Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Jimmy "Scoop" Olsen scoop!!!! EBT Food stamp schit...

Fuuuk all of this schit....

All of it....

LBJ,s great society schit.
All of it and its fuuuking never ending dominoe paths for almost 6 fuuking decades...

The hoodrats here close don't do that although
it's a feature of the wallyworld stores here.
Baby mama loads the lil monthly check kids
in the cart and strolls around talking on the
phone while opening packages of donuts and
cookies and feeding the lil hoodrats, and makes
a loop down the juice aisle so the kids each have
something to wash down the stolen food.
More than a few times I've seen the deli employees
hand off a "complementary " cup of cheekin
nuggets to baby mama to munch on while
feeding the lil deductions. I've noticed that a
few have been snagging a beer from a carton
to refresh themselves while "shopping "

Oh well. . . . .

Most people have no idea of all the stuff you can get today.
I spoke recently to a forman of a local county agency,his agency got a grant to remodel 3 mobil homes.
New roofs,electric,a/c+ heat etc....
300k for 3 mobil home refurbish.You can get a new one for less........

The hoodrats here close don't do that although
it's a feature of the wallyworld stores here.
Baby mama loads the lil monthly check kids
in the cart and strolls around talking on the
phone while opening packages of donuts and
cookies and feeding the lil hoodrats, and makes
a loop down the juice aisle so the kids each have
something to wash down the stolen food.
More than a few times I've seen the deli employees
hand off a "complementary " cup of cheekin
nuggets to baby mama to munch on while
feeding the lil deductions. I've noticed that a
few have been snagging a beer from a carton
to refresh themselves while "shopping "

Oh well. . . . .

Once that genie is out of the bottle,it aint going back in.

Like Rush always said"you can't vote against Santa Clause"

I knew of a woman, that would take you shopping for steak and/or lobsters or whatever, then charge you .80 on the dollar in cash $ once the food was in the parking lot.
Was told its a pretty commaon scam that was impossible to regulate. So not only are we payin' their rent we're buyin' em smokes and malt liquor and God knows what else.

To believe anyone is ever going to fix this is like believing in the tooth fairy or the Easter Bunny at this point. We is fugged fo sho.

...Meanwhile, some
health experts are raising questions about
whether it makes sense to allow SNAP
purchases for unhealthy products such
as soda and candy. Advocates are also
looking for ways to incentivize healthy
food purchases. While much attention
has focused on how farm subsidies fuel
our cheap, unhealthy food supply, SNAP
represents the largest, most overlooked
corporate subsidy in the farm bill.
Our research found that at least three
powerful industry sectors benefit from
SNAP: 1) major food manufacturers such
as Coca-Cola, Kraft, and Mars; 2) leading
food retailers such as Walmart and
Kroger; and 3) large banks, such as J.P.
Morgan Chase, which contract with states
to help administer SNAP benefits.

Each of these sectors has a critical stake
in debates over SNAP, as evidenced by
lobbying reports, along with important
data being kept secret.
Key findings about
corporate lobbying on SNAP:
• Powerful food industry lobbying groups
teamed up to oppose health-oriented
improvements to SNAP
• The food industry also joined forces with
anti-hunger groups to lobby against SNAP
improvements
• Companies such as Cargill, PepsiCo, and
Kroger lobbied Congress on SNAP, while
also donating money to America’s top anti-
hunger organizations
• At least nine states have proposed bills
to make health-oriented improvements to
SNAP, but none have passed, in part due to
opposition from the food industry
• Coca-Cola, the Corn Refiners of America,
and Kraft Foods all lobbied against a Florida
bill that aimed to disallow SNAP purchases
for soda and junk food
Key findings about how much
money retailers gain from SNAP:
• Although such data is readily available,
neither USDA nor the states make public
how much money individual retailers make
from SNAP. ...

...• Congress does not require data collection
on SNAP product purchases, despite such
data being critical to effective evaluation
• USDA told a journalist in Massachusetts
he was not allowed to make public data on
retailer redemptions from SNAP—after he
received the data
• In one year, nine Walmart Supercenters in
Massachusetts together received more than
$33 million in SNAP dollars—over four times
the SNAP money spent at farmers markets
nationwide
• In two years, Walmart received about
half of the one billion dollars in SNAP
expenditures in Oklahoma
• One Walmart Supercenter in Tulsa,
Oklahoma received $15.2 million while
another (also in Tulsa) took in close to $9
million in SNAP spending.
Key findings about how much money
banks gain from SNAP:
• USDA does not collect national data on
how much money banks make on SNAP
• J.P. Morgan Chase has contracts for
Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) in half
the states, indicating a lack of competition
and significant market power
• Contract terms vary widely among states,
indicating a lack of efficiency and standards
• In California, a 7-year contract worth
$69 million went to Affiliated Computer
Services, a subsidiary of Xerox
• In Florida, J.P. Morgan Chase enjoys a
5-year contract worth about $83 million, or
$16.7 million a year
• In New York, a 7-year deal originally paid
J.P. Morgan Chase $112 million for EBT
services, and was recently amended to add
$14.3 million—an increase of 13%
• States are seeing unexpected increases
in costs, while banks are reaping significant
windfalls from the economic downturn and
increasing SNAP participation.

...BIG FOOD LOBBYING AGAINST
HEALTH IMPROVEMENTS TO SNAP

Given the huge stakes for the food and
beverage industry in the debate over
SNAP purchases, lobbying has played
a critical role in shaping public policy.
Unfortunately, due to reporting rules,
it’s difficult to paint the entire picture of
exactly who lobbied and how much money
was spent against any one proposal, such
as the New York City waiver application to
USDA. Nevertheless, the following sections
demonstrate the lobbying muscle the food
industry has brought to bear on this issue.

According to an article describing the
lobbying strategy in the New York Times9:
Some of the big industry groups have
signed up lobbying firms. The Duberstein
Group, led by Kenneth M. Duberstein, a
chief of staff to President Ronald Reagan,
reported that it had received $100,000 in
the first quarter of this year to lobby for
the Grocery Manufacturers Association
on various issues, including proposals to
restrict the use of food stamps.

National food lobbying groups who teamed up to fight NYC proposal to
USDA to remove soda from list of eligible food items for SNAP10

Food Marketing Institute: “food retailers and wholesalers”

National Grocers Association: “retail and wholesale grocers that
comprise the independent sector of the food distribution industry”

Grocery Manufacturers Association: “promotes and represents the
world’s food, beverage, and consumer products companies”

Snack Food Association: “international trade association of the snack
food industry representing snack manufacturers and suppliers”

National Confectioners Association: (candy makers: candyusa.com)

American Beverage Association: “represents the non-alcoholic,
refreshment beverage industry”. ...

BANKS AND SNAP EBT FEES

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, as part
of a larger shift toward privatizing welfare
systems and putting benefits on ATM-
style Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT)
cards, states across the country began
contracting out the administration of
food stamp and welfare benefits. (SNAP
was required to completely convert to
EBT by 2002.) Each state—some teaming
up in regional purchasing alliances—pays
an outside firm to handle its EBT systems
and facilitate SNAP transactions—an
apparently profitable market that has
attracted several large banks.

EBT is not only used for SNAP but also
for other programs such as Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
The national EBT market is dominated by
J.P. Morgan Electronic Financial Services
(a subsidiary of J.P. Morgan Chase Bank),
which has contracts in 24 states along
with Guam and the Virgin Islands. When
a single provider has such significant
market share, it suggests limited
competition and excessive market power.

Other corporations in the EBT market
include Affiliated Computer Services
(a subsidiary of Xerox) which runs 13
state EBT systems; Fidelity National
Information Services, handling 11 states
and Washington, D.C.; defense contractor
Northrop Grumman operating EBT in
Illinois and Montana, and Evertec with the
contract for Puerto Rico.56

How much money do the
banks make from EBT fees?

In 2010, SNAP EBT operating and
equipment costs (split 50-50 between
the states and the federal government,
as are all SNAP administrative costs)
amounted to more than $314 million,
according to USDA data. California
incurred the highest costs, topping $65
million, with the next highest being New
York State at more than $21 million.57

However, no national-level data is
available on the total value of the states’
EBT contracts with the banks. In emails,
officials at the USDA Food and Nutrition
Service confirmed there is no national
monitoring of contracts, other than
the counting of total participants and
expenditures.58 So we made public record
requests to a handful states, for both
contracts and fee payments.

Each state EBT contract is different,
depending on state laws and the
contracting company. In general, the
companies obtain multi-million-dollar
deals over a several-year period, but the
terms evolve through change orders and
amendments that can increase or diminish
the state’s payments. The companies
are generally paid monthly on a per-
participant basis for an array of services
including benefits disbursement, customer
support, and other services.

In the states we examined, contracts for
providing EBT and related services range
in term from 5-7 years, often with renewal
clauses ranging from 1-3 years. Such
relatively long contract and renewal periods
suggest limited competition in the market
for EBT services.

Although state contracts are public
record, they do not clarify exactly
how the contracting firms turn a profit
from EBT, and what those profits are.
Likewise, the Securities and Exchange
Commission filings from the publicly-
traded corporations in the EBT market,
such as J.P. Morgan Chase, do not itemize
revenues from EBT business.

In other words, although we were able
to obtain several state contracts for this
report, information about exactly how
much profit the banks make from this
large tax-payer program, at a time when
Congress is threatening cuts to those in
need, remains unavailable.

J.P. Morgan Electronic Financial
Services: Sampling from three states59

Florida: 5-year agreement due to
terminate June 2013 unless renewed.
For this 5-year period, the estimated
cost is $83.5 million—about $16.7 million
a year. (Note: all contract totals are for all
EBT services, but most of this is SNAP.)

Fees from July 2008 to December 2011,
covering 3.5 years of the 5 year contract,
have already topped $80 million.
Assuming monthly fees in 2012 and 2013
are exactly the same as in 2011, the total
fees for the contract period would top
$123 million, a more than 50 percent
increase over the original contract.

New York (see table below and appendix):
7-year deal from 2005 through 2012,
pays the bank $112 million; was recently
amended (just a few months prior to the
contract end date) to add $14.3 million,
upping the total amount to $126 million. As
in Florida, New York is paying more (nearly
13%) than the state budgeted for, and J.P.
Morgan is receiving more than the bank
anticipated at the outset of the contract.

The New York contract offers a discount
based on volume, charging fees ranging
from $1.01 to $1.32 per case. Due to high
volume, the state has been paying $1.01
per SNAP beneficiary per month, after
hitting the top tier of 1.5 million cases.