Monday, May 23, 2011

Food Stamps and Soda in 3 Acts


The political economy of soda, part 1, NYT via M. Nestle
Eighteen members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently urged the Obama administration to reject New York’s proposal. The plan is unfair to food stamp recipients because it treats them differently from other customers, they said in a letter to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
While Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are among the largest contributors to the nonpartisan Congressional Black Caucus Foundation, a research and education institute, caucus members say their positions are not influenced by such contributions.
Policy advice, Part 2 from Wilde:
1. You never should have called the proposed policy a ban. Has there ever been a controversy over the "ban" on SNAP spending for hula-hoops and yo-yos? The "ban" on SNAP spending for gasoline? No
Part 3 … is just funny.

Run-Of-The-Mill Requests

Gas station | Madison, WI, USA
(A customer sets all their items up on the counter. This includes a six-pack of beer.)
Me: “Okay, your total will be $12.12.”
(The customer hands me their food stamp card.)
Me: “I can run this through, and it’ll take most of the total off. But beer isn’t covered under this program. I apologize.”
Customer: “Excuse me, what?”
Me: “Yeah, alcohol isn’t covered under the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance program.”
Customer: “But beer is nutritional. It has wheat in it.”

No comments:

Post a Comment