Opinion

Letters to the editor

Highlands Today
Published: September 19, 2012

Food stamp abuse is rampant

There has to be a better way for our government to monitor food stamp card abuse. I was at a CVS Drug Store and the customer in front of me told the cashier, "I want five packs of Pall Mall Cigarettes and $30 back." The clerk asked if he wanted him to take the price of the cigarettes out of the $30. The customer stated no, that he wanted the five packs of cigarettes and $30 back. The clerk gave him a $10 and $20 bill, and the customer swiped a food stamp debit card in the processing machine. I then told the clerk that what he did was illegal. He stated that it was not, as the person's card allowed that transaction.

I then went to the Publix and talked to the assistant manager about what I had witnessed at CVS. He stated that this type of transaction is commonplace. He stated that the previous day, a woman had come through the checkout with a full shopping cart. Her total was just short of $300, no money out of pocket, and wanted $70 back, which she was given. She then took $50 of the $70 and purchased $50 worth of lottery tickets, yet she had access to $900 in additional monies on her debit card.

If they have food stamp benefits, they are getting housing benefits, medical assistance … where does all this stop? Anyone can check with CVS, Publix, Winn Dixie or Walgreens that this situation is commonplace with groceries, beer, wine and cigarettes.

When I was young and raising a family, we struggled and we knew that if money was short, you did without luxuries like beer, cigarettes, wine.

Maybe the change that was voted for four years ago is not working and they should step aside and give someone else a chance to change things. People here in America need to realize that if the government is giving you things free, someone is paying for it. Did you have a job four years ago? Those free things come from taxpayers and 49 percent of Americans don't pay any taxes.

Ken Krug

Lake Placid

Where are all the jobs going?

I was very happy to leave on vacation. That feeling turned to utter dismay as I watched hundreds and hundreds of foreign trucks taking our manufacturing jobs overseas and/or bringing back goods that should be manufactured in the United States.

Don't believe me? Next time you are on the road, I ask you to observe them. They are orange, blue and green, and have numbers like TCLU, MXCU, HXCLU, etc.

Tell me what Obama is doing to stop the flow of jobs leaving our country. Many of our factories are boarded up or getting ready to close. This trend must end if we are to reduce our deficit and become the world leader we were.

John Russo

Lake Placid

So which one is lying?

I am so confused. Mitt Romney ads say Florida's economy is horrible. No jobs, devastated housing market, no construction.

Gov. Rick Scott keeps saying that we are doing great because of the jobs he has created and his tax cuts for businesses.

Could one of them be lying?

If we vote for Romney because Florida is doing badly, does this mean we have to get rid of Rick Scott because he failed and is lying?

If Florida is doing good and Rick Scott is telling the truth, do we vote for Obama because Romney is lying?

Since the two of them have staked out opposite positions on Florida's economy, a logical person can only conclude that one of them is lying.

Food for thought.

Dana B. Orr

Avon Park