Why do kids get free lunch but walk around with Iphones?

I see so many people walk around with Iphones and they tell me they are on free lunch. What? If you can't afford lunch, why do you have an iphone? I even asked one of them that. They said because it's easy to get it, just tell the school one of your parents don't work. Wtf? Is the government going to crack down on this?

Added (1). People just don't pull Iphones out of their but. 300 bucks for the phones plus damn near 100 bucks a month after.

Why do adults who are perfectly capable of working get welfare, food stamp, and section 8, yet they have a 55" tv, video games, and iphones?

Well I live in Oklahoma and a lot of students who are tribal citizens of various tribes get free lunch provided by the tribe no matter their income. These dollars don't come from the federal government - they are earned by the tribe through various enterprises (ex: casinos).

There are also some schools that tighten their belts in order to provide every student free lunch, or to provide free lunch to more students. Do you know how the school lunch program works? Each school is given a certain amount per student who qualifies - and yes they do have to provide proof of income - then the amount is given to the school in a lump sum. The school can allocate those funds however they want, as long as each student who filled out the papers to qualify is give free lunch. That means they can tighten their cafeteria budget or raise funds or whatever they want to do in order to provide more meals for more students.

Maybe you should bother to learn how things work before complaining?

It is because the parents have the business of how to play the system down to a fine art form. They are "too poor" to pay for school lunches, but they have found some sort of welfare loophole that will pay for their kids iPhone, so that the poor dear does not have to feel "left out".

When I was sixteen I got my first job and bought my first cellphone and I paid for it while in high school. This not the case for many, they either have parents who spoil them or some do illegal activities to get those money or they either got it from their scholarships or get it for free.

I know exactly why you are talking about and it drives me crazy. All of my best friends have iPhones, lots of clothes, take dance classes (which are Really expensive) and other things they can live without. 85% of my school has free or reduced lunches and 90% of my school has smart phones. It's ridiculous and I know exactly what you mean. They just lie about their income and say they are "low on money" as all the people in my school say. Seriously I have 5 other brothers and sisters and none of us have smart phones, but we pay full price of lunch so that the people in my school who really do need free/reduced lunches can use it. Some people are just that low I guess…

Its not a problem, the government is just mining LESS money from children, what's bad about that?

My kids get free lunch… Because they are still foster kids. My income doesn't count they are considered a household of one. 2 of them also have iphones… They were $.01 from sprint & $22 a month. Hardly a giant expense for tweens that work odd jobs raking, mowing ect.

All school lunches should be free like they are in almost every civilized country in the western world. So, I see no problem

Has anyone ever stopped to think about what some peoples' lives were like BEFORE they started collecting all sort of benefits? Perhaps they had money and good jobs and like most people didn't think about saving for a rainy day and thought that the good times would last forever. When the last recession hit, it hurt people who had previously thought they were immune from lay-offs. There were suddenly no longer the high paying jobs that they once had and former white collar workers were fighting for jobs at Wal Mart and McDonalds against waves of teens who also needed work. Some people don't have transferable skills and have to rely on support until they can figure things out.

Yes, there are people who take advantage of the system and a lot of them are rich people who know how to manipulate the tax system so they pay almost nothing and corporations that don't pay taxes, yet, we don't call them "welfare queens," which they basically are - just at the other end of the spectrum.

Don't judge until you know the circumstances.