Welfare 102

I had originally posted this under the "Welfare" thread in the philosophy forum, but upon reflection, I think its better classified under politics, so here's my re-post:

I think people often mistakenly blame the poor and the disabled for the abuses in our “welfare system,” or I guess I should say the con artists who pretend to fall into that catagory. One of the major flaw of the pay-as-you-go system is that it fails to require the government to use the funds exclusively for Social Security. There is no pool of cash sitting in Washington, waiting for workers when they retire. Most of the Social Security funds collected from workers are used immediately to pay the monthly stipends of retirees. The rest, which is known as the Social Security "surplus," is used by other government agencies to pay for over-budget programs. In return for the Social Security funds, the Treasury issues an IOU, which is a promise to pay back the money taken from Social Security. This practice will continue as long as Social Security collects a surplus. By 2003, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that the government will owe Social Security more than $1.3 trillion.

What was that $1.3 trillion used for? This is one of the other flaws in the system: Congress gets to do what it pleases with it. Some examples gleaned from the net:

Washington, D.C.) Representative Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.) earmarked $225,000 in the fiscal 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act for a local municipal swimming pool. The spending bill, known as the Omnibus, combines seven of the 13 spending bills, totaling $820 billion.
Rep. Gibbons requested the money to help repair a 61-year-old public swimming pool a block from where he grew up in Sparks, Nevada. In the 1950s, he and some of his friends clogged the drain with tadpoles which caused the pool to temporarily shut down. Rep. Gibbons finally admitted responsibility for the incident, known as the “Polliwog Caper,” last year. If only every American had the opportunity to spend federal tax dollars to appease their guilt and atone for the sins of their childhood.

Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) named Representative James T. Walsh (R-N.Y.) its Porker of the Month for February 2004 for spending taxpayer money to fund building renovations at his alma mater. Rep. Walsh used his power as chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Veterans Affairs/Housing and Urban Development to secure a $4.5 million grant to renovate a building at St. Bonaventure University.
Chairman Walsh obtained the grant as part of the fiscal 2004 Consolidated Appropriations Act for the ongoing multi-stage renovation and expansion of St. Bonaventure’s science building, DeLaRoche Hall. With the amount of federal money Chairman Walsh has secured, the building will most likely soon carry his name.

In April (2003) , Department of Energy (DOE) Inspector General (IG) Gregory Friedman released a report stating that the management of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico was unable to account for 22 laptop computers purchased by the lab in 2002. This is in addition to the 30 laptops and laboratory equipment reported as lost or stolen in 2000 and 2001, totaling nearly $2.7 million.
Lab employees can be held liable if, because of willful misconduct or negligence, lab property becomes lost or stolen. However, the University of California (UC), which manages Los Alamos, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, has acknowledged that none of the lab's 9,600 employees has been asked to pay for the missing computers.
Other than wasting taxpayer money, such negligence has negative implications for national security. Many computers at Los Alamos, the nation's premier nuclear weapons design lab, contain highly sensitive weapons information. Although the IG report did not cite any specific cases where classified data was actually lost or stolen, the report did say that the lab's inventory system "was not sufficient to assure strict accountability for classified laptop computers."

And we are worried about welfare Moms driving cadillacs! Sheeesh!

P.S. This does not mean that I have suddenly decided to go steady with Radar! We certainly do need some reforms, however.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The Omnibus bill would continue without SS, It's too valuable as a political tool (weapon) for them to give it up. They would find a way to fund it,...at our expense, of course.

The tales of gumint spending and misspending have been around forever. Studies on the sex life of Guatemala tree frogs and the like. But for each of these expenditures, that seem preposterous to many, somebody out there thinks they're a good idea. Some people think Malthorpe (sp?) is an artist. Some people want to know more about green turtles or purple mushrooms.

There was plenty on anecdotal evidence and some legitimate reasearch on the welfare trap in the ghettos of America. Single or abandoned (sometimes dad was incarcerated) moms with a passel of kids and no skills, collecting a welfare check every month, with no way out. Their kids drop out or graduate illiterate and the only way to survive is squirt out some kids, preferably without getting married, to get on the dole.

The taxpayers resented these people collecting and the collectors resented not having decent jobs. The system perpetuated itself as more kids meant more money and more people, growing up to collect. The establishment has been accused of using welfare to oppress minorities and keep them in poverty and in the ghetto. The welfare reform laws were aimed at breaking this endless cycle of poverty but I don't know if it's really been any help.

Anyway, that's the origins of the lazy bums collecting welfare checks instead of working and all driving Cadillacs, is partly because of the '70's oil embargo when everybody dumped their gas hogs for Jap cars and Caddys were one of the things you could get cheap. A rather myopic view of the welfare system.

In 1970 I hade just split up with my wife and was paying lawyers when Westinghouse went out on strike. I was salaried, but laid off for the duration. Westinghouse held up our unemployment for six weeks and I was flat broke, so I collected two $58 checks and some food stamps from welfare, to hold me over until unemployment kicked in. As soon as I was back at work, welfare called me to ask if I could please pay back the money, at $5 per month. Since I was making about $200 a week, I told them I'd pay $10 a month, and they sent me a coupon book. I would send a coupon with a check to Philadelphia and in 2 weeks I would get a written receipt from Harrisburg, in the mail. It probably cost the state $100 or more, for each $10 I repaid. That's one of the problems with the system and the gumint, inefficiency.

That's a suburban WASP's view of the welfare system, but I'd love to hear from someone with a more intimate knowledge.

[Elspode]

Without Social Security Disability, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, I would have to support my son for the rest of his life, and he would be fucked after I died unless someone else volunteered to take care of him for the rest of *his* life.

He could never hold a job meaningful enough for him to make it in the real world.

Is that intimate enough?

Kudos to you, xoxoxo AND Patrick, for wading thru my lengthy post (I was feeling rather enraged by EVERYTHING last night when I cut 'n pasted it all).

I don't know. It just seems to me that we're long on government ineffieciecy and shortsightedness, but short on compassion and logic. Guess its the human condition.

[ladysycamore]

Originally posted by Elspode
Without Social Security Disability, SSI, Medicare, Medicaid and other programs, I would have to support my son for the rest of his life, and he would be fucked after I died unless someone else volunteered to take care of him for the rest of *his* life.

And without all of that, I would be SOL in the worse way.

He could never hold a job meaningful enough for him to make it in the real world.

Is that intimate enough?

I'm starting to believe that may be my fate as well (regarding holding a job). No one wants to hire someone with a laundry list of medical appts. each month.

Originally posted by ladysycamore


I'm starting to believe that may be my fate as well (regarding holding a job). No one wants to hire someone with a laundry list of medical appts. each month.

I worry about that, too, Lady S. Not only do I have a billion doctor's appointments, but I have to take all these stupid meds. I'm okay (sort of) at home where its quiet and no distractions and I have all my stickies and notes to remind me of things, but I don't know how I'd function in a public setting again. I'm hoping I can hit on something that will allow me to work from home, but I don't know...

[Troubleshooter]

Originally posted by marichiko


I worry about that, too, Lady S. Not only do I have a billion doctor's appointments, but I have to take all these stupid meds. I'm okay (sort of) at home where its quiet and no distractions and I have all my stickies and notes to remind me of things, but I don't know how I'd function in a public setting again. I'm hoping I can hit on something that will allow me to work from home, but I don't know...

Become an activist for telecommuting.

[Elspode]

From what I know, you do not have to divulge your medical status prior to an offer to hire. ADA thing.

However, I do understand how it can be difficult to attend frequent doctor's appointments and still *keep* the job once you've got it. Absenteeism is not strictly covered under ADA, as being gone from your job keeps you from doing it, and that isn't a "reasonable accomodation".

Being unable to effectively hold employment in this country is no fucking picnic, SS or not.