Thursday, Apr 23

WBSM presents The Barry Richards Show. Streaming live on WBSM.com and the WBSM app. Call 508-996-0500. Text us using app chat on the WBSM app. Now, The Barry Richards Show. Alrighty, welcome back to the program. I want to wait on a Thursday afternoon. 508-996-0500 is the phone number. If you're just joining us, I mentioned something before the top of the hour news that I find to be quite exciting and interesting. This is something that I've been yelling about for a long time. And it is a part of snap reform, hopefully. And this has to do with rotisserie chickens. There is actually something now called the Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act, believe it or not, that has been introduced in the U.S. Congress. And, you know, I've been quite upset for a long time since I found out that you cannot buy a hot rotisserie chicken with your SNAP benefits card. Yet you can buy ding-dongs, yo-ho's and, I don't know, chips and soda and all kinds of other stuff. You can buy all of that. And ice cream. I actually shared a piece, a little video clip on my personal Facebook page. Many of you are friends with me on Facebook. You want to go check and maybe haven't seen it. A woman down in Florida who was upset, I mean, really distraught about SNAP reforms that have been introduced there that do not allow you. A number of states, I think there are 12 now, that do not allow you to buy junk food with your SNAP benefits. And the woman was upset. I mean, she was like, I don't mean angry upset. She was just like, she's saying somebody's got to do something about this. I just don't know what I'm going to do. I like food, but I also like my ice cream and I like my chips and my snacks. And they won't let me buy ice cream anymore. And what am I to do, she said. I mean, seriously perplexed about the situation and SNAP benefit reform. The whole idea of SNAP benefits is to give you a nutritious opportunity, an opportunity to get some nutritious food for your family, not to get ding dongs, yo ho's and you know, I don't even know the half the names of these things. But anyway, just before the break, I was telling you, you've got a bipartisan group of senators. And for those of you who were born on the east side of town, that means Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Senate that have introduced a bill. It's called the Hot Rotisserie Chicken Act. And it's to help SNAP benefits or SNAP recipients use their benefits to buy hot rotisserie chicken. And the amendment would amend the 2008 Food and Nutrition Act by modifying the definition of food to add hot rotisserie chicken. According to a joint statement about the bill from Senator John Fetterman, it would not increase funding or SNAP participation eligibility, but it would allow you to get some hot foods. You know, we've I often tell the story. I told it just yesterday about how we're talking about benefits one day and a long time, a couple of years ago anyway. And this lovely young woman called me and she was a widow. And and she said, you know, benefits. And I, you know, I go to Market Basket and I grab me a hot rotisserie chicken, figuring I can have, you know, it's like five bucks. I can I can have, you know, chicken dinner tonight and tomorrow I can make some soup and then have some sandwiches and and really stretch that that rotisserie chicken out over a few days. And when I brought it to the counter, they told me I cannot do that because under state law, you are not allowed to buy a hot rotisserie chicken using SNAP benefits. You can, however, buy chips and soda and ice cream and all that kind of crap. And the woman was floored. She said, I was told that if I came back tomorrow, I could buy the same chicken cold and bring it home. But I can't buy that hot chicken and bring it home for dinner tonight, which absolutely blew my mind. And, you know, I'm thinking, what a lovely woman. And I went home to check it out because I always check stuff out. And sure enough, she was telling me the truth. I went to the state's website and and there it is. I even wrote about it. You can check it out on WBSM dot com. It's a couple of years ago, but you can do a search on it. And so I know this woman will be happy to hear this. And I know I'm happy and many of you will be happy to hear it, too. And current legislation does not allow the purchase of hot prepared foods, only allowing cooled but cooked rotisserie chicken to be purchased. As I just stated, America's best and delicious affordability plan is Costco's for ninety nine rotisserie chicken, Fetterman said in the statement. It's one of my family's favorites. And I'm proud to join this bill with Senator Justice for justice for all justice for all to try. Snap funds would be well spent to feed our nation's families who need it. Senators Jim Justice. OK, here we go. A Republican from West Virginia, Shelley Moore Capito, Republican of West Virginia, and Michael Bennett, Democrat of Colorado, joined Fetterman in backing this amendment. Allowing snap recipients to purchase hot rotisserie chicken is a simple, practical step to make the program work better for people it serves, Capito said in a similar statement for seniors, working families and those without reliable access to cooking equipment. This is about convenience and dignity with multiple states, including West Virginia, already requesting flexibility in this area. This bill brings snap in line with real world needs while making smart, efficient use of taxpayer dollars. Justice said allowing snap recipients to buy hot rotisserie chicken is, quote, as basic as you can get to help busy parents or grandparents put something as simple as this on the table to feed their families. It's plain common sense. A hot rotisserie chicken is a healthy, easy meal for busy families, he wrote on the social platform X. Folks on snap should be able to grab one on the go. The amendment is a companion to a farm bill sponsored by Representative Rick Crawford, Republican from Arkansas, that received bipartisan support. The aspect of the bill to allow the purchase of hot rotisserie chicken was withdrawn, Crawford said in March, that Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders submitted a waiver to extend the program to cover hot rotisserie chicken. According to a statement from the National Chicken Council, hot rotisserie chicken is healthy, widely available, popular in grocery stores and aligns with the new dietary guidelines for Americans promoting nutrient dense protein, Crawford said in a statement. Wow. Common sense. Common sense is taking hold in America. What do you think about that? The hot rotisserie chicken act? I don't know. Maybe somebody maybe somebody heard us talking about it, thought it was a good idea. But I got to tell you, as the days go by, I get more and more impressed with John Fetterman. 508-996-0500. You're next in WBSM. Thanks for hanging on. Hey, Barry, don't you get a couple of seconds? I do, John. No. All right. Yeah. I want to jump in on the pollution and the the the kidnapped child. But just quickly on that cooked chicken. Yeah, I believe here in Massachusetts, they charge a restaurant tax on it because it's a, quote, prepared meal. OK, that doesn't surprise me. Yeah. No, it's like if you buy health care supplements, you know, the beet juice and the beet bits and antihistamine tablets. If you buy them over the counter, there's a sales tax on that. Same thing. Tylenol. You buy Tylenol. But if your doctor prescribes the same bottle of Tylenol, there's no no no tax. No tax. Yeah. You've got to love this state. Yeah. But quickly, we're talking about the pollution. And I used to do work for Raytheon. I don't know if you ever heard of the company, but I worked for working for Bethlehem Steel. Yeah. Trying to reduce, you know, their pollution output. And one of the things I noted to everybody says, well, where does the wind come from here in Baltimore? Everybody comes in out of the West. And I says, and what if we don't do anything here? Will we still get pollution? And light dawned over Marblehead? Yes, we will. It's the same thing in Massachusetts, Barry. We get the pollution from the rest of the United States. Oh, absolutely. And I mean, the the West Coast gets it from overseas, from Asia and all that area. So what I never I've never been able to understand. I mean, we spend all this money in Massachusetts to clean up the environment, the air and all this kind of stuff. How do we block the bad air from coming in? It's pure insanity. It's it's Sisyphus pushing the rock up the hill only to have it rolled down again. And we start all over. Can we put giant filters up in the sky to to to clean the air as it comes through? I just never got that. Yeah, no, me either. I mean, it's kind of crazy. And then you've you've heard about the the boy that was kidnapped by the adoptive parents brought to Mexico, flown to Cuba for a gender reassignment surgery. Yeah, it's like what's easy. Very young child. Yeah. Yeah. Ten years old. Yeah. Blah, blah, blah. Well, this is firsthand knowledge. I help a guy down on the South Shore whose foreign born wife took their kids and ran to another state, but only after accusing him of having sexually abused the children. And of course, that was thrown out because there was no proof. But when when the wife and the kids got to another state, she committed some actions, got arrested, got into a fight with the cops and everything else. Well, anyways, he tried to get his kids back because he had sole authority over the kids, because, of course, the wife was now in jail. Well, the other state refused, refused to accept the documents from Massachusetts. And they said, if you do not send us money to take care of your kids, $200 a month, we're going to put them up for adoption. You won't get them back. So he had he was extorted of a few hundred dollars. Now, let's say close to a thousand before he got his kids back, before the Commonwealth of Massachusetts decided to take action to say, hey, look, if you don't bring these kids back, we're taking you to a federal court. Well, what state was that? You remember the kids back? Do you remember the state? It was Maryland. Oh, you may have said that already. And I just see I didn't say it, but it was the state of Maryland. They damn well refused to return the kids. And he had to go down and bring them back. Well, Maryland would not bring them back. And they didn't reimburse him the money they extorted from them. First hand. First hand, Barry. I was there. Unreal. Thanks, Don. Appreciate it. I was a good contribution. Thank you, sir. 508-996-0500 is the number you're next on WBSM. Thanks for hanging on. And he had to go down and bring them back. Hello. Hello. Got to get to your phone. Hello. Yeah. Can you hear me? Yep. You got to turn the phone down at the radio down the back of you. Yeah, I can. There we go. I got you. How are you doing? My name is Mr. Smith. I'm from New Bedford. How are you doing? I'm doing well. How are you? Good. I just want to weigh in on this EBT controversy that everybody's talking about nowadays. I feel like it's too much for people to be talking about right now with everything going on. And if they're saying they're going to cut the food stamps so that people only can buy certain things. I think that's ludicrous. I think that's absurd. And it's too much because you've got these families that only have a mother that take care of two, three kids that live off certain types of food or junk food, whatever it is for the kids. Now, if they go ahead and take that all away, what are we going to do for the kids? Well, why did you take the snap? Take the mother should take the SNAP benefits and buy healthy nutritional food. That's why it's called the Supplemental Nutrition Program is to buy nutritious food, not junk food. OK, now what happens if you have kids that are alerted to certain things? Now, do we do we have a stipulation for certain people? Because some people might be alerted to certain things. What might they what what might they be allergic to? Well, I got a brother who's alerted to seafood and onions and peppers. All right, so don't buy seafood. You know what? I've been married to my wife for 35 years. She hates seafood. So in 35 years, we have never bought seafood. We buy other things. But then you got them kids that don't like vegetables and stuff. Well, you know, that's you know, look, come on. I mean, this is a paper argument. So so you'd rather buy them Cheetos and in candy instead? I'm not saying that, but I'm saying this should be up to the parents to make that decision, up to the government. Well, no, it should be up to the it should be up to the people who pay. Hold on. Hold on. I listen to you. Listen to me. It should be up to the people who pay the bill. Now, if I'm paying the bill for that family to go out and get snap, you know, benefits, then they should be buying things for their kids that are healthy. If you want to buy chocolate and candy and chips and all that for your kids, do it out of your own pocket. But take the money that the citizens give you and buy healthy things. Now, if your kids don't like vegetables, you know, I never liked vegetables either growing up. But, you know, I mean, there are other healthy things you can buy. You can buy chicken. You can buy, you know, beef. You can buy, you know, a whole bunch of other stuff. Fruits, apples, oranges. There must be some fruits and vegetables that they like that are going to keep them healthy. Absolutely. I'm not saying don't give them vegetables. But and like you just said, which is a little thing to it. When you say and all the people say, oh, I pay for them. They're low income families that don't get much that live off EBT and to throw it in their face. They listen. We're going to restrict you guys now from now on for me and this and this and this. We're not looking to restrict. Hold on. We're nobody's looking to restrict anybody. What we're what we're talking about is, look, you get the same amount of SNAP benefits. But those SNAP benefits, again, is Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It's to buy things that are healthy for your children. It's not to go out and buy candy and garbage that are going to make your kids unhealthy. And then and then society has to pay for the health coverage for those kids, too. So if they develop cavities because they're eating candy all day long, the society has to pay for that, too. So, you know, or any any problems. Look, you get the same amount of benefits. Nobody's trying to take your benefits away or the person that you're talking about. But but we there should be certain guidelines from which you can purchase items that are healthy for your children. Absolutely. I feel that this should be a overhaul of EBT, period. But I feel like they shouldn't be restricting people from what they want to buy. Just like when you go sign up for EBT, they don't say, well, all right, well, let's go back. Let's go back to the beginning of this conversation. I think I asked you if I didn't. I will now. Do you think it's OK and inappropriate to buy chips with EBT money? Some chips. I'm not saying that when you go shopping, you used to buy a whole cart full of honey buns and chips and stuff. No. But at the same time, when people sign up for EBT, the people that sign them up say, OK, well, you gave three hundred dollars a month. You can only buy fruits and vegetables in a box of cornflakes. They're not saying that. They're saying here's three hundred dollars for your kids or your three kids. Make sure they eat. They're not saying this is a nutritional plan. This is a plan. But that's what it's costing. That's what it is called. It's called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. It's not the hold on. It's not the Supplemental Junk Food Assistance Program. It's by healthy foods. We want to help people to eat well and so that they stay healthy, not not to go out and get diabetes from eating, you know, from drinking soda at 10 years old around the clock. That's if you want to get that stuff, you should buy that stuff yourself. But if the citizens are going to give you two hundred dollars a month, you should you should be restricted to buy healthy food for that. Now, there's got to be some healthy food in your diet and your kids diet that would be covered under the SNAP benefits and you just buy the rest of the stuff under, you know, out of your own money. Right. But and then they also give cash assistance, too. They give cash and food stamps, too. So sometimes when you go and you see people buying all the stuff, they might have cash on the EBT card and food stamps. So sometimes you might see people buy junk food, but that's what the government gives them, too. So they got both on the card. I know my ex-wife, she had she had cash assistance and food stamps on the card every month. You know what I'm saying? So it was both, but it was on the same card. So some people looked at it like she was using the food stamps instead of the cash. And it's off the same card. So you can't really tell the difference. Well, look, I view it this way. If you are going to and let me just tell you something, too, as a kid many, many years ago, I'm almost 70 now as a kid. You had the books, yeah? Well, we had the we had the no, we had we had even before the books, before any of that stuff, we had what was called surplus food, OK, government surplus food. And my mother used to have to walk. Now, we were we were on this because my father was in a bad car accident. He was out of work for a long time and traction and all this kind of stuff. So we lived up at Brickenwood Housing Project and we had to my mother had to walk down to get the surplus food in a box. And we would get, you know, powdered eggs. We would get powdered milk, the cheese, the peanut butter and that kind of stuff. And you brought it home. And that's the way that they gave aid at that point. And that became kind of cumbersome and all that kind of stuff. So then they decided to give out actual food stamps. But then immediately there became corruption. People were selling that and so on and so forth. I'm sure they were selling surplus food, too. But so but the whole idea is to provide people in need. And I would never deny anybody in need of assistance. If you have a need for assistance. Yes, I want to give you food. But I want to make sure that your kids are getting the food that are going to help them grow and that are going to help them be smart and be healthy, because I don't want them to have to, you know, be sick and have bad teeth and have diabetes. We have an epidemic in our country right now where young people are obese and they are getting diabetes at like 10, 12 years old. You know, so we got to make sure that if we're giving them money or giving the parents money, that it is spent being spent appropriately to make sure that these kids stay healthy and anything beyond that that you want to get. But I don't think if it's taxpayer money, that it should be spent on on garbage. I think it should be spent on on healthy foods. Right. And like I said before, to go back, there should be an overhaul. And with that overhaul, there should be no new restrictions. So when you sign up for EBT, they give you all this paperwork saying, listen, this is what's healthy. This is what we write that you buy for your kid. And I'm telling you right now, they don't do that. And then you know what? I'm not I'm not going to disagree with that. I think you're 100 percent right on that. I think it's I think it's a good thing. And here are the guidelines. This is, you know, because, you know, when a lot of people grow up without any kind of education into this stuff, what's healthy for you? That's what I was about to say. Some of these people and these mothers or single fathers ain't knowledgeable on how it works. They just want the food stamps and they don't they don't understand the education behind the food stamps and what needs to be done. Yeah. So I feel like if they were taught ahead of time before the food stamps come, say, listen, this is what we're giving you a month. This is what we suggest you buy. Here's a list of fruits and vegetables that you can buy from certain stores. They don't give it that. All they do is put the money on the card, make sure it's you and send you on your way. Yeah, no. And you know what? You just made a lot of sense. And I agree with you 100 percent. Is this your first time calling my program? Yes, it is. Please call me more often because you are a very sensible person and you make a lot of sense. And I want to hear more from you. OK, I appreciate it. I appreciate you. Thank you very much. And good luck to you and your family. 508-996-0500 is the number. I got to get a break in, though. I'm going to come right back after this. Stay tuned. It's time to make the money talk for five thousand dollar Thursday five nine five five nine five. Enter it right now at WBSM dot com or on the WBSM app for your chance to make the money talk on WBSM. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. All right, 134 on a Thursday afternoon, 508-996-0500 is the number. And I am going to say something right now. I really loved that last call. I thought that was one of the most important calls that we've had in a long time. And I'll tell you, let me tell you why. You know, a lot of people are out there probably saying, well, this guy doesn't know you know what's healthy food and what's good. You know what? We take a lot of times things for granted. We assume everybody knows because, you know, because you know what's healthy and you know what you're supposed to do. We all assume that. And the guy made a very, very solid point there. You know, they sign you up for this stuff. They give you the card and send you on your way. And now I know I've been to the Web site that there are, you know, ideas on the Web site for how to eat healthy and so on and so forth. But we also assume that everybody has an Internet connection. And that's not always true either, or that they know to go the Internet connection. We cannot make assumptions like that. And I think I'm guilty of doing that. And I think probably many of you are as well. The system is the system. And it's not always an efficient system. And I think that's why we have so many problems with our SNAP program. Just keep on churning out those cards, churning out the cards, pumping the money onto them and to hell with the people. Now, I think what was just suggested by that last caller makes perfect sense. When you sign somebody up new for SNAP benefits, let us not assume that that person knows how to make the healthy choices. Maybe that person was raised on ding dongs and in soda and chips and doesn't know any other way. And maybe wants to do the right thing by their kids, but just don't have that knowledge. When you get your acceptance, you should have to go there and pick it up. And you should maybe have a little bit of an introduction to this is your benefit plan. And this is what you can get. And this is what you should get for your family. He talked about reform and I'm all for reform. I think what we've seen happen in at least, what did I say, 16 states already or 26 states where there has been reform. And you are only allowed to purchase certain things. Education is a good thing. It helps people to make important decisions. I got to be honest with you. I don't think that most people want to feed their kids crappy stuff on purpose. And I think they would probably want to give their kids or make better decisions for their kids if they had that knowledge on how to do it. And so I think that A plus for that last caller. And I hope I do hear from that caller again. All right, 508-996-0500 is the number you are next in WBSM. Thanks for hanging on. Hey, how are you? Good. How are you? Very good. Very good. So I'm going to touch base on some counterpoints to the EBT reformation movement. So since the year 2020, food prices have increased exponentially, as we all know. Right. So, you know, the common statistics now are between 30 and 40 percent. Right. So, you know, have we increased that benefit 30 and 40 percent to accommodate the increasing rise of food costs? No. So what ends up happening is people end up buying less food and they're unable to feed their families that much more. And then on a second note, healthy food. I'm not against healthy food, but like you mentioned just earlier, you know, some of these people don't have the ability to afford some healthy food. If you compare healthy food to processed foods, for example, healthy food comes in at 20 to 60 percent more when we're talking about the six dollar bag of chips that's half full. I mean, you know, Biden talked about shrink inflation. Remember, shrink inflation. You get like you buy a bag of chips for six bucks, lays potato chips, and it's like a quarter full. And and don't forget under the don't you know, let's go back before 2020. I mean, we've seen inflation on the on the rise for a long time and even under the Obama. I mean, under the Biden administration, we saw inflation over nine percent. It came down somewhat under Trump, but prices are still very, very high. There's no question about it, but it is not more expensive to go and get. Look, I do shopping in my family with my wife. Right. We go to stop and shop and, you know, you can see every week all you have to do is apply for a stop and shop card. You see every week two pints of strawberries for three forty nine. You know, you can get this, that and the other thing for low prices. Those are healthy decisions. I'd rather see somebody buy a pint of strawberries for their kids than to buy a bag of chips for six ninety nine or whatever the lays potato chips are getting these days. But people need to understand how to make those decisions and why they need to make those decisions. I don't think affordability is the issue there. But you don't think that food prices increasing food prices have increased the price. Look, the price of yohos and ding dongs have gone up, too. It's not just it's not just asparagus that has seen a price increase. It's correct. It's prices across the board. So you're standing there and you got two hundred dollars a month for your food stamps and you're saying, well, gee, should I get this expensive bag of lays potato chips or should I get this box of strawberries? And so we agree on the premise that food prices have gone up 30 or 40 percent within the past five years or which is insane. Right. And you're saying that a family should choose the strawberries over the bag of chips. But let's let's reflect on what humans run on, what sustenance humans run on. We run on calories. Right. And so if a bag of chips is going to have I don't even know how many calories it has, but it's going to have significantly more calories of caloric intake potential than a pack of strawberries. I'm not saying that the strawberries are the you know, of course, the strawberries are the healthier option. Right. Yeah. We're talking about someone on fixed income as far as that benefit. And they're now having to buy 30 to 40 percent less food because of inflation across the board. We're talking about two separate issues. We're not talking that the discussion that we're having is not about food prices. We all understand if you go shopping, the food prices are high and they've been high for a while. What we're talking about is choices. And again, the food, the high food prices go right across the board that, you know, when when when the price of food went up, you know, the bag of chips wasn't excluded from that. The bottles of soda weren't excluded from that. Those things went up in price, too. So it's about choice. It's about choices that consumers make with their government subsidized benefits. And when you're in the store, you don't say, wow, the price of strawberries is high. So I'm going to get this bag of chips, which is just this high. It's about making choices based on what the intent of the program is. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. What decisions do I make that are better and healthier for my family? Listen, and I and I get that and I'm all for the healthy movement with the understanding that to eat healthier foods, it's going to cost more. And so if the government. Sir, what am I talking to a wall here? It's going to cost you just as much to buy the junk food as it is the healthier food. So, you know, I don't think you're understanding that you're standing there. You've got an EBT card in front of you and you are faced with a decision. Do I take seven bucks and buy, you know, a bag of chips or do I take the seven bucks and buy some rutabagas that are going to be healthier for my kids? I mean, it's your decision to make. The price of healthy food didn't go up any more than the price of junk food. Are you familiar with caloric intake and why it is satiating to have processed food has become so. So you're arguing and you're trying to make a case that it's OK to buy chips. No, I'm making the case. Well, what are you arguing about then? I don't get it. I mean, you're not you're totally making no sense at all. No, no, no. My thing is this human beings gravitate towards calorie rich food. It's nothing to do with calorie rich foods. Some calories are good for you. You eat peanut butter, for example, a lot of calories, but they're very, very good proteins and good caloric intake in the in the peanut butter. Peanut butter is healthy for you. Yes. Buy peanut butter, even though it's good. I think it's a what, about 190 calories for a little bit of peanut butter. We're talking healthy food versus garbage food, chips, you know, pastries, soda. There's not one single healthy, valuable aspect of soda, nothing at all. So we should not be allowing people to buy soda with their SNAP benefits. Like I said, the argument isn't that people shouldn't buy healthy food. The argument is that healthy food is more expensive. All right. Now, it's not more expensive. It absolutely is not more expensive. And that's that's a myth. All right. 508-996-0500 is the number. Thanks for your call, though. 508-996-0500. Let me grab this one. You're next. Thanks for hanging on. You're next on WBSN. Hey, good afternoon, Barry. This is a good this is a good conversation. But you know what? We're debating the nuances of a socialist program in reality. So I think that it's a blessing for people to get food stamps. But it's not a luxury and it shouldn't be treated as a luxury. You could go there. You know, you're free to go buy whatever you want to. You can go buy lobster with your food stamps, which you can if you want to. It's irresponsible, in my opinion. But you can if you want to. But it's a socialist program and the government needs to control it. Well, that's why it should be. No, I agree. I agree 100 percent with what you just said. It is it is a socialist program anytime the government steps in. But, you know, to some degree, we need that assistance for people. You know, there are people that go, you know, they'd hit some hit a rough patch. Yeah. I mentioned when I was a kid, my father got in a bad accident and rolled down a hill in the car. Right. He was in traction for a long, long time. Boy, I'll tell you, I don't know what we would have done. My mother was a young mother, two small kids. I think I was maybe four. My brother was six or something like that. And so what would she have done back in 1962? It wasn't a supplemental program. Now, this was not a career program. That was a program until my father got out of bed and went back to work. We're probably on it for, I don't know, maybe a year. And then my father was able to go back to work. And that those programs are good. We do that. That's what Americans do. We help each other. Right. And right. But like I said, we're discussing the nuances of socialism instead of just saying it's socialism. We have to deal with it or get off of it. And I think the that it should add motivation to get off of it. All right. Let me let me just and I got to hit a break here. You know what? The gentleman made a very good point when he said, you know, we don't get the education. A lot of people assume that everybody is, you know, has the knowledge. It's not always true. And we just assume, you know, we give you a card with money on it. We say, go spend it and we don't give you the guidelines. So the gentleman was was absolutely right there. But, you know, along with that, we need to educate people that this is a gift from the taxpayers and it has a shelf life. Right. It has a shelf life. And we're not doing that either. You know, the taxpayers are more than happy to help you get over your rough patch and back up on your feet and out there. But at some point you have to say, OK, fine, I'm ready to I'm ready to fly on my own. And we don't do that either. Thank you, my friend. Good call. I appreciate it. Got to get a break in. Let me do that. We're coming right back after this. Stay tuned. Back to Barry Richard on WBSM. Call 508-996-0500. 149 on your Thursday afternoon. 508-996-0500 is our phone number. And let's get back to calls. Appreciate you hanging on. You're up next. Hi, Barry. Hi. Well, I kind of have a problem with the rotisserie chicken, because I'll tell you why. It's actually we talked about this yesterday, how the welfare state is making people lazier than ever. And now people can just buy prepared food. They don't even have to cook. So it's maybe it's taking the responsibility off of them to do a simple task of cooking. Oh, now you can just go get prepared food and you can just, you know, come home, open the box, eat the food and then pack your butt on the couch and watch TV for the rest of the night. I'm kind of against it in a way because I feel that we should go back to the old style of handing out food to people. They should have a center where they go there on a weekly basis. They get, you know, a variety of food. They get a bag, a five pound bag of potatoes, a bunch of bananas, some carrots, a chicken to cook. You know, next week, they get a two pounds of hamburger, some pasta with whatever. But this, I think the EBT card situation and SNAP benefits is totally out of control because people can buy whatever they want. I mean, how many times have you heard about people being in a fish market, buying lobsters with an EBT card? The people working there, they're horrified. People are spending, you know, $40. They can buy lobster if they want. They can buy anything they want because they get the food part. Then they get the cash. They can buy what they can buy, marijuana. They can buy booze, whatever they want. I mean- Well, I think a lot of that has been taken care of. But, you know, I, let me think about that, Kathy. Interesting point. I got to hold you for the break, though. 508-996-0500 is the number. Hey, listen, do you know how much of your retirement income will actually be taxed? Are you doing anything now to reduce future requirement minimum distributions? Is your IRA and 401k structured in the most tax efficient way? Have you reviewed your beneficiary designations recently? Well, USA Wealth Advisors can help with all of that. They can help you with tax efficient retirement income strategies, managing withdrawals from IRAs and retirement accounts, planning for required minimum distributions, structuring retirement accounts for maximum tax efficiency. Just one call to USA Wealth Advisors can start the process of protecting everything that you've built up, and it's not too late, and the consultation is free. Cost you nothing to sit down with Ray Lance and the team and learn how to protect your future. Simply call USA Wealth Advisors. They're located at 352 Fawns Corner Road in Dartmouth. 508-998-8800. I'm sorry, it's 508-998-8500. And please tell them that Barry sent you. Why don't you do that? All right, quick break will come. I was just watching something on TV, and I had to watch this again to make sure that it's true. A pitcher for the Seattle Mariners catching a 107 mile an hour fastball in his jersey. The ball was hit back so hard and so fast at him. It went right between the buttons and right into his jersey. Wow, that's an out. Goodness, can you imagine that? I bet you there's a bruise in there. All right, great discussion, and I want to pick it up on the other side. If you're on the line right there, just hang in there for a couple of minutes. We're going to grab the news. Just before the break, Kathy said she doesn't think there should be any SNAP benefits in the current form that we do it, that people should be issued food instead of cards to go and buy food, and they should actually get.