Food stamp trafficking is incredibly rare, according to Vox. Not only that, but it’s a “totally reasonable activity”:
Food stamp “fraud” (which mainly means trading food stamps for cash, a totally reasonable activity that in a just world would be 100 percent legal without any fees attached to it) is very rare, with a fraud rate of only 1 percent.
The Voxsplainers cite this article from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, “SNAP Error Rates at All-Time Lows”:
USDA has cut trafficking by three-quarters over the past 15 years. Only 1 percent of SNAP benefits are trafficked.
If food stamp trafficking is “very rare,” someone forgot to tell these people:
https://twitter.com/richmuhvugga/status/486338003720470528
Foodstamps on for sale on craigslist damnn. They bold! http://t.co/1iNvQKfpnl
— LETITA MCDONALD-MIMS (@TWITME1981) July 8, 2014
@BricariTPshh that's what I was thinking imma buy some food stamps from one of my hood rat cousins and get some healthy options .
— HollyHoodTee (@_kingteee) July 8, 2014
https://twitter.com/stroman55/status/486496085507330049
https://twitter.com/SaySo4/status/486330067275227137
https://twitter.com/LooseCannonSLIM/status/486381899188011008
we be out here selling food stamps and shit lol we even got Tha white people to do it
— Sir?Salamander Da God (@TrippyBoogie) July 8, 2014
Who selling food stamps? I'm buying!
— ElegantE (@EbonyExoti) July 8, 2014
https://twitter.com/krsfraz/status/486323092269305856
https://twitter.com/MONEYMARCOO/status/486340519950180354
Who got some food stamps for sale?
— T.N.N Ace (@IBeSkoolinEm) July 8, 2014
Anybody Tryna Buy Food Stamps?
— Neice? (@GeekNeice) July 8, 2014
"@IBeSkoolinEm: Who got some food stamps for sale?"let me kno too I'm buying em all
— ™ Ace ♠️?? (@_thirstgangceo) July 8, 2014
RT this if you selling your food stamps this month
— Capo (@aleicia__) July 7, 2014
Need to buy some food stamps
— jus_britt (@4eva_bwalker) July 7, 2014
my nigga… Lemme buy em next Munt “@HoeStopLyin: I fucked Walmart up with 125 in food stamps yesterday .”
— Dawg (@Sipsy_Roll) July 7, 2014
Welp I need to buy some foodstamps from somebody….
— Shaneshia Rogan (@Ms_SoloDolo07) July 7, 2014
https://twitter.com/CassandraaCee/status/486319436010242049
Can I buy some of ya foodstamps?
— MOVE PHILLY PA (@JahmelKendall) July 7, 2014
https://twitter.com/krsfraz/status/486322149159075840
Lady selling us 200 dollars worth of food stamps for 120. In Jesus' name.
— ? ʏᴀɴɢ xɪᴀᴏ ʟᴏɴɢ (@TheAllureOfSin) July 8, 2014
Look on the bright side. Here’s one sector of the U.S. economy in which entrepreneurship is still alive and well.
Correction:
The initial version of this post stated that this article from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities had nothing to do with food stamp trafficking. In fact, the CBPP article does include a section on food stamp trafficking, concluding that it is very rare: “Only 1 percent of SNAP benefits are trafficked.” We have revised this post accordingly. This was a significant error, for which we apologize to Vox and our readers.
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