Knife Nut wrote:Breaking news from the past hour.......the Michigan Welfare Department will be terminating the food stamps for this individual.
OMG, there is some small degree of sanity in the Welfare system.
Paul
I was driving my wife to work yesterday when we heard this story on the radio. My wife is a benefits case manager for what we would call “Welfare” though that's not the technical name for the agency here in our state The food stamp program is federally mandated, federally driven by federal rules and regulations, not necessarily by the states. The rules of the program allow people with no income to collect food stamps. The rules of the program do not allow the food stamp worker to consider a person's assets!
If this woman had taken a 20-year monthly payout for the lottery she would not have been eligible for food stamps. But since she took the lump sum, bought a house and a car and put the rest in the bank, her mattress or whatever, and had not invested the money so that it was generating an income for her; then by rules of the food stamp program she is eligible to collect food stamps.
I am as outraged about this as everyone else. My wife was not surprised because she knows the rules of the program, but she agreed with me that the rules need to be changed.
There are reasons why the program does not consider a person’s or family's assets. You may own a car or you may own the house but they do not make you money, (mine usually cost me money). There are cases of people on food stamps who own a very nice car that is worth substantial money, but have lost their job. If you live in the western part of the United States where public transportation is not economically viable in many places, you will most likely need that car if you get a job, or even to look for a job.
Common sense would tell you and I that if we are out of a job, having trouble finding work and own a Maserati, then sell the Maserati, buy a cheaper car and use the money to help you survive after your unemployment benefits run out.
Unfortunately, many people do not have common sense.
And we all know that the government is absolutely devoid of common sense!
Now, I am wondering how the Michigan Welfare Department can justify terminating her benefits by the guidelines of the program? Maybe there is a clause if someone gets them too much negative publicity they can terminate their benefits.
ftd
