Tuesday, September 20, 2011

"I just swipe my EBT. . . I love this card."

Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) is an electronic system that automates the delivery, redemption, and reconciliation of issued public assistance benefits. EBT is the method for distributing CalFresh benefits (formerly known as Food Stamps and currently known federally as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits), California Food Assistance Program benefits, and cash aid benefits. EBT is currently used in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam.

Recipients of public assistance in California access their issued benefits with the Golden State Advantage EBT card. The cardholder simply slides this card through a point-of-sale (POS) device, or uses the card at an automated teller machine (ATM). The card is convenient, secure, and reduces the stigma sometimes associated with public assistance.

The positive effects of EBT in California extend beyond the cardholder. Others who benefit include federal, state, and county governments, retailers, financial institutions, and taxpayers. EBT food and cash aid benefits can be redeemed at more than 80,000 locations in California. -- California Electronic Benefit Transfer Project


I didn't even know what an EBT was until I did a word search and found the above. The celebration of welfare represented in the video below by this apparently able-bodied young male is instructive. And what happens when these cards -- ALL the cards -- no longer work?

Got militia?

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm suspicious of this. There have been multiple videos posted on the topic of EBT, with varying degrees of offensiveness. I sense a coordinated effort to get this in the national spotlight.

Sean said...

Or when they swipe it and there is no sale, because the dollar, as it actually is now, is worth NOTHING. Shortly after the dollar is finally valued at 0, it's true mark, there will be a lack of electricity, and after that, more than darkness at night.

Anonymous said...

The Zombies mostly come out at night,....mostly.




Grenadier1

Anonymous said...

Sean is right. There will always be dollars put in EBT accts. Problem is the monetization of our national debt will cause prices to be so high that those dollars won't buy enough to satisfy the card holder. Viola-Riot.

Like Mike says, Got Militia? That's all that will stop such crap because the gubmint won't have enough folks willing to work for worthless dollars. Likewise, they'll be headed home to protect their own anyway.

Understand yet?

Resist.

Bob Katt

Anonymous said...

"....reduces the stigma sometimes associated with public assistance..."

THAT should be the whole POINT....a STIGMA associated with public assistance.

I'm sorry, it may sound cruel, but we simply can't afford this welfare-state nonsense.

Anonymous said...

Almost anytime you see a buggy stuffed full of prepackaged junk food, the EBT's coming out, you can bank on it.

Oh, and its tax free, too.

The one with bread, milk, and a few other staples is paying cash.

Meanwhile, wally's driven every other grocery in town out of business, except saveolott.

III N TN

David Codrea said...

So when did they stop calling them "Dignity Cards"?

Dave said...

I wish the rest of you Americans would stop enabling California's socialist programs by paying for them with your federal taxes. It just attracts riff-raff.

millerized said...

Pity Anonymous or one of the other hacker groups can't hack this and take it off line for a few days. Just to get an idea of what would happen. I pretty much know what would happen, but like all the other plans I have, it would be good to get a semi-dry run with 'live' targets.

drjim said...

David, they have a slightly different name out here among those who use (abuse?) them:
"Eat Better Tonight".....

pdxr13 said...

I am ashamed FOR THEM when I see a well dressed young woman with a fashionably dressed 2-year old pull out the Oregon Trail (Oregon EBT) card from a new leather wallet sporting multiple VISA/MC/AmEx and a nice wad of crisp $20's! She was ahead of me, and parked near enough to the bike rack that I got to see her (Cash4Clunkers?) like-new Honda Accord EX wagon. Lady Madonna?

Hold on! There's gonna be some shake when the Argentina/Zimbabwe 2001 kicks in.

Private security will be/is the new growth industry. Retail storefront commerce will be impossible without a private armed rapid response team 2 minutes away. This will make the real cost of goods soar, even more than they are being inflated by naked currency emission.

Cheers.

pdxr13 said...

Helpful info from your local "foodstamps FAQ"

FAQ "If you leave more than two months' worth of benefits in your EBT account, your case-worker will call you to check your eligibility because you may not really need SNAP/food stamps. To prevent this, you should spend enough so the balance at the end of the month will be less than your total monthly SNAP/food stamp benefit.

For example, suppose you receive 100 dollars in SNAP/food stamps each month. If you only spend 50 dollars in January, then in February you will have one hundred fifty dollars in your account. You should spend enough SNAP/food stamps so that your account goes below 100 dollars before the end of February.

If you leave more than three months' worth of benefits in your EBT account, your case-worker will put a stop on your card because you may not really need SNAP/food stamps. You have 180 days to get the stop lifted and get your benefits back. To do this, you must show your case-worker the proof of your income and expenses for the months that were stopped."

So, even if you are rollin' in the dough from a big sale, or your girls are really working hard and earning, you should make a point of heading to the store and buying the balance of the EBT card every month. Nothing is stopping you from buying a carton of luxury canned food like caviar, capers, peppericini, salmon, chocolate bars, deluxe crackers, etc. This stuff is so expensive that $300 bucks will barely fill a single grocery sack (will easily fit in a slammed RX-8), but will definitely impress the host of the next arty party you attend.

This kind of thing can't last. Where is ATF distributing WASR-10's and grenades again?

Cheers.

Anonymous said...

A healthy dog can go through life carrying a few ticks. But add enough ticks and even the healthiest dog is doomed.

One afternoon I happened to notice a lady going from one sidewalk Cafecito to the next on "Calle Ocho" (S. W. 8th Street) in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Her clothes didn't fit in and when I asked someone who she was they replied that she was one of the local aid workers for the federal government. She was on one of her regular recruiting runs getting people to sign up for EBT and other programs. You see, these aid workers are paid by their caseload, not by the number of people they get back on their feet. So, rather than sit in their office getting people off welfare, its to their advantage financilly to go out and hunt for new clients.

This country will not be brought down by Al Qaeda.

This country will not be brought down by "Them Damn Rooskies".

This country will not be brought down by "The Vast Right Wing Conspiracy".

This country will be brought down by its entitlement programs and the mindset they engender among its citizens.

Scroll down a bit and read the quote Dutchman6 provides from Frederic Bastiat.

Or this one: "A government big enough to give you everything you want is a government big enough to take from you everything you have." -- Gerald Ford

Anonymous said...

"like pigs at a bacon factory." -- John Gault in his prologue to "The Day the Dollar Died"

If you haven't read it yet you should. Then get ready. You may think you are ready. You are probably mistaken. Like with a global thermonuclear exchange, there may well be no way you can be ready. But you may be able to take steps to enhance your survivability.

Female III said...

I hate to say it but I am actually looking forward to the well-deserved cannibalism that will take place. Not sure if militia will be needed anywhere outside city limits since all these riotous leeches will be quarantined. Or left to burn. In the case of Chicago, LA and Detroit...Burn, baby burn.

For the kind of militia work needed for safe-guarding routes, patrolling communities, etc., I can tell you from firsthand memory (as I was just a kid) that it takes just one half-hour town meeting with the local sheriff to have a large deputized force on the move. This was done when we were invaded by hippies trespassing, wrecking crops and roaming the highways naked.

When the riots after the Martin Luther King killing took place highly visible armed patrols guarded every neighborhood and roadway. The first couple of weeks everyone just hoped the devils would be controlled by their own neighborhood. When that didn't manifest and when the zombies started taking baseball bats to windshields of innocent travelers at night, ganging up on white kids in school, well things got a little troublesome for the cowardly bastards. Every roadway was guarded by men (not all were white either) with shotguns and hunting rifles. Neighboring white communities and a few quiet black communities were also being guarded round the clock in shifts. The weapons hung out of the vehicle windows as a preventative warning. It worked too. There were no meetings, no sheriffs and no badges. Also no interference by the police. They were glad to see it.

"Badges? Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges." And that is a FACT.

Anonymous said...

NSFW:

Better video about EBTs :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzspsovNvII&feature=player_embedded

Anonymous said...

What would happen if some hackers managed to take down the EBT computers so that the system quit. Would the Food Stamp Queens riot if they couldn't get their freebies? Would definitely be interesting.

Carol said...

I don't care what they are called these days EBT or Food Stamps since when can you use them to buy chunk food because that is all I saw the people buying.

When I worked for The Food Stamp Program (just after the ark landed) and there was no way no how that you could buy junk food and now you can no wonder we have a weight problem all over the USA because from what I am look at that seems to be their "food" of choice.

I cannot believe what I was watching.

Anonymous said...

I suffer from a brain lesion and can't function well anymore. Since I lived overseas, my Lon's share of disability comes from there, and I may or may not resolve this. If I did not have the very little I receive from social assistance to get by, I would not survive. Since we now live in a self-sufficiency, survival of the fittest culture, without much in terms of assisting one another (at one point we did), then perhaps I would have extended family with communal situation. I find alot of ignorant and selfish comments here. But it doesn;t surprise me anymore. Just more rhetoric and blame. btw, that woman with nice auto, new condition purse, credit cards, etc. and food card? I don't think there is asset limit in most states anymore. Food stamps are there to save someone in a crisis, not have them lose everything and never have the means left to become self-supportive. That is reasoning behind change-not socialism. Nothing but spewing here...

Unknown said...

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https://www.facebook.com/ILoveMyEbt

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