what you will about people….but until you have eatin out of a garbage can you have no right to judge.
 
My state's department of aging sent an email about the SNAP issue, and they included the suicide prevention hotline number. That really brought it home to me about how serious this will be for some people.

I feel like social media people who do rage-bait videos making false claims about getting tons of money from social assistance programs, for "entertainment" purposes but with no obvious declaration to that effect, ought to be class-action sued by all the genuine poor whose reputation is besmirched.
 
againstthegrain said:
Right now America is in the process of "othering" SNAP recipients by branding them all as low life, blood sucking lazy azzes and while I'm sure they're are some like that as referenced above it's just a deflection of the real problems. The fact that SNAP recipients get a few % discount for groceries at certain stores is now being used as a wedge to further divide the poors.
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So well said. We're being trained to "other" people.

Should SS or Medicare outlays be cut, you can bet the justification will be some random multi-millionaires who paid off small yacht with their monthly SS benefits. Fraud and waste in Medicare will be spotlighted. Little mention will be made of the tens of millions whose lives would be drastically changed if their promised benefits are cut.

What won't be emphasized is people barely keeping body and soul together with current SS benefits, or seniors no longer able to afford their meds.

If we don't stand up for the least among us, who will stand up for us? As the old joke goes, it won't be long before it's our turn in the barrel.
 
Irishdude said:
That's a load of BS. The top 10 percent of earners pay about three-quarters of all taxes. The bottom 50 percent pay almost nothing in federal taxes.

Welcome to SF!
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The top 10% certainly don't pay much compared to their net wealth which is estimated at $113 Trillion, but they pay a high % of income tax collected in the US because they make the lions share of the income so the fact that they pay 75% of the income taxes doesn't really mean much.
 
StarSong said:
So well said. We're being trained to "other" people.

Should SS or Medicare outlays be cut, you can bet the justification will be some random multi-millionaires who paid off small yacht with their monthly SS benefits. Fraud and waste in Medicare will be spotlighted. Little mention will be made of the tens of millions whose lives would be drastically changed if their promised benefits are cut.

What won't be emphasized is people barely keeping body and soul together with current SS benefits, or seniors no longer able to afford their meds.

If we don't stand up for the least among us, who will stand up for us? As the old joke goes, it won't be long before it's our turn in the barrel.
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SS and Medicare are running out of funds, fast. The whole economy is driving toward a cliff, and nobody is paying attention. Our debt is getting to the point where we can't pay it off, and even the interest burden is becoming intolerable.

Fixing the problems would take a unified approach and a lot of pain for everyone. It's not going to happen, but we can all point fingers at each other as we fall into the abyss.
 
dusty said:
I did the same thing as you, too much to do for a small amount. I said something to a worker a few weeks ago and she told me the money I refuse does not go to help someone else---it just doesn't go to me.
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That's ok. I believe in Someone who is higher than them (even in the midst of this government shut-down), Someone who has the power to send my rejected SNAP benefits to someone who is badly in need of them. I can understand what she is saying but ever-increasing faith helps those who believe to speak differently. Words have the power to create life or death.
 
Although the wealthy pay the most federal income tax, it is payroll taxes that fund Social Security and Medicare, and those taxes fall more heavily on lower and middle-income earners.

Social Security taxes have an income cap, so higher earners pay a smaller percentage of their total income toward it, allowing the richest Americans to minimize their income tax liability and increase their wealth.
 

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