Why do able bodied, single men get food stamps?

[Shwaz]

This reminds me of a clip on MTV back in the 90's where Ol' Dirty Bastard (successful rapper) took a limo to the welfare office to pick up his food stamps.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=UYy1QI6ZOeY

[Ocklawaha]

To answer the question posed in the thread, I'd say because they are hungry, out of work, can't find a job, and have no cash on hand... Sounds like a reason to me.

OCKLAWAHA

[cityimrov]

Please be careful when you ask for massive enforcement for the "abuse" of the system.  The military has entire segments devoted to contract abuse and from what I hear from the people who work inside, the abuse prevention system probably cost as much as the abuse itself in addition to all the hidden cost of red tape it produces.  

Think about it, a full time investigative agent probably cost around $35,000/yr + benefits.  For a measly $100-$200 abuse, that agent has to find and convict 175 to 350 case of abuses a year in order to just make up his salary.   Don't forget to add tools like paperwork, cars, office space, etc and this is starting to become rather expensive.  

This isn't to say stopping abuse isn't a bad thing (it isn't) but when the people yell abuse at a government agency and it turns to public outrage, that agency has a tendency to go TSA on it's abuse checking to the point where the money spent on waste detection is vastly more expensive then cost of the waste itself.  In a way, the TSA is probably a good public representation on how the government prevents abuse to the system.

[Dog Walker]

Good point about the cost effectiveness of stopping abuse by brute force methods.  If it can't be done in a way that is smart enough to save more than it costs, then why bother?

My friend says that the most abuse he sees is men who live in the various shelters on a rotating basis and get fed by the shelters so they are able to sell their food stamp cards and still eat.  He says that he also sees them being gambled away in domino games in Hemming Park.

In the overall scheme of things that has to be a very small amount of "fraud" in the SNAP program and trying to root out that small amount would probably cost more than it would save.

[JHAT76]

This guy seems proud to be on Food Stamps.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127743434

[duvaldude08]

Why do single abled body women lay up and have babies to receive assistance? The world may never know. The morale of the story is, there are plenty of un-worthy reciepents out there. So leave the man alone and let him enojy his free food! ok?? 

[duvaldude08]

Not be hired and not working are two different things no?

You can not work, if no one hires you 

[finehoe]

This guy seems proud to be on Food Stamps.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127743434

How so?  The only thing he seems to be proud of is being able to create tasty, healthy meals on $200.00 a month.

[JaxNative68]

I have met a few people recently on different types of unemployment/welfare/WIC/Medicare programs that should not qualify to receive them.  There is one family in particular really burns me, I met them several years ago.  The man is in his late thirties and aspires to be on the PGA tour, although he can’t win on the amateur golf circuit, works different job for cash pay from his father and friend under the table and receives money from mom, owns a house with a pool, drives a BWM and reports zero income to a yearly loss to the government based on his “golf career” â€" qualifies for government assistance.  Mom has never held a job, that I know of, for over a year, and these “jobs” have always been with BS pyramid schemes that she always has to quit do to not being able to earn any money at them or because they get in the way of overseas vacations, has a college degree and has never looked for a real job that pertains to this degree, but qualifies for unemployment and other subsidies because she keeps “losing” her employment.  Now she is pregnant with child and qualifies for additional gov’t handouts â€" WIC and Medicare.  This family also goes on a few multi-week trips out of the country a year (Spain, France, Africa and England in the last two years).  There is much more I could add, but won’t to be brief.  Basically they live the life of a six figure salary household and are still applying and receiving many different financial benefits “handouts” from our government.  I’m sorry, but I don’t see why my hard earned tax dollars should be subsidizing them.  Something severely wrong with this picture.  I can understand why many Americans need assistance, but the system needs to be adjusted to keep people like this from milking it.

[sheclown]

An ad campaign which describes food stamp fraud would not be a bad idea either. 

[Non-RedNeck Westsider]

I have mixed feelings about it.   I've started off in Jax living with friends, not really having a home, a job, a source of income.....  I just partied a lot with 'friends' until the party stopped - this was 99-01.  The major difference that I see, is when I needed money, I would go to work - whether it was the HVAC, framing, stone-work - I'd work a few weeks until I had some cash and then go a few weeks not giving a shit.  Not once did I go and apply for any assistance.  Why not?  Because I was living 'my' lifestyle and it didn't require any help from anyone.  Fast forward a few years.... I now have a family, a mortgage, a career (still in the housing industry) and things were going well until January of '05 - Massive layoff at the homebuilder and I went from a near 6 figure job to ZERO in 2 weeks.  This time I checked into unemployment benefits and they are a joke.  The % offered is no where near what it takes to sustain a lifestyle that you're accustomed to.  So I declined filling out the BS paperwork and went out on my own - successfully.  You find a need that you can expoit and you fill it.  Today, I again work for someone else for the stability, but I also run my own business on the side.  In the middle of the worst recession in my history, I have found a way to rebound.  The major difference in what I do and those I know who have received the assistance is they're still unemployed.  They took it, changed their lifestyle to accomodate it and are now in serious trouble because it's running out and they have no where left to turn.  So based on my experiences and from what I've seen, as strange as it may sound, I think that these services - unemployment, welfare, food-stamps, etc... should only be available to those that actually work - to help them while they're trying to help themselves instead of giving them an out by enabling them to get by by doing nothing.

If I would have had the government paying me a monthly stipend, paying for my groceries, paying for my housing, etc.... back in the day - I would still be taking the money with no plans on changing anything.

[Ernest Street]

Just reminding you what Stephen said about $200 a month being the minimum if they don't report work.
I understand that even if they do work and report it, the state will reduce their benefits while they still struggle to pay JEA for our wonderful seasonal change from 90 to low 20s.