Welfare Queen Asks For Too Much

by Bangalore 170 Replies latest jw friends

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  NewChapter

  Wait a minute. I don't mean to pick on this NC, but... What's the difference between saying NOBODY who lives on wellfare lives like royalty, and saying someone is living in a million dollar home so they ALL live in million dollar home... ???

  Okay Nomad, I know my "NOBODY" comment is really getting to you, so let me clarify.

  NOBODY who depends solely on welfare lives like royalty. Okay? It is impossible. Now if that welfare is subsidized by generosity, circumstances, or fraud, then yes, a person on welfare may end up in a million dollar home. My objection to terms such as "welfare queens" is that this was a stereotype conjured up by conservatives to suggest that the realities of poverty don't really exist, and that people in need are out to bilk the system. No, nobody is saying that all welfare recipients live in million dollar homes---but the sentiment is there---that welfare recipients are living high on the hog at the expense of the taxpayer. So my issue is not with being outraged at possible misuses (they are the only ones that make the news. Who really wants to read about the real plight of the poor?), but with the stereotype.

  Also, just because a person lives in a million dollar home, it does not necessarily follow that they live like royalty. I owned a cleaning service once, and what I saw was that what showed on the outside was very different than what was going on, on the inside. Don't assume those homes are full of grand furniture, or even that they are furnished. In my area, appearances were more important than reality. So having someone clean every few weeks was an expense that brought prestige. Furnishing those homes however was not. If they needed to entertain, they rented furniture.

  So we can't make financial assumptions based on the home or car we see. Someone could appear rich and driving a luxury car, but be eating mac and cheese everynight. OR someone could be gifted a low rent or a nice car and still be eating mac and cheese every night.

  Again Nomad, in context, my point is to resist the conservative trope that the poor are somehow duping the system and their suffering is not real. I know it takes a lot more words than WELFARE QUEEN to sum it up. I know it requires us to look deeper. I know it means looking past the kneejerk reaction. It doesn't fit on a bumper sticker and takes some thought. But the truth is, there are no welfare queens. That would suggest that welfare made them rich. If they seem to be rich and they still get welfare, then we have to look a bit deeper for the answer--be it fraud or something else.

  NC
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  NomadSoul

  Okay I get it. It's okay for you to generalize and use stereotypes but not okay for others to do so.

  Got it
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  botchtowersociety

  A welfare queen is a pejorative phrase used in the United States to describe people who are accused of collecting excessive welfare payments through fraud or manipulation.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_queen

  According to this definition, yes, there are Welfare Queens, and no, it isn't a stereotype of people legally pulling welfare.
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  FlyingHighNow

  Dear kind sirs, I only said they are low. I didn't say anything about whether they should be increased or not.

  Maybe that was my individual impression - but the logic of the issue would suggest that if some are high and some are low; then either the low ones should be increased (in one viewpoint) - or that the high ones should be decreased (in another alternate viewpoint).

  That is still all your idea. And it has nothing to do with why I brought it up. The point being that it is not typical for AFDC recipients to be granted $1200 per month. People should know that, but the article doesn't make that clear. This mother of 15 is not typical. What she receives in grant fund is not typical.
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  mrsjones5

  I saw no generalizations Nomad. I saw someone speaking from their point of view based on experience. Geez, have anyone one of you who are crying out about so-called welfare queens ever considered that there might be some on this very board who have had to used public assistance? Who also work with folks who have had to do such? Who might just know a bit more about the realities of cash aid, SNAP, and section 8 than you fortunate ones do? I have the feeling that it really wouldn't matter because you all would call them liars and softhearted liberals no matter what is said. Like talking to a jw brick wall, me thinks.
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  botchtowersociety

  Welfare fraud refers to various intentional misuses of state welfare systems by withholding information or giving false or inaccurate information. This may be done in small, uncoordinated efforts, or in larger, organized criminal rings. Some common types of welfare fraud are failing to report a household member, claiming one or more imaginary dependents, failure to report income, or providing false information about the "inability" to work. There have been cases of people feigning illness in conjunction with welfare fraud.

  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud

  Examples of welfare fraud

  • The executive director of the Illinois Legislative Advisory Committee on Public Aid in 1977 claimed that Linda Taylor of Chicago used 14 aliases to obtain $150,000 for medical assistance, cash assistance and bonus cash food stamps. He claimed that she went from district to district with many disguises, using more than 100 aliases. [1] She is believed to form the basis of Ronald Reagan's "welfare queen", and was sentenced two to six [citation needed]

  • Dorothy Woods, who claimed 38 non-existent children. [2] She was sentenced to eight years jail. [citation needed]

  • Esther Johnson, who was sentenced to four years in state prison when accused of "collecting $240,000 for more than 60 fictitious children". [3]

  • Arlene Otis was indicted in Cook County, Illinois for "613 counts of illegally receiving $150,839 in welfare funds between July 1972 and February 1978." [4] She was sentenced to four years jail. [citation needed]

  • Un-named woman (60) of the Roma people illegally received in excess of $1,400,000 by deceiving the Norwegian welfare authorities for 23 years. Techniques used were claiming for 17 fictitious grandchildren, and claiming her son was autistic, nursing him through the age of 13 in meetings with welfare workers. Court case pending (Oct 2009). [5]

  • In 2010, a Tokyo family was suspected of fraud after claiming pensions for a man for 30 years after his alleged death. His 'skeletal remains' were found still in the family home. [citation needed]
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  mrsjones5

  What is your point? Fraud is everywhere. From the hood to the Hamptons. This is nothing new.
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  NewChapter

  Mrs. Jones It's okay, I think my point is being missed on purpose. But the fact remains, nobody gets rich on welfare. That's not a generalization, it is a fact. If they are getting rich and receiving welfare, it's not the welfare making them rich.
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  FlyingHighNow

  Let's have some numbers on how many people can pull off that kind of fraud, Botch. What percent of people who draw AFDC grants are involved in this kind of fraud?
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  NewChapter

  Perhaps Welfare Queen is the wrong term then. Fraud Queen is what we are really talking about. But the term welfare queen was devised to make people generalize and suspect all recipients of welfare fraud. And of course---it's a queen. Never a king.

  NC