[nozzlegear]

Are SNAP recipients not allowed to enjoy a soda at all? I really don't understand the problem with this. Society acts like signing up for SNAP involves signing a contract to lose 100 pounds and only eat iceberg lettuce or something.

[cratermoon]

Americans seem to love to gatekeep what the poor are allowed to have or not have. They have this image of the Welfare Queen driving a pink Cadillac to cash her welfare checks at the liquor store. It seems that no matter how desperately destitute someone might be, there's a person who will point at something they have, whether it's a tent to sleep in under a bridge (a gift from an organization providing assistance to the houseless), a bicycle that's their only means of transportation, or a garden planted on public property, and say "they can't be that poor if they have that!

[TimTheTinker]

When someone lives off of public benefit, there's a sense in which the public can have an interest in how the money is used -- its use should correlate with its intent.

That's why SNAP money is restricted to particular categories. So caring about how it's spent is already a foregone conclusion, and rightly so.

If someone wants to spend money however they like, they'll have to earn it themselves. Even inherited money carries a sense of obligation to honor the family with how it's used (like not blowing it all in a week of lavish partying in Vegas, as an extreme example).

[dullcrisp]

No, but I think spending 10% of your food budget on soda is unfortunate regardless. Of course they have a right to it.