People Scamming the State

[Sugar Magnolia]

Call me a communist....

...But I think there should be more government assistance to the poor. Yep. Some people scam, it happens, but that doesn't mean the 98% of the people that truly need it don't deserve it. Let's turn the tables for a moment. Where's the outrage over wealthy doctors scamming medicare? Where's the outrage over corporations that ship jobs overseas and scam the government out of paying taxes on their record-breaking profits? Where's the outrage over the real estate market collapse when big banks scammed people out of their homes with ILLEGAL foreclosures? Where the outrage over BP who scammed the Gulf Coast out of promised payments for their losses? And last but not least, where's the outrage over Wall Street execs who collapsed our entire economy and are "too big to jail" when petty shoplifters of food products rot in jail? Guess I'm just a bleeding heart, but I feel sorry for the poor, the unemployed, the uninsured, the hungry and the homeless. Some people scam. But not all. I'm willing to wager there are more people who NEED assistance and are too embarassed/humiliated to accept it than there are "scammers". Its the Holidays. Donate to a charity, please.

[Heidi]

Sugar-I won't call you a communist. I tend to think like you. In our wealthy, no one should go without food, medical care, and shelter.

There are rich people who are dishonest, there are poor people who are dishonest. The honest people pay for both!

It would be nice if we could come up with some sort of fool proof solution. If people who legitamately needed help could get some help. It would be nice if the sytem weren't set up so that you get ALL the help if you make, lets say $500 per month, but NONE if you make $501.

In our state, if you are :"poor enough" you can get free lunch, food stamps, badgercare, chilcare subsidy, free after school programs for your kids, scholarships to pre-college programs and enrichment programs, WIC, toys for tots, and whole bunch more. If you make $1 too much, you get nothing, nada, zip. So, a lot of people who qualify for stuff DONT WANT to make a little more money, because then they qualify for nothing. They do just enough to stay on the system, because if they get off the system, they can't survive. If an extra $10 a week costs you health insurance, and then you can't take your children to the doctor, well....