Welfare spending overall has increased 41%, food stamp enrollment has gone up by 70% since Obama has been in office, 5.4 million people have signed up for Social Security Disability payments. Tack on the massive abuse of EBT cards like this heroin dealer:
Kimball Clark, 45, was locked up Friday on drug-dealing charges — again — when he was overheard using his one phone call to ask the person on the other end of the line to “get my EBT card and go to the ATM and get the money to bail me out, get me outa here tonight,” according to a Boston police report.
And you can see just how much of a welfare nation we have become since Obama has come into office. Now people can use their welfare cards to take out cash and use it for whatever they want. Cigarettes, alcohol, and bail money. And according to this report from Massachusetts cash withdrawals make up 85% of all EBT card transactions:
According to that EBT Commission report, 85% of EBT benefits, or $77 Million in a three month period between October and Dec. 2011, were translated into cash at ATMs.
If it’s that bad in Massachusetts, how bad do you think it is in Minnesota:
Or how about California?
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LWlkXRZ3CA[/youtube]
“Who would want to work in America?”
Chris Christie said it best:
It’s because government’s now telling them, stop dreaming, stop striving, we’ll take care of you. We’re turning into a paternalistic entitlement society. That will not just bankrupt us financially, it will bankrupt us morally,” Christie told Bush, Henry Kissinger and an assortment of Republican governors in a theater at the New York Historical Society.
“When the American people no longer believe that this is a place where only their willingness to work hard and to act with honor and integrity and ingenuity determines their success in life, then we’ll have a bunch of people sitting on a couch waiting for their next government check,” Christie said.
The Democrats love it, they want this because people like that upstanding citizen in the video above will keep voting for them, keep voting for Obama….just as long as that taxpayer money gets loaded onto their card.
See author page
Towards the end of summer last year I was in a grocery store buying a few items for dinner (both wife and I work, so sometimes we forget to take something out of the freezer for dinner the next night). I picked up a cheap bunch of spinach and another type of lettuce for a salad, a cheap bag of small red potatoes and a couple pounds of steaks. The steaks I picked up were the cheaper, non-Angus beef, and were of the chuckeye cut, a cheaper version of ribeyes. I believe the two pounds of steak were priced at around $7.00. I got in line behind someone who also had picked up a couple pounds of steaks, but were angus ribeyes around $15.00. They also had an expensive bag salad kit and a couple packages of the frozen “twice-smashed” potatoes. On top of that, they had stopped by the in-store drink machine and gotten frozen slushie drinks.
Now, none of that was bad, or even mildly interesting to me, as the store I frequent caters to everyone from the poor to the well-off, and you will see people dressed in not much better than rags pushing a cart past someone in a three-piece suit all the time.
What WAS interesting to me, however, was when the person pulled out their Indiana “food stamp” EBT card to pay for it all, including their slushie drinks. At that point, I started thinking about how screwed the system was when a person on “food stamps” could eat better than I could afford to, and I have a decent job making a pretty good wage. As well, I thought why would a person, in their shoes, look for a job anywhere from low-income and even up to what I have, if they end up eating better while the State, meaning people like me, will pay for it.
Since then, my wife got another job working for our city’s housing dept., where she administers a program that pays part, or all, of people’s house rent and utilities, as long as they qualify for it. With “food stamps” and the program my wife administers, a person can go through a large chunk of their life without actually having to work. Combine that with unemployment benefits, and a person doesn’t have to hold a steady job at all in order to live as well, or better than I am. Why? Because people like me are paying for it all, whether through federal taxes, state taxes, or local income taxes, not to mention all of the other fees, charges, levies, and payments made to one government or the other.
The rhetoric on something like “food stamps”, unemployment, or housing assistance, is to enable a person to “get by” until such time as they can find employment. The rhetoric is aimed at people’s emotions and employs “straw-men” fallacies to convince the rubes in the population to agree with them.
I ask you; How is it allowing a person to “get by” when they can eat better than me, not pay for their own housing, and unemployment is used to purchase the big LCD tv’s, new cars, and other things that I forego in order to make ends meet?
I’m sure there are people who take advantage of the system, like in any other venue. But I think it’s instructive to ponder the situation in Florida where conservatives were sure that welfare recipient were taking drugs in mass proportions. So, they legislated that all people receiving any kind of public assistance be drug tested. The result: Their percentage of drug use was 2%, which was half the results of those not on public assistance. As I understand, it cost the State millions of dollars to reimburse people for their drug test charges—which they had to pay initially. The only person who possibly made out on that deal was Rick Scott—whose wife owns a drug testing company.
Excellent post Curt, I was discussing this issue with someone on another site recently and some of his beliefs are indicative of how our culture has been/is being corrupted, I happen to know the young WASP I was dialoging with and overall he is a good kid but his head has been filled with socialist garbage and he doesn’t even realize it. I would like to share a portion of this debate because his statements pertain to this issue and unfortunately his mind set is common in much of our youth, and we must deal with it.
“I believe health care is a right not a privilege and everyone from Obama and Romney down to the folks working part time at McDonalds, or even the unemployed, all deserve the same quality of health care irregardless of their ability to pay.”
and…
“I believe that we have a social obligation to each other that supersedes The Constitution”.
As I said this young man is a bright kid unfortunately he has no knowledge about the difference between positive and negative rights. I believe that we do have a personal obligation to care for our fellow man. But he can’t seem to grasp that when government attempts to replace what should be a personal responsibility and turn it into a “social obligation” then that government must necessarily assume the role of mother and father to it’s citizens. We all know what that means…”Nanny State”.
It is very easy for politicians to justify the spending of another mans money. They spend our money on countless programs designed to alleviate the sufferings of those in need, yet the more government tries to fix the problems the greater they become. Thanks to the “New Deal” and the “Great Society” we as a nation are now at the point where almost 50% of all households receive some form of government assistance. There is no way any thinking individual can justify this as an overall benefit to our society.
Yes we must help those in need but it is an individual obligation not a societal one. There is an old story that explains my position on Government largesse much better than I can, it involves a supposed meeting between Rep. David Crockett and Horatio Bunce, the story may or may not be true, but the truths contained within it are irrefutable, I hope some you will take the time to read it…we MUST reeducate our populace, they MUST understand that it is physically impossible for government to ever be able provide for the needs of everyone. When individuals abrogate their personal responsibilities and attempt to turn individual obligations into societal obligations everyone ends up suffering in the long run.
The worst economic downturn since the Great Depression, remember?
What would have become of millions of Americans, had none of those programs existed?
Maybe we should consider going after the minority of recipients who defraud beneficial social programs, rather than using them as an excuse to condemn the programs themselves.
Excellent post, Curt and great comments, johngalt and poppa-t.
I well remember how GWBush tried to slow the growth of programs like these when he was president.
Perhaps you all do, too.
The liberals would find a ”poster-victim,” to trot out on the pages of newspapers and on TV news shows.
Oh, the horrors!
If the GROWTH of this-or-that program does not INCREASE this victim will be hurt some more!
Really?
Remember that stupid boy who stood like a bump-on-a-log while Obama signed ObamaCare?
His mother’s ”story” was a complete lie!
How many others are, too?
Get rid of 100% of the deadwood out of welfare programs of all stripes and no REAL victims will suffer even as the costs are cut back beyond continuing growth all the way into shrinkage!
Do you all know that Obama ordered all welfare paperpushers to limit the time they spend reviewing whether a person’s application should be OK’ed to only a few minutes?
Like 3 minutes?
Yup.
One group of (well paid) cops, firefighters and teachers along with many, many welfare office workers scammed the system because they knew no one would catch them.
And for a couple of years, they were correct.
It is getting to be where you look at yourself as a fool if you pay taxes at all to the federal government.
Who is John Galt, indeed.
@Greg:
I wouldn’t mind that as a start. But you overlook the bigger problem. These programs keep people chained to the system and drive up the prices for everyone else. Take the daycare assistance. The daycare facilities charge the maximum amount the government will pay. That takes away the free market. There is no need to be competitive. There is also another side to the issue. A person that wants to make their way up in the working world has to be careful. Take a person getting Section 8 assistance. Let’s say the husband or wife get a promotion at work and it appears this may be the first of many. The promotion comes with a $2 an hour raise. That’s around $160 a month. The problem is, this raise puts them over the threshold for Section 8 an they will lose their $300 a month subsidy. The raise is now going to cost this family about $140. Who have you helped?
I will say that I have seen some major crack-downs here in Georgia on the food stamp front. One lady was busted and ordered to repay $40,000 because she lied about her husband living with her. And I have seen several stories like this. I think they should also remove the ATM function from the EBT cards.
If you see people doing stupid crap with their EBT card, pull your phone out, video it, and put it on YouTube. You can go there and type in EBT Card abuse. Not as uncommon as Greg and Libtard1 would have you believe.
The Factor last night:
Since President Obama has been in office, federal welfare spending is up about 41 percent. Food stamps up about 135 percent since 2007; from 30 billion to 72 billion a year; disability payments up 116 percent from a decade ago. More than three million American workers have signed up for disability since President Obama took office.
Since 1970, means-tested entitlements in America have increased — ready — An unbelievable 5,500 percent. Right now an astounding 150 million Americans live in households that receive some kind of government assistance. It’s almost half the population.
Social justice
@Liberal1 (objectivity): The conservatives in Florida were so sure that welfare recipients were taking drugs in mass proportions that they also legislated that public workers also take drug tests. The findings — that only 108 of the 4,086 people on welfare who took a drug test failed. The numbers show that taxpayers spent $118,140 to reimburse people for drug test costs, at an average of $35 per screening. If one has to take a drug test to earn money to pay for social programs, what is the harm in making those that receive public benefits take a drug test also?
Rick Scott co-founded the drug testing company, Solantic. The Palm Beach Post reported Scott divested his interest in Solantic in January, the controlling shares went to a trust in his wife’s name.
When one makes an argument supporting a position, at least get the facts correct.
@Geezer Geek, #8:
Ah, I see: No further financial interest in Solantic; no personal benefit from controversial legislation that costs the taxpayers far more money than it saves, while subjecting citizens to intrusive testing when there’s no individual basis for suspicion of illegal activity. This, from a guy who champions individual liberty, constitutional law, and cutting back on all wasteful spending.
Sometimes the facts are so bizarre that it’s hard to believe someone with a twisted sense of humor hasn’t just made them up.
Ben Franklin, 1766: ‘I am for doing good to the poor, but I differ in opinion of the means. I think the best way of doing good to the poor, is not making them easy in poverty, but leading or driving them out of it. In my youth I travelled much, and I observed in different countries, that the more public provisions were made for the poor, the less they provided for themselves, and of course became poorer. And, on the contrary, the less was done for them, the more they did for themselves, and became richer.’
So yeah, welfare generally should not be so generous.
On the flip side though, I’ve decided that I’m personally not going to get more worked up about welfare abuse than the average Republican gets worked up over the bank bailouts. Which at the moment is pretty much ‘not at all’. I have an even bigger problem with corporate welfare than I do with welfare for the poor.
Liberal1 and Greg think about douchebags. $118,140 to reimburse people for drug test costs is a hell of a lot less than the tax payers would have spent on the 108 druggies in public assistance.
People who say that FLA didn’t save any money leave an important factor out of their equation:
A large number of would-be applicants didn’t follow through so as to even take the test.
They saved the state about $2,680-$3,350 per month EACH!
Plus they didn’t take the $30 test.
What I wonder is….what happens if [that’s a big ‘if’] Barry gets another 4 years and, instead of the statistics [as above]….they go yet higher… ?? And MORE people are on the Government dole??
Where does that get us exactly?
I would like to know where in the Constitution it says the government is to provide charity [ergo a living] via the tax payer(s) to the masses ? Ahem, the Constitution “Limits” Government – anything more is Tyranny and we are
witnessingpaying for this tyranny and it is wrong.Government Poverty is wrong… all it amounts to is Socialism/Communism.
Is this truly what Americans want? Sadly, it sure sounds like it….
Nan G – @#5 – Sadly, I am beginning to feel like your last sentence…. all I can do is pray… for the foolishness of the mindless and the idol…and for the saving of our Country.
@Greg:
Sometimes the facts are so bizarre
And sometimes they are mightly elusive. But hey, what’s a fact to get in the way of a good ol’ proper drive-by media character assassination.
Gov. Rick Scott answered critics who accuse him of a conflict of interest, saying that the state will not do business with Solantic, the urgent care clinic he co-founded in 2001
Solantic CEO Karen Bowling confirmed that her company had received $110,657 from the state in 2010 (before the law) and $20,061 so far in 2011. She said Monday that those payments were for employment-related physicals and for workers compensation care for state employees of the Department of Transportation, the Department of Environmental Protection, the Department of Education and the Division of Vocational Rehabilitation.
@FAITH7:
Maggie Thatcher had it right when she said of socialism, ”Eventually you [socialists] always run out of other people’s money.”
Obama is doing this at an incredible clip.
CBS News points out that the National Debt has now increased more during President Obama’s three years and two months in office than it did during 8 years of the George W. Bush presidency.
The Debt rose $4.899 trillion during the two terms of the Bush presidency. It has now gone up $4.939 trillion since President Obama took office.
We are now, today, at 1091 days without a budget for the United States of America.
It is all the fault of DEMOCRATS.
Obama has put forward budgets that got 0 votes to 97 Senators opposed last year, this year Dem Reid stopped scoring the budget from Obama meaning no Senate vote will happen at all.
But the House sent Obama’s budget up and it got 0 votes for it but over 400 votes against it!
What was BLACK unemployment when Obama took office?
12.6%.
What is BLACK unemployment today?
15.8%.
What is BLACK teenage unemployment today?
42.3%.
How do BLACK households do under Obama?
Before Obama they averaged $13,450/annual income.
Today it is just $2,170.
If a Republican president had presided over so much destruction of BLACKs as Obama has, he would be pilloried in the press as a hate-monger and racist.
Obama gets a pass.
But he must go back to Congress for a Debt Ceiling raise before the election.
We will be totally broke once more before November.
What will the credit rating of the USA be by then?
@Nan G:
Speaking of our credit rating, you may have noticed that is has once again been down graded. It is now just AA…this has barely been reported on by anyone.
The food stamp program can be fixed with a simple executive order. Here’s how. Limit the items on the list to those MichelleObama is pushing for school lunch programs. Or remove all processed food from the list. Let people eat steak, but not ice cream cake. Or go back to the original list of foods approved when the program started. Or require photo I’d each time someone uses their food stamp or EBT card.
Could probably be handled with a stroke of a pen by the Big O. Then we can really see the oceans rise with all the tears from the stakeholders, including fast food restaurants, soda and junk food companies and the food stamp receipants.
Where I live, volunteers provide food and pack backpacks with food for kids to take home over the weekends because they are not being fed sufficiently. I can’t understand how the kids can go hungry with the amount given to each family member for food through food stamps.
@Poppa_T:
Yes.
When the president and his men at the White House and Dems in Congress claimed that ratings agencies were unimportant, the compliant media listened to them and thus, no coverage as our country’s rating goes down.
But the fact remains:
Egan-Jones downgraded the US to AA from AA+ on April 5th.
US debt exceeds 100 percent of GDP for the 1st time since WWII.
REASONS:
“The lack of any tangible progress on addressing the problems and the continued rise in debt to GDP and the continued political gridlock in Washington.”
AFP
@Helene: ‘I can’t understand how the kids can go hungry with the amount given to each family member for food through food stamps.’
Well, if you read the first comment, you can sort of see it. One of the reasons people are poor in the first place is that they don’t manage their money well. Get your food stamp money, buy expensive ice cream and $15 per pound steaks… oh look the money and food ran out a week before the government refilled the card.
@bbartlog:
I’ve talked about corporate welfare before, bbartlog. Corporate welfare is by no means limited to the GOP, as Obama’s “green” boondoggles can attest. All corporate welfare is, is another means by which those in power take from those who have. The difference between corporate welfare and welfare for the poor is who is on the receiving end. Corporate welfare tends to reward those who contributed greatly to a pol’s campaign, or, to industries that the pols have investments in.
As a conservative, I’d like to see an end to corporate welfare altogether. Couple that with the government getting out of the way of business, and competition is fiercer, innovative technologies developed faster, “quality wars” between companies are ignited, and consumers are the beneficiaries as lower prices and higher quality is the result. On top of that, less $$$$ are funneled to companies, meaning taxpayer $$$ can be used for more pressing concerns, such as the debt.
Curious Question of the Day:
What is the rate of Taxation, if any, do a Welfare recipent pays on the welfare payments they recieve?
The less people working, the less Corporate entities in existance, and less invoation in the Economy means less real monies to tax for payment to Welfare takers and an even more serious need to borrow from a Foreign Nation to make bills… Now, if the goose is dead then where would that man get the golden eggs from?
@johngalt#1
The bigger question johngalt is how do we put a stop to this madness….??
The taxpayers are paying for this and we really have no f-ing say in this….it just infuriates me!
I believe MANY people are taking advantage of the Taxpayers money through FRAUDULENT MEANS…
FRAUD FRAUD FRAUD!!!
Like that girl in the video…. What is this bitches deal?? Seems she can ‘work’ the system pretty good….She doesn’t look like she is ‘impoverished’. What is her excuse? Does she have a physical or mental problem that she cannot work (doesn’t look like that to the viewer) She looks pretty healthy to me no limitations?
The reason these people “get away with the b/s” is because of the Rhetoric from the Left…the Left always ‘claims’ conservatives and republicans ‘don’t want to help people’ …
Truth is we don’t feel there is a ‘need’ to help scammers like video girl and the millions like her.
As a conservative, I have no problem with giving someone a hand ‘up’ but I draw the line at a continuous ‘hand out’ especially to those who can help themselves….This video is proof positive [both are] to the scammers and the LAZY millions [yes millions] who are scamming the system like video girl …… And her arrogance is appalling…
There are people with Mental Health problems, debilitating health issues and our Aged who need our help Conservatives and Republicans have no problem helping these people….
….and you Liberals [here at FA Too] have witnessed it with video girl…If there is one, there are millions!! They are like ants attracted to candy on the sidewalk.. and you are an idiot AND a Moron if you believe anything else.. and you are hiding your heads in the sand because YOU created this monster!!
Scammers like video girl and the millions like her STEAL from the Taxpayer and take a large chunk of change from those who really really need our help…
Liberals/Progs and bleeding heart Dems are total morons not to mention so very gullible.
@johngalt:
wow–you are soooo right!! Totally agree w/ u !!
@Liberal1 (objectivity): Which is exactly why we should used a targeted approach to solving this problem. Whenever someone gets arrested for drugs or stealing and they are found to be on public assistance of ANY type, they should be immediately removed from the dole. This would be accomplished in the same manner that DWI offenders have their driver’s license suspended upon arrest. There is little point, and absolutely no justice, in having the government subsidize drug addicts and criminals.
I just left the grocery store where I purchased nothing because I am one of the working poor who have to pay for my food and there was nothing affordable with food inflation caused by EBT activity. Now if I had an EBT card I could have purchased steak, sushi, sub sandwiches, ice cream, candy, red bull and soda. That is what is wrong with the system !!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am in favor of providing food boxes via the public schools to families in need. Very sad when people who do not work or even try to work and do not get married on purpose so they get FREE FOOD, SUBS, CANDY, MEDICAL, CELL PHONES, HOUSING, EDUCATION. Now free CASH at ATM’s so they get free smokes, weed, booze, etc. We cannot afford the luxury items and we work. My child gets nothing free and we work ! If Obama wins I plan to divorce my husband (of course we will still live together) and I will become a welfare receipient because I will quit working. Then I can receive free medical, free food, free fishing licenses, free cell phones, and free housing. Best of all I have everyday off to enjoy. All I have to do is to NOT BE A PRODUCTIVE MEMBER OF SOCIETY and I qualify. SAD, SAD, SAD ! Call your Congressmen and ask them why people who do not produce, pay taxes (their salaries) are able to eat better quality foods than those of us who work !!!!!!!!!!! I do not agree with drug testing these losers. That is just another expense for those of us who pay taxes.
Fundamental question….was the program significantly modified under Obama or created under Obama which allows this to happen?
If not then there’s no use laying it at his feet, when reality is we’ve supported a growing welfare state for decades.
Completely disagree with this activity, it should anger all of the real working people of this nation.
I am writing an argumentative essay discussing the repercussions of this issue. Do any of you have a fact oriented site that will help me? I would also like to thank you all for sharing your experiences. This is a gold mine of “real life examples to support your cause” required for this paper.
@Kim Fobert: I do agree that these programs are not productive and that there is no use SCHEDULING a drug test so that the losers can slide under the radar. Good for you!!
@Kim Fobert: I have to call shenanigans here. This is another story that reeks of fiction. You went to the store and ” purchased nothing because [you are] one of the working poor who have to pay for [your] food”?!? Who does that? Who the heck doesn’t know their financial situation before a trip to the store? Who does that with luxuries, let alone necessities? Has anyone in the U.S. ever thought, “I went to the store but left empty-handed because it everything was too expensive”? Gimme a break.
Same with “johngalt”… I’m supposed to believe that you took the inexpensive version of your items to the register and there just so happened to be a person ahead of you buying the same items as you, but the more expensive versions? *cough* b.s. *cough* These stories seem waaaay to convenient for the points you’re trying to make and are all hearsay as far as my critical mind is concerned.
To another of your points: assisting a green company in securing a place in the marketplace is a little different than aiding existing, decades-old companies in established industries because they’re run by your buddies. Alternative energy is important for our future and cutting edge technology is expensive; if they need a leg up to get established, I’m all for it. Now, Mr. Paul Ryan would disagree, let the market forces dictate and all that. Fine, but what about you supporting tax breaks for PROFITABLE oil and gas companies? So as I see it, helping out “green” companies amounts to leveling the field. They aren’t yet turning a profit, so they have little to no corporate income tax, therefore, no tax loopholes to take advantage of. The O&G companies make plenty of cash, so they DO take advantage of the loopholes. Tax loopholes = government subsidies in my book.
Kim Fobert: ” If Obama wins I plan to divorce my husband (of course we will still live together) and I will become a welfare receipient because I will quit working”
ME: “Assuming this is all Obama’s fault, and really as bad as is being claimed… incorrect on both, but giving you that… I don’t understand your complaining if you plan to take advantage of the programs you’re complaining about.”
Faith7… One person in a video talking about abuse does not equal “millions”. Are we to have “faith” in your numbers, or are there some credible sources for them?
National debt numbers from http://www.presidentialdebt.org (“Home of unbiased data on the national debt!”) show that, going back to 1976, every Republican president has had the debt grow more than 50% during their tenure. The Democratic presidents have not yet had growth higher than 42.3%. So it seems to me that, when you get to the heart of the matter, we’re all okay with a large national debt and government spending… it’s where the money is spent that’s the issue. Generally, Republicans would like some money taken from the middle economic class and distributed among the wealthy, while Democrats would like some money taken from the rich and distributed to the lower economic class. (All the while, so many Republican candidates claim to follow jesus christ, which is horribly comical.) The majority of the Rs appear to have no problem spending tax money on wars, rich people/corporate subsidies, and maintaining the status quo, while the Ds seem to want to spend it on education, helping those who can’t (and in the mix, some who can but don’t) help themselves and progress.
We have ALL received government help in one way or another: my first mortgage was a “compliant” loan guaranteed by the federal government, money I divert to my health savings account (HSA) is not taxed, and I’m sure there are others that I don’t even think about. We all benefit, some more than others, and the middle class less than all. If you want to be pissed about your middle class situation, you can direct your unhappiness at the rich, the poor, or yourself… It’s just so much easier to so f*** the poor.
You need to read the following article: http://www.local10.com/news/Section-8-moves-into-gated-communities/-/1717324/16596440/-/7wq91r/-/index.html
How would you like to be making a lot of money, let’s say about 8 grand a month. You live in a modest three- bedroom home, drive fuel-efficient cars, save and budget, and then you find out that people on Section 8 vouchers can live in mansions! Yes, it’s true. They are now handing out Section 8 Vouchers in gated communities.
I can’t understand why I’m living in a modest three-bedroom home when people on these programs are living in mansions. I hear they can get utility vouchers to cover the electricity bill. They get free cell phones, ebt cards, Medicaid, SSDI, Welfare. Look we make good money, but even we made sure to live debt-free. I can’t understand how those on Section 8 can get those vouchers to live in mansions, yet my home is about half the size. I certainly do not have any trouble purchasing my own food. Both my husband and I are financially independent, but still, my home is not as big as that! Look at the picture of that mansion in the link! Do you have any idea how much property taxes and insurance alone would cost! At least a grand a month! I can tell you I read another article about a women who is living in a section 8 mansion. I believe her rent is about $2,236 and she pays only $177 a month – to live in a mansion. The government pays the difference. My property taxes, however, on a 1,500-square-foot home costs more than the $177 she pays a month to live in a mansion. How is that fair to people who work and are financially independent? It doesn’t seem fair, but I am not going to judge anyone at this point. I’m really glad I’m financially independent. I wouldn’t trade places to live in a Section 8 mansion. Our mortgage is just about paid off (90%) and our cars are paid for, free and clear! I’d still rather be financially independent than dependent on others. You lose your freedom once you become dependent on others. They’ll probably never live in a mansion again or enjoy home ownership, so it’s probably a dream come true for them.
http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-09-13/news/fl-high-hud-rentals-20120907_1_judith-aigen-white-neighbors-neighborhoods
About the woman in the video: Her stage name is Chapter who was raised by a “welfare mom.” She felt as though her mother only had her to receive benefits. She was so upset by the abuses she experienced as a child, she swore she would get a degree and stop using the system. After she got her BA, she said she never went back on government assistance. She did the video “It’s Free, Swipe Yo EBT” to raise awareness about how broken the system has become. I applaud her efforts to raise awareness about becoming dependent on welfare and using parody as the vehicle to spread her message. Don’t judge her. She’s just telling her story of what she came out of. She is against government assistance, and used the video to raise awareness. The video clip above is just describing what abuses she saw in the system when her family was on it. She is, in no way, on government assistance. You can always go to You Tube to watch the video: “It’s Free, Swipe Yo EBT.”
@Liberal1 (objectivity): Oh, rubbish. You’re letting your animus show. I highly doubt the Legislature passed a law so the governor’s wife could benefit from it. Matter of fact, it’s reaction such as this from people such as you that have made conservatives highly suspicious of the liberal effort to impute nobility of motive of those on long-term public assistance. Did it ever occur to you, cynic that you are, to be as cynical of those tested….to figure out that, with all the advance notice they had, they merely put the drugs away for a week to pass the test?
I get SSI and I know some people. With EBT they can work if they can find job but. The EBT they get are for there kids witch when the kids trunk 18 they are off the case the money goes down See you only get.so much and can by food but you have to really watch what.you spend.
Just ran across this site when researching EBT cards. I was told each card is worth about $10,000 t0 $12,000 per year. In the conversation it came up that Somalis use these like there is no tomorrow. When booked into the slammer one had 3 EBT cards all in different names. This is fraud folks. Now what the investigators said? Give the cards back we’re not interested. I worked nearly 48 years of my adult life, not counting when I was a kid, high school and college. When I see or hear this I’d have no compunction about running over these rats with a steam roller, three times.
I blame the white men who have been running this country since day one and continue to run it today. Remember, the president of the United States can’t so much as scratch his head without the permission of all the white men in Congress, the Senate and House of Representatives.
@Dana: Apparently you don’t read much regarding the power of the Presidency. For all the misfortunes of the masses that are self-inflicted they want to blame someone else. Well the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. Isn’t that what Obama has been doing this past 4 years – blame his predessor G.W. Bush. He can’t get it done so it’s someone elses fault. Good luck with your future failures.
As long as Obama, and any other liberal is in office, this country will continue to descend and turn into a socialist state, just like France, Greece, Spain, and any others that are failing. This is Obama’s agenda, and he learned from the likes of Frank Marshall Davis, Saul Alinsky, Bill Ayers, etc, and is bent on socializing everything. And as long as the have-nots are given ‘free’ money and other things, we’ll continue to descend even lower.
I live in CA, am a college-educated, working professional and was recently re-employed after a 2 month lay-off. I ended up taking a job that pays a quarter less than what I was making at my previous company, since I need to pay for my living expenses and I’m barely able to make ends meet. I am also a homeowner and single father of two school-aged children. I have never taken public assistance in my life, (with the exception of unemployment benefits, which were only a couple of times, and only lasted no more than 3 months. Yet, we have countless freeloaders, particularly Mexicans, streaming into this state (and country) who are on, or receive EBT and public assistance.
My ex-wife is a teacher in a public school with 90% Hispanic students in the North San Diego county area, and all are receiving ‘free’ lunches. Many of the parents of these students are illegal aliens, with some even getting deported, only to be back within a matter of days.
I’ve been randomly asking grocery store and Wal-Mart clerks whether a significant number of their customers are using EBT, and they ALL say yes. One grocery store clerk said to me one time; “oh, you’re paying with cash (my ATM debit card)” as if I’m the exception. I asked her what percentages of her customers are using EBT and she said it was about 70%.
After work last night I went to the local Wal-Mart to pick up shampoo and a few other items. The store was chocked full of Mexicans, and while at the check-out counter I observed a Mexican woman and teen-aged daughter checking out, paying with an EBT card. She had food, clothes, and even cosmetics in her cart. These are the same sorts of people who have a late model car or SUV, cell-phones, and large LCD televisions in their homes, yet somehow manage to have the taxpayers foot their bills!
As a hard-working taxpayer, who pays his own way in life, I’m completely fed up and disgusted that freeloading people, let alone illegal aliens, are getting EBT (or any other kind of taxpayer-funded resources) to foot the bills and bring their quality of life up to mine, the one I worked hard to achieve.
It doesn’t take a rocket-scientist to know that our generous welfare system is a major draw for foreign nationals, particularly Mexicans, Central Americans, and even Chinese. (They broke up a birthing-house in San Francisco that was operating to allow Chinese women to come here to give birth so their babies would be citizens.)
My point? Actually I have several; first of all we need to stop the invasion of foreign nationals, all of whom are coming here because they know full-well the taxpayers will foot their bills and support them. Also, we need to re-dress, clarify, or repeal Section 1 of the 14th Amendment that has been wrongly interpreted to automatically grant citizenship to babies born to two illegal aliens. These people are having children here, knowing that the more children (anchor-babies) they have, the more taxpayer-funded assistance they will receive.
It’s easy to have babies, but these illegal immigrants are not doing a good job of raising them. We have a major problem with gangs, crime, graffiti, and filth here in many of our communities. We recently had several gang shootings, with a 16 year old arrested for murdering a 20 year old.
Los Angeles is a cesspool just like Mexico, and the city alone spends $50 million per month on social welfare. Hit-and-run accidents are at epidemic proportions and Los Angeles is at the top of the list (along with NY).
It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to know that illegal aliens aren’t checking their proverbial “baggage” at the border when they sneak in here or over-stay their visa; they bring their disgusting cultural norms in with them, and we can certainly see how well things are going in Mexico, can’t we?
It’s time to; secure the border, deport ALL illegal aliens and over-stayers, stop granting citizenship to a babies born to two illegal aliens, say ‘NO’ to immigration reform (aka amnesty), say ‘NO’ to the Dream Act (aka NIGHTMARE Act to the taxpayers), cut off the ‘free’ money (welfare, EBT, food-stamps, Section 8 housing, etc), and rewarding people for making poor choices. Enough is enough!
Florida – I was just in the pet store and watched a woman buy a $50 bag of dog food with an EBT card! I am disgusted that the American Flag is on this card because the American way should be about working hard and striving to get ahead, now it seems to be all about entitlement and just riding the system to a lot of people. Look at the cell phones these people have, top of the line, look at the purses they are carrying – Coach, watch the vehicles they are getting into – Escalades (these are examples of what I have seen). I am sick of working for these people to get a free ride and this administration is all about entitlement and having people dependent on the government. So disheartening.
It is a sad state of affairs that our tax money is going to people that come from other countries, First L.B.J. messed up n Vietnam and George Bush messed up in Somalia now the tax payers are footing the bill. My ex wife applied or an E.B.T. card and had to show proof of income etc. The county worker said that the Somalis don’t need any kind proof of anything and get it all. Our system is too lienient. All the money that goes towards these people could be used for teachers, fire fighters and law enforcement along with more border security. The politicians that vote for this system should not be re-elected and the system be overhauled.
@johngalt:
While you don’t seem to understand the facts of just what EBT Cards are used for. One, yes partly they are for the SNAP program from the Federal Government to supplement Food for the needy. That part was Food Stamps. The other part is from States themselves, that’s the CASH part, hence being able to go to an ATM and getting money from the card. Usually this is used to pay for your rent. Some states even give an amount for clothing so that the family can live with dignity during the low period in their life. For those that think that African-Americans are the main recipient of EBT. You’re way off base. It’s the White people that receive the most. You must also be a citizen of the US to receive these benefits, in case you don’t believe me. Go down to your local office and try to apply without your SS Card and an ID. With the exception of the guests that were invited to the US over the years, no foreign national can get these benefits. Who are these guests: Vietnamese who were among the last to leave Saigon with the US Troops, the Jews from the old Soviet Union, and others that were granted amnesty because of the chance of death in their homelands, again Jews from Muslim countries…Filipino’s who actually served in the Armed Forces of the USA.
61% of Welfare recipients are white
33% are African Americans
Food Stamps
47.2% White
37.2% African Americans
Medicaid
48.5% White
27.5% African American
My husband came up with a great idea. Everyone receiving foodstamps and cash assistance because they aren’t working should be required to volunteer at a nonprofit group,children’s group, give back to the community in someway. Their hours doing this determine the amount of assistance they get. They ain’t workin…so they have the time!
61% of Welfare recipients are white
Yet African Americans only make up ~ 12% of the U.S. population…
Evidently everyone in the world believes the EBT card is ONLY a “food card”. Maybe it was at one time, but now there are TWO separate balances on the card ~ one is your FOOD distribution amount. The second is your CASH distribution amount. The cash balance is set up to be withdrawn at ATMS, etc, because most people need the cash to pay bills, put the money on a pre-paid cc for bills, etc (as the landlord, phone co, utility co, etc… are NOT set up to accept the EBT card.
Just to say this welfare was being abused way longer then Obama being in office even social security has been abused too my great aunt got social security way before Obama came so please do your research and stop blaming the president for your issues
@johngalt:
behind lady that bought 400 dollars of food with ebt and then walked outside to see her getting in her brand new Lexus and me and my wife both work and every time I breath wrong bank calling me we have 3 kids and cut way back on every thing but the kisser is to see people march the streets to say they don’t get enough I am not sure how they do it if I took that long off work I would be living under a bridge so people don’t forget the saying don’t bite the hand that feeds you almost have half of the country on financial aid now
Yeah I know this article is old but it amuses me when people point out ATM withdrawls on EBT cards. Those that do qualify for cash assistance (people with children or disabled persons who are unemployable) don’t even get much a month anyway and in many cases it’s not even really enough. However, anyone ever try paying your landlord with an EBT card? 😉 lol Doesn’t work that way. You have to withdraw the cash to pay your rent. Can’t always pay a bill with EBT either so you withdraw it accordingly. So there is actually a bona fide reason for the large percentage of cash withdraws.