(02-14-2018, 03:31 PM)HandsomeRob86 Wrote:

(02-13-2018, 08:24 PM)flsprtsgod Wrote: I'm a pretty staunch Libertarian, but if we're going to have these programs let's make them healthy with little motivation to remain on them.

WIC is already that way. And trust me the government has no idea what 'healthy' is. They simply listen to the biggest brands, that's literally what wic is, a straight up subsidy to Kellogg and General Mills etc. Is frosted mini wheat's healthy, how bout granola, or kix? Well that's what the government says thru wic.

I have an intimate familiarity with the program, and quite frankly WIC is way worse than SNAP. WIC has to have each of its individual products approved except for fruits and vegetables, but they only give you about $14 a month for those. But you get over a hundred dollars for brand name cereals that cost more than the store brands and are not healthy. The only things you can sub out for a store brand is cheese basically.

WIC is basically: Meat, Cheese, Eggs, a tiny amount of fruit and veggies, a bunch of cereal, milk, bad bread, and yogurt. Super carb loaded and meat loaded with a lot of dairy on top. At least SNAP you can spend the whole thing on vegetables if you want. I am in a household that regularly eats a lot of fruits and vegetables, and WIC wouldn't really help that at all, even tho fruits and vegetables are basically the healthiest thing you can eat, but they make up the smallest portion of WIC.

But the bigger reason you don't want to end SNAP is that it is actually one of the best run government programs there is. By simply giving people the funds directly to buy food only at grocery stores its pretty much a direct stimulus of the economy. There isn't a ton of middle men, and as far as government programs go most of the money actually goes where it is supposed to. This is one of the programs that almost all economist agree is the worst one to stop. The government wastes lots of money, SNAP is not one of those programs tho.