Social Welfare at its finest

[Maneo]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...201751693.html

[Twiddly]

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow...201751693.html

What is your opinion on this? Just linking a story does not really tell us anything.


I think it is sad in a way, she won 1 million dollars (Before taxes!) and bought a 1 million dollar house and a couple cars? She is going to be flat broke again..

[Xeones]

Welfare is based on income. Regardless, this lifestyle isn't sustainable and that crack head looking chick will be back on the streets.

[Maneo]

My opinion is our social welfare system is broke...

Personally I feel it needs to be totally abolished ... and started up from ground zero all over again.

I believe in a safety net ... because hey lets face it shit happens.. right now the net has become a hammock.

Just where I live I see almost half of my apartment complex doesn't work.. they are either all on unemployment or some other form of siphoning money from the government..

They live equal to or in some cases almost a better life style then I do. I am buying hamburger and milk with my hard earned money and they are buying steak, candy and soda with food stamps. They all have cell phones, Flat Screen TVs, and computers.... granted what I have may be of higher quality but still.

Social Welfare should give you enough to get by ... not indulge otherwise there is no incentive to get off of it.

[Glnger]

you know the saying: "Can't turn a hoe into a house wife" It's not just a saying.

more than likely the people you see with "Flat Screen TVs, and computers" are doing work that is not documented or selling drugs.... the type of people you see on Law&Order.

[Archangel Tyrael]

this thread is a ticking bomb !

(ノ゜o゜)ノ　　　　●～*　　　　　Σ(゜д゜)

[Sunseeker]

And the system did catch her. Okay, it was a bit slow in doing so, but it did catch up with her. All in all, that's how the system works, how fast it works is something that can certainly be worked on.

[Glnger]

check the names of lottery winners over $1,000 to see if they are also receiving state financial benefits.

Seems a bit extreme tho. $1000 dollars won't exactly pull you out of poverty for very long. The lottery is just like state sanctioned gambling. Do you report your successful Vegas trip when you do your taxes? Do you report a $10,000 pawn shop sale?
We need to realize we aren't dealing with a logical person here. Someone who accepts 700k (500k after taxes)instead of whatever amount the incremental payments over a prolonged period would have paid is fundamentally not a logical person, there is a reason some people are poor.

[Sunseeker]

Seems a bit extreme tho. $1000 dollars won't exactly pull you out of poverty for very long. The lottery is just like state sanctioned gambling. Do you report your successful Vegas trip when you do your taxes? Do you report a $10,000 pawn shop sale?
We need to realize we aren't dealing with a logical person here. Someone who accepts 700k (500k after taxes)instead of whatever amount the incremental payments over a prolonged period would have paid is fundamentally not a logical person, there is a reason some people are poor.

That depends on your income. 20k a year isn't much, and you're still paying taxes on it, though less. It also will take 50 years for you to receive a million dollars. However, taking 50-60% of a million and banking a lot of it in a high-interest account is going to generate at least 10-15k a year based on 3% interest. Additionally taking the lump sum allows a poor person to buy other good investments, such as a home, a good car, pay off CC debt. Taking the incremental payment will leave you still paying for these things and their interest every month. Buying a home 100% down will cost you the exact value of the home, while paying it off over 20 years will cost you anywhere from 3-4 times the value of the home.

Honestly the "logical" thing to do is to take the lump sum, buy what you need, pay off your debt, and bank the rest and then sit back and make money.

[Archangel Tyrael]

@smrund said.

[Beruwan]

Farva: It doesn't matter cause I'm going to win ten million dollars.*
Thorny: What are you going to do with ten million dollars, and you can't say buy the Cleveland Cavaliers.*
Farva: I'd buy a ten million dollar car.*
Thorny: That's a good investment but I'd still pull you over.*
Farva: Bull Shit. You couldn't pull me over, and even if you did I'd activate my car's wings and I'd fly away.*
[Farva pulls off ticket from cup and pop spills all over him from the hole behind the ticket]*
Farva: Dammit, you burger punk. You son of a bitch!*

[Deleted]

Why did those newsguys even follow her with hidden cameras and all? Weird.

[Kasierith]

this thread is a ticking bomb !

(ノ゜o゜)ノ　　　　●～*　　　　　Σ(゜д゜)

That is... just brilliant.


But the problem with food stamps is that they're mostly automatic (renew themselves without requiring oversight) so until her taxes are actually filed the government would have no idea that she had made so much money

[Rennadrel]

I must be one of the few people who thinks welfare systems are doing nothing but burdening the tax revenue systems from getting more money into essential services where it's needed like hospitals and education. I don't believe in welfare for anyone except those who are physically incapable of working. If you are both mentally and physically capable of working in some fashion, you should be doing it, not collecting welfare. And if you win the lottery you should be cut off from those services as well. Pay your tax, invest your damn money wisely and get your life in order so you can live at least like a normal person.

[Silhouette of Seraphim]

One the one hand someone with all that cash shouldn't be receiving government money.

On the other hand, she did contribute $300k into taxes and is taking out a comparatively small $200 a month.

[conscript]

Frankly she might as well be on food stamps still. She is going to be right back on them in about six months after she has managed to blow through all that money. I wish she was the only person like this in Michigan, but she isn't. There was a story a year or so ago about a guy that won way, way more money then she did but was still on his Bridge Card.

The bigger issue here is why was she buying lottery tickets while we buy her food? Surely that isn't the first ticket she ever bought.

---------- Post added 2012-03-07 at 09:12 PM ----------

One the one hand someone with all that cash shouldn't be receiving government money.

On the other hand, she did contribute $300k into taxes and is taking out a comparatively small $200 a month.

Anyone that won the lottery would be contributing that. Bill Gates would have paid the same amount out of those winnings had he won that drawing. What she has paid in thanks to a once in a lifetime event should cancel out her drawing off the system.

[The Casualty]

The only way you are going to entirely eliminate people spending SSI, SDA, SSD, FIP, or student pell grants (those are going to be the primary cash based programs for "welfare", you can't buy non-food with EBT) on lottery tickets, cigarettes, or whatever else you don't want them to spend it on would be to have a payee for each and every person monitoring each and every money transfer, which is far beyond realistic.

That said, I think *most* of the folks I work with and see are on the right track with how their money needs to be spent to be able to progress in life and get off being as dependent on state/federal aid if possible or are at least budgeting to maintain housing/nourishment/healthcare if they can't.

[Dacien]

I was going to post this, but it's hard to stand an argument up on a case like this. It's wrong in every kind of way, but there's no way to indicate that this is how all people on social welfare behave, even though I strongly suspect that it is.

[Bakis]

Doubt you suspect that.

[Deleted]

Fact: shit tastes better when it's free.