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Show Report prepared on food stamp users Utah Department of Social Services reported this week the results of two recent studies by the United States Department of Agriculture concerning con-cerning the buying habits of families who use food stamps. The report indicates that about two-; thirds of the families using food stamps not only don't own an expensive ex-pensive car; they don't own a car at all. Only 29 percent of food stamp families own their homes, in comparison com-parison with more than 67 percent of non-stamp families. And those who do own homes, own homes worth only half as much as the homes owned by non-stamp families. Food stamp families also compare poorly with other families in savings, the report indicates. Sixty percent have no savings at all; the rest, of course, have less than $1500. Only 9 percent of other families have no savings, according' to the assess study, and two-thirds of the 91 percent ' who have savings have more than $1500 in the bank. Data came form the U.S. Census Bureau's Survey of Income and Education, the Bureau of Labor Statistics' Consumer Expenditure Survey, and the FNS Food Stamp Household Charactgeristic Study. Another study, by Donald West of Washington State University, showed that those who use food stamps spend about half as much as other customers on snack foods; they buy cheaper cuts of meat than cash customers and spend more on pork and poultry proportionately. |