The car tells the whole story re. our current welfare state.

[John Schmidt]

Study the picture, you'll see what I mean. This woman needs two operations: One that installs a bolt through both knees, and a brain transplant or brainectomy! 

[SpidyJ]

Could be a comment against the welfare state......maybe?!

If so.......pretty funny........and that's a nice Caddy....70ish?  Looks too well kept to be a baby mama car.

 

[Bighead]

13 kids,3 baby daddies and food stamps with no help from the sperm donors
She needs a tubal and the 3 guys castration.

[old2soon]

I've heard of welfare Cadillac's.  NOT really the first one I've see.  Go to ANY welfare or S S I office and you WILL see what I mean!  But MORE prevalent around major metro areas I should think!  Some years back and goin by memory here seems to me there was a lady of color that finally got caught but only after she had raked in the hundreds of thousands of bucks. Can't rekemember if it was Chicago or N Y C where that happened. AND she went to court in her Cadillac.  RIDE SAFE.

[Bonzo]

I've heard of welfare Cadillac's.  NOT really the first one I've see.  Go to ANY welfare or S S I office and you WILL see what I mean!  But MORE prevalent around major metro areas I should think!  Some years back and goin by memory here seems to me there was a lady of color that finally got caught but only after she had raked in the hundreds of thousands of bucks. Can't rekemember if it was Chicago or N Y C where that happened. AND she went to court in her Cadillac.  RIDE SAFE.

http://www.arktimes.com/arkansas/the-welfare-queen-lives-on-in-food-stamp-myth/Content?oid=2977935

[Patrick]

That gal lives in the wrong state. They drive Escalades here.

[Master Blaster]

That gal lives in the wrong state. They drive Escalades here.

Yep that and Yukon's here, did see one the other day in a top of the line brand new shiny black Nissan Armada with bling wheels.  She was loading it up with groceries she had just bought with her EBC card.  Had a swarm of kids ranging from diapers to toddlers.

[John Schmidt]

Going back many years, my department's State office was on the second floor of the bldg. where my office was located. The welfare/food stamp office was directly below us. We could stand at the windows facing the parking lot and watch mama #1 walk in with a sports team in tow(pick your sport, there was a bunch). After she got her monthly blessings, she strolled out to the car where mama #2 helped her change the clothes of all the kids, then #2 would walk in with maybe one less kid but all in different clothes. They got away with it for a few months, all the while we noticed the same thing happening with droves of others. One day our boss brought in a movie camera and set it up on a tripod, aiming it so it covered the parking lot and that office's entryway. He then turned it over to them for review. Strangely enough, they already knew about it and commenced to list every one we had watched. Never did stop it, said it cost more to take it through the courts then it did to continue giving it all away. There were at least a half dozen pairs pulling the same trick and kept at it as long as our office was there for us to observe them.  

As for the Caddy in the picture, it's not really in that good a shape. The bumper is rusting, as is the trunk lid across the bottom and top near the glass. The leather(?) top is coming apart, mostly on the right side. I would assume the rest is in equally bad shape.

[Patrick]

Going back many years, my department's State office was on the second floor of the bldg. where my office was located. The welfare/food stamp office was directly below us. We could stand at the windows facing the parking lot and watch mama #1 walk in with a sports team in tow(pick your sport, there was a bunch). After she got her monthly blessings, she strolled out to the car where mama #2 helped her change the clothes of all the kids, then #2 would walk in with maybe one less kid but all in different clothes. They got away with it for a few months, all the while we noticed the same thing happening with droves of others. One day our boss brought in a movie camera and set it up on a tripod, aiming it so it covered the parking lot and that office's entryway. He then turned it over to them for review. Strangely enough, they already knew about it and commenced to list every one we had watched. Never did stop it, said it cost more to take it through the courts then it did to continue giving it all away. There were at least a half dozen pairs pulling the same trick and kept at it as long as our office was there for us to observe them.  

As for the Caddy in the picture, it's not really in that good a shape. The bumper is rusting, as is the trunk lid across the bottom and top near the glass. The leather(?) top is coming apart, mostly on the right side. I would assume the rest is in equally bad shape.

Similar things happen in this state too, but, I can remember one on this board that suggested [ actually insisted] we are lying about it.

The new thing that I heard about your state starting to drug test recipients I think is a great idea.

[Robert]

Sad the mentality that says that's ok.

[Patrick]

Sad the mentality that says that's ok.

I've been called mental many times before, in fact I've been called worse on probably more occasions.   

[Bighead]

The new thing that I heard about your state starting to drug test recipients I think is a great idea.

This should happen to anyone in any state getting Goverment assistance. That test should include nicotine(it is a drug just a legal one). Cigarettes are expensive and any assistance should be spent for food,clothing and housing not habits.

[scooperhsd]

That food stamp office had the wrong mentality. It doesn't matter that it costs less to keep giving them the stamps - the point is that they are getting them at all (in a fraudulent manner).

[Jess from VA]

That food stamp office had the wrong mentality. It doesn't matter that it costs less to keep giving them the stamps - the point is that they are getting them at all (in a fraudulent manner).

Absolutely!!  Fraud is criminal, and you prosecute criminals to stop them from continuing their actions, AND to send a clear message to the public that bilking a benefit system will have consequences.  Send a dozen high visibility/publicity cases to court and jail, and it absolutely has a deterring effect on those considering fraud.  Do nothing, and .... what have they got to lose?  Nothing, that's what.

USDVA has a dismal record in enforcing fraud (which is widespread).  Every so often I would review a file that was literally dripped of fraud.  Some files included detailed letters from neighbors of a beneficiary recipient saying he was not disabled at all (some even included videos, like of a guy supposedly wheelchair bound at 100% disability playing football).  We'd send them over to IG or enforcement office with a note pointing out the evidence and they'd do nothing.  Not only do they not want to go on record as being tough on veterans, but they were just lazy.  So we'd write appellate decisions that denied the benefit sought, but also presented a detailed analysis of the facts and evidence that put anyone reading it on notice that the claimant was a fraud.  Not that the decision could stop fraudulent claims.

My experience with the Fed is that employees of entitlement bureaucracies, do not want to rock the boat, and instead of treating public money as a precious resource, they try their best to give it away to any who asked at the highest possible rate.  Then take out advertisements (at public expense) explaining how easy it is to apply for benefits.  This makes the bureaucracy look good, and important, so it gets higher and higher Fed funding/budgets, more employees, more regulations, more press and more power.

[John Schmidt]

That food stamp office had the wrong mentality. It doesn't matter that it costs less to keep giving them the stamps - the point is that they are getting them at all (in a fraudulent manner).

I agree, but when you see most of those that worked in that office, they very well could have been neighbors....if you get my drift. Even the manager at that time. I have no idea if it continues as much, there have been moves to crack down on it.

[0leman]

Earlier in the spring, the State finally brought charges against a several folks for welfare fraud here in town.  In OR, folks are given a card with so much money on it for buying food.  There was a place here in town that would buy the card, worth $200, for $100 in cash.  This had been going on for several years.  Took the justice folks that long to get all the info and bring charges.  As many as 100 folks had the Welfare  card pulled for several years. Three guys are now doing time.   They do catch them, but it takes time to do so. 

The folks milking the system has been going on since I was a kid back in Oklahoma in the '50's  Just wish more would get caught.

[vanagon40]

Must be a new owner that parked the car in the same spot and got the same pedestrians to walk by for the photo.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1970-cadillac-fleetwood-brougham-last-of-the-true-cadillacs/

[The emperor has no clothes]

Must be a new owner that parked the car in the same spot and got the same pedestrians to walk by for the photo.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1970-cadillac-fleetwood-brougham-last-of-the-true-cadillacs/

[WilliamRS]

The new thing that I heard about your state starting to drug test recipients I think is a great idea.

This should happen to anyone in any state getting Goverment assistance. That test should include nicotine(it is a drug just a legal one). Cigarettes are expensive and any assistance should be spent for food,clothing and housing not habits.

drug testing is expensive and in the states that have tried it the results have been underwhelming with the main result being that the drug testers make big bucks off of the taxpayer.

lets drug test the politicians instead.

[WilliamRS]

Must be a new owner that parked the car in the same spot and got the same pedestrians to walk by for the photo.

http://www.curbsideclassic.com/curbside-classics-american/curbside-classic-1970-cadillac-fleetwood-brougham-last-of-the-true-cadillacs/

but which photo is the one that has been photoshoped?

[The emperor has no clothes]

I don't know. But I suspect the first one since it also has tags that say Food Stamps. What's funny is how quickly some will jump all over something like this. 

[czuch]

I don't see that as a testament of gullibility.
I see that as a testimony of fed-up.
Also, if not photo shopped, it would be a newer Caddie.
Welfare wouldn't subsidize a 45 year old car.
The problem began when welfare was confused with charity.
Anybody remember "Gubmint Cheese"?