What would Will Rogers think?

Howdy, 

In Oklahoma, like most places I'm guessing, "food stamps" are now distributed on a pre-paid debit card with a Visa label on it. I think this accomplishes a couple of things. 

1. It helps the self esteem of the recipient that they have a Visa card just like everyone else and when they're buying something at the store, they don't have to suffer the indignity of handing out real "food stamps". 

2. It lets the recipient purchase his/her liquor easier. Most liquor stores take Visa and probably prefer it over cash which can be lost in a hold-up. 

3. It lets the recipient re-fill their casino cash card easier so they can get back to playing the slots quicker. 

All of this has been well documented in the local papers. 

For a while, there was talk about how the use of this card would cut down on fraud and such. But I think items 2 and 3 above kind of dispel that notion. 

This weekend while I was standing in line at the grocery store checkout, I noticed a poster at the register that was alerting the users of these cards that the days on which their card would be "re-filled" by the state would be changing to help ease the burden on the grocery stores (probably the liquor stores too).  The poster had a picture of the card with an explanation that the new "re-fill" date would be based on the card number. 

What struck me was the irony of the image on the card. Does anyone else see this? 

The card features a picture of Oklahoma favorite son Will Rogers, a well known pundit of his day with his home spun common sense editorials. ("I don't belong to any organized political party. I'm a Republican")  Now the pic of ol' Will has him scratching his head, almost like he is thinking "Now what the heck did you say this card was for???  Where does this money come from and where does it go???" 

I have no problem helping those that need it until they can get on their feet. But when I'm standing in line at the grocery store and the lady in front of me is fishing out 3 or 4 of these cards from her purse to pay for her groceries, I'm kind of like ol' Will scratchin' my head. 

Posted via email from greg-c - on the go....