Plays Well With Others

Katrina Fraud…

We all knew this would happen. You give people free money and some of them are going to spend it recklessly. And now you have to account for about $1 billion in waste and figure out who’s to blame.

I had no problem with Katrina victims receiving financial aid. The problem I had was when the government gave debit cards out worth $1000 to people without any restrictions. Just like signing over a blank check. Here’s some free cash. Some of these same people were breaking into stores and stealing plasmas and tennis shoes. What makes the government think that they’d take the $1000 and spend it on milk and eggs.

Having works in retail a million years ago, I saw first hand how “welfare” people on food stamps would drive up in their Mercedes and fill their baskets with lobster and filet mignon, and then, after having spent over $500 on groceries have us wheel their shopping carts out and fill their trunks. These people didn’t seem to be ashamed to be on food stamps, nor did they seem to be lacking in the luxuries of life. They shamelessly flaunted the fact that they were pulling one over on the system and there was nothing we could do about it.

I certainly don’t want to make a blanket statement, because there are plenty of people out there that are scraping by and those food stamps are the difference between starving and eating. But occassionally, you get a family that’s slipped through the cracks and it ruins it for everyone.

When I heard that the government was handing out $1000 debit cards to Katrina victims, I knew right away that there would be problems. There would be people who got one and didn’t deserve it. There would be people who would figure out a way to get through the system. And now there are reports of people using these cards for porn, strip clubs and divorce lawyers. And not only that, but plenty of people were paid extra by listing duplicate residences or by using post office boxes or non-existant addresses to obtain cards. And now the government is trying to figure out how the money was spent.

I just think a better solution would have been to either use a voucher system, where you provide food vouchers or coupons or even better, set up the cards so that they only work with specific grocery stores, hotels and clothing stores. I’m sure that these businesses would be more than happy to have a partnership with the government, because at the end of the day they could just send one big bill to FEMA and get repaid for all of the charges. And this way you don’t end up with people buying “Girls Gone Wild” videos.

As for keeping people from trying to use ficticious social security numbers or addresses to get extra cash, well that also seems like an outdated system. In this day and age when we have so much technology like face scanning, you can’t tell me that you couldn’t just take a thumb print and enter it into a computer and keep track of the person that way. Once the person is in the system, that’s it—they can’t double dip. Perhaps it’s more complex than I’m making it sound, but the overall idea is that there is technology out there and it should be used. Much more than relying on people to be honest enough to give you a correct Social Security number.

How come it seems like, with all of the great technological companies in the United States, the government can’t seem to make use of the resources at their disposal? It’s just insane sometimes. And then they sit around scratching their heads wondering where things went wrong.

2 Responses to 'Katrina Fraud…'

  1. personal avatar
    Treva | 15 June 2006

    “I just think a better solution would have been to either use a voucher system, where you provide food vouchers or coupons or even better, set up the cards so that they only work with specific grocery stores, hotels and clothing stores.”

    You have a good point. They do that now with WIC. You can go in once every 3 months I think it is and you get 3-4 for each month and it lists specifically what you can purchase on each voucher (1 gallon milk; 1-1lb. bag carrots; 4 cans chunk light tuna in water; 1-1lb. cheese block; etc.). The voucher wouldn’t have to be that specific but it could be for certain items (4 women’s shirts; 4 children’s shirts; etc.).


  2. personal avatar
    Greg | 15 June 2006

    Exactly. This was one-time emergency money for these people to get them on their feet until FEMA money came in. Therefore, the cards should have had restricted use to specific stores or goods. Emergency provisions like clothing, food, hotel rooms. And by food, specific food. Not alchohol or cigarettes. If this had been set-up from the start there wouldn’t have been people misuing the cards for porn, hookers or divorce lawyers. Ugh. People make me sick. And so does the government for being so blind.


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