Wowza 52.1% of kids in the US live in homes accepting some type of assistance

[windriverrange]

https://www.cnsnews.com/commentary/...ve-households-getting-means-tested-government

Makes me wonder, since it wasn't explicitly pointed out, how many of these "recipients" are anchor babies or illegals?

 

[Ostatedchi]

Well to be fair, when the wife and I just started out we got WIC from Oklahoma. It was incredible for us. We used it for a short time, then stopped. Now, we've paid that back many times over. But it was important to us at the time.

I'm sure many people are in the same boat when they are young and have children.

 

[jkosu]

I wonder how many the School Lunch Program contributed....a pretty-well off school district in Arkansas indirectly asked some friends to sign their kids up to make sure the school met a certain threshold to keep from losing a big chunk of funding for the kids who really needed it.

Section 8 works that way too in some places.

 

[aix_xpert]

Well to be fair, when the wife and I just started out we got WIC from Oklahoma. It was incredible for us. We used it for a short time, then stopped. Now, we've paid that back many times over. But it was important to us at the time.

I'm sure many people are in the same boat when they are young and have children.

So did you use WIC to buy your milk and juice and then cash for the beer and cigs? That always annoyed me back in the day when I was a cashier for Buy-4-Less.

 

[Ostatedchi]

No, we didn't have any disposable income at the time. We relied on WIC a lot.

 

[Bitter Creek]

No, we didn't have any disposable income at the time. We relied on WIC a lot.

I think that if your story was the norm for WIC recipients, most people would look at it as a fantastic program.

 

[CowboyJD]

I think that if your story was the norm for WIC recipients, most people would look at it as a fantastic program.

I think IS the norm for WIC recipients, and think it is a fantastic program.

I think your example of using WIC to save money for cigarettes and beer is the aberration.

Furthermore, IMO the majority of those scumbags that take WIC so they can have disposable income for their vices would likely continue to sustain their vices over keeping their children properly nutritionally sustained so I’m okay with my tax dollars going to keeping children properly fed....even those with scumbag parents that take advantage of the system.

 

[Bitter Creek]

I think IS the norm for WIC recipients, and think it is a fantastic program.

I think your example of using WIC to save money for cigarettes and beer is the aberration.

Furthermore, IMO the majority of those scumbags that take WIC so they can have disposable income for their vices would likely continue to sustain their vices over keeping their children properly nutritionally sustained so I’m okay with my tax dollars going to keeping children properly fed....even those with scumbag parents that take advantage of the system.

I'm assuming that you are mixing in your response to aix with your response to me.

Having said that, I hope that you are correct about Ostatedchi' experience being the norm.

 

[CowboyJD]

I'm assuming that you are mixing in your response to aix with your response to me.

Having said that, I hope that you are correct about Ostatedchi' experience being the norm.

Yeah...exactly right. Sorry about that.

 

[imprimis]

Well to be fair, when the wife and I just started out we got WIC from Oklahoma. It was incredible for us. We used it for a short time, then stopped. Now, we've paid that back many times over. But it was important to us at the time.

I'm sure many people are in the same boat when they are young and have children.

Those programs were established to be temporary to sustain people while they got on their feet. They certainly weren't meant to be permanent and generational in length as many of them have become. I've been in some Sec 8 apartments where there are 3 generations living in separate units in the same building.

 

[FMPoke]

The big contributor to that rising percentage is heathcare including Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies. Heath care cost continue to rise and eligibility for assistance has expanded as a result. My guess is while the percentage is rising that vast majority of the increase is the working poor. Illegal immigrants don't qualify for any of those programs you have to have documentation to sign up.

 

[Bitter Creek]

The big contributor to that rising percentage is heathcare including Medicaid and Obamacare subsidies. Heath care cost continue to rise and eligibility for assistance has expanded as a result. My guess is while the percentage is rising that vast majority of the increase is the working poor. Illegal immigrants don't qualify for any of those programs you have to have documentation to sign up.

Just to play the role of the devil's advocate, what kind of documentation is needed?

 

[FMPoke]

Just to play the role of the devil's advocate, what kind of documentation is needed?

If its means tested that's based on your tax return so you have to have filed a tax return which takes you back to having to be a legal employee with a1 1-9, meaning you need a SSN & legal residence. I realize there is as a lot of fraud in that.

The vast majority of the illegals who are working for cash in the underground economy don't have any of that.

The primary exception to that is probably the school lunch program. I have no experience with what documentation is required for it but I would expect it is less.

 

[wyomingosualum]

If its means tested that's based on your tax return so you have to have filed a tax return which takes you back to having to be a legal employee with a1 1-9, meaning you need a SSN & legal residence. I realize there is as a lot of fraud in that.

The vast majority of the illegals who are working for cash in the underground economy don't have any of that.

The primary exception to that is probably the school lunch program. I have no experience with what documentation is required for it but I would expect it is less.

Your post prompted me to check my school district’s website. An applicant for free or reduced price oil lunch fills out a form with their name, address, name of students and income. There is a spot to enter the last 4 digits of your social security number or a box to check if you don’t have a SSN. But I can’t see them refusing to feed a kid on account of that.

 

[FMPoke]

Your post prompted me to check my school district’s website. An applicant for free or reduced price oil lunch fills out a form with their name, address, name of students and income. There is a spot to enter the last 4 digits of your social security number or a box to check if you don’t have a SSN. But I can’t see them refusing to feed a kid on account of that.

Or you can very easily fake it. I doubt the average school district is auditing social security numbers.

 

[wyomingosualum]

Or you can very easily fake it. I doubt the average school district is auditing social security numbers.

Agree. Not sure if they send those forms to the feds, but it wouldn’t matter since they only ask for the last 4 digits of the SSN anyway.