Food Stamp Fridays

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Dr.Chemix
Dr.Chemix Members Posts: 11,816 ✭✭✭✭✭
edited March 2012 in For The Grown & Sexy
Just when I think I've seen the tackiest in marketing ploys, some company comes along and proves me wrong. The Rose Supper Club (a.k.a. nightclub) in Montgomery, Ala., is hosting "Food Stamp Friday" where folks get free cover charge and shots if they show their Electronic Benefits Transfer (food stamps) card, says The Daily Caller. And on Good Friday, too. It doesn't get much lower than this.

Apparently, event planners thought they were being inclusive by inviting and honoring those who partake of government benefits. Party-goers won't be able to use their cards to pay for ? , the coordinators assure us (I should hope not). Also, under SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) guidelines they probably can't buy food either. I'm not sure how Alabama does it, but in Michigan, only some disabled and senior food stamp users qualify for restaurant benefits and then only from certain vendors (mostly fast food places).

Rose Supper Club's food stamp fests have been called insensitive to those on welfare. Honestly, I don't care as much about that as I do them capitalizing on government benefits and encouraging users to do likewise.

We had our fill of that kind of thinking in Michigan. Gas stations and casinos were able to offer cash machines that accepted EBT cards. The Kalamazoo Gazette says the state nixed that plan (and rightly so) because some users were buying cigarettes, alcohol and lottery tickets with their benefits. There are no clear laws on how cash benefits are to be spent and few boundaries on food stamps either (most all food qualifies). I think if we taxpayers must foot the bill we should expect some common sense about how our money is spent, though. I'm careful with my money. I don't smoke, party or gamble. Even if I did, I don't want others doing these things on my dime.

Granted, just because someone gets welfare doesn't mean they can't ever have fun. Most of us have a vice or two; receiving government assistance doesn't preclude that. The "Food Stamp Friday" goes overboard. It's an outrageous juxtaposition of need-based government program with drunken bash. Food stamps are supposed to be a safety net for those in need. Exploiting food stamps for a drunken bash is unconscionable.

[source commentary: yahoonews]