If a person can only make 7$ an hour with 4 kids and no med insurance, that 7$ will cost him more, he will sit at home and do nothing and get all the aid he wants,because he is looking out for his family. What a scr#@%$#@d up system we have, but some people love it...Not included are single mothers with dead beat dads that fall into the previous catagory

I'm sorry that you are in such a bad situation. I know it must eat on your conscience, but you have to do what you think is right for you.
You can always do it anonymously.

Suzy, I would report the fraud but embarrassingly enough, some of the examples I mentioned are done by members of my fiance's family. My fiance is hard working and cannot fathom being without a job, but the family is another case altogether. One of the reasons we have limited contact with them. And much as I disagree with what they do, I'm not going to open myself up to relationship troubles by reporting them.

But from meeting them and other people who live near them in the same apartment complex, I've come to know many people who abuse and use the system to get things. I even know people on disability who do manual labor and other odd jobs "under the table" so they get double income. It's sad and irritating. But the food stamp fraud is common all over. And nothing is more frustrating than seeing a woman with 5 kids who works as a dishwasher getting $800 a month on Lonestar. Don't have kids if you're just going to make everyone else pay for them, stupid. There is such a thing as contraception.

Matt, I know what you mean, but doing nothing is not the right thing to do either. Ha, maybe the best place to take it to is the media. If enough people started to complain, the momentum would grow. Just look at the tea party phenomenom right now. It all started with a small group of reactionaries and look at the attention it has gotten.

Gosh, I feel like food stamps should be limited to healthy food. Not cookies and candy and sodapop. Not frozen dinners and convenience foods. If you are going to stay home and take a handout, the least you can do is get off your (_!_) and cook your family a meal for real.

I'm sure he's a very busy guy who doesn't have time to turn in every deadbeat he runs across.....

Suzy,

Fundamentally, I agree with you. But having been through the process of launching a complaint, I can tell you why people give up. There is an apartment complex in town that owes nearly 100% of its occupancy to federal slaves. Some years ago, there was a worthless piece of trash working there as a maintenance man. While at home on a Sunday evening, he and his wife got into an argument and he slammed his fist into the side of a building, injuring his wrist.

Upon returning to work the following morning, he waited around an hour, then came into the office, claiming he had injured himself on the job. He filed a Workman's Comp claim (I believe the 7th of his illustrious career).

Upon learning of the situation, I was enraged. I contacted the proper authorities. After going through the entire story, and even offering to audio or video tape the guy admitting what he had done, the investigator asked the man's name. When I gave it to him, the line went silent. The investigator then proceeded to tell me he would not pursue things any further. When I pressed him for a reason, the investigator replied it was because of the man's ethnicity.

And guess what? This worthless pile of dung has been on some form of welfare assistance since early childhood. That's the kind of trash that welfare programs produce. I understand that there are those who are doing their best and coming up short, but they are far outnumbered by the worthless.

What is never addressed is that we have a progressively higher percentage of the population living in poverty with each passing year. If these programs had any merit, things would have gotten better by now. Instead, we have increased cell phone, Nike, satellite TV, and game jersey sales.

thatoneguythere,

If you know that fraud is going on, turn them in. It may not help initially, but if everyone started complaining, maybe people would listen. It all has to start with us.

There is a lot of fraud going on with food stamps and welfare, but that doesn't mean the system itself isn't beneficial to the ones that actually need it. The problem is the system needs to be more monitored to weed out the ones that lie and take advantage of it.

I know many people that claim their children's fathers and other people don't live with them in order to qualify. Lying about residency is a big problem and so many do it. Or you get a bunch of people living under one roof yet they all claim to "live" somewhere else, so on paper they can claim they live along with 2 kids when in reality there's another 3 or 4 adults in the household.

I know a woman that lives with 3 of her kids and claims her husband left her, yet he is still around and they receive over $700 a month on food stamps. I can't afford $700 a month in groceries, period.

Some people even make a business out of SELLING their food stamps to people. Since food stamps can't be exchanged for cash, they allow people to give them, say, $50 in cash, then they allow them to use their Lonestar card to purchase $100 of food. The shopper gets $50 more in food than they would have, and the card holder gets $50 cash that they can spend on other things that food stamps don't cover (like beer). It's shameful, but it goes on all the time.

But the blame doesn't lie solely with the people--if there are loopholes to be exploited, people will always take the easy way out. Best thing to do would be to investigate all applicants thoroughly and even do random residency checks among other things.

Suzy,

She deserves to get the SS benefits that her husband earned, pay into the system for.

And if she is qualified medically, and needs medicaid if qualified it will work out. I have seen it. It takes some work but it did work.

I still say they should implement manditory drug testing for anybody on welfare. If you can't pass it, get a job! I can't stand to see people dripping in jewelery and driving a brand new $60000 car while I have to work my butt off for what I have while they sit around watching their stories all day.

..."You seem to want to put a whole lot on the taxpayers back while offering nothing in return."...

Again, you overstep and are quite wrong.

If they didn't make enough to file taxes then she shouldn't have any issues qualifying, but all that is moot if she doesn't qualify medically. Unfortunately that is how it works. We can't pay for everyone to reside in nursing homes that medically don't need to be there, as they are very expensive. You seem to want to put a whole lot on the taxpayers back while offering nothing in return.

monetarily and medically!! My parents didn't keep records going back 7 years. They never made enough to file income tax, after my dad retired. All they owned was their home and property, which was inheritance, and was sold when my dad died. That is the money my mom is living off of now...that and SS. I bet you don't think she deserves SS since she never worked outside the home. We don't know what is going first, her health/mind or the money.

And Vbb, damned, I'm going to lose weeks, maybe years, of sleep worrying about what you think of my credibility. *rolleyes*

So it's not about not qualifying monetarily but medically. You see you have to qualify medically to reside in a nursing home under MCD & MCR. Most people keep all records going back 7 years due to IRS rules of audit. When my grandparents died we found all records going back about 15 yrs. I know my hubby has records going back to his first year of employment. They may want to see & make you justify expenses but 8 times out of 10 as long as you don't own more property than the 1 house & 1 car, you will qualify, once you have spent down to the allowable amount. I work in LTC, I do know something. You seem to think that I live in a cave since you always start things off with..."until you've lived it, you don't know"...I've lived alot & know far more than you want to give me credit for, simply because it does not agree with you.

Again, I don't care what you do with your day. You yourself stated you did not have time to personally start any food drives, etc for the truley needy, so you have 0 credibility with me. You are a typical Liberal wanting others to give & give to what you think is worthy while you do nothing yourself.

They should not allow any junk food, sodas, etc to be purchased with food stamps, also expensive cuts of meat or "gucci" brands should not be allowed, IMO. Drug testing should also be mandatory to qualify.

http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/5...

http://www.heritage.org/research/welf...

When it's a career being on welfare they know their trade. Operating on a cash basis kills the money trail. Pay with money orders, no checks so no bank records, work under the table for cash. I'm broke, I have no money....SEE!!!???

Lone Star card pays for most of food. Pay for the rest and beer with a big wad of cash pulled out.

There are some who need help. But going back to the original food stamp qualifications on food and such will not hurt those.

Welfare to work is being dismantled by this new socialist administration.

ahh Vbb, you have no right to judge me. You do not know my life, or why I am so busy. I do not spend 24 hours a day at home. Go back and look at the times that I do not post for long periods of time. Don't judge what you know nothing about. It makes you look stupid.

VBB, until you have gone through it, you don't know. I'm going through it with my mom right now. My dad died in early 2008, and there are not complete records. I have most things I will need, but not all (last 5 years of all...and I mean all... financial records). I have to hope her money holds out until she is deemed medically "able" to be accepted my Medicare for LTC. She has Alzheimers and we don't know how long she will be able to be out of a controlled Alzheimers home. It's a crap-shoot.
Is she were to have to go into LTC tomorrow, they would go back to Feb. 2006, and count all loans they made to granchildren when they were healthy, all gifts, christmas gifts, grduation gifts, birthday gifts, money they gave to churches, etc....all uncompensated money transfers. Not to mention the old vehicles they gave away. I don't have those records. 3-5 years is a long time.

Suzy, you have lost any & all credibility when it comes to paying for the less fortunate....you aren't even willing to contribute a minute of your own time so you cannot possibly expact the rest of us to donate any more of our hard earned $$. Honestly you give NOTHING to the less fortunate as you do not work, so therefore the governemnt isn't taking anything from you PERSONALLY & now we all know you cannot take away any time from your housework which also doesn't serve a greater good. You are very selfish.

Sorry...MattOcker...I'm not typing well today....must be the 80+ hours I worked outside my home last week.

If my house was messy, I'd have more time.

MaooOcker is correct in 50 cents of every dollar going towards administration costs. That's a whole lot of money being directed away from the needy. Then there are the many who sell their lonestar cards to fund their habits.

Between household work.....wow...you can't spare a minute to set up a website that would fund the huddled masses? How messy can your house be? Aren't your kids grown?

You can have a home & 1 car......it must ot be that big of a deal as most nursing homes are comprised of mostly MCD patients & that is in every town & on all sides.

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?...

I post here between household work. I'm really not here all that much.

It's not that difficult to qualify for LTC. YOu just can't own much or have more than $2000 in assets. And, they go back 5 years to see how you spent your money, so much of what you did 5 years prior works against you. how many of us know 5 years in advance what is gonna happen?

The point should also be made that at least 50 cents of every dollar is lost on its way to its destination when the government is involved. The bureaocracy and administration costs eat up the lion's share of the funds. This doesn't even account for the waste and fraud, which we all know is prevalent in an entitlement program.

BTW Suzy, you seem to have plenty of time to lecture the rest of us about how we should support the poor & needy, seems you could find plenty of time to do what exresident suggested.

I do know what it takes to qualify for MCD in a LTC setting, it's not all that difficult.

Suzy, Clinton reformed Welfare, made it so as soon as one got a job, they lost their food stamps & childcare, pretty much pointless & it is still in place. I say they should not cut everything off so soon but taper it down so the person has the ability to make a budget & save.

The people living under bridges don't get any government assistance as they don't have an address. They are kept going by sheer will, determination & community support & donations. If the government didn't garnish wages I'm sure many would step up & donate more than they already do. At least whe one personally donates, they have some control over who it goes to unlike what the government does with our money. Sounds like you rely on the government instead of donating on your own also. Typical Lib...talk is cheap Suzy....put up or shut up.

I don't know what you are talking about with Clinton and Bush.

Well, you've made my case better than I could, so now just might be the time to call it a day.

Adieu, Victoria!

ex,
I don't need to learn that. I don't have time for it and would never use it, so why bother?

I agree Matt, There are those who cannot do for themselves, and then there are those who won't do for themselves. You cannot hurt the first group by trying to get at the second group.
Didn't Clinton (or was it Clinton?) pass something that said that people had to work for their checks. I think they stopped making people do that during the Bush years.

Suzy,

If you're not willing to learn a little HTML/CSS for "the greater good," why should others be required to sacrifice the fruits of their labor for the very same cause?

Gov. Good-hair - hire 650 food stamp workers to help on the load of applicants. Tx. senate approves. There is a need.

http://www.woai.com/news/local/story/...

sorry, I'm basically computer illiterate.

Suzy,

I'll tell you what we can do for the people that need help. First and foremost, we can stop making it so easy for them not to help themselves. There needs to be an incentive for them to do better. Allowing people to continue doing nothing has not made the situation better, and we have been doing that for fifty years.

Sandwichh,

We might argue fiercely at times, but I consider you a "fellow traveler" in no uncertain terms. Civil debate works to the benefit of all involved.

Have a good one.

Suzy,

Need surrounds us.

How's that website coming along?

welfare programs are a drop in the bucket compared to corporate / subsidies welfare.

let's cut back on that first before taking food out of kid's mouth.

"That said, let's get rid of the big welfare programs like farm, energy and foreign defense subsidies first!"

Looking for an argument from me you will wait a long time. No problem with those suggestions. Tired of seeing $50,000 Suburbans with farm plates on them.

exresident,
Have you ever been in contact with someone who is truly needy? I mean needy to the point of, without the help they get, they would literally be fighting (if they could still fight) others over trashcan treasures, while living under a bridge? It really doesn't sound like it. Maybe you should visit some of the places that cater to these people so you understand what real and honest need is.

The thing is, if people are crying about a little money being taken out of their checks, they danged sure are not going to donate locally. I mean, greed is greed. If they don't want to give it up in one place, they wouldn't want to give it up...period.
Can the County and State governments deal with this? The funny part is, these same people that are whining now about having to pay a little for the aid to others, would sure be pist off if it wasn't there for them if they ever needed it. Do any of us know what our future holds? What you think you have, or planned, may become a figment of your imagination one day, when other greedy people take all of what you have saved all of your life. You cannot say that it would never happen to you. You could become paralyzed tomorrow, need a LTC facility, and find out how fast what you have can go bye-bye. Do you know the rules for LTC and Medicaid? Do you have a family that would care for you? Would you want them to give up their hopes and dreams to wipe your, uh, backside for years? Would you want them to wipe out their life-savings for you...taking away from their own children?
Aid programs are there for a reason. They are for those who are truly needy. The programs just need to be regulated more. There is a lot of fraud and so many shouldn't be in the programs. That's where you start. Clean it up, don't do away with it.

Suzy, I recommend that you make donations to the hope chest, area food banks and your local church, temple or mosque's "pantry." The salvation army is pretty good too, imo.

Also, you can do like many folks in Austin do, and that is prepare food at home (easy stuff like bean and cheese tacos), or gather scraps from area restaurants and distribute it yourself (or better yet, pay someone in need to distribute it for you). Alternatively, you could purchase H-E-B gift cards and hand them out to anyone you see scraping for change.

Even better, start a facebook account, build a website and start a community charity circle to help do all of this for you.

In short, I advocate individual actions motivated by selflessness and a desire to leave a better world than you found. I do not support the extortion of income from one (often at gunpoint) to give to another, this includes income, property and "excise" taxes.

In the meanwhile time is wasting and "more of the same" just won't cut it.

exresident,
what do you suggest we do with the millions of people that do need help? And there are such people.

I do agree, however, that aid programs have gone above and beyond the truly needy.

I could not agree more. I believe in freedom, but I think your "liberties of purchase" should be curtailed when you are accepting the assistance of others. I don't think welfare recipients should be allowed to have pets. If you can't afford to feed yourself or your family, what are you doing with a pet?

It always gets me hot under the collar when I am at the grocery store with my basket full of generic-brand items, spaghetti, chicken, and fajitas, and I find myself behind someone with seafood, name-brand chips, select cuts of meat, and sodas, then I watch them pay by swiping their Lone Star Card! I don't blame them, though. I blame the system, as well as the voters that empower the politicians who implement these thieving programs.

That said, let's get rid of the big welfare programs like farm, energy and foreign defense subsidies first!

I don't agree with the food stamp program, but if you believe that saddling grocers w/ the expense of separating the sugar containing products (or whatever arbitrary rules you want to put in place) from the non will actually save you or anyone else money, well, lol.

In my opinion, we should end all mandatory participation (through tax collection) in the socialist schemes concocted and implemented by the district of criminals. This includes the SSI and Medicare ponzi schemes__Read That, "frauds"__that should be among the very first to go.

60% fraud in these welfare programs these days.

Food stamps need to go back to when first started. No sugar cerals, main vegetables, milk, no soda's, no cookies, main stays. Things to make the people healthy in their time of need. Now we have many 250 pound food stamp people with new tatoos. How can you be in need of food that big? And the kids too?

Go back to when it started, the main staples. Then they wouldn't need the free medical help so much also. Double savings.

Check the type of cars they show up in. Visit the house. Police it.