Tied Positions: No. vs. Yes.
I work at a corner store and I've noticed something about the E.B.T. system that I don't like. I know where Federal food stamp money comes from, taxes, and I don't like seeing (what looks like) malnourished people buying chips, candies and sodas with my taxes. It's not a necessity and it's not healthy, and we're all paying them to eat that way. They never complain about the cost of candy, like the people that come in with cash, or the cost of sodas, and they come in wanting to know if I can put beer/cigs on their FOOD portion of the E.B.T. account, because "Other people do it all the time" (I don't know if that's just to get me to do it, or if they're being honest). I'm sure people do it, I know that I can and it'll never be accounted for (I cannot get caught through paperwork) so I could imagine how other people would do it. We have an entire isle of food that is expired because people aren't buying it. Canned food, cooking supplies, bread, eggs, water, no one ever buys it. I mean, it's extremely rare that someone buys this shit over candy, even though it's slightly better for you.
It's not only the Food stamps that bother me, it's the cash allotment that they get as well, typically used for buying things that you cannot put on the food stamps. Mainly beer and cigarettes! People are spending our tax money to maintain the lifestyles that got them our tax money to begin with.
So, that's my position. People shouldn't be allowed to buy candy, sodas, or snacks with E.B.T. and their cash portions of the E.B.T. accounts should be locked down too. No beer, cigarettes or lottery (yes, people gamble with our tax money). At the same time though, I wonder how much control the government should have over where people spend their money, or how people spend their money. Would it hurt the economy, or help healthy sections of the economy?