Why Work When You Can Get Lap Dances for Free
I don’t even know where to start. It is days like this where I feel I wasn’t born with nearly enough middle fingers to full express my annoyance. I’m sincerely at least four middle fingers shy.
I just read a couple of articles. The first is from the New York Post. It bugged, bugged, bugged me, but not a “New York Times” kind of bug. After reading almost any article from the “Times” I feel like I just threw up in reverse. This “Post” article just really ticked me off.
Apparently the New York Post, though the Freedom of Information Act received a data base of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) records from January 2011 to July 2012 and found dozens of cases were the Welfare recipients accessed their tax payer funded EBT cards for such lifesaving purchases as “liquor stores, X-rated video shops, hookah parlors and even strip clubs.”
Oh yeah, you read that correctly. People are using their EBT cards in Strip Clubs. Michael Tanner, a senior fellow at the CATO Institute was quoted as saying, “This is morally scandalous.” He continued, “I have nothing against strip clubs, but that’s not what benefits are for. I don’t blame [recipients]. If you are poor, it’s a crummy life and you want to have a drink or see a naked woman. I blame the people who are in charge of this.”
Ya think?
Now as a rule I do not judge other people (unless, of course, they’re stupid, ugly, smell bad, wear shoes with individual toes, listen to crappy music, or drive a smart car), but I sincerely think that unless you are physically or mentally unable to work, and you knowingly and willfully shift the burden of supporting your worthless ass to someone else and spend the taxpayers’ money on things like, oh I dunno, STRIPPERS and stuff, you’re a piece of crap. I don’t want to necessarily quote myself, because it comes across as cocky and arrogant, but several months ago I wrote what can only be described as a brilliant article that touched on welfare abuse and government waste. You can access the brilliant article HERE.
According to the article (the one from the Post), “Welfare recipients receive food stamps and cash assistance under the federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Both benefits are accessed through an EBT card, but only cash assistance — meant for housing, utilities and household necessities — can be accessed at ATMs.”
In a COMPLETELY unrelated article from the “Wall Street Journal” Speaker of the House John Boehner said that at one point when he was talking to the President about the Fiscal Cliff the President said, “We don’t have a spending problem.”
Apparently the President believes the country just doesn’t have enough revenue (read taxes) coming in. It makes me wonder who paid the bills in the Obama household before he became President.
Several months ago a Facebook friend of mine said this “I think the mistake most conservatives make is in thinking that austerity has ever worked once. It never has, the great depression was lengthened by austerity.” It confused me at the time, because it went contrary to what I thought the word “austerity” meant. I did a quick Wikipedia search and it turns out I did know what it means. “In economics, austerity refers to a policy of deficit-cutting by lowering spending via a reduction in the amount of benefits and public services provided. Austerity policies are often used by governments to try to reduce their deficit spending and are sometimes coupled with increases in taxes to demonstrate long-term fiscal solvency to creditors.” My question is in the last several years have we, the United States, ever tried deficit cutting? I’m going to go out on a limb and say NO.
Here is food for thought: in a time where it is clearly acceptable for a news agency to post things like a map of law abiding gun owners imagine the uproar if a news agency did the same thing to welfare recipients? Wouldn’t it be interesting to see the names, amounts and locations of the funds being spent?
I think raising taxes is a mistake. But it happened. Why aren’t the Democrats even trying to come to the table with entitlement reform? Every year the number of Americans who receive government assistance increases. President Obama is the “Food Stamp President.” But we are told we are in the middle of an economic recovery. So why the increase in assistance? Could it be to mask the pain? If everyone has assistance and is able to “get by” wouldn’t they be less inclined to notice pesky things like food prices? I don’t have a problem with a “hand up.” I don’t have a problem with a safety net, I just don’t think it should be a hammock.
LIFEZILLA: If I typed as carelessly as I spoke then ;lksdafjk nh; ‘&8jjfsjkladfjsdf
Great thoughts as usual. Thanks for saying what the rest of us feel.
I think I just threw up a little in my throat. susidising people’s vices a la tax-payer money is pretty gross. That should be modified! However, all those poor people who are legit or are not legit on assistance aren’t the largest portion of the pie (group-o-folks) causing our financial woes. There are much bigger fish that need to be fried. Remember, those gettting assistance aren’t livin like kings watchin the stacks pile up. They take their ebt (albeit tax-payer dollars) and immediately SPEND IT. Tho I’m not a huge fan of this part of the economy, those dollars still benefit businesses because transactions are taking place even if it’s a liquor store or strip club. (The owners of those sin-city-ish establishments still pay taxes and their employees need their wages too.) Yes, Yes, Yes with our tax dollars it doesn’t taste very good to support those who are able but choose lazy. (Some who are educated and ready still can’t find a job…they still need to eat.) But, compare that to all banks that got bailed out (with our tax dollars) and then sat on all that money and then refused to lend it which if done would have quickly stimulated businesses borrowing or home owners up-grading. Instead, high fico responsible people were not getting consumer loans & they were having their current limits squeezed down or shut off and high interest rates added on….. there’s no comparison. Atleast the poor, unemployed &/or lazy slackers receiving assistance are taking their hand-outs and immediately putting back into the economy. The banks? PIGGY BANKS takes on a whole new meaning!!!
Entitlement reform? Yes. Don’t stop funding your roth IRAs & 4O1Ks people. You’re going to need them. The gov’s been robbing Peter to pay Paul for far too long and We Humans are living a whole hellavalot longer to boot. Retirement is going to be mostly up to you in the future. Trimming the fat on ebt? OK. That’s only a small fraction of future spending probs. Raise retirement age for those currently under 55? How can we not? That will help FUTURE deficit bleeding too. We still are far far away up shit creek with the credit balance that we spent oh so long ago and we as a nation are choking on it just paying the interest. When in a hole, YES! STOP DIGGING!! Now bringing an interest bearing balance under control…That means we need more $$$ coming in to pay the bills. Taxes on the rich…? yes. Taxes on everyone else too…? yes. Is that going to solve it now? NO! It’s just another piece of the pie to resolve or financial probs. All these empty foreclosures need home owners so property taxes can be collected again. All these unemployed people… They need jobs so they can start paying taxes again. It’s so many different topics that need attention and it will take time. Nonetheless, I think we Americans will eventually get there again. Not because of Government…NO! rather inspite of them. My rallying cry: Start @ home!! Stay debt free! fully fund any and all of your retirement plans and most of all save, save, save your emergency money! Ok I’m done. Amen.
“But, Danny”…I whine. I love that sentence. The food stamp President…come, now-is that the best you’ve got? This may actually be the one post we almost agree on. Where is the fun in that? Well, almost…I think you are forgetting the bigger problem here. Let’s just take out food stamps completely. Zero. None. Just for argument sake…not even a drop in the bucket. We have spending problems that make food stamps look minute. I am not saying they shouldn’t be reformed and addressed, but all things aside, as a whole they are far from. I am a bit of a fiscal Conservative, if you will…yes, there is such thing. There will always be people who abuse the system, any system, there always has been. The lap dances and strippers are classic examples of a broken system and some loopholes that need attention. It is ridiculous to even argue. The concern is valid, sure…a small fraction at best. So, perhaps, President Obama has earned the food stamp President by a some, but there are so many worse things to be called. I would hardly consider that an insult. Hand out vs. Hand up? Maybe that is where I have a hard time…who decides? Who gets to be the hand out police? Who decides who really needs it and who could and who is denied? I don’t want to be that person. I would rather err on the side of caution and some lap dances than really deny a person truly in need assistance. I wish it were cut and dry. It is a shame certain persons give welfare a bad name. For some, it is truly shameful and humbling. I would never want to make it so hard to get help that they avoid asking…sometimes, there is more dignity and a greater lesson in the asking for help than it is to give it. We often think we are the burdened because we work, toil by the sweat of our brow…perhaps, it is the opposite. Maybe, it is our lot that is the easy one. It is a slippery slope when you start thinking you are doing so much more than Joe down the street. I don’t know that this responsibility falls to the Government. I wish it did not to be honest. I wish we were so perfect. Not everything can be legislated. We cannot force others to be charitable. We cannot mandate kindness. So, ultimately what do we do? You got me on this one. I won’t be the one who shames another. I will not be that judge. I guess that makes me weak. Fine. I have been called worse. I would rather feed ten and know I helped the one than not help the one. There are so many ways we can curb spending, cut the deficit, and reduce waste and/or abuse, but not sure food stamps are the end all be all. This country will always have the hungry and less fortunate. Choice or Circumstance? I can’t answer that. I cannot not know. Should they be doing more for themselves? Should I be doing less? Again, no answer. What I do know is I remember being poor as a child. I recall it so vividly that it still evokes such emotion I can rarely talk about it. My dad always had a job. He worked hard. We weren’t rich. I have memories that I wish upon no one and because I don’t know with personal knowledge of every situation, I refuse to make that choice. Being poor doesn’t always make you stronger, it doesn’t always make you a better person. Poverty often leads to choices that one would never had made in better circumstances. It doesn’t just limit you, it shapes your future in ways you never thought possible. Not everybody is at a strip club on your dime. I promise. ( ; Oh, and as far as the Democrats not bringing entitlement reform to the table…puh-lease! That would depend on how you define entitlement. ( ;