Quote:
Originally Posted by fishbones
One of the big problems with the program is people buying items and then selling them for cash to buy smokes, lottery and booze.
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Bingo. In many cases, giving these people stuff that can be sold, is begging for trouble, and is a waste of public money. Like the NYC cop who used his own money to buy boots for the homeless guy...nice gesture, but it didn't work, as the guy was barefoot again the next day.
If you qualify for need, there should be soup kitchens where you can go for a healthy meal. I dodn't mind giving these people food to consume on the spot. I don't like giving them things that can be sold for crack or God knows what else. The current system doesn't address the problem of poverty. The root cause of povetry for many people (not all) is not a lack of money (that's a symptom), but rather, some behavioral issue (mental health, drug addict, lazy, learning disabled, etc).
I worked at a grocery store in high school. When food stamps came out, I'd see the same exact people, every single month, trying to buy cigarettes, loottery tickets, lipstick, perfume, etc...It made me sick to know that's where my money was going.
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