Problem is a lot of shitty food is cheaper than good food.
Also, if you grew up around shitty food you don’t know how to prep good food from whole, cheaper fresh or bulk foods.
Sugar industry is gonna Kennedy this dude.
I would raise a rootbeer to that.
The problem is that there is no will of trying to educate the recipients to help them choose healthier snacks. There will be a way for the snap recipients to get what they want through loopholes. Putting a band aid on the problem of poverty obesity won’t solve it.
A chunk of my clients from low socio economic backgrounds live on soda and candy. It’s how they’re raised, a massive packet of crisps, can of coke and chocolate bar is their dinner. Realistically they’ll just sell their stamps to buy the food THEY want.
The result of this is parents will sell stamps, have less to feed kids and kids will go short.
That’s horrifying. That’s not a dinner.
I know. It’s how so many of them live though
RFK jr is a broken clock that became sentient.
This is the kind of BS that leads to you being unable to buy warm food with food programs. A box of fried or baked chicken costs $26 for 24 pieces, which can feed me for 2-3 days, saving me money in the long run. A hot pizza is $13. A rotisserie from CostCo is about $6.
People should make the decisions about their food stamps, because they are familiar with how to best feed themselves. Your typical WalMart employee has to rely on food stamps and other benefits, because WalMart doesn’t want to pay a living wage. An initiative like RFK’s is designed to punish the poor for failing to be born with a silver spoon.
This isn’t about helping people to make better decisions, it is about depriving them the good things in life.
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?
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.
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.
Someone has to police that though guess RFK jr won’t be picking up that cost.
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…
Oh goodie, Roadkill Fucking Kennedy is deciding what poor people can and can’t drink.
It’s like painting over murals at detention centers where kids are housed… with gray paint. It definitely sends a message.
No, it’s like removing soda machines from school cafeterias. It’s a good idea. It’s so good, in fact, that you already can’t buy junk food with food stamps!!
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.
Thanks for sharing, I feel like people forget we’re all just people at the end of the day.
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.
Let’s have a writing contest, you guys. Now that a Trump appointee is against it, let’s all think up reasons for why subsidized high-fructose corn syrup sold as food is not only a good thing but actually a basic human right.
Then restrict it for everyone, not just poor people.
I’m not saying we should ban these things, I’m just saying we shouldn’t be subsidizing them and purchasing them with public funds. If poor people want to buy this stuff with their own money that’s their right.
Ditching subsidies is a start.
I would tax them into oblivion like cigarettes. Hits the poor first still, but it would shift consumption habits rather than ban them outright.
I’m just saying we shouldn’t be subsidizing them and purchasing them with public funds.
Then start with the ag subsidies, not the tiny joy that poor people can wring from life.
It’s a nanny state. Sure, candy and soda is bad for you, and america has an obesity problem, but I’m against this.
Just give people money and let them buy what they want / need.
I’m tired of pedophiles and gay homophobes shaming poor people for having a soda and a candy bar. (Edit: not my intention to associate lgbtq with pedophiles, but it seems a lot of homophobes are into it. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with being gay, but republifuckers need to mind their own business in general and stop judging others for the behaviors they are ashamed to participate in themselves.)
At a minimum they should talk about how they will move to providing healthy foods as they cut the bad stuff. Moving to unhealthy food to none, seems like a bad move. Like wtf
It’s a nanny state.
I mean yea, but so is giving you money for food. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that the food you get with it to be nutritious.
Eat your own nutritious food. Stop sniffing poor people ass, mind your own business
When the money for it stops coming out of my check, I’ll stop having an opinion on it.
Are you worried about corporate welfare recipients as well, or do you just like the smell of poor people farts?
I hate corporate welfare far more than paying for junk food but I don’t like either one.
I am opposed to corporate welfare and paying for someone else’s Little Debbie habit.
Alright, how about alcohol and cigarettes?
Just give them money, I don’t care if they want hookers and blow
It’s none of your business what poor people spend their money on.
Then they spend their money on hookers and blow, and then come back saying they have no money to buy food. Do you let them starve then?
Alright, fair enough
