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In reply to the discussion: Where did the "poor folks buying crab legs with food stamps" thing come from? [View all]Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)38. Articles like this one don't help much either
http://www.salon.com/2010/03/16/hipsters_food_stamps_pinched/
It has all the elements to make conservatives fume- food stamps being used to buy expensive organic foods by unemployed hipsters with the stereotypical graduate degree in art.
In the John Waters-esque sector of northwest Baltimore equal parts kitschy, sketchy, artsy and weird Gerry Mak and Sarah Magida sauntered through a small ethnic market stocked with Japanese eggplant, mint chutney and fresh turmeric. After gathering ingredients for that evenings dinner, they walked to the cash register and awaited their moments of truth.
I have $80 bucks left! Magida said. Im so happy!
I have $12, Mak said with a frown.
The two friends werent tabulating the cash in their wallets but what remained of the monthly allotment on their Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program debit cards, the official new term for what are still known colloquially as food stamps.
Magida, a 30-year-old art school graduate, had been installing museum exhibits for a living until the recession caused arts funding and her usual gigs to dry up. She applied for food stamps last summer, and since then shes used her $150 in monthly benefits for things like fresh produce, raw honey and fresh-squeezed juices from markets near her house in the neighborhood of Hampden, and soy meat alternatives and gourmet ice cream from a Whole Foods a few miles away.
Im eating better than I ever have before, she told me. Even with food stamps, its not like Im living large, but it helps.
It has all the elements to make conservatives fume- food stamps being used to buy expensive organic foods by unemployed hipsters with the stereotypical graduate degree in art.
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Where did the "poor folks buying crab legs with food stamps" thing come from? [View all]
Ken Burch
Aug 2013
OP
Even then, spending 8$ for a pound of protein wouldn't be the choice most poor folks would make.
Ken Burch
Aug 2013
#25
Probably true, but if they chose to spend part of their allocation on a few crab legs, who the hell
Ed Suspicious
Aug 2013
#27
You're right, of course. It's about this country's "Puritanism-on-bath-salts" social values.
Ken Burch
Aug 2013
#30
Canned food and hot dogs have always been allowed purchases under the Food Stamp program.
Gormy Cuss
Aug 2013
#72
So...it was one guy in Michigan buying steak and LOBSTER(not crab legs) to resell for profit.
Ken Burch
Aug 2013
#13
since the roman empire. and where you find people, you'll find cheating, so there's
HiPointDem
Aug 2013
#10
i think it will be more that people will stop believing, since real conditions will no longer
HiPointDem
Aug 2013
#29
It would be pretty easy. I saw the abusers when I was a deputy, but nobody wanted to bother
Lee-Lee
Aug 2013
#34
Did she have any other income? TANF of self-employment or part time work?
Luminous Animal
Aug 2013
#21
Yea. This has been bothering me... I posted similar above and edited it. But yes
Luminous Animal
Aug 2013
#37
The right just makes things up. I seldom see people use food stamps where I live, but when I
bluestate10
Aug 2013
#24
And the response you'd get from the Right is "YES...and they should die A.S.A.P.". n/t.
Ken Burch
Aug 2013
#54
If someone wants to splurge on crab legs or whatever and live on rice and beans the rest of the time
Retrograde
Aug 2013
#60
Fox News today: "People on food stamps buy alcohol and drugs not food." RW talking point du jour
anneboleyn
Aug 2013
#62
Here is a salon.com article about hipsters on food stamps, buying expensive artisanal/local, organic
DeschutesRiver
Aug 2013
#74
Welfare Queens with Canteloupe Thighs holding Anchor Babies while eating Crab Legs
Blue Owl
Aug 2013
#78