Should Social Security recipients be told how to spend the money?

[AlabamaLibrul]

After all, it's a government program funded by people through taxes while they're working, just like food stamps or unemployment. Shouldn't we be telling people on Social Security what they can spend the money on, like approved housing and food?

[steve2470]

1. Yes, they need to be told how NOT to waste it !

:sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[JVS]

13. Yes! And how a sack of potatoes is a healthy + convenient alternative to a bag of chips and a coke.

[AlabamaLibrul]

16. And do you support a voluntary education program for them, or a mandated requirement? n/t

[JVS]

24. I think that bands of violent dietitians should break into their houses late at night and pummel...

them until they scream for mercy while delivering lectures on nutrition and leaving a few pamphlets behind.

[Mojeoux]

28. +100

Laughed out loud!

[AlabamaLibrul]

30. With sacks of potatoes, obviously.

:evilgrin:

[JVS]

32. Yeah. And since they're old they could also use some lectures on how not to weird out the grandkids

[AlabamaLibrul]

35. Like on this GEICO commercial...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DmQw6u0Lkiw

:scared:

[grasswire]

2. how about hell no?

Not until trust fund babies are told where to spend their dividends.

[rustydog]

3. No, No, No,

They have about as much right as my employer telling me how to spend my paycheck.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

4. Not just no.........FUCK NO.

It is OUR money.

We can spend it or save it, as we please.

It's funded by us.

[Confusious]

5. I voted yes

Because I thought the question is kind of ridiculous.

I could spend unemployment on liquor if I wanted.

Food stamps are a special case. They are for "food." They are for "food" assistance.

They also get money from welfare, which they can probably spend on a beer on Friday night if they want.

[hlthe2b]

6. No, it is NOT a tax-(general fund) funded program

Social Security is a social insurance program that is funded through dedicated payroll taxes called Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA). You are spieling WRONG RW talking points.

[steve2470]

8. +1 nt

[Fire1]

9. Ditto! n/t

[AlabamaLibrul]

12. Payroll taxes are paid while you're working, to pay for when you're not. How would you answer the

poll question?

[slackmaster]

17. There is no requirement for a person to have ever worked or paid taxes in order to qualify for food

...stamps.

[AlabamaLibrul]

18. "funded by people through taxes while they're working just like..." only denotes funding mechanism

How would you answer the poll?

[slackmaster]

23. I answered the poll "No", and I still say your question poses a false equivalence

In Social Security and unemployment insurance people draw benefits that are, to some extent, proportional to the amount of money they have contributed.

If you never pay Social Security taxes, you can never collect regular retirement benefits. If you have never had a job for which premiums were paid into a state unemployment insurance program, you can't collect UI benefits if you get laid off. That is true for all 50 states.

There are people collecting food stamps who have never been formally employed. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it makes food stamps a fundamentally different critter than SS or UI. The purpose of food stamps is to keep poor people from starving (or from rioting).

[AlabamaLibrul]

26. Okay. I respect that. So do we only limit the choices of food stamp recipients who have never

paid taxes, since they are essentially getting the bare minimum in support from a system that still includes them, but that they have never helped to fund?

[slackmaster]

38. I don't have enough information to formulate a thoughtful opinion on that question

I'd hate to see people using food stamps for unhealthful food.

I don't have a problem with someone using food stamps to buy filet mignon or a lobster tail or even chocolate at the grocery store, as long as the person and his or her dependents are getting good nutrition. Saffron, no problem.

Pop Rocks, not so good. I'm not saying it shouldn't be allowed, just that I think it's a waste of public funds that taxpayers paid into. Taxpayers control how their SS and UI benefits are spent, because fundamentally it's their money.

Food stamp money is the taxpayers' money too, so perhaps they should have some say in how it's used. I believe there are some restrictions, e.g. no alcoholic beverages. I'm agnostic on whether those are really OK or whether more would be appropriate.

Just for reference, I regard moderate use of alcohol as beneficial therefore it could be considered a form of food, as should coffee (can you buy that with food stamps?). OTOH some people abuse alcohol.

[LuvNewcastle]

7. A Republican friend of mine says

that there is talk amongst the other Republicans about passing a bill requiring drug tests for people who receive benefits from the government. I asked if that included CEOs who benefit from government contracts.

[Jmaxfie1]

10. Should food stamps cover alcohol?

Alcohol has many calories in it, beer especially. These are not just empty calories. Beer, in moderation is healthier for you than potato chips in moderation. So should alcohol be covered?

[AlabamaLibrul]

11. Alcohol is not food. Next question n/t

[Jmaxfie1]

14. yes it is!

Beer formed a large part of our ancestors diet. They were dependent on it. Also since you can buy soda with food stamps it would fall under the definition for our purposes.

[LuvNewcastle]

25. I think beer is better for people than soda,

and people can buy all the soda they want with food stamps. However, since beer is so expensive these days, it wouldn't go very far for someone looking to feed his family for a month. Rice, beans, canned foods, etc. will feed a larger group of people for a longer period of time. A person can make his own beer from the items he purchases with his food stamps, though.;)

[Jmaxfie1]

27. thumbs up! n/t

[Dappleganger]

33. Except for Guinness.

If I can spread butter on it then it's food. ;)

[JVS]

34. Strippers are food now?

[slackmaster]

15. No, it's not "just like" food stamps or unemployment

It's somewhat like UI in that you can't draw anything out of it until you put money into it.

That is not the case with food stamps.

[YellowRubberDuckie]

19. Considering social security is something that was taken out of my paycheck...

...I'm going to say fuck no. It's something I worked for that is being given back to me with interest. So, screw anyone who tries to tell me what I can do with it, even if I go buy a box of ding dongs and eat the whole fucking thing. That is none of your business.

[Jmaxfie1]

20. agreed!

[appleannie1]

21. I paid into it all my working life. I can spend it any way I want.

[Wickerman]

22. What's next, test all the aging hippies for drugs

before they pick up their SS check?

[Kennah]

29. The Official Approved List for Expenditure of Social Security funds - SSA Publication 666

Koch Industries

[RKP5637]

31. I suggest then we mandate how all money is spent in the US. n/t

[Oak2004]

36. No no no! They are different programs.

One is for good wholesome middle class people.

The other is for filthy disgusting fat lazy poor people who would mainline lard and sugar with their heroin if we didn't regulate what they eat and make them take piss tests and... well... really, why does any of our money have to go to those people, anyway?


:sarcasm:

[RKP5637]

37. Yep, and they let themselves get old, it was their choice to get old and to

get SS.
:sarcasm:

[slackmaster]

39. I think of it as Intelligent Incrementation of my age

:hide:

[RKP5637]

40. Yep!

:hide: