An EBT Shopping Spree

As if the government has hadn't enough recent "glitches", on Saturday there was another glitch in the Louisiana area in which EBT (Electronic Benefits Transfer) cards were showing no limits. Although the limit varies for different people, there is definitely a limit. But when it was discovered that the EBT system was "broken", word quickly spread around Louisiana towns like Springfield and Mansfield. And before long, people were flocking to Walmart.

When Walmart announced that it would honor EBT cards in spite of the glitch, EBT cardholders began to load up their shopping carts with "free" stuff. Shoppers impatiently lined up, eagerly waiting to "pay" for their goods before the system came back on line. Louisiana area Walmarts hadn't seen this much action since Hurricane Katrina. 

But then, to the EBT shoppers' dismay, the system came back online....

Almost immediately, all of the would-be shoplifters abandoned their overfilled carts and left them scattered all over the store. The place looked like a cyclone hit it. And Walmart employees spent the rest of the weekend restocking the shelves.

What the hell is wrong with people? Although these folks were already getting a government handout, apparently it still wasn't enough. By choosing to steal these items (and yes, it is stealing), they're essentially biting the hand that feeds them. I know there will be people ready to break my balls for picking on welfare recipients. But I'd like someone to try and explain to me how any part of the Louisiana EBT incident was right. The people that took part in these activities knew what they were doing was wrong, but they did it anyway. 

To me, this is the same as finding a credit card on the parking lot. You know the card isn't yours, but you decide to run into the Best Buy and load up on the latest electronics anyway. Sure, you might get to walk away with your new I-pad and 60-inch TV, but someone else will ultimately get stuck paying the bill. In the case of welfare fraud, it's usually the taxpayer who gets left with the bill. These types of people have no moral conscience and, in my opinion, they are nothing more than social parasites.

Just to be clear, I am NOT criticizing all welfare recipients. I know there are decent people out there who happen to be struggling  due to circumstances beyond their control. I have no problem at all helping people get back on their feet. With that being said, no one is ever going to convince me that there's not a hell of a lot of welfare fraud out there.

So, the the big questions now........What's going to happen to these people who knowingly overspent the limit on their EBT cards? Will they be forced to pay back the money? Will they be charged with welfare fraud? From what I understand, you have to use a PIN number to activate each card, So, it seems like it would be fairly easy to track everyone down. Of course, if the government cuts off next month's deposit, these same assholes will be complaining about how unfair and unreasonable it is.

Defend them if you want to, but these folks were nothing more than a bunch of thoughtless morons who saw an opportunity to steal. They can try to feed me all the bullshit they want about how "they just couldn't wait", "they had hungry kids waiting at home", blah, blah, blah...I'm not buying it! No one was going to starve because they had to wait an extra hour to purchase a pack of Hot Pockets. I get sick of this crap. Walmart should have refused to process any EBT purchases until the system was back online. If people had an issue with it, too f*cking bad. We all have to deal with inconveniences in life. The difference is that most of us don't react by shoplifting!

kw