175 million dollar give away in NY, blank check for welfare families

Governor David Patterson is a real brain child! In theory his recent give away to poor NY families is a good idea, but the application is a joke. IF you are not aware of this let me explain.

Two days ago Welfare and Food Stamp recipients in NY found a $200 "gift" for each child between the ages of 3-18 on their benefit cards. This money was intended to be used to purchase school supplies and clothing for their dependent children. In theory this is a nice idea and would have done NY retailers some real good in sales, theory however is not real life! There was absolutely no oversight in the "give away" none at all. Instead of giving this money out on a voucher system to ensure the funds went to retailers for clothing, in the words of our county executive it was a "blank check".

Here in Rochester it was impossible to find an ATM with any cash after noon once the word of this money got out. People were going to super markets and purchasing a pack of gum and taking the rest of the money off. A local Wal Mart contacted the local Social Services agency to inform them of people purchasing flat screen tv's, video games and other high end purchases that had nothing to do with their children.

I find this to be one of the most ignorant things our state has done in a very long time. If they were truly concerned about these kids there are many other ways to get clothing to them such as stipends to the schools to help needy families with clothing instead of a party for mom and dad.

Article about the positive aspects
www.time.com...

Reality of the abuses
www.whec.com...

For those parents that have done and are doing the right things

To those that saw it as a fun pay day

[edit on 8/13/2009 by redhead57]

[edit on 8/13/2009 by redhead57]

Why buy school supplies when they get them from another government source or charity?

The Governor should have seen this one coming a mile down the road.:shk:

It truly saddens me to say this, but I am not surprised!! It certainly speaks volumes about the society in which live!!

Edit to add:

And let me guess, those of us that get up everyday even when we don't feel like it, and go to work will be picking up the tab for these tvs, video games and other luxuries that we ourselves can't afford to have because we are too busy earning them for the deadbeats!

[edit on 13-8-2009 by Greenize]

George Soros put up 35 million and the rest was stimulus money.

Gee, I remember when my kids were little and my loser ex husband was out of work I would start school shopping in July! Garage sales and thrift stores first and then as we got closer I got them each 3 or 4 brand new outfits, shoes and underclothes from the store. My 4 kids always looked clean, neat and relatively up to date with the styles. I do not understand why when people get a wonderful opportunity to help their kids they make fools of themselves and wreck it all. JERKS

I live near an area with a lot of people getting gov't assistance and I see the same thing every month. $285 per kid they have, there are two stores in town that will cash the gov't cheques.

Store #1 will cash the cheque if you spend 10% at the store. So on a $285 cheque you need to spend $28.50 and they give you the rest in cash.

Store #2 will cash the cheque if you spend 50% at the store. So on a $285 cheque you need to spend $142.50 and they give you the rest in cash.

So any idea which store they line up around the block at? I'll give you a hint Store #1 won't let you purchase tobaco as part of the 10%. Store #2 will let you buy anything in the store.

Would I be giving it away if I told you store #1 is a grocery store and #2 is a liqure store?

reply to post by redhead57



3-4 new outfits??!!!
I got one new outfit per year!!!
aaaanyways.
to me there's a big problem with blaming the government for this. It is the people out there that buy these things that are the problem. This is the attitude that makes the current situation unsustainable.
It's like, if it directly doesn't come outta my bank account then I don't pay for it.
It's scary!

Originally posted by jam321
Why buy school supplies when they get them from another government source or charity?

The Governor should have seen this one coming a mile down the road.:shk:

So now the poor are spending money like Obama, whats wrong with that????

Originally posted by redhead57
George Soros put up 35 million and the rest was stimulus money.

Gee, I remember when my kids were little and my loser ex husband was out of work I would start school shopping in July! Garage sales and thrift stores first and then as we got closer I got them each 3 or 4 brand new outfits, shoes and underclothes from the store. My 4 kids always looked clean, neat and relatively up to date with the styles. I do not understand why when people get a wonderful opportunity to help their kids they make fools of themselves and wreck it all. JERKS

In my experience, having done some charity work in an inner-city elementary school, the kids do look clean, neat, and stylish. The problem is dental care. Some of them have teeth that are rotting out of their mouths. We're talking about fourth graders.

I suspect that it's mostly due to the god-awful diets that those kids are on. If we all put that schlop into our mouths, I doubt we'd have teeth left, either.

My mom works with a lot of lower-income teenage moms, and she thinks that dental care reform should be the thing that we're focusing on. It's hard to really find a job without teeth.

reply to post by theWCH


I totally agree with you on this one. We have a relative that allowed her son's teeth to literally rot out of his little mouth. We found her a dentist and helped her schedule appointment after appointment that she just was too lazy to take him to. This baby was in terrible pain and guess what, the dentist and CPS said that was not grounds to file a neglect charge! Now this adorable little boy is 4 years old with only a few teeth in his mouth. We finally convinced the dentist to allow me and my daughter to take this child in to have these teeth cared for.

I just do not understand parents.

Speaking of bad diets. I was at the doctor just this morning and saw this mother with two of the most obese children I have seen in a long time, it was around 10:00 in the morning. Both kids were happily munching on a bag of Wise potato chips, how can people be so stupid.

@ heyo
Those outfits were from Kmart back then, not expensive at all. I was a pretty good shopper and like I said I spent my summer searching thrift stores and garage sales for nice clothes. Too bad these people are so selfish.

[edit on 8/13/2009 by redhead57]

Is it just me or does anyone else think we should 'reset' welfare. Have them all line up and reapply for welfare. (sure give them 3 months worth of money in one check, then tell them they are cut off and need to reapply. Just so they can live while reapplying.)

Now you screen them, a mother of 4 living off welfare and collecting money from her exes for child support and for being married to them, well ok. Cut off! She doesnt need the money, thats why her exes are paying this money to support her.

A person with a sprained wrist that has been out of work 6 years CUT OFF!. Get back to work you lazy good for nothing.

Oh you have 10 kids and cant work. Ok well we will give you 400$ to cover the daycare and now get out and work.

Oh you have a desease that your doctor says you cant work (or your handicaped) ok well our doctors will check that out (if you pass you stay on welfare) OR (oh so sorry your doctor has been liying to cover you for all these years.... Get out and get a job AND pay us back!)

You want to be on welfare. Ok well if you lose your job and your unemployment check is run out, well you get welfare for no more then 1 year and you MUST prove you have been trying to get a job.

So ok we may not have enough welfare agents to do all this, but hey look at all the jobs it will open up. Stop paying the welfare people and you can save billions.

The matrix reloaded, why cant welfare?

reply to post by anubis9311


Awesome idea!!! I would wager the number of annual births would decrease dramatically!!! If some of these people actually had to get out and work to support their children, they would certainly think twice about spitting them out every 10 months!

Look at the bright side...

Almost everyone that received $200 per child is going to vote for the Governor come Election time.

Tell the Governor his planned fail and he will smile, on the inside perhaps, and tell you you're sorta right..

reply to post by anubis9311


I don't know about other counties in NY but that is just about how it is here in Monroe County. All adult receipents are required to put in 40 applications a month and they must be at businesses that are hiring and you may not re apply at the same place for 6 months. All people that are disabled MUST apply for Social Security disability or SSI. Day care funding is absolutely provided so people can work, and if you are unable to find a job you do work for the county and they provide daycare. (The more kids you have the more hours you are required to work.)

We have a very conservative county and the people here are not going for the free ride that many areas are. If you did read that second link you see that our CE is having a fit about this money all the way.

reply to post by Greenize


Here you are out the door and back to work when that child is 8 weeks old! Since they instituted all these changes about 10 years ago, having babies to increase the grant has really slowed down.

I was involved with a Welfare Rights group that helped DESERVING people wade through the process. Only bad thing is there has not been one single cost of living increase in our county for 19 years. I am not someone that thinks Welfare should be a career, but it is very hard to survive on it. I am worried though, our economy is just terrible and 3 more factories are having major lay offs in the fall and the job market here is drying up like a desert. I just don't know what people here are going to do. Even fast food and retail are laying off.

They really could care less about what the money was spent on. The whole purpose was buying votes. It's no secret Soros is a radical liberal.

Patterson's a moron but, it seems, he comes from a long line of government morons.

Hurricane Andrew - gov't doles out money to folks so they could rebuild their homes. Money wasted on booze, drugs and partying. Money runs out, folks move to a new town.

Katrina - gov't hands out money to victims. Gov't learns that money was used to buy guns and strippers.

It's an ongoing cycle of stupidity. The folks receiving the handouts are not helping but, in all honesty, there's a reason why some folks find themselves in need of handouts - buying crap they don't need over the essentials.

Let's see, Xbox or new shoes? hmmm, decisions decisions.


what makes this even worse is that, when someone finally does sweep in and correct the mistakes of government past, it will be the truly needy that suffer the most.

for now, let's just hand out money we can't afford so people who can't handle it properly can piss it away.

That Patterson is incredibly stupid. You have to wonder if blind people are exceptionally naive and don't understand that most people are crooks.

reply to post by redhead57

Forty years ago mom made clothes for me and my three brothers from curtains, blankets, and other materials donated to the church because my dads pay in the air force was not enough. We did not have a television until I was a teenager. It sickens me to see generation after generation of folks with their hands out. There is a woman who is a friend of a friend who scams the system for $3500.00 dollars a month in benefits. She is single and lives the high life. She always drives a brand new pickup truck and never is at a loss for gas money.

I would require people collecting welfare to turn over at least two hundred pounds of aluminum cans each month to the welfare office before receiving a check just to get them off their lazy asses.

reply to post by Greenize


After a man has fathered a child who is supported by the state, he should be sterilized. No need for these idiot gangbangers to run around impregnating every woman they see while we have to pay for it.

Welfare reform is desperately needed.

2 quick fixes:

Mandatory drug tests every month

Mandatory birth control injections for anyone receiving any form of public assistance.

People will whine and scream about how unconstitutional forced birth control is, but remember this: No one is forced to go on welfare.

There is absolutely no logical reason not to do this. Allowing someone to crap out more mouths for the taxpayers to feed is not only wrong, it should be illegal.

Limit welfare to 2 months (its unconstitutional anyways), and then start putting people out on the streets.

People will quickly find out their free ride is over.

[edit on 14-8-2009 by TheAftermath]