Altimont owns Carmen’s Corner Store in Hagerstown, Maryland, a community where around 20 percent of people rely on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) to buy their groceries. But a federal agency decided that Altimont can never accept SNAP as a form of payment at Carmen’s.
That decision isn’t because Altimont has done anything wrong as a business owner, but rather because of unrelated crimes from 2004, for which he’s already served his time.
The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) permanently bans anyone with drug, alcohol, tobacco, or firearms convictions from participating in the SNAP program—a harsher punishment than the agency dishes out to those who have actually defrauded the program. That’s not just irrational, it’s also unconstitutional, which is why Altimont teamed up with our organization, the Institute for Justice (IJ), to file a federal lawsuit against the agency on Tuesday.
sometimes life deals you a shitty hand. other times you screw up without meaning to. and the moment you do, the whole “don’t be poor in the first place” rhetoric doesn’t matter because you’re trapped by the system.
I never said don’t be poor in the first place. You are just making shit up. You can not get trapped by the system by being a law abiding citizen.
you can take steps not to be poor but then get screwed over anyways. be it bad luck or an innocent mistake.
It does happen, I’m not denying that but if you don’t commit felonies or ignore your fines, you can usually dig out.