It's Not Free Stuff, It's Stealing

A problem with the backup system that controls the payments for EBT cards forced the entire system to crash over the weekend. That meant in 17 states people could not use their food stamp debit cards to buy food.
In most stores, they simply declined to accept EBT cards while the system was not functioning. In two Wal-Marts in Louisiana, store management (apparently with the approval of Wal-Mart corporate) continued to accept EBT cards as payment, even though the system was unable to debit users' accounts.
When word of this got around, people flocked to the stores and filled their carts up with anything they could find knowing the stuff would be free for them.
Cops had to be called to control the crowds, and eventually the system started to work again and debit customer accounts for their purchases.
Since they didn't have enough money on their EBT cards or any money of their own, these "shoppers" just abandoned their full shopping carts and walked out of the store. One woman tried to buy $700 worth of food and other items, with only 49 cents on her card.
Here is what the aftermath of this incident looked like:



Store employees were forced to clean up and restock as much as they could. But much of the food couldn't be put back, so it had to be discarded.

Customers who actually wanted to pay for their food couldn't shop there the next day because the shelves were wiped clean.

Wal-Mart chose not to prosecute in this incident, saying it would basically take the loss on all stolen and damaged items. So why did Wal-Mart give the go-ahead to let these people "buy" the stuff even though the EBT cards weren't working? Because they wanted to make sure people could get food to feed their families.

Note: Wal-Mart is an evil giant corporation that doesn't care about its customers and exploits its employees.

Many people are excusing this "looting" saying it's human nature to take as much as you can get it.

But in truth, it's stealing. Taking something that doesn't belong to you and not paying for it is stealing. Even if there is no mechanism to ever catch you.

This gets back to a larger point I have about the decline of American society. A certain segment of the population is economically worse off than others. We have taught these people that they are poor because others are rich, and they always be poor because the rich will always be rich. That general philosophy leads to incidents like this when people feel they are entitled to things, and they are not stealing, they are taking from an evil big corporation which has subjugated them in the first place.

But nothing has done more to keep poor people in poverty than the attitude that they will always be in poverty.

Note: Did you notice anything strange about that video? At about 15 seconds in you can see carts packed full of stuff, and in the background, a perfectly unmolested display of bananas. Even when they are free no one wants bananas.