Truly the land of the free, lads.
a stopped clock is right twice a day
People on food stamps aren’t buying these things because it’s fun, but because it’s cheap, easy calories because they’re homeless or working three jobs and don’t have the time to cook real food. The clock is not right here.
No, they are buying them because they want to. I used to buy milk and cereal. It has sugar, but it’s 3 grams per serving instead of like 15.
Don’t tell me you don’t have time to pour a bowl of milk
The milk went bad three days ago and I haven’t had time to hike to the store because my car died and I don’t have the money to get it fixed.
Having grown up in poor areas, people tend to buy things because those are the things they’re used to buying. They are generally not making rational choices about optimal calories per dollar spent or best nutritional value per hour of labor expended in cooking. My neighbors almost all drank, a large percentage did drugs, they were often quite impulsive about purchases, and few of them planned ahead very effectively. My mother got some neighbor ladies together to do monthly bulk shopping at a nearby big-city farmer’s market, saved us a ton of money, but nobody would have done it if she hadn’t talked them into it.
Real human beings are often not rational utility-maximizers. Explanations that assume that they are, are going to be deficient.
Yeah I absolutely hate this guy, but agree with this. I don’t know it just seems so logical. Others arguments replying to you aren’t convincing at all.
How much of the average food stamp budget goes to soda and candy?
If you can’t answer this, then it would be foolish of you to think it’s a problem.
Is it foolish of you?
According to the USDA, soda represents the most purchased item on food stamps. Candy represents the 11th most purchased item. Very few of the items on the top 20 list are very healthy. Vegetables and fruits are missing from the most altogether, even though these require no prep work before eating.
Thanks for sharing this. I decided to do a bit of my own research and came across some interesting information.
Your source: https://epicforamerica.org/social-programs/here-is-what-food-stamp-recipients-buy/
I’m not sure what ‘epicforamerica’ is, but it sounds like a propaganda outlet. They claim their source is the USDA, and the PDF they provided has a weird link to it: https://fns-prod.azureedge.us/sites/default/files/ops/SNAPFoodsTypicallyPurchased.pdf
It says it’s from 2016, which could be true but I can’t find it with a quick search.
What I did find though was this official USDA website with a similar study from 2011: https://www.fns.usda.gov/research/snap/foods-typically-purchased-supplemental-nutrition-assistance-program-snap-households
Here are charts from the primary sources, the official USDA 2011 then the 2016 study ‘epicforamerica’ linked to:
Sweetened beverages actually comes out at #2 in ‘total expenditures’ when meat is grouped into a single category. ‘Epicforamerica’ decided to split them up for their own reasons.
Both charts show that soda expenditures are ~9.3% of what EBT users spend their food stamps on. That’s pretty reasonable if you ask me, and I think it owes more to the fact that a 2-liter of Coke is $2.74 at Walmart than anything else. That means if one person buys a 2-liter of Coke as part of a $27 grocery bill, then that’s immediately over the average amount.
Prepared desserts is at 7%, salty snacks at 3.4%, and candy at 2%.
So all in all, we’re looking at a little under 25% of expenditures being spent on junk food. That’s also reasonable to me. Soda is so high is because it’s actually just a scam. I’d be in favor of restricting food stamp recipients to only buying generic brands of soda, but that’s about it.
Heck, I’d be in favor of forcing most brands to sell their food at a lower price to food stamp recipients. The main reason they don’t have enough is because others have too much.
Also, it looks like ‘epicforamerica’ successfully manipulated you into thinking a certain way by withholding, distorting, or just straight up lying about information.
Vegetables and fruits are missing from the most altogether
Vegetables are actually #3 in expenditures, and fruits are #8.
You’re saying that studying 10% of your grocery bill on soda is reasonable?
Those things are unhealthy, but restricting them is policing what poor people eat. It’s stigmatizing. Also, people will still buy these things because they’re addictive. So they’ll be paying out of pocket for it rather than using their SNAP benefits. It’s a lose-lose.
I dont get your argument. How’s it stigmatizing? Why should someone be able to spend it all on energy drinks and starburst? Just doesn’t make sense.
I support aggressively increasing food stamps for anyone in need. But I’d also support aggressive regulation, like no candy and shit. It just makes sense to me but maybe I’m missing something.
Why should someone be able to spend it all on energy drinks and starburst?
What percentage of food stamp users “spend it all on energy drinks and starburst?” People can only eat so much junk food before they get sick and sick of it.
Personally, if I’m on food stamps, I’m not wasting in on childish garbage like candy. I’d be eating those pork egg roll things all the time along with a lot more seafood. You know, the things that I can’t afford on my own. I can afford candy and soda on my own but still choose not to get it.
100% agree i cant fucking stand it when poor people enjoy anything
Why does their joy have to be in guzzling cola? States are already taxing high sugar items on the rest of us ffs, how is this any different?
If they want to buy these items they still can, just have to use their own coin, not ours.
fucking moochers is what they are i mean they should really only be allowed to have plain rice and water heck maybe even make them eat dog food im glad theres people like you and yawweee who agree with me
Dude, it’s even dumber than that.
Has anyone here ever been on food stamps? You get a couple hundred dollars per person per month. That’s more than my food budget off of food stamps. I don’t buy soda and candy already, why would I get it when I have more resources to buy better food?
This is just a distraction for useful idiots like wildncrazyguy138.
Cat-food sandwiches were good enough for us. Well, we’d have rice and fish heads once a week as a treat. And for breakfast, a cup of steam and a toothpick. When times were good, we wouldn’t have to share the toothpick.
not ours.
Ok buddy, first off you’re not the one who’s paying a substantial amount of this. Second, prices are only high so people richer than you can be even richer.
Third, you are displaying front-and-center how easily manipulated you are by imagining food stamp users who only get soda and candy.
These conmen are literally controlling your mind, and you’re too ignorant to do anything about it. Sad.
Yikes. Straw man much?
The purpose of food stamps isn’t the pleasure someone gets out of eating a candybar and redbull. The purpose is nutrition and food for those who can’t afford it.
Implying that I think poor people shouldn’t enjoy anything is ridiculous. Dumb comments are dumb.
I mean shit, I’m as left progressive as it gets. Id support and additional “pleasure joy” food stamp specifically earmarked for fun candy and treats and shit. Just supplemental to the real food nutritious one. I dunno. While we’re at it, make the billionaires pay for it.
Your way is “here’s money for food because you cant afford it, you can spend it all on skittles if that makes you happy”.
I’m as left progressive as it gets
Lmao, you’re clearly not
I honestly don’t see how this is much different than Michelle Obama trying to get junk food out of schools. Nobody here seems to want to cut benefits from people in need but some of us don’t see an issue with some restrictions. Candy and soda is poison. We have never let people buy alcohol with food stamps either.
Does anyone seriously think Michelle Obama is “as left progressive as it gets”?? Is the overton window so fucked that neoliberal ideas are now considered progressive?
When Michelle Obama did that shit, I ended up underweight and had to start spending more money on food
You sound like the kind of person who doesn’t give homeless people cash so they can’t spend it on drugs. Just let people find a little joy and make their own choices
Yikes. Straw man much?
im made out of meat im not sure what youre implying
The purpose of food stamps isn’t the pleasure someone gets out of eating a candybar and redbull. The purpose is nutrition and food for those who can’t afford it.
the purpose of food stamps is to steal money from hard working americans and give it to minorities
Implying that I think poor people shouldn’t enjoy anything is ridiculous. Dumb comments are dumb.
i didnt imply anything i dont know where you got that from
I mean shit, I’m as left progressive as it gets. Id support and additional “pleasure joy” food stamp specifically earmarked for fun candy and treats and shit. Just supplemental to the real food nutritious one. I dunno. While we’re at it, make the billionaires pay for it.
sorry i thought you were a patriot but i guess a broken clock is right twice a day
Your way is “here’s money for food because you cant afford it, you can spend it all on skittles if that makes you happy”.
please dont put quotes in my mouth
These people literally think we’re broke when in reality, if we cut our defense budget by like, 25%, we could probably give candy to the entire fucking nation (I did not do the math).
But it’s absurd. Let people enjoy their fucking rations, Jesus Christ. Nobody wants to be on food stamps.
Yeah, if the goal was actually to make people eat healthier, he’d be trying to limit the availability of those items to everyone, not just poor people.
If the goal was to make people heathier, he’d resign his job and stop promoting the scams of crackpots and quacks.
Change SNAP from money to a system that says “X gets _lbs of raw meat, _pieces of fresh vegetables, _pieces of raw fruit etc”. The inventory systems in stores know what is being rung up so I don’t see why it couldn’t work. It also means SNAP automatically adjusts for inflation and regional pricing. Probably won’t stop people selling their SNAP for cash though.
So what happens when a store is out of raw meat, or raw vegetables, or raw fruit? What if someone is a vegetarian, or has allergies or other dietary requirements that prohibit certain items? Who’s monitoring and enforcing this (and how much is that monitoring and enforcing costing?)
Rather than spending the time and effort policing what food people buy, why don’t we instead spend that time and money addressing the poverty problem that makes SNAP necessary in the first place?
Addressing poverty instead of putting Band-Aids on the effects would be great. I was just addressing the line of thought of getting people to eat healthier.
Because poverty will always exist, not every place will have a fully employed population, there will always be people that are almost unemployable because few jobs want to hire sex offenders or even just felons. The snap program already has significant issues regarding vendor requirements preventing farmers from qualifying without adding meat or bread. Candy and soda are almost never the only option for food, especially since most convenience stors don’t meet the requirements to accept snap.
Or he’d be increasing the availability of healthy food instead of taking things away
No matter how available it is, people just eat what they like. If society is paying for it, might as well make it healthy
Or not bow to special interests and support research on the negative health affects of these things.
Uhhhhhh… It already does. Snap changed from actual stamps to a digital card that declines any purchase that does not fit in the categories that justify a snap purchase. I worked a couple of years ago with a non-profit org that helped the needy, and I distinctly remember being at walmart with someone was buying groceries, when they used their snap card the payment covered everything but junk food and the person I was with had to pay with their own money for the rest of their things.
In short RFK is working on stopping something that never has ever existed.
Because that’s not the goal, i can almost guarantee it. Every time they try to “fix” something they are trying to break it and privatize if possible.
Which sort of sums this whole regime’s work up, doesn’t it?
Interesting, why not start branding and labeling better that more products that have high content of X
These same assholes were the ones freaking out when Michelle Obama was trying to get healthier food for school lunches and making up shit like “Turning Cookie Monster into Veggie Monster” to get mad at.
Many right-wingers don’t care about words or truth or consistency. They just want to hurt their out-group.
What goon-affiliated product will they be able to purchase with food stamps instead? Lee Greenwood Bibles? My Pillows?
Oh good, we’ll have slightly less sugar-related inflammation while we all fucking die of bird flu
Let them eat roadkill.
Alaska does this (admittedly it’s a separate system from snap) and most communities seem happy with the system.
That’s … accurate.
Heaven forbid someone enjoys their life. I’d rather pay for this than billionaire tax cuts and the bloated military budget.
We can do both. A stopped clock is right twice per day. It would be a good idea, except that you already cant buy junk food with food stamps…
Sorry Timmy, the Easter bunny could only afford some potatoes this year.
Buying soda and candy. I can get behind a worm for that one. Just ban those things already. But I would step on that worm right after. The guy is clearly crazy. And too old. I wouldn’t want anyone to suffer from whatever self inflicted speech impediment this guy has.
Ever try to water down a fountain drink with carbonated water? You can add 300% soda water and it still tastes sweet. But that overwhelming level of sweetness seems to stimulate appetite. And it’s one of many reasons why manufacturers use high fructose instead of table sugar. It’s slightly sweeter and more stimulating.
The products are designed to trick our bodies into eating and drinking more. Super sweet spikes the insulin but has nothing to digest so you’re hungry and now it’s salty snack time making you thirsty for more soda. Consume.
Gotta stop those poors from having any joy. Only misery will suffice.
Why is it in our interest to pay for food that causes obesity and health issues?
What if it’s not happening that much and this is just a shoe horn to get legislation to destroy benefits? What if most states already remove some purchases from the EBT/food stamp total?
It’s like drug testing for welfare. It’s sounds like a good idea until you realize it costs millions, produces almost no results and the government performing said drug tests can’t be bothered to not do it in s corrupt way?
Unlike means testing, it will cost nothing. You just update the list of what is covered. Then it’s forever banned from food stamps
as someone else pointed out a specific example that comes up regularly (this is apparently already how it works): 1 particular brand of peanut butter was available, but their lite version wasn’t… with a cart full of groceries, figuring out exactly what gets paid for with what or what needs to be put back isn’t a fast process… this takes not only the persons time, but the cashiers time and everyone behind them in the queue
these are things we call negative externalities: costs forced to other places in the system without being accounted for in price
there are many, many, MANY more costs associated with any government program and intervention but this specific example would cost the country as a whole far more than the occasional unhealthy snack
But it’s not lite peanut butter. It’s all items that are marked candy and soda. That’s a clear category
that’s not how any of this works… UPC codes (barcodes) only have the category as broad as “Food, Beverages & Tobacco”, brand names, product names, etc
you have to maintain some database of UPC numbers to categories, which is how things like variants of peanut butter slip through… and good luck if you want to buy some smaller brand that isn’t on the governments radar
No food individually “causes” obesity and health issues. Overuse of some foods can. If we want people to be healthier, maybe we should offer free accessible cooking classes, or (gasp) not put people in the position where they have to work so much to pay the bills they don’t have time to prepare healthy food.
All this does is punish people who are already in shit circumstances. Maybe they want a treat for their kid, maybe they want to have a fun movie night, maybe it’s none of your business?
Sugar causes obesity and health issues. There’s no recommended daily intake for sugar because it’s not required by the body.
Yeah its not like our bodies need sugars for so much critical functionality that we evolved a reward system for eating it /s
If the concern was really about health, they’d be regulating maximum sugar % in all sodas and candies, not banning them to the poor.
If you want to buy sugar on your own dime, you can hurt your own health. But why should the government pay for it?
It is their own dime. The government is everybody, and it’s here to serve. Somehow they got in your had that they aren’t entitled to that, but they are.
No, public and private funds are different things
You do realize that banning candy and soda is not going to ban sugar. Sugar is a staple product and will always be available on food stamps. Soda is just a processed item, same as candy. In exactly the same way as Dinty Moore canned stew and Campbell’s soups. Should those be banned too? How about bread? It’s a carb and it’s processed. Let’s make the poor people make their own bread cause fuck them for being poor.
Where should the line be drawn?
The line should be drawn on the category of candy and soda. I’m not saying ban all sugar
Why should the government regulate how people eat based on their income?
It’s not based on income. It’s based on whether the government is paying for it or the person is paying out of their own pocket.
Similarly, school meals should be healthy and not include sweets and soda
And if the concern was about people’s health, Trump wouldn’t have put RFK Jr into that job.
Why do you consider what someone else eats to be a matter of “your interest”, at all?
Do you think your boss…who pays your salary…should be allowed to dictate what you spend it on? Is it in “their interest” to make sure you’re spending their money on “the right things”?
If I’m paying for it, it’s my interest. If it’s your personal decision, then do what you want
If that’s your stance you might wanna leave the low hanging fruit where it is and pick something that actually matters. Just my two cents. Like defense spending.
Defense spending is the most important function of government. Without it we can’t help Ukraine
Aged like milk.
Trump administration is selling its first package to Ukraine
Do you think your boss…who pays your salary…should be allowed to dictate what you spend it on?
Historically, that was a thing until very recently. Henry Ford used to send inspectors into people’s homes to snoop on them, not only food and alcohol, but what language they spoke in the home. Thank the unions for that bullshit having been stopped.
Then start with ag subsidies. But that’s if you’re serious about fixing the problem and don’t just want to punish poor people for being poor.
Fuck ag subsidies and fuck tariffs
But mostly fuck poor people. Since that’s the most immediate priority.
Because giving more people reasons to enjoy life benefits us all. Also, fuck rich people. We should all be clamoring to take as much from them as possible to improve the lives of those who have less.
You can drink soda and eat candy without becoming obese or having health issues as a result.
I want you to consider what you would do if you had $300 per month to buy food. How often would you use any of that money to buy soda and candy? Would you do it on a regular? Or would you do it just for special occasions to lift your spirits when things were bad?
This isn’t about health this is about punishing the poor for being poor.
I would spend very little of it on candy and soda, but not every person makes the same choices
So you agree that there is some amount of acceptable spending on sweets.
As long as it’s from your own pocket
That doesn’t give anyone the right to choose for them.
If I’m paying for it, I have the right to vote for this law. It affects me
I was very poor for two or three years in my early 20s. I was maniacally disciplined in only buying healthy, affordable food, no alcohol, no junk food, no sweets. Brown rice, beans, fish off the boat (a fishing fleet operated from our city’s harbor), tofu, miso, green veg. So I stayed healthy. If I had received any assistance, interference in my choices wouldn’t have helped. But the purpose of the interference isn’t to help, it’s to disempower, infantilize and humiliate.
It wouldn’t interfere in your choices because you didn’t buy those things
I would buy it literally never, because I already never buy it, because I know it makes me fat and depressed.
Where’s those fucking DOGE cunts when there’s real waste?
Look, I don’t want to subsidize people’s beetus diets, but, fuck me, do we not have better shit to do with our time and money?
Every single republican can fuck off and die.
I used to live in a kinda poor area. Lots of people on some sort of program. And that program had really restrictive rules about what you can and cannot buy. For example, you could buy Skippy peanut butter but not Skippy light peanut butter (whatever that is). It caused great confusion for the people who needed food, huge amounts of labor for the poor grocery person, and a long wait for the other shoppers in line - just so the government can save a few cents. Unbelievable.
WIC most likely
Yeah WIC is very restricted. Food stamps is more like most things that are groceries but not hot ready to serve items.
Yep. I used to work in a store where people would ask if some specific food or drink could be paid for by food stamps/EBT all the time. I was like, idk, lets run it and see. 50/50 chance you can buy anything, and no explanation for what’s covered and what isn’t. It sucks to tell someone they can’t buy their favorite food for their birthday.
There was time in my life when most of my food came from a public pantry. I know it’s not the same as stamps, bit same principle.
Anyway, birthday rolls around; didn’t think anything of it cuz I was in the “it’s just another day…” phase of life, and even if I wanted to do something for it, I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. Roll up to the pantry for that week’s pickup, and they break out a fucking cake and a hand-written birthday card! Nothing crazy - maybe 6-inch diameter, enough for the wife and I to split. But that shit pulled my ass right out of a depression spell like nothing else came close to before or since.
When I finally got a reliable income coming in and paid off the critical stuff and got a little bit of savings, my first ‘splurge’ was a $1k donation to that pantry with a note saying that their assistance pretty much single-handedly saved me from homelessness and probably from suicide; and enabled me to take the steps I needed to get the job I have now and ultimately become self sufficient.
Food is more than just nutrients; and junk food is more than just food that’s junk.
And pantries are bad ass. If anyone reading this is struggling and not yet using one, GO SEE IF YOU’RE ELIGIBLE! Many people are resistant to ask for help prior to hitting absolute rock bottom, but a little help now (even if you only-kind-of need it) could save you from needing a LOT of help later. They’re also an awesome source of info on local resources - whatever your unique situation is, they can probably point you in the right direction to start getting shit under control.
…I should make another donation - shit’s extra fucked nowadays.
I bet it would feel very different if you just used food stamps to buy your own cake
Probably, but then that would have enabled me to give my wife that or vice versa. We don’t have kids, but a lot of food stamp recipients do - same spiel.
And even outside of special events, maybe that can of soda with dinner is the carrot-on-a-stick that gets a person through an otherwise miserable day cuz, shocker: poverty fucking sucks.
That’s the cool thing about not having arbitrary restrictions on shit like this: people are free to handle their own unique situation at their own discretion, including whether or not junk food is worth including in that week’s budget.
Yeah, less autonomy is never a solution in situations like those. It’s just a form of petty oppression.
Thanks for sharing, I feel like people forget we’re all just people at the end of the day.
