NY attempting to ban soda sales with foodstamps

[KenC]

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/nyregion/07stamps.html

Bravo! Obesity and diabetes cost this country billions of dollars per year in healthcare. I'm all for personal choice, but foodstamps shouldn't cover food/drink that is unarguably grossly unhealthy.

[joshh]

If you're having to rely on government for help like this, you should be under whatever rules they set. If it requires you to only eat salad, I'm all for it.

[Farbin Kaiber]

I think Food Stamps should only provide the necessary base items, rice beans, cheese, bread, veggies, etc.

No beverages, no sauces, no treats, or packages snack foods. If the Gov is gonna pay for your food, the least you could do is learn to feed yourself.

[mrsleeve]

Am I the only one that sees a slippery slope here????

Oh and you have the federal govt to thank for pop being much worse for you than it would other wise be if it were not for them trying to "fix" everthing

[Farbin Kaiber]

^ It's only slippery if you are on the dole.

[StereoInstaller1]

I say do away with food stamps, give them food, not permission to buy junk food.

No cooking facilities? Help with that, too. No place to live, no cookware? WTF, they need help on that one too. How about gas or electricity, and transportation to and from the food stuff stores?

Oh yeah, we need WAY more staff to help these people too, someone has to dole out the food, help arrange the payments of the bills, transpo, all of that.

Wait, this is sounding more and more like socialism.

WTF, how about we give the poor saps a credit card to get whatever the fuck they wanna get, then cut off the cash flow every month. I mean, fuck it, let them get booze, weed, crank, crack, whatever then let them starve to death in the cold fucking streets.

Oh wait, that means someone has to clean up the bodies from the streets too...

Damn. Thank god I don't have to make these decisions. Thank god there are so many smart people on R3V that can solve the worlds fucking problems!

[E30 Wagen]

Oh and you have the federal govt to thank for pop being much worse for you than it would other wise be if it were not for them trying to "fix" everthing

please explain

[KenC]

I think Food Stamps should only provide the necessary base items, rice beans, cheese, bread, veggies, etc.

No beverages, no sauces, no treats, or packages snack foods. If the Gov is gonna pay for your food, the least you could do is learn to feed yourself.

I can't even imagine how much money it would cost to administer such strict standards.

No one can argue that soda is even remotely healthy. It is a direct contributing factor to obesity and diabetes, which combined cost just the state of NY over $8bil per year. Banning soda with foodstamps is just one simple step.

[Gangsta]

I wish the govt. would give me foodstamps for working my ass off at this 9-5!

[joshh]

I don't see it as a point of health. It's about using other people's money to support you.

I think the rules should be much harsher on those that are healthy enough to work though. And just choose not to.

[Ryan Stewart]

I can't even imagine how much money it would cost to administer such strict standards.

No one can argue that soda is even remotely healthy. It is a direct contributing factor to obesity and diabetes, which combined cost just the state of NY over $8bil per year. Banning soda with foodstamps is just one simple step.

I would think it would be manageable. UPC codes are broken into distinct categories and you could say that the card only works with a given set of categories. It wouldnt work now as most places are not reporting the individual items on the transaction but a few do. You could update the systems to hold these flags so that if the UPC for an unqualified product was scanned the card's balance would not be used for it.

I get a kick of the detractor's ideas. Instead of saying that people getting food with govt money cant get pop lets spend more money on an advertising campaign telling them that pop is bad for them so they can continue to buy it anyway. Everyone know it fucks your teeth and is high on simple sugars, they buy it anyway. Just like how there is still a cigarette industry.

[StereoInstaller1]

I don't see it as a point of health. It's about using other people's money to support you.

I think the rules should be much harsher on those that are healthy enough to work though. And just choose not to.

well of course you do!

You should get a job as a social worker so you can make all those healthy people get a job and support themselves!

Jesus fuck, you are a goddamn moron.

[joshh]

well of course you do!

You should get a job as a social worker so you can make all those healthy people get a job and support themselves!

Jesus fuck, you are a goddamn moron.

Just insults?
If you can't help yourself, maybe you can stay the fuck out of P&R!

[mrsleeve]

please explain

Well thanks to farm subsdies causeing an ovedrf production of corn,and leaving the fed holding on to way too much corn with nothing to do with it to recover even some of tghe cost. Its sold cheaply to make HFCS out of it, that cheap ass sweetener underprices real sugar and is now in everything.

Your body can process sugar and has a hormone response to enough is enough. HFCS has to be processed in the liver like a posin and triggers a hormone response of gotta have more.

Posted from my phone so please deal with the spelling mistakes

[Stephen]

For once, i agree with sleeve. Corn has gotten out of control, and into everything.

Perhaps if they really are concerned, make soda use more food stamps than water or better options. That way they try it for a month and run out of food too quick.