Asda welfare cards to be given to Birmingham's poor

[strandedinaber]

Asda has joined the UK's biggest local authority to provide emergency welfare to some of the country's poorest people

Comments

[kittenmommy]

The Labour authority said the cards - which Asda said were similar to their gift cards - would restrict spending to a list of predetermined goods, which would exclude tobacco, alcohol, phone-related expenditure and fuel.

Because there's no way that people seeking jobs would need fuel or a phone! But they're supposed to get jobs and get off welfare, amirite?

And there's no way that people who are disabled would need phones or fuel either!

Asda, which is owned by US retail giant Walmart

Wal-Mart is evil.

[ellonwye]

Yeah what the fuck about no fuel or phone expenditures? If you have means of travel and communicating with people, aren't those.. kind of important? I wouldn't class those as luxuries of any kind.

[kittenmommy]

No, those are definitely not luxuries. But it's all about punishing the poor, so... yeah.

[pleasure_past]

And no pet food. Do animals suddenly not need to eat any more if their owners are poor? So many things that this is excluding aren't luxury items at all.

[anjak_j]

I read the fuel and phone parts and my thought was: "DaFuq?" These are definitely things that jobseekers or the disabled might require as an essential, not a luxury.

[kittenmommy]

Well, we can't have poor people getting jobs and pulling themselves out of poverty, because OUR TAX DOLLARS.

Oh wait...

[anjak_j]

I've always felt it is less about 'tax dollars' and more about rich people's egos needing there to be "little people"...

[kittenmommy]

That could be it too. I really have no idea what motives these people, except pettiness and greed.