Das right, maobama is giving away so many food stamps, lots of people apparently don't need them, so now they're selling them... What a disgrace this turd has turned out to be. Food stamp recipients are turning the government handouts into quick cash with ads on Craigslist, despite efforts to stem fraud. The federally-funded grocery assistance coupons -- which are issued by states in the form of debit cards under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) -- are being sold on the online bulletin board as well as auction sites like eBay. FoxNews.com found several offerings at Craigslist sites around the country, where the sellers offered the welfare benefits at large discounts from face value. If you need food. This is not a gimmick or game, read one posting from Philadelphia. Please let me know, I have food stamps for sale..... Serious Replies only!!! I have $500 worth and it costs $350 cash. No I will not do half! read another posting from the Atlanta area. I don't need to sell. If you would like to get an extra $150 to $175 in grocery and pay no taxes and can see the benefit that you will still be saving then email me or call me and we can arrange the whole deal as soon as you like. Those who are desperately hungry are also taking to the website, offering cash for the stamps. DO YOU NEED SOME QUICK CASH?? -- $100 (atlanta), read the title of one such post, under which the buyer offered: "If you get Food Stamps and need some extra cash then hit me asap, reads the post. In another posting from the Trenton, N.J., area, the seller claims that he will have a $100 EBT card available on Nov. 1 for $60. Contacted by FoxNews.com and asked about the legality of such a transaction, the seller cryptically responded: "Lol are u serious is the govt legal of course but I hve a customer Good day [sic]." The coupons are not supposed to be transferred, and Craigslist's policy lists them among the items that are not allowed to be sold or bartered on the site. But unless someone flags such a post, there's little the sites, which operate in small, medium and large markets around the country, can do. Critics suspect sellers either don't need them any more because they have found work, or simply want to exchange them for cash so that they can buy drugs or other items that are not permitted under the rules of the program. "Fraud and abuse do take place in the food stamps program," Rachel Sheffield, policy analyst, Heritage Foundation's DeVos Center for Religion and Civil Society said to FoxNews.com. "There are other types of fraud that also are problematic, such as recipients receiving excess benefits by failing to report a new job or an increase in their earnings. "To reduce this type of fraud, states should be required to cross-check the food stamp rolls against the National Directory of New Hires. Those who have failed to inform the food stamp office of new employment should have their benefits suspended." Sheffield also suggests that adults recipients should be required to re-certify for the assistance program every three months to help prevent widespread fraud. Nearly 50 million Americans are on the food stamp program, which has exploded over the last five years, more than doubling the cost to taxpayers. The Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards are issued to needy citizens who qualify, and then replenished each month with buying power. Because the cards do not include a photo ID, a recipient who is looking to sell his or her benefits for cash can simply do so and then report them stolen or lost and be issued a replacement. They could also charge a buyer much more, and never report the card as missing, effectively transferring their entitlement benefits for cash. In May of 2012, the USDA attempted to curb the practice by giving individual states more authority to investigate residents who request multiple replacements of SNAP and EBT cards. Those who requested more than four replacements in a year would have to explain why they lost cards, and could face being cut off completely. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has zero tolerance for SNAP fraud," a USDA spokesperson said in a statement to FoxNews.com. "We recently provided stronger tools to help State agenciesresponsible for pursuing recipient fraudcrack down on individuals attempting to sell benefits online. In addition, since 2011, we have worked with online marketplaces, including Craigslist, to better monitor and put a stop to the illegal sale of SNAP benefits. USDA encourages anyone that has information regarding potential recipient fraud to report this information to the USDA Office of the Inspector General or to their State agency. With one in every seven Americans on food stamps -- up a million since June of last year -- the impetus to cut down on fraud is rising. According to reports, nearly 850,000 people were investigated for possible SNAP fraud in the United States and 1,200 stores were permanently removed from the food stamp program for illegal conduct. "Since 2008, the cost of SNAP has more than doubled from $34 billion to $74 billion," according to Rep. Kevin Cramer, R-N.D. who said in a recent press release that the Obama administration has allowed food stamp enrollment to explode, even beyond what an ailing economy might account for, in part by not pressing states to crack down on eligibility requirements. http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/10/2...food-stamps-into-cash-snap/?intcmp=latestnews
Let's face it, SNAP is an open invitation to abuse and corruption. Instead of handing out debit cards, SNAP should involve recipients queueing up to get weekly rations of MRE-like meals approved by Michelle Obama and Mike Bloomberg (no salt, no fat, no sugar, etc). If they are really hungry this is no big deal. People did it in the Depression at the soup kitchens. Moochers who just want some easy drug money won't bother.
Sounds like a great deal. I would be embarassed to use them, though. If you feel entitled to the fruits of the labors of strangers then I say go for it.
Did you get into blackface when you wrote that? [video=youtube;-vkXaHmSbpc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vkXaHmSbpc[/video]
I'll tell you how I might reply to that. "Look you maggot, poor people that are desperate for chow don't have access to much in the way of cash, but I do. So (*)(*)(*)(*) your 70 cents on a dollar deal. I have the cash and I'll give you 50 cents on the dollar take it or leave it. I don't need to buy either, so this is the way it's going to be. We both go into the store. I point to the Rib Eyes and New York strips that I want. You buy them. Then out in the parking lot I load up the steaks into my 96 quart Coleman cooler and then you get the cash. You give me any (*)(*)(*)(*) and the price goes down to 30 cents on the dollar. And don't even think about double crossin me, or I'll make an example outta ya." [video=youtube;jL2eaxA7NQw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jL2eaxA7NQw[/video]
So the Righties are having to comb the country to find a few advertisements for food stamp diversion in a program of FIFTY MILLION PEOPLE! Of course, the idiot "critics" who have a partisan agenda to document don;t even consider that most of these illegal postings are fraudulent offers (just like so many of the "For Rent ads on Craigslist) and will only rip off the party that responds, not the food stamp program. How about we eliminate other government programs filled with FAR HIGHER amounts of fraud and waste, like, say the military and the corporate welfare Farm Support Program?
I wonder, do you realize that SNAP is distributed by the states ,and that each state is free to set it's own eligibility requirements? I fully agree that Obama's policies have put more people on the welfare rolls than ever before but to blame him for lax requirements or enforcement of fraud issues is laughable. And those who are caught selling their snap benefits should be charged with multiple crimes and prosecuted to the fullest.
Or maybe Democrats could figure a way to force taxpayers to hire helicopters to drop counterfeit (Fed) dollars with "In Obama we Trust" as the motto all over America's urban cesspools. [I can almost see some of the more ardent Lefties salivating at the concept.]
How about if you go start a thread (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)ing about those wastes instead of derailing this one with your partisan hackery?
But the SNAPizoids are hungry! I mean, what's a little govt waste? They'll all die of malnutrition and it will be you heartless conservatives' fault. Maybe Obama can round up some starving props to line up behind him for making the case on nationwide tv. We need MORE freebies to prevent the white rich guys' desire to commit genocide!
Absolutely. And if you can troll the net and find a handful of cases where people have used guns to commit a crime you can justify the government confiscating all the guns in the country. See how that works? - - - Updated - - - I'm never short of opportunities on this forum.
Its "partisan hackery" to question why this obsession with programs like these? The question of why do Righties lay awake at night plotting strategies to close down this program of people possibly getting a few hundred bucks while they defend the big-time thieves loot their bank accounts for TRILLIONS has no place? The fact that Righties act as if NO ONE is enforcing the rules and laws of these programs while in REALITY recipients are thrown off the program and back billed for benefits given by fraud or error, others are CHARGED and JAILED for fraud, while stores and businesses who illicitly BUY the cards are charged with crimes? http://www.cbpp.org/cms/?fa=view&id=3239
Provided that the people receiving the SNAP benefits actually qualify under whatever rules their state has, then I can't say I care what they do with them. It's not like it costs the taxpayer any more money if they sell the cards. It is breaking the rules of program, but it's not "fraud" in my eyes because they actually qualify for the benefits.
NONE of which has anything to do with the other federal programs you mentioned earlier. Saying "hey Program A has fraud, so who cares about Program B" when those programs are clearly split on left/right support is hackery. There was no reason to bring the other programs into this thread. Well other than to be a partisan hack attempting to derail.
Except that it's not just an obscure example. This is just ONE example of the corruption and scamming that goes on in the entire welfare system. That in and of itself is just an issue endemic to the system, the fact that more people are now on welfare and food stamps than ever before in history and the fact that the huge increase occurred on maobama's watch is what is so telling. No, obama is not absolutely the sole person responsible, but he is the head guy and as he said, the buck stops there. It's a total system of leftist mentality and ideals that have been shown time and again to fail, yet leftists keep clamoring for more. The race baiters are never short, if they can't find legitimate racism, just manufacture it and if they aren't quite so inclined to outright lie, they'll just throw out the card as SOP any time someone disagrees with their agenda. It's old hat.
It say's that nearly 850,000 were investigated for possible fraud; how many were actually charged and convicted?
No different than the lady trying to buy dog food for her wheaton terrior. The cashier told her she couldn't use food stamps for the dog food. The lady came back 5 minutes later with 8 pounds of top sirloin steaks and proudly exclaimed: "I bet my dog will eat this!" ;
