Yum! lobbies for food stamp use in Yum! restaurants

I wonder if you can buy craft beer with food stamps ? I mean after all, it's kinda like buying Corn Flakes in a can.

So, if the obese person in the line in front or you was buying junk food, pre-prepared, high sodium, fat content etc and paying by cash or debit card that would be alright; but because someone buys the same crap and then pays by food stamps this is not OK? Just trying to figure it out. I regularly cringe inwardly when I see what some people put in their baskets, but if that is what they want to buy, then fine. I do not think that food stamps should be able to be used in restaurants though they should only be used in grocery stores for groceries.

The issue is this type of eating leads to health problems. And if the person doesn't have health insurance, either the government will end up paying for their health care, or the hospital will eat it...increasing health care costs and taxes for everyone.

I realize there are food deserts in low income areas so there is no perfect solution right now, but i think in general some items should be off limits for food stamps, for example red bull and KFC.

Should people on public assistance not be subject to random drug testing to ensure that a blatant misappropriation of monetary funds is not occurring, thereby taking money away from people who honestly need the help???

On this note, yes. Public assistance recipients should not be subject to random testing. Since you brought it up and put it on the table......twice, (civil liberty and legal issues aside) such testing would preclude people on public assistance from medicinal use of marijuana. Personally, I think marijuana should be legalized for recreational or medicinal use. Not to mention, domestically grown industrial hemp should be legalized too. It is imported, so why not grow it? That is another tangent, so I digress. Sorry about the the thread creep. Just sayin'. Mini rant off.

I do not want to get into a major political discussion here but I certainly do believe anyone receiving public assistance (as well as anybody working for government) should be subject to random testing for drug abuse. In many cases the workers who provide the funds are subject to random drug testing so the recipients certainly should be. If somebody has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana that should be excluded from a test.

[Robin Garr]

I do not want to get into a major political discussion here but I certainly do believe anyone receiving public assistance (as well as anybody working for government) should be subject to random testing for drug abuse. In many cases the workers who provide the funds are subject to random drug testing so the recipients certainly should be. If somebody has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana that should be excluded from a test.

Just to play the devil's advocate here, it seems that what we're saying is, basically, addicts should be allowed to starve.

Should people on public assistance not be subject to random drug testing to ensure that a blatant misappropriation of monetary funds is not occurring, thereby taking money away from people who honestly need the help???

On this note, yes. Public assistance recipients should not be subject to random testing. Since you brought it up and put it on the table......twice, (civil liberty and legal issues aside) such testing would preclude people on public assistance from medicinal use of marijuana. Personally, I think marijuana should be legalized for recreational or medicinal use. Not to mention, domestically grown industrial hemp should be legalized too. It is imported, so why not grow it? That is another tangent, so I digress. Sorry about the the thread creep. Just sayin'. Mini rant off.

I do not want to get into a major political discussion here but I certainly do believe anyone receiving public assistance (as well as anybody working for government) should be subject to random testing for drug abuse. In many cases the workers who provide the funds are subject to random drug testing so the recipients certainly should be. If somebody has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana that should be excluded from a test.

I 100% agree with this statement...

If somebody has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana that should be excluded from a test.

Since Kentucky is not one of the 15 states (+DC) that has legalized the use of medicinal marijuana, I doubt that an exception would be made. Perhaps we'll come around one day.

Well, I think health care should be free anyway like it is in Europe. My Mother had two operations and three years of chemo in Greece totally free, and then a years chemo in the UK. If we didn't have Tricare Health Insurance because Joe did 20 years in the Navy we wouldn't be able to afford health insurance. While I am ranting ,why don't Americans get 5 weeks paid holiday like Australia, New Zealand and Europe. That is the main reason I work for myself, even though I pay myself peanuts!! Also, I think sales tax should be applied to the product before getting to the cash register, so the price you see is the price you pay. England is in no worse of a recession than the States and actually groceries, personal care and other things are cheaper although wages are a lot higher. When Obama care first started being mentioned I naively assumed that free health care is what it was all about! duh, I should have known better.

So, if the obese person in the line in front or you was buying junk food, pre-prepared, high sodium, fat content etc and paying by cash or debit card that would be alright; but because someone buys the same crap and then pays by food stamps this is not OK? Just trying to figure it out. I regularly cringe inwardly when I see what some people put in their baskets, but if that is what they want to buy, then fine. I do not think that food stamps should be able to be used in restaurants though they should only be used in grocery stores for groceries.

The issue is this type of eating leads to health problems. And if the person doesn't have health insurance, either the government will end up paying for their health care, or the hospital will eat it...increasing health care costs and taxes for everyone.

I realize there are food deserts in low income areas so there is no perfect solution right now, but i think in general some items should be off limits for food stamps, for example red bull and KFC.

While I am ranting ,why don't Americans get 5 weeks paid holiday like Australia, New Zealand and Europe.

Well...if you want an answer to that question, look no further than the governors and legislatures from Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio and New Jersey. As long as you've got people of that ilk running the show, you'll be lucky to have any benefits PERIOD.

The governors and legislatures have nothing to do with why I don't get 5 weeks vacation, the owners of the company I work for decide that. I'm sure there are plenty of people in this country that have earned 5 weeks vacations, including some in my company. All the government employees I know get 5 weeks vacation. Maybe they could figure out the health care issue if they weren't on vacation all the time.

Oh yeah....No to food stamps at (not)Yum. No to (not)Yum, period!

I do not want to get into a major political discussion here but I certainly do believe anyone receiving public assistance (as well as anybody working for government) should be subject to random testing for drug abuse. In many cases the workers who provide the funds are subject to random drug testing so the recipients certainly should be. If somebody has a prescription for the medical use of marijuana that should be excluded from a test.

Just to play the devil's advocate here, it seems that what we're saying is, basically, addicts should be allowed to starve.

To follow the devil's advocate to its logical end: Addicts should be allowed to starve, as well as the innocent children of addicts.

P.S. People don't have children to make money. Absurd. It takes money to raise babies, and you aren't getting some ginormous windfall each time you have a kid. The Myth of the Welfare Queen.

All the government employees I know get 5 weeks vacation. Maybe they could figure out the health care issue if they weren't on vacation all the time.

I wish! I'm a government employee, and I don't get 5 weeks vacation. No government employee gets 5 weeks vacation per year. Here's how it accrues for state government:

Months of Service Leave Accrued Annually
0-59 months 12 days per year; 1 day per month
60-119 months 15 days per year; 1 1/4 days per month
120-179 months 18 days per year; 1 1/2 days per month
180-239 months 21 days per year; 1 3/4 days per month
240 months and over 24 days per year; 2 days per month

Even at 20 years' service, the very top of the accrual chart, you get less than 5 weeks vacation per year. Maybe other government employees you know let their leave accrue until they had 5 weeks at one point. But I doubt they used it up all in one year.

All the government employees I know get 5 weeks vacation. Maybe they could figure out the health care issue if they weren't on vacation all the time.

I wish! I'm a government employee, and I don't get 5 weeks vacation. No government employee gets 5 weeks vacation per year. Here's how it accrues for state government:

Months of Service Leave Accrued Annually
0-59 months 12 days per year; 1 day per month
60-119 months 15 days per year; 1 1/4 days per month
120-179 months 18 days per year; 1 1/2 days per month
180-239 months 21 days per year; 1 3/4 days per month
240 months and over 24 days per year; 2 days per month

Even at 20 years' service, the very top of the accrual chart, you get less than 5 weeks vacation per year. Maybe other government employees you know let their leave accrue until they had 5 weeks at one point. But I doubt they used it up all in one year.

I'm going by what they told me. They work for the Core, so maybe that is different. It could have included comp time or the 10 paid Holidays they get.

It could have included comp time

Betcha it did. Depending on your job type, you can earn a bunch of that, but that's not vacation - it's extra hours you've worked that means time off later in exchange. My job is a comp time job, rather than an overtime job. My hours are all over the place, and so when you work a bunch of hours in a row, you can take some time off. Instead of getting paid time-and-a-half like overtime employees get, comp time pays you back in equal time off to use when your supervisor lets you. It's nice to use when you need it - but it's definitely not vacation, because you had to put in the hours to get the hours back.

to me, the sinister implications are vast.
poverty is, in large part, controlled, groomed, and fed upon by the wealthy.
it has always been this way.
i literally shudder to think about how this maneuver is taking place and being allowed to take place.
YES, people should be allowed to succeed and fail. to rise and to fall.to spend their moneys as they choose, etc. that is what balance is.
but for a poisonous 'food' corporation and a publically elected official to join forces to, so blatantly, herd poor people into a fast food store instead of a grocery store is nothing short of obvious evil avarice.

some of my colleagues and i talked about this at work last night. when i brought the topic up, they thought i was making a VERY mean joke.
once the reality of it set in, it was pretty depressing.
one of the kitchen guys even asked...'hey matt. what do you think the odds are that the local government would pass legislation to allow people with ebt cards to purchase produce from farmer's markets and use our tax money to help subsidize those purchases as well as the farmers labors?'
i shed a tear at that question, because i know the answer.

people have vices. bad food tastes good. and convenience and instant gratification have trumped just about everything else in our current society. i understand all of that.

but leading the poor into a kfc 10 or more times a month to feed their kids just because its fast and available while the rich get richer and while WE pay the tab is wrong on more levels than i have the time or inclination to think about.

the children.... they are the ones who will suffer from this the most. they will grow up thinking this is normal and correct. that hurts me so much

one of the kitchen guys even asked...'hey matt. what do you think the odds are that the local government would pass legislation to allow people with ebt cards to purchase produce from farmer's markets and use our tax money to help subsidize those purchases as well as the farmers labors?'
i shed a tear at that question, because i know the answer.

Matt, I agree with much of what you said. Just to make it clear...the produce vendors at the Phoenix hill farmers market are set up to take the EBT for their veggies. I know of other markets around that do so as well.