for those who think being on welfare is easy.

My sister is trying to get renewed on food stamps. A lousy 250 a month in food stamps. She had to spend hours getting the proper paperwork together and then spend 3 bucks to fax them the paperwork. Then they wanted proof that her 22 year old son was in college. Because him simply being unemployed doesn't qualify for them to receive foodstamps unless he's also in college. He's never had a job. It's an hours walk to the closest bus stop and he has no car. His mother drives him to college every day in her car which doesn't belong on the road it's so ratted out.

She has to call them, click a bunch of numbers, type in her SSN, just to find out all the circuits are busy please try again later and get hung up on. When she gets lucky she gets to wait 45 minutes on hold to speak to a human. She has to type her SSN every time she calls to just get hung up on over and over again until she gets lucky and gets in line to be on hold. If she had a job there is no way she could make that call.

Now they want proof that her other son, 14 years old, doesn't have a job. If he has a job then she doesn't qualify for food stamps. But he's 14 years old! She has to go to the school and get some letter proving he's a full time student.

Luckily she doesn't go for welfare cash too otherwise they'd require her to take a drug test. She doesn't do drugs but would have to figure out a way to drive down to the testing place to give her urine.

I don't understand why anyone would be on welfare if they didn't have to be. It's frustrating as hell getting anything done with these people.

 

She actually has to call them?....To click a bunch of numbers?.....she even has to type in her SSN?

....what a travesty.....all that to take $250 off someone else's plate.....

Clearly these are dark days in America......
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A lot depends on the state. A solid Blue state would be much easier than a Southern state.

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this is why people game the system, work under the table etc..

 

agreed those red states hate helping folks, everything is handled thru mail or online in the blue states

 

Thank all the people in the past who tried to milk the system illegally. They are the ones responsible for all of the extra red tape.

 

It can be done online in Florida (which I believe is where the OP is from).

http://www.myflorida.com/accessflorida/

The problem with that is how many people on foodstamps have internet access?

 

All of them. Check with your county library.

 

It is weird, how deliberate the effort seems to make the already difficult lives of people on welfare as much more difficult as possible.

I was on unemployment for six weeks between the closing of the place I used to work and the opening of my own business. I couldn't believe the hoops that they make you jump through. Attend classes? Listen to lectures? Spend gas money? C'mon, I've got work to do!

 

And then gets hung up on because all circuits are busy and has to recall them over and over again until she gets in line to be on hold for 45 minutes. She has to call them over and over again for hours at a time before she gets puts on hold. All for a measly 250 a month. If she could get a job she would make more money per hour then she makes dealing with welfare.

 

If she does it online she has no proof or acknowledgement that they have what they need and if they need something she finds out weeks later that the reason she doesn't have food stamps is because of some stupid reason like proving a 14 year old doesn't have a job. By calling in she gets that information immediately and now will drive to school tomorrow getting a letter from the school proving he is in school. If she hadn't of called she would still be waiting and wondering.

 

I feel her pain as do you but it seems to me it is worth it for the 250 a month

 

250 bucks for a couple hours work? I'd take those wages. If the return on her investment of time is that generous I'd think she would be eager to cash in on every welfare freebie.

As for being far from a bus stop, how old is the kid that he can't ride shank's mare that far? I'm 50+ and I run an hour every morning just for my health, surely a college age kid can do that for a ride to school. Maybe he could make the track team and get a scholarship.

In regard to the frustration of dealing with the red tape, thats what government produces, frustration, dependence and red tape.

 

Slyhunter: "I don't understand why anyone would be on welfare if they didn't have to be. It's frustrating as hell getting anything done with these people."

Because it beats getting a job and going to work every day?

Liberalminority: People game the system because it's so inconvenient. How about because they're cheats and frauds? You could find an excuse for the Nazis killing jews and gays and developmentally disabled folks if you haven't already.

My wife and I were helping an old woman get food stamps and yes it was a nightmare. You could only7 to this on Monday but we changed it to Friday last week but that change was just temporary. The problems had nothing to do with liberal or conservative. It had to do with government employees with guaranteed jobs and zero oversight. It took over six weeks to get her the foodstamps. Now, a few years later when the government had vastly increased our visiting homeless they streamlined the system so the deadbeats could get foodstamps in one day.

 

If it was only a couple of hours of work. It's a couple of hours work every frustrating day once every 6 months. It's multiple trips to the scanning place and $3.00 each time to fax new paperwork to them. Money she gets from me to pay for the fax because she doesn't have it.

 

There seems to be a common assumption that: "people are gaming the welfare system", but nobody provides any proof. All we have are conservative commentators claiming they saw somebody buy something with food stamps and drive off in a brand new Cadillac.

Would somebody like to post some scholarly research that indicates what percentage of welfare is "gamed"?

Over here, management of welfare and unemployment is sub contracted by the Government to private businesses and other organisations. They have an extensive checking system to ensure very few will get away with anything. I spent Nine months complying with it myself.

 

Dude, really? Maybe if she would put in that kind of work every day (instead of once every 6 months) at pretty much any productive endeavor, she could make some decent wages.

If she isn't an invalid why doesn't she get a job or start a business and free herself from her government dependence. Spend a couple hundred dollars for a cheap computer and a network connection for her and set her up with an Ebay account and she can make her own money. (Two of my sisters are doing exactly that).

 

When I was a kid, back in the late 70's, I knew a women with 5 kids who thought her job was raising those kids and collected welfare and spent all her time watching tv as the eldest kid actually did the raising. She refused to even bother looking for work.

 

I was in a corporate meeting years ago to discuss the implementation of a new welfare card. Many complained about how complicated it was to use. I don't remember the details, but I do remember something the CEO of the company said.

"It doesn't matter how complicated the card is. People on welfare will figure out how to use it."

He was right. It was a more complicated to use, but there were almost no complaints. It seems that in the quest to get free stuff, people become geniuses.

 

My sister worked as a baby photographer in high school at a local mall in Little Rock. She used to tell me how mothers would come in with a litter of children and talk about how many they would have to have to get x amount of dollars each month. I couldn't believe it so she let me hang around on a Saturday for a few hours. Sure enough she was right. I remember this one lady who had 3 kids and was pregnant. She told her friend that "once I have this one and one more, I'll get $700/month."

 

she and the 22 year old should kill the 14 year old and eat him.

 

Help me out here...my sarcasm detector is on the fritz...is the OP seriously bemoaning the trials and tribulations on must suffer to get other peoples money?

 

its not worth it these people are in sufferage through no fault of their own

if people were given food stamps and welfares upon request without the run around it would be progress because the private sector would be forced to raise salaries so people aren't forced into or choose government dependence

 

Baloney. All we have are liberals who refuse to believe that welfare recipients work off the books to make more money. All we have are liberals who refuse to acknowledge that people in jail get foodstamps and that said foodstamps are sold to get money for crack. Liberals refuse to realize that tiny little "grocery" stores exist to pay for foodstamps with cash. And, heaven forbid a Democrat would ever, ever try and stop the fraud. Collecting welfare in two states, or even two countreis, would be considered fraud by a conservative and an entitlement by a liberal.

 

$250 a month in food stamps---or the yellow card---is way too much for taxpayers to supply. The Feds should return to the days of commodities.

No one should starve in this country of abundant food, but no one should make it easy for the able-bodied poor, who can work at low paying jobs, but won't. A better welfare package for the lazy poor that wouldn't bankrupt the nation would be:

Lots of beans, rice, flour, cheese and some canned meats and vegatables.

A tent for housing.

One bucket to fetch water.

Another bucket for sanitation.

Illegal aliens, Islamic radicals and any recent immigrant or visa holder trying to freeload should be booted ASAP.