An algorithm kicks businesses out of food stamp program on dubious fraud charges

Uhh he did violate the terms of acceptance, nothing nebulous at all here. He violated, they actually gave him a process to try and prove his violations were not and he failed at that and was banned.<p>Very misleading title.

&gt; kicks businesses out of food stamp program on dubious fraud charges<p>&gt; Mejia violated the agency’s rules, which prohibit retailers from establishing informal credit systems with their customers.<p>&gt; many of them, like [Mejia], were probably unjustly caught in the crosshairs<p>So which is it? Is the charge unjust and dubious, or did he violate the rules?<p>(Not making any political point myself - just can&#x27;t even work out what the opinion of the article is on whether he was doing something that was not allowed in the system he was using.)

If the author really cared about the root problem of why someone would run a credit system, perhaps they could have looked at the once a month payment system that EBT uses and what ramifications that has. Take a quick look at places that accept EBT and notice what specials they have on the first of the month as opposed to the rest. Notice any police checkpoints that only seem to get setup on the first? Notice where they are? Go into a local Walmart on the morning of the first day of the month and observe. Look at EBT related signs especially in gas stations that accept EBT (check the microwave).

Let&#x27;s look at this from the user perspective.<p>Grocery store 1: No credit option, must have a positive balance on my EBT card.<p>Grocery store 2 (P&amp;L Deli Grocery) flexible credit option, able to take a loan out while waiting for EBT card to get replenished.<p>As a customer, which one of these two offerings is better?<p>#2 is clearly a better grocery store. It is a grocery + lender for those on EBT cards!<p>The EBT system (and, likely every other credit card &#x2F; merchant processor) bans informal credit because there is no basis of control or audit-ability on these kinds of transactions.

For those confused by the use of the word &quot;fraud&quot; here, the US government today considers fraud to cover both financial misdeeds, as well as (their) rules violations where no money is involved.<p>If you follow the news, you&#x27;ll see the word &quot;fraud&quot; increasingly thrown around as it gives the government a bigger hammer to use on its citizens.<p>Meanwhile, actual fraud like civil asset forfeiture rolls along with full government endorsement.

Food stamps are a fantastic way of infantilizing grown adults.