Let Them Eat Cake

How about that Budget Crisis?!

Drug Store

How many times have you seen this in line at the drug store. Up walks the system sucker. They get all their medication FREE. Yes they passed a rule that says they have to pay $1 (My insurance co-pay is $15) but all they have to say is I can't afford $1 and that fee is waived. They say this to you as they stand there with hundreds of dollars in tatoo's on their body and their elbow resting on their 12 pack of beer! Doesn't matter that they can get cash back on their EBT card to pay for it! Next walks up your grandmother or grandfather. They live frugally and worked their entire life!! Because Medicare is very limited they have to plunk down cash for their life sustaining medicine.....hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars! Pissed off yet?

Here's an idea......

Oregon has state liquor stores, why can't we have state food stores? In these food stores we have nothing but wholesome FOOD. No candy, cookies, cakes, soda etc......you want a cookie? The store has everything to make those cookies at home....you don't have a job so bake for your kids! To cut back on the fraud component of those plastic cards is very simple. Ever been on a cruise for vacation...because YOU EARNED IT?! The card they give you has the magnetic stripe on the back that they attache your picture to, you cannot get on or off the cruise without someone making sure it's you. As the current system stands you can sell your ebt food card and there is no one to check if it's really yours. Put your picture on it and give you one place to use it....fraud eliminated! Now, know why this won't work....it will shut down a whole branch of government! We would need less people to investigate the fraud because there would be wayyyyyyy less!

When are we as California tax paying citizens going to say enough? When did welfare become a career?

EBT Cards 101

Basically there are two sides to an EBT card....Food (replaced food stamps) and Cash. Yes I said cash! It comes with a PIN number and YES they can get CASH back. On the FOOD side YOU pay for not only bread, eggs, cheese...you know WHOLESOME foods, YOU also pay for soda, chips, candy, gum, mints, ice cream, and MANY more "foods" that contribute to OBESITY! I remember growing up when Pizza was a treat....Take and Bake Pizza places take EBT cards! Now for the real kicker things that ring up on the CASH side of the card. Now these are things I have seen first hand...Beer, Hard Liquor, fake finger nails, cologne, magazines, hair color, make up, fake eye lashes, cigarettes....do you want me to go on because the list does? If that doesn't piss you off...they get cash back and take it to the streets to buy ILLEGAL DRUGS! Not that they need them....we pay for their prescriptions!!

USDA Guidlines (http://www.fns.usda.gov/snap/retailers/eligible.htm)

Eligible Food Items
Households CAN use SNAP benefits to buy:
Foods for the household to eat, such as:

breads and cereals;
fruits and vegetables;
meats, fish and poultry; and
dairy products.

Seeds and plants which produce food for the household to eat.

In some areas, restaurants can be authorized to accept SNAP benefits from qualified homeless, elderly, or disabled people in exchange for low-cost meals.

Households CANNOT use SNAP benefits to buy:
Beer, wine, liquor, cigarettes or tobacco;
Any nonfood items, such as:
pet foods;
soaps, paper products; and
household supplies.
Vitamins and medicines.
Food that will be eaten in the store.
Hot foods.

So why do we continually see Soda, Candy, Chips etc being purchased with food stamps? They are not on this list, why do these purchases get approved??

Restaurant Meals Program (https://www.ebt.ca.gov/caebtclient/cashlocationSearch.recip)

So I was checking out the California EBT Client Website and I found the most interesting search engine (referenced above)....what I found amazed me! So you have an EBT card and would like to eat out at a restaurant. Amazingly enough they can! Just playing around I found 8 places you can eat out in Sacramento and 21 locations in San Francisco! If you want to find a place to dine in Los Angeles you better have your zip code ready because the list of places is too long to display!!!

As for using the CASH BACK feature on the cash side of the card the amounts will leave you speechless! I found cash back amounts from $20 to....are you ready $999 at a Domino's Pizza no less!!!