I think I've been pretty unambiguous about my points in this thread. Even if there are examples of misuse, I don't think it's possible for fraudulent restaurant purchases to be a widespread problem. In most areas, fast food restaurants wouldn't even be able to process payments. From a personal standpoint, I don't really think the examples of misuse you cited rise to the level of indicting the entire program as corrupt. Most poverty/homeless services are prohibitively difficult to qualify for (possibly for good reason) and I'm fine with food security programs being a little more lenient. Almost no financial program works exactly as it's laid out on paper. That is not to say I think fraud should be encouraged or overlooked.
As for how identities can be stolen, here's one example from last year where someone gathered info and got 750,000 before getting arrested.
https://oag.ca.gov/news/press-releases/attorney-general-becerra-announces-arrest-charges-against-individual-750000
Obviously my anecdotal evidence, via dozen different family members and acquaintances, isn’t the be all end all.
But what research is being done on these programs? How many people are using assistance as a stop gap and how many are life long users? Are there studies looking into those details and why a “healthy” able bodied person would spend a decade on an assistance program?
I never said disband the welfare benefits program, as a child I was a recipient of the program and I imagine my life would have been drastically different without it.
What I did say was you could use EBT cards at numerous fast food restaurants and you chimed in that there are specific requirements for that to happen (and that many fast food restaurants cannot process payments) to which I disagreed.
If there is an opportunity for a private business to receive government funds they will figure out a way to process payments, it is not that difficult, I shouldn’t have to explain that to you.
I worked in the commercial food industry and if we could get a product vetted for government programs, like WIC, it was considered a guaranteed sale and a lock as a source of income. Don’t pretend that fast food giants aren’t negotiating behind the scenes on how to get a slice of the pie.
Also when you say most homeless/proverty programs are difficult to qualify for what are you basing this off of? The amount of people who’ve applied and been denied, the amount of homeless/poverty level people in relation to funds available for them or your experiences (as a social worker or as a applicant)? Undoubtedly the programs are hard to get acceptance into when you see the amount of homelessness in the states but I’m curious to the actual numbers.
One person stealing 3/4 of a million dollars would indicate the system is being abused and misused. I don’t know what you would consider gross negligence and abuse for a private company but $750000 would qualify as that for almost anywhere except maybe Amazon or Walmart.
That said I think we as a nation have a responsibility to help those who are less fortunate and I think as a people we do “try” to help those in need (you’d be hard pressed to find a retail store that isn’t asking you round your change up for a donation). But since you said it I’d argue that if a nonprofit showed the same amount of fraudulent behavior as our government run programs people would be in an uproar.
That said Vinces $30 a month budget is ridiculous and so is his claim of living on $15 a month within the last decade, especially when he had so much personal success in his private businesses.
