Not buying it

The half-wit republicans that make up the Kansas legislature, in partnership with their dunce of a governor, Sam Brownback, passed a law last week that forbids recipients of welfare and food stamps from using their government assistance to buy, among many other things, concert tickets, tattoos, movie tickets, lottery tickets, and visiting swimming pools.  In republican bizarro world, punishing the poor will lift them off government assistance, rather than, oh, say, good jobs with good wages.

Though a good case could be made for allowing those in need to buy lottery tickets which have an exponentially better chance of improving their lives economically than republican policies (see also, Bush, George W.), what this proves is that republicans continue to have absolutely no fucking idea what it's like to be poor.  Do they really believe with the piddling amount of money these folks get every month they're really going to risk their families' rent payments or their electric bills on a trip to Disneyland?  They're poor, not stupid.

I work for a grocery chain in an impoverished section of Detroit.  Some days, we do 70% of our business in food stamps, and contrary to what some republicans think, they are not buying lobster and foie de gras.  Their SNAP cards get filled once a month and they are buying five packages of the chicken breasts we have at $1.49 a pound.  They're buying two bags of the Malt o'Meal equivalent of Froot Loops for $1.99 because it will last a lot longer than one box of the actual Froot Loops.  They're buying three packs of hot dogs for .99 each.  They're being frugal because the food they're buying today has to last the entire month.

Just because poor folks don't spend as lavishly doesn't mean they don't love and want to take care of their families any less than those people who are a lot better off financially.

Peace,
emaycee