I could save myself some grief and spell out my bonafides as a Democrat, etc...but I think y'all know who I am and what I do by now, so on with the rant:

I hadto go to Wal Mart today to get an expense check cashed, as there are no BoAs in Alabama, and it's easier to do at Walmart than other banking establishments.

In the line in front of me, is a lady with a goodly amount food, as one would buy for a family for a weekend or so, the sort of brands and amounts that my dear mother would come home with from the Commissary on fridays: Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Red Baron pizza, some Frosted Mini Wheats, etc... The bill, IIRC was inthe neighborhood of $140. The lady appeared to be a teacher, dressed nicely, hair done, make up, reading glasses...and she pulls out her EBT card, which is like Food Stamps, but now with a card. I get my check cashed and saunter by her in the parking lot, whilst she is still loading her haul in her late-90s model Lincoln, with a"Support Education" license plate, and an AEA (Ala. Educ. Assoc) sticker, which further bolsters my belief that she is an educator of some kind.

Now, I know the head of the AEA, and I know how hard they fight for wages, raises and benes for their members. So, my question is this: WHY THE FUCK WAS THIS LADY PAYING FOR HER FOOD WITH GOVERNMENT MONEY?!?

I don't want this to devolve into a discussion of "welfare queens" class, or race. I am just curious what everyone feels about this.

If it had been a less nattily dressed person,buying what I feel are dietary staples, and possibly with children, using WIC, I would never have thought twice, as I think it is the responsibility of society to look out for these people, but this seemed like a case of a lady who makes more money than me, eating nicer food than me, on the government's tip.

OK, your turn.

For the last 2 years when I was in college I got 120 bucks/month in food stamps - I ate like a king.

This person sounds like she may be cheating the system - but who knows her exact situation. I am sure thousands of people cheat the system.

i'm sure the welfare system is abused like hell, and this woman is just 1 of thousands.

i'm surprised she didn't have a handicapped sticker on here car.

why food stamps? why didn't you get a part time job?

I don't know about any of the above, but I say...

I know Cap'n Squirrgle resides in Wisc., and if his firm's clientele is as well largely Wisconsin-based, then I think we should report Nocturne (that's the man from the Jeebus- and America-loving mobile-home vendor site?) to his FEP worker. I mean, obviously, he is not staying active in his W2 programme, or you would think he would have learnt better photo-shop technique in his re-education: computer-aided design class.

Sic the dogs of food-stamp hell on him, yes, yes, chop, chop.

I think every system has its problems, but the wealthy "welfare kings" of corporate America steal far more money from Americans than crooked "welfare queens." It would be foolish for me to say that virtually no one abuses the welfare system, but some people do, and they should be taken off the system if they truly do not need the subsidy.

That said, I think we should expand welfare programs, invest much more money into public education and (universal) health care. Those who need these systems to survive shouldn't be punished for the sins of those who are greedy and selfish enough to abuse welfare.

I'm pretty sure that dependants factor heavily into the calculation of a welfare allowance, so maybe she has several kids, a couple of grandkids and an invalid spouse. It comes down for me to the two basic truths of social policy: 1) supervision of the program should be tighter, but 1) you can't judge an individual's situation without knowing all the facts.

Yeah, I don't know her situation, but, Loogar, there are always going to be people who cheat the system. Does it make me mad sometimes? Yes. But any attempt to try to "regulate" it more so that this wouldn't happen would just hurt the people who truly do need it. If it comes down to a choice between screwing the people who are really in need or letting a few people scam the system, let the scumbags think they are pulling the wool over everyone's eyes. Maybe Karma will fuck their ass.

Steve

Here's hoping she was shopping for someone else. I've never known anyone (to my knowledge) to undermind the welfare system. I've met a number of folks who've stayed on the dole much longer than necessary, mooching taxpayer's dollars. I suppose I should care more, but the hydrocodone & lunch ale won't permit me.

we all had food stamps - basically if you are going to school full time, are supporting yourself, meet the financial requirements, and work a part-time job which I did, you can apply.

Yeah, I'm not sure if there is a seperate card/source for people on WIC and people who on straight food stamps. You're correct in that I don't know everything about this lady, and it is easy to generalize, but it still kinda cheesed me off.

As Bloor said when I was telling him about this "I can't afford Red Baron Pizzas"

You don't really know the whole story.

Maybe the car and clothes are remmanants of past employment and the lady has now fallen on hard times. Just a superficial glance in no way tells the whole story.

And, in my opinion, if our government occasionally gets ripped off by someone cheating welfare, big deal. We get ripped off by military technology companies charging bizarre prices every day and get ripped off by wealthy companies taking corporate welfare every day. It's not like Welfare is the only program that may occasionally waste a buck here and there. Is it a mini tragedy? Sure. Is it any worse than any other large, difficult to manage program? No. Hell, welfare is a realitively small portion of the whole budget anyway. Welfare isn't the reason our government is in such debt.

And, I also get sick and tired of people getting all bent out of shape because the government is spening "my money" on welfare. Yeah, well the government spends a ton of "my money" on shit I don't like either, so there. I'm not a fan of corporate bail outs, over-spending on military, filling our jails with drug offenders, etc...

When you can get the government to stop spending my money in ways I don't like then I'll tell 'em to stop spending your money in ways you don't like. But, in reality, it doesn't work like that. You fork over your taxes and hope the government you elect spends wisely. Sometimes they do, and sometimes they don't, depending on your point of view.

for all the people that cheat the system, i am grateful that it is there for those that need it.

also, i knew a lady that used wic/food stamps....simply put she took care of foster children and the state gave her a certain allowance for those children...

If your going to go with frozen pizza DiGiorno or Freschetta are better anyway.

Steve

I think that we could do a lot for the poor by developing some kind of employee bill of rights, or providing a living wage and universal health care now before things get even worse. The reason I say this is because take home pay is at the lowest percentage of GDP since the late 20s and there has been an ongoing decline in median family income. Maybe we wouldn't need so much welfare if people were actually paid enough to survive.

The top CEOs of giant corporations today are making 415 times the entry wage in their own company. In 1940 it was 12, in 1980 it was 40, and now it is 415. I mean, what the fuck? And to top it off, the rich are getting their taxes lowered even more under the current administration which means even less money for welfare programs. Talk about the majority being screwed.

mystic pizza is pricey, but quite good.

Quit bashing on teachers you friggin'........politics guy!!

I live off of the apples my students bring me.

HAHA, well you should get the head of the LEA to dominat Baton Rouge, like the head of AEA dominates Montgomery. No, I never bash teachers, they are the backbone of what we do.

I just thought this situation was interesting, and commentable. And let's just say that while this is an individual case, I have noticed this more than once at said Wal Mart.

Another interesting thought. What the fuck would Wal Mart et al do if the government actually did away with Welfare? they'd be screwed...well, not screwed, but I bet a siginficant portion of their money comes from these sources,. Kind of interesting anomaly.

I have a bit of a spin-off on this line of thought. It makes me very uncomfortable when I see a young mom using food assistance to buy poison for her kids. At my local H.E.B. here in Austin I see a lot of obese young women buying colas and bologna and white bread and doritos and ice cream for their incipiently diabetic children and I wince at the fact that they are spending their food assistance unwisely, buy buying overly expensive and nutritionally harmful items that aren't good for them or their children.

Now I've seen the converse - young parents buying nothing but items to cook from scratch with, but it seems like there are too many people out there who just don't know anything about nutrition. Are there any parts of food assistance that focus on educating proper nutrition?

Just because someone is on public aid doesn't give the rest of us the right to tell them what they should and shouldn't eat.

and, it's actually much cheaper to eat food that's bad for you than healthy stuff

Only in America are the poor people fat. Its truely amazing to me. To ChuckD's point, I think a lot of it has to do with education, too. Not just nutritional but in general.

If we don't even wanna pay for food stamps...how are we gonna pay for additional educational programs?

This is kind of silly. Increasing the price of entry level, low-skilled workers is going to make corporations hire more of 'em or even keep more of them around? Is there anything you buy more of when its price goes up absent some improvement in quality to justify the price increase?

As far as the differential in wages goes, who's to say its not justified. Look at the differential in baseball salaries for instance. The minimum salary for a single A minor leaguer is $850/month. The average major league salary is $2.6 MM. I'd argue that the difference between Bill Gates and the guy who scrubs Microsoft's toliets is much greater than the difference between a minor leaguer and A-Rod. On top of that, a much larger % of a CEO's compensation is based on company performance.

np: Magnet Magazine Sampler #34

Kill the poor.

true indeed