61 $250,000 Fraud

On one of my favorite Family Guy episodes, Peter loses his job, applies for welfare and starts getting checks. They happen to be $250,000 a week and he lives it up, buying anything that suits his whim, until he gets caught. I know it's not exactly the same premise, but in the real world, folks seem to get away with welfare fraud on quite a regular basis.

I'll give you my current, favorite example. I know I am lumping welfare and disability together, but you'll hopefully get my point. There is a guy that lives across town from me. We'll call him "Bob". Bob got on disability a few years ago. He married a woman that is also on some sort of assistance. Bob is only about 6 or 7 years older than I am and as far as I know, he isnt in that bad of a shape. Bob bought a house, remodeled it, built a huge retainment wall(himself-I watched him do it off and on as I drove to town on various errands). He then proceeded to build a garage(again, himself) and now he has a place to keep his 2 almost new vehicles. WOW. The truck is about 2 or 3 years old and there is an SUV there as well. OK, I have nothing against someone that is on assistance having something nice, the point is he did the work HIMSELF. I saw it with my own two eyes. Does this not bother you? It sure did me. I do resent that he was able to purchase all the stuff and have enough for two really nice vehicles. Actually he bought the vehicles before he remodeled, but what's the diff?

I remember when we were growing up and some of the families that were on welfare always went out and bought new clothes for their kids with vouchers. Ok, I can see that, but it still frustrated Mom and Dad when they had to skrimp and scratch to buy school clothes for me and my sister. A bit on the current side- I know a couple that are not married, the woman's husband still lives with them and a couple years ago, they still had 2 kids at home, 1 now. Back then, they claimed the girl had some disability or such because of tubes in her ears. The mother got welfare as she was"separated", hubby, of course, having his own p.o. box. They got vouchers for fuel(double, because boyfriend had a child with her and claimed he needed assistance as a single parent--did I mention he had HIS own p.o. box?) They all got food stamps and whatever other benefits they could. I know this first hand because I heard them bragging about it.

If I had turned in any of these people or any of the others around the county that we know are getting away with murder, do you suppose anything would get done? I am not discussing folks that legitimately cannot work or just cant make ends meet and need help, these people I wholeheartedly support. Where is the justice that a single, working mother with a kid or two and no family to help her monetarily cannot get help because she either makes"too much" or "has too new a car"? I know that first hand as well. "Your car is too new, we cant help it you took out the loan." or "You shouldnt have made the bills before your divorce". What? Are you kidding me? A person should be penalized because before their messy divorce they had the "normal" 3-4 bedroom house, 2 cars a cat/dog and 2.3 children? Now that her(or his) kid(s) are being supported in a single income home with (usually) a small pittance from the ex, they should not be able to have some help with groceries and heat at the very least? Our system is flawed, for sure.

I have personally witnessed more than a few of the local "reliefers" as I like to call them, working at various labors to make extra cash. One local yahoo loves to cut firewood and sit around waiting for someone to buy it. Again, its PHYSICAL LABOR people! If you're on disability, you shouldnt be ABLE to work, right?

There is yet another side to the coin: west virginia lawn ornaments. You know what I'm talking about. I have a project truck in front of my half-finished house that I'm building myself as I can. I was told that I had to clean up my "mess" or I would be fined. True story. I drove past a place the other day that caught on fire a couple weeks ago. The tribe that lives there are all on assistance. They literally have a network of shacks and trailers and campers strung together with (not exaggerating) dozens and dozens of old tires around not to mention the actual garbage. No kidding, bags of trash, piles of rubbish and old junk, rusting in peace. Our "litter control officer" that was recently elected should have went to this place first, but nooooo, they continue to live this way, unimpeded. You know the type, they are filthy to look at, they make no attempt to help themselves and they probably dont even realize that there IS another way. Oh yeah, when part of the dump, I mean network of shacks, burnt, they literally shoved most of it aside and parked another, old, ramshackle trailer right on top of it. NO JOKE. Saw it with my own eyes. Where in the HELL is the person who is responsible for checking on folks on assistance of the various kinds? Oh, thats right, there is no such critter here.

You want stimulus? Stimulate yourself to find a government agency with people that are not just there collecting a paycheck. Stimulate yourself to figure out where our taxes go, other than the middle east, big business and bernie madoff. I have given you a smattering of the problems, trust me, they are legion. I preach about apathy, well, our apathy is letting this go on. Loud voices in the right ear would be a start. Long and loud. Long enough to make someone realize that the over-taxed middle and upper-lower are fed up and loud enough to make them realize you're serious.

I dont know where to start, honestly. Would it do any good to report the actions here? Probably not, they would just look at you like you were the crazy one. Know what I mean? If we gripe, WE are the ones that have the problem. They may make a note and say, "we'll have that checked out" but I think they are too lazy and they frankly dont care. What to do? Establish a National Socialist Party? Too radical. Extermination by any means necessary? Then I have to dig holes. Maybe there is a higher level of beuracracy that would actually care enough about our tax money to check out some of this crap. Any suggestions?

Dad always did tell me that I shouldnt have started working in the first place. Should have just applied for welfare when I hit 18. Or quit school and applied at 16 citing a reduced level of intelligence...hmm, I say they're smarter than we are. WE pay for them to live and WE do all the work. WE pay taxes and practically carry the stuff to them. I bet they would have fits if there were a person in charge of assigning work for them based on their evaluation aided by a full medical screening. Would that sound fair to you? Does to me. There should also be quarterly evaluations for the ones that are in good health to see if they have attempted to find employment and help themselves a little bit. If you leave them alone, they will only ride the system. I have a thousand suggestions, but then, some of you probably have some good ones too. Let me have 'em.

I wonder if I GAINED weight, could I get on some kind of assistance? Homer Simpson got disability, but he had to wear a mumu. Nah, I couldnt do that. My legs are NOT meant for a dress. Trust me, I tried once on a bender. Alcohol does wonders for your inhibitions, does it not? Besides, there are other folks out there waiting for their check to go buy beer and cigarrettes, lottery tickets and sell their food stamps for 50 cents on the dollar. Still want to keep the system we have? Or would you like to start over? Find some folks to get together, draw up some somewhat simpler laws that are comprehensive and organize some other people to enforce them. We could put them in 3 cornered hats, stockings, tails and they could convene in Philadelphia to plan this new government...wait, didnt that happen already? Wow, I wonder how it turned out?