After this morning’s spin class (endurance intervals in case you were wondering) I hit up my local Super Tarjay, which you may know by now, is one of my regular haunts. What was unusual, in fact I think it’s the first time ever, is I managed to purchase only one item: a container of organic milk.
Suffice it to say I was mildly miffed to see no express lanes open and, to add insult to injury, I got stuck behind a couple making one of those mammoth, mountain-of-bags-spilling-over-the-cart purchases.
Now believe me when I say I am no shopping cart Nazi. While I try my best to lead a healthy lifestyle, I do not sit in judgement of others who do not. Certainly I have my moments (or hours) of weakness. Maybe because I had just the milk and nothing else to occupy my time, I noticed the sheer magnitude of what the couple ahead of me was buying.
First I was drawn to a layer cake topped with cookies. Behind it was a very large bag of bulk rolls. A stack of frozen dinners piled so high I could not see over it, bags upon bags of chips and pretzels, 2 boxes of donuts. All this and much more waited while nine 12-packs of soda and two 20-packs of Capri Sun were loaded under the cart.
Wow. The Superbowl is over….were they stocking up for a party?
It was a whole lotta junk food to be sure.
Then…
The lady paid with her Link Card
That’s our state’s assistance program that: (straight from the website): “helps low-income households buy the food they need for a nutritionally adequate diet.”
Perhaps I missed it but I didn’t see anything nutritionally adequate pass across that belt.
Part of me couldn’t help feeling like the taxpayers were getting punked. Was this not flagrant abuse of state aid?
Before anyone gets on my case let me just say that it’s not my intention to slight low-income households in any way. I’ve been out of work before and I know times are tough. I also regularly donate time and food to local pantries.
There is lots of talk about taxing junk food much like cigarettes. But that wouldn’t apply in this case.
Like medical insurance that does not cover various procedures, should a food assistance program not cover certain foods?
Where does one draw the line?
Or is it a violation of civil liberties to do so?
Personally I need help understanding how providing assistance to households to buy junk is at all helpful.
