This past Saturday in some parts of Louisiana, shelves were picked clean - grocery carts were filled to the brim with food and supplies all to suddenly be left abandoned in the middle of the Wal-Mart aisles. Did the Zombie apocalypse that conspiracy theorists and sci-fi buffs readily speculate about finally come true?
Well - not exactly. Instead what happened was almost just as surreal. See this past Saturday apparently there was some type of glitch with Electronics Benefits Transfer cards (the EBT system allows beneficiaries to use the card to make certain purchases) in Louisiana. EBT card holders discovered that they had unlimited funds on these diminutive pieces of plastic. What ensued was a barrage of EBT holders hitting up the local Wal-Marts in some parts of Lousiana and stocking up on as much as they could - then getting to the cash register only to find out that instead of unlimited funds they had severely limited funds - some as little as 49 cents. You can read more about the story here.
Now if this isn't strong enough ammunition to have Congress revisit and make drastic changes to the benefits program, then I don't know what could be. Here you have a group of "shoppers" willing to take advantage of the glitch and abscond several hundred dollars worth of food - based on the fact that a glitch enabled them to have unlimited access to TAX PAYER DOLLARS!!!!
Take the case of one woman, who had less than a dollar on her card and was detained after trying to ring up $700 worth of merchandise, according to KSLA, a news station based in Louisiana. The station added that Wal-Mart said it wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.
Listen, this is just plain thievery. There's no other way around it and the time to be polite about it needs to end now. Congress needs to take action. (To see why Congress won't take action anytime soon see Gov. Shutdown Day 1- 15 and counting).
In a past blog, I made the suggestion that lawmakers need to revamp this system, which is rife with fraudulent claims and activity. I cited the need for an educational piece to accompany it, to help recipients get off the system and develop skills so they can be self sufficient. I simply just don't agree with removing benefits abruptly. I think that's a terrible idea, because you have a system that generations have been indoctrinated into.
This simply cannot go on. When can we see this flawed system repaired, or do we have to witness another debacle like Saturday -with mass amounts of attempted theft. Law makers - especially Democrats who champion this entitlement program, have to come to some concession and realize that it's not beneficial and it threatens the welfare of this country.
And if you think I'm blowing this out of proportion, I want to leave you with a quote from a man from my home town that would often brag to people about the benefits he received.
"The more you make, the more I get."
Well - not exactly. Instead what happened was almost just as surreal. See this past Saturday apparently there was some type of glitch with Electronics Benefits Transfer cards (the EBT system allows beneficiaries to use the card to make certain purchases) in Louisiana. EBT card holders discovered that they had unlimited funds on these diminutive pieces of plastic. What ensued was a barrage of EBT holders hitting up the local Wal-Marts in some parts of Lousiana and stocking up on as much as they could - then getting to the cash register only to find out that instead of unlimited funds they had severely limited funds - some as little as 49 cents. You can read more about the story here.
Now if this isn't strong enough ammunition to have Congress revisit and make drastic changes to the benefits program, then I don't know what could be. Here you have a group of "shoppers" willing to take advantage of the glitch and abscond several hundred dollars worth of food - based on the fact that a glitch enabled them to have unlimited access to TAX PAYER DOLLARS!!!!
Take the case of one woman, who had less than a dollar on her card and was detained after trying to ring up $700 worth of merchandise, according to KSLA, a news station based in Louisiana. The station added that Wal-Mart said it wouldn’t press charges if she left the food.
Listen, this is just plain thievery. There's no other way around it and the time to be polite about it needs to end now. Congress needs to take action. (To see why Congress won't take action anytime soon see Gov. Shutdown Day 1- 15 and counting).
In a past blog, I made the suggestion that lawmakers need to revamp this system, which is rife with fraudulent claims and activity. I cited the need for an educational piece to accompany it, to help recipients get off the system and develop skills so they can be self sufficient. I simply just don't agree with removing benefits abruptly. I think that's a terrible idea, because you have a system that generations have been indoctrinated into.
This simply cannot go on. When can we see this flawed system repaired, or do we have to witness another debacle like Saturday -with mass amounts of attempted theft. Law makers - especially Democrats who champion this entitlement program, have to come to some concession and realize that it's not beneficial and it threatens the welfare of this country.
And if you think I'm blowing this out of proportion, I want to leave you with a quote from a man from my home town that would often brag to people about the benefits he received.
"The more you make, the more I get."
Posts
