Mooshelle plans to tell you how to shop with talking carts

[Mr Mannn]

Please understand, this is a gal who NO ONE elected.

Michelle O eyes ‘talking shopping carts’
WASHINGTON, D.C. – First, Michelle Obama seized control of your child’s school lunch and made it “healthy.” Now, the First Lady wants to change the way you buy groceries.

michelle obama shopping 337 x 244A new 80-page report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture explains that federal bureaucrats hope to use a variety of tools to modify the way Americans select food items at the supermarket.

The goal is to steer consumers toward fruits and vegetables – and away from sugar- and fat-laden items. The plan is in line with “Michelle Obama’s stated second term agenda to ‘impact the nature of food in grocery stores,’” reports FreeBeacon.com.

While the feds’ plan deals mostly with the 47 million Americans who participate in the government’s food stamp program, it would indirectly affect all consumers.

According to FreeBeacon.com, the federal busybodies want to provide food-stamp shoppers with “incentives” for making healthy food choices – such as discounts or free movie tickets – and even talking shopping carts that will notify them when they’ve selected enough healthy items.

The high-tech carts – which would cost every grocery store about $30,000 to provide – would be physically divided and color coded to help consumers select approved food items. It would also “have a system installed so that when the shopping cart reaches its healthy ‘threshold’ it would congratulate the customer,” FreeBeacon.com reports.

In case that’s not creepy enough, the feds want grocery store employees to serve as government “ambassadors” who can “redirect” food stampers toward healthy items by explaining the various incentive programs and nutritional information.

Michelle Obama and her minions also envision turning the grocery store into a “classroom” where shoppers can receive cooking tips and advice from dieticians – presumably ones employed by the federal government.

The feds also want stores to use better signage, lighting and product placement so customers can easily find the food their government thinks they should be eating. They also want stores to set aside more shelf space for the government-preferred products.

While the feds could easily ensure healthier purchases for food stamp participants by clamping down on which products are available to them, the government busybodies want consumers to think they’re making these choices all by themselves.

The feds are following “the principle of self-attribution (which) suggests that when an individual perceives they have the ability to freely choose between options, they are more likely to be satisfied with the choice they make,” the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report states.

So even though Michelle Obama will be limiting your choices and “nudging” you in the “proper” direction, she wants you to think you’re doing these things voluntarily.

Some grocery store owners probably won’t want to subject their customers to this “Big Brother” shopping experience, but they may not have a choice.

The FreeBeacon.com article ends with this cryptic line: “The USDA envisions that supermarkets, superstores, small grocers, specialty stores, and farmers markets would adopt changes in the future through an agency program.”

Michell dictates it, the USDA will mandate it. Law by decree.
It says food stamp shoppers but this looks like it will apply to ALL shopping carts.

[JohnnyReb]

No lobster with salt and butter for you.

[thundley4]

According to FreeBeacon.com, the federal busybodies want to provide food-stamp shoppers with “incentives” for making healthy food choices – such as discounts or free movie tickets – and even talking shopping carts that will notify them when they’ve selected enough healthy items.

If the she-beast really wants people on food stamps to make healthy choices, then she should back a plan establishing government stores for people getting government aid. Their food stamps would be usable only in those stores and they would only offer Michelle-Approved foods.

[Mr Mannn]

This has nothing to do with EBT cards. Remember this is an Obama talking.

These carts are for EVERYONE. We all will have a cart lecture us on what to buy. Obamas lie all the time. This is another control on free people.

You will probably have to swipe your card in the cart just to get the wheels to roll. Every purchase you make will go in a govt database. The cart will scan each item before you even get to a cashier.

Buy junk food for a party and you may have a cop visit your home.

[thundley4]

I use cash for almost everything, and unless the bitch wants to pay for my food, I'll buy what I want. 

The union has tried telling us what stores to avoid and which ones to shop at, and I've told them the same thing. 

[DefiantSix]

Please understand, this is a gal who NO ONE elected.

Prove that Moo-chelle is a gal (I TRIPLE DOG DARE you. )

[FlaGator]

She should know,  she's married to a talking cart.

[catsmtrods]

[youtube]http://youtu.be/5rVQGT01Kzg[/youtube]

[SVPete]

Here is the Free beacon article on which the OP article is based. I didn't see Mooch-chelle mentioned, but ...

USDA Suggests Changes to Grocery Stores to ‘Nudge’ Consumers to Eat Healthy
freebeacon.com
BY: Elizabeth Harrington
July 15, 2014 11:43 am

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is suggesting major changes to grocery stores to “nudge” Americans to purchase healthier foods when they shop.

The agency commissioned an “expert panel” to make recommendations on how to guide the more than 47 million Americans on food stamps into spending their benefits on fruits and vegetables.

The group released an 80-page report this month presenting their ideas, which include talking shopping carts and a marketing strategy for grocery chains that would feature better store lighting for healthier items.
...
Initial suggestions from the USDA on how to alter the grocery environment include stores offering “SNAP-Ed cooking classes” and consultations with dieticians.
...
Another idea included a point-based system where food stamp recipients could receive movie tickets in exchange for healthy food purchases. Grocery store staff could also be used as “ambassadors” for the USDA’s agenda.
...
The cart would be color-coded, physically divided, and have a system installed so that when the shopping cart reaches its healthy “threshold” it would congratulate the customer.

“The algorithm would group the purchases to classify them using the MyPlate designations and to provide consumers with a message of support or encouragement (e.g., “You achieved a MyCart healthy shopping basket!”),” the report said.
...
The report estimated that implementing the new carts would cost roughly $30,000 for every store. ... For instance, Safeway, Inc. would need to spend $40.05 million to introduce the carts at its 1,335 stores in the U.S.

Good Lord, the nanny-state themes in this are mind-boggling! For example:

* Bureaucrat elitists think consumers are so stupid that they think Fritos and pork rinds are healthy and nutritious, therefore the government must educate them! With OPM, of course!

* Grocery stores are to have nutritionists and counselors? In what space (i.e. in product shelf space or product storage space?)? Paid for by whose $$?

* Grocery stores must replace all their carts (do you think the government would tolerate one set of carts for EBT Card customers and another set of carts for customers paying for their groceries with $$ they earned?!) with $30K-per-store (a gross under-estimate, since decent-sized and large stores probably have a couple hundred or more carts; do the math ... ($30K) / (200 carts) = $150/cart ... regular wire or molded plastic carts cost about that much, without the weighing and counting sensors and computer the USDA imagines), high-maintenance-cost, monstrosities (putting it nicely, some consumers are morons when it comes to how roughly they treat stores' equipment, and then there's accidental spills, children's droolings and ..., and carts would be left outside, exposed to all manner of weather)? Paid for by the stores, of course?!

* This nanny-statist bureaucratic wet-dream-nightmare reeks of state-coerced OPM!

* And people will still get their Fritos, bean dip, beer and Coca Cola, so what next? Not allowing people to buy what they want to buy?!

Calling this nanny-state elitist scheme hare-brained would be a gross insult to hares!

[DumbAss Tanker]

Grocery stores already operate on a very thin margin, and shelf space is directly proportional to what sells.  This would only happen if either grocery prices go up across the board a lot to cover it (Including the cost of turning a million minimum wage stockers into part-time dietitians, and raising their pay to keep the otherwise-high-turnover workers around once trained), or every store gets a ton of Federal tax subsidies to cover it.  Either way, there'd be a huge bill for it, and I doubt it'd do much to change most people's shopping behavior.

[JohnnyReb]

If this comes to pass.I will return to school to learn computer science or whatever it takes to hack I to Moochelle's grocery cart....just to say, "Gee, your ass is wide....no food for you".