Living large with other people's money...

There are a number of Congressmen who are trying to spend $31.50 a week, claiming that this is the average that people receiving food stamps are allotted. What they don't tell you is that the SNAP system is a scam.

Let's use my home state as an example: Florida's minimum wage is $7.79 an hour. That means that a person making minimum wage earns $16,203 a year. SNAP is limited to those who earn no more than 130% of the Federal poverty line. That means that a  family of three is considered to be SNAP eligible if they are earning about $26,000 a year.

Let's use that as our example: A single mother of two, ages 10 and 6, who is earning minimum wage. She would receive $396 a month in SNAP benefits. That same woman would get $5,372 a year in Earned Income Credit. There are other aid programs out there that will get her more benefits, but let's concentrate just on this for now. This woman's take home pay is $25,159 a year, counting her pay minus what payroll taxes she would pay, plus EIC and SNAP.

Many of you will say that $25 a year doesn't sound like a lot, especially with two kids to feed, and you are right, it isn't. It is still enough that this mom can afford luxuries, since she is getting about ten grand a year worth of our money. I know this makes me sound heartless, but let me tell you why this is on my mind:

I know that woman. She has two girls from two different husbands. She works as a waitress, since that is all of the work that she can get with a GED. You see, she dropped out of high school to marry her sweetheart when she was 17 years old. Still, she earns far more than the minimum wage that she tells the government about. In fact, she gets up to $150 a day in tips working at TGI Friday's. 

Does she put that money away? No. Instead, she bought passes to Universal Orlando for her, her two children, and her unemployed boyfriend. They have money aplenty for booze. Her first husband and his new girlfriend come over to drink with them. The girlfriend is collecting disability for her debilitating fibromyalgia that somehow only manifests when she wants to use it to her advantage, and doesn't prevent her from riding roller coasters, but that is a story for another time...

So don't feel too sorry for them, they are doing better than you are. Let the SNAP system stop, and it is the white people's fault...