There's a reason they need help.

[barkley]

I'm all for some sort of welfare reform. Someone suggested it would be great to have people check in on these families and see if they actually do need it. The thing is, those that are so against welfare, are also against paying for state/city workers to do this type of thing.

they used to "back in the day"-part of a worker's duties included doing regular home visits to check on child welfare and eligibility issues, but budgetary cuts and client advocacy groups largley put an end to it (said it invaded a person's privacy). now about the only time it happens is if a case is pulled up for a q.c. review-that include reverifying all aspects of eligibility and doing a home visit (but i understand that componant is pretty much being fazed out too).

i think one of the best overhauls to the system would be a get tough stance on prosecuting welfare fraud-as it stands it is the rare exception that it is ever prosecuted and even then jail time is pretty much unheard of-all that happens is the amount they were "overpaid" becomes an interest free/penalty free loan that is repaid back through-THIER continuing public assistance allotment (and there is a maximum amount that can be re-couped each month either 5 or 10% of the allotment ). if someone gets off the rolls some counties or states have active collection departments (the one i worked for did-man did people get ticked when they found out it was reported to the major credit reporting agencies as a bad-debt that was non dischargeable through bankruptcy ) but thats the exception not the rule. so there are no negative consequences for commiting fraud-at best you might lose your portion of the food stamps for 3-6 months (not the kids portion) but it takes 3 times caught and proven frauding to be labled an "intentional program violator" so the odds are stacked in the frauder's favor.

 

[monsterkitty]

I see the same thing with my students. Close to 75% of my kids are on the free lunch program. Most of my kids have expensive cell phones, IPods, PSPs and other expensive toys at home.
Your post reminded me of a book by Ruby Payne. I can't remember the name of the book but it was about wealth and poverty. There was a lot that made sense to me after reading it but it still baffles me when a student will get in serious trouble at school and then come back with the most expensive brand new tennis shoes.

I was just going to bring up Ruby Payne!
The book is called "A Framework for Understanding Poverty". She has a few other books on the subject as well. Anyone who works with poverty level families might want to consider reading the book. While I don't agree with everything she writes, most of it does make sense.

It drives me crazy when kids wear a new NFL jersey with a players name on it, have a PSP, a cell phone, and an iPod, but yet can't afford a pencil and a notebook. Or how they are on free and reduced lunch, but yet bring a huge pop and bag of chips to school everyday to eat instead of the veggies in the school lunch.

 

[LindsayDunn228]

Maybe but they would have been better off getting food cards from the grocery store as gifts instead of bling.

 

[va32h]

I was getting that information from va32h's post (#52).

Oops! Sorry if I was unclear.

We get our car/property from insurance from USAA - which is only eligible to those with a connection to the military, and their rates are better than any other company I have researched.

Base pay is taxable, but allotments (such as a housing allowance, if you live off-post) are not. All income earned while the service member is stationed overseas is not taxable. When my husband was deployed we received additional allotments - Hazardous Duty Pay, and Separation pay for me. When he was a recruiter, he also received an additional allotment for that.

Because my husband's official residence is Illinois, which does not charge state income tax to military members, we have never had to pay state income tax, regardless of where we live (although that is moot now, because we live in Texas, which has no state income tax anyway).

The PX is more like a department store; goods there are not really discounted, but we don't have to pay sales tax. Nor do we pay sales tax on gas purchased on base. The commissary is where military members can buy their groceries, and these usually are at quite good discounts, practically at cost, and again no tax, although there is a 4-5% surcharge on commissary purchases, which helps with operating expenses.

And there are lots of other little perks - I already mentioned Shades of Green being $103 per night, year round. Higher ranking members pay more, lower ranks pay less. We can also rent camping equipment and even RVs from the Morale, Welfare and Recreation office. A Class C RV rents for $75 per night!

Most bases have something called billetting, which is an on-base motel, basically. We haven't stayed in billetting for awhile, but rates were $35-$50 per night, and this was for a quite large room, with fridge and microwave.

All the Busch Gardens properties offer free admission for active duty military and up to three family members. Three years ago, Disney had a promotion that gave military 40% off any room, free length of stay passes for the soldier and additional length of stay passes for family members for $99. (yes, we went that year!)

Another thing to consider is the predictability and reliability of your employment, when you are in the military. You aren't going to get laid off, or have yor pay reduced. No matter how insolvent the gov't is, you will get paid (they always pay the people with the guns first, says my husband).Your raises come at a regular, predictable time.

My only complaint regarding pay, and I'm sure Buck Naked will back me up on this, is that it is frustrating when the soldier has to travel, and pay for his own hotel or rental car, and wait ages to get reimbursed. We have had to wait over 60 days to get reimbursed for travel expenses, and it was not easy juggling that. There was also a very bad period when the Defense Finance Accounting Service decided that my husband had retired instead of re-enlisted, and didn't pay him at all for two months! But those did get straightened out, eventually.

 

[barbeml]

My all time shock was a girl who was on welfare and wanted to have another kid.

She really wanted 2 more kids but didn't want to be pregnant twice so she asked and RECEIVED a prescription for fertility drugs hoping to become pregnant with twins!!!!!!!!

I really wanted to report the doctor who gave her the prescription but I didn't know all the necessary facts.

I will never forget a story I read in Newsweek back when Christy Whitman was NJ's Governor: Women on welfare in NJ could get FREE fertility treatments EVEN THOUGH THEY ALREADY HAD ONE OR MORE KIDS. That has got to be the ultimate in bad public policy.

I don't know who was Governor when this policy came to be or if it is still in force, but that is just INSANE.

The same story documented an illegal immigrant who came here and got on welfare and has now added 52 people to the welfare system: her children and their children. A proud family tradition of living off the hard work of others.

 

[BuckNaked]

My only complaint regarding pay, and I'm sure Buck Naked will back me up on this, is that it is frustrating when the soldier has to travel, and pay for his own hotel or rental car, and wait ages to get reimbursed. We have had to wait over 60 days to get reimbursed for travel expenses, and it was not easy juggling that. There was also a very bad period when the Defense Finance Accounting Service decided that my husband had retired instead of re-enlisted, and didn't pay him at all for two months! But those did get straightened out, eventually.

ITA!! And it's always a mess when DFAS messes up pay.

 

[babiesX2]

Our local news is unwatchable cheesy-ness -- like what you described, OP. And we get double local CBS, NBC, ABC, and Fox from 2 different cities.

 

[hentob]

The same story documented an illegal immigrant who came here and got on welfare and has now added 52 people to the welfare system: her children and their children. A proud family tradition of living off the hard work of others.

 

[golfgal]

Oops! Sorry if I was unclear.

We get our car/property from insurance from USAA - which is only eligible to those with a connection to the military, and their rates are better than any other company I have researched.

Base pay is taxable, but allotments (such as a housing allowance, if you live off-post) are not. All income earned while the service member is stationed overseas is not taxable. When my husband was deployed we received additional allotments - Hazardous Duty Pay, and Separation pay for me. When he was a recruiter, he also received an additional allotment for that.

Because my husband's official residence is Illinois, which does not charge state income tax to military members, we have never had to pay state income tax, regardless of where we live (although that is moot now, because we live in Texas, which has no state income tax anyway).

The PX is more like a department store; goods there are not really discounted, but we don't have to pay sales tax. Nor do we pay sales tax on gas purchased on base. The commissary is where military members can buy their groceries, and these usually are at quite good discounts, practically at cost, and again no tax, although there is a 4-5% surcharge on commissary purchases, which helps with operating expenses.

And there are lots of other little perks - I already mentioned Shades of Green being $103 per night, year round. Higher ranking members pay more, lower ranks pay less. We can also rent camping equipment and even RVs from the Morale, Welfare and Recreation office. A Class C RV rents for $75 per night!

Most bases have something called billetting, which is an on-base motel, basically. We haven't stayed in billetting for awhile, but rates were $35-$50 per night, and this was for a quite large room, with fridge and microwave.

All the Busch Gardens properties offer free admission for active duty military and up to three family members. Three years ago, Disney had a promotion that gave military 40% off any room, free length of stay passes for the soldier and additional length of stay passes for family members for $99. (yes, we went that year!)

Another thing to consider is the predictability and reliability of your employment, when you are in the military. You aren't going to get laid off, or have yor pay reduced. No matter how insolvent the gov't is, you will get paid (they always pay the people with the guns first, says my husband).Your raises come at a regular, predictable time.

My only complaint regarding pay, and I'm sure Buck Naked will back me up on this, is that it is frustrating when the soldier has to travel, and pay for his own hotel or rental car, and wait ages to get reimbursed. We have had to wait over 60 days to get reimbursed for travel expenses, and it was not easy juggling that. There was also a very bad period when the Defense Finance Accounting Service decided that my husband had retired instead of re-enlisted, and didn't pay him at all for two months! But those did get straightened out, eventually.

Military personnel deserve every little break/cut they get too!!!!!!!!

With DH's new company we have to pay for travel expenses up front and wait for reimbursement, it is a pain, but we never have to wait long, a week at most. His old company was a bank and he had a corporate credit card for everything.

 

[ToriLammy]

The majority of military personnel have a "corporate" credit card for travel expenses also. Those that don't either screwed up by using it when they were not supposed to or have chosen not to have one.

 

[Cool-Beans]

delete

 

[mickeysgal]

This will turn ugly very quickly