text: By the numbers, a LARGE portion of the people on the program are NOT just trying to make ends meet.  Anyone buying soda and junk food (20% of expenditures) or even cereal or most processed foods (very expensive by weight) is not trying to make ends meet.
  
  Probably at least half the money is being sent on very discretionary items.  The reality is that people are poor because they make poor choices (their parents probably started them on that path), and when given resources they use those new resources poorly as well.