Question about Oregon EBT card

[JVK]

My original post wasn't meant to be sarcastic, maybe some took it that way. I agree with most of what's said here.

 

[The B]

You don't have to be "less fortunate" now a days to get an EBT card. That's what some of the frustration in this thread is about. There are not enough checks and balances in the system right now and a lot of people who shouldn't have EBT cards have them.

What you read is frustration and aggravation with the system, not bashing those in need. A lot of us have been in dire straights before and can sympathize. But a lot of people abuse the system and little is done about it.

But there are some pretty big problems with your assertions.

-How does anyone know who is, and who isn't, "less fortunate?"
-Should someone have to sell their car before receiving food benefits they paid thousands of their own former income into?
-Are there vetted (or otherwise) publications that demonstrate the system is being abused on any kind of mass scale?
-These "checks and balances" (a term used to refer to the separation of powers of the Executive, Judicial, and Legislative bodies of the Federal Government) you refer to have to be executed by people... people who have education and experience requirements to be state social-workers, and therefor demand significant salaries. How many people are on EBT? I'm just gonna guess and say there are probably close to a million people in Oregon on EBT... a million. Each of those recipients has a caseworker who does nothing but process applications, review the paperwork side of managing claims and cases, deal with fairly constant stream of "where mah mufuccin foo'stamps be" phone calls, etc. How much can each caseworker handle? 50 cases to process/manage at any one time? 100? 200? 300? Let's do the math on 300 cases...

1,000,000 / 300 = 3333 and 1/3rd of one caseworker

3,333.33 caseworkers x $45,000 (average, and you know this is probably low) = $149,999,850

WAIT A MINUTE!

Ok, so surely it must be more than that... 500 cases to process and manage? $90,000,000

NO!

Ok, let's try 1,000 cases... $45,000,000

That's a little more reasonable, I guess. The state budget is around 16,000,000,000, for perspective.

1,000 cases to process and manage... You think you could "check" or "balance" a 1,000 people to make sure they're truly needy? How to we differentiate between needy lazy people and needy not-lazy people? See, even if you could go around and check on all these people, and you found that they're all living in government subsidized housing (claims that are also processed and managed by the same social-workers) with government paid-for healthcare (claims that are also processed and managed by those same social-workers), how would you know which ones are sitting around because they can't find a job or can't otherwise work for some legitimate reason, and which ones threw the crack-pipe under the couch right after you knocked?

All figures above were picked out of the air by me (I did minor in sociology, though- so I have a small clue). Feel free to rework the numbers anyway you want to try to get it to fit the idea that there could ever be any kind of real accountability. The state budget is truly around 16,000,000,000.

Thanks

-Ben

 

[The B]

We have accepted responsibility for the inequalities of society, and have agreed to share the burden of those left down and/or out.

We can't let people starve because there's no one there to check them out... so we have a basic screening process which assesses income and expenses, we give the application to a caseworker to check out and process the paperwork. Hopefully they're not so overburdened that they can do a thorough job, but I'm sure it comes in waves and tides.

So claims get pushed through and expire unless renewed by the recipient.. who has to provide that level of proof of burden again, and be screened again.

We DO have an enforcement side, which investigates reports of abuse... but they are reactive only, for the same reasons we have caseworkers screening, processing, managing thousands of cases- there's no way we could ever pay enough to adequately police the entire system. So they take reports, investigate to the best of their resources (also waves and tides), and DO, in fact, determine that most reports of abuse are exaggerated or downright false anyway.

You see, needy people don't like to look needy. They're actually really bubblegumin' embarrassed about having to pop out that EBT card at the register. So they don't walk around in rags, and nobody sells their car (EVERYONE just HAS to have a shiny new car, or else you look like a total broke-dick!). People present themselves as doing OK or even well-off, and, unfortunately, you just happened to notice the EBT that tells the lie.

You really have absolutely no clue what's going on in peoples' lives. You just hate having to give to the system. I'm not going to judge you for that, just stating the fact.

 

[powermad]

You see, needy people don't like to look needy. They're actually really bubblegumin' embarrassed about having to pop out that EBT card at the register. So they don't walk around in rags, and nobody sells their car (EVERYONE just HAS to have a shiny new car, or else you look like a total broke-dick!). People present themselves as doing OK or even well-off, and, unfortunately, you just happened to notice the EBT that tells the lie.

Hmm I seem to remember not very long ago selling off cars, big screens, audio, guns and whatever else I could to keep the bills paid and food on the table.
Bought second hand clothes, shut off cable and the internet and anything else to not spend money on anything that was not vital to staying alive and sleeping inside.

They are only things, not really important to the grand scheme of staying alive.
I just shelled out nearly $15,000 for medical and CC bills, worked 60-70 hrs a week for months on end, went all week without eating so my kids could eat.
I can tell you I could really care less what people think of me or if I am poor.
I worked my *** off to pay my bills and pay my debts and have $5K saved for another car.

Can't find work? BS, BS and more BS.
Stop sucking on a meth pipe or sticking a needle in your arm or getting drunk every damn day and get a life.
I have no, zero, zip, nada sympathy, empathy or any of the other feel good nonsense that people bestow on the dregs.
Having a tough spell? Then suck it up and do something about it.
So yeah, when a large portion of my check is sucked out to pay for these parasites during the year and then I get to pay another $1200 in income tax at the end of the year.. I have a hard time feeling sorry for any of them.
I've been on extended "camping" trips before with 3 kids and a wife when times were hard so spare me.
I also worked 2 full time and a part time job to pull through when there was "no work"

I have never received help and I will never ask.
Must be a character flaw.
I just sought out and landed another $2800 side job. More 7 day weeks for me.
44 years old and still working circles around kids half my age.

If you can afford $200 nails and can afford to pay for a $50,000 rig you do not need any kind of assistance.
Embarrassed? Cry me a river.
My wife volunteers at the local shelter a couple time a week as well. That's right, she works for no money helping those in need.
She has been told to help herself to the food baskets but doesn't as there are people that need it more than us.
We leaned how to get by on nothing at all a long, long time ago.
Oh well, off to bed, 7 hrs at the ER has taken it's toll on me for the day.

 

[The B]

Hmm I seem to remember not very long ago selling off cars, big screens, audio, guns and whatever else I could to keep the bills paid and food on the table.
Bought second hand clothes, shut off cable and the internet and anything else to not spend money on anything that was not vital to staying alive and sleeping inside.

They are only things, not really important to the grand scheme of staying alive.
I just shelled out nearly $15,000 for medical and CC bills, worked 60-70 hrs a week for months on end, went all week without eating so my kids could eat.
I can tell you I could really care less what people think of me or if I am poor.
I worked my *** off to pay my bills and pay my debts and have $5K saved for another car.

Can't find work? BS, BS and more BS.
Stop sucking on a meth pipe or sticking a needle in your arm or getting drunk every damn day and get a life.
I have no, zero, zip, nada sympathy, empathy or any of the other feel good nonsense that people bestow on the dregs.
Having a tough spell? Then suck it up and do something about it.
So yeah, when a large portion of my check is sucked out to pay for these parasites during the year and then I get to pay another $1200 in income tax at the end of the year.. I have a hard time feeling sorry for any of them.
I've been on extended "camping" trips before with 3 kids and a wife when times were hard so spare me.
I also worked 2 full time and a part time job to pull through when there was "no work"

I have never received help and I will never ask.
Must be a character flaw.
I just sought out and landed another $2800 side job. More 7 day weeks for me.
44 years old and still working circles around kids half my age.

If you can afford $200 nails and can afford to pay for a $50,000 rig you do not need any kind of assistance.
Embarrassed? Cry me a river.
My wife volunteers at the local shelter a couple time a week as well. That's right, she works for no money helping those in need.
She has been told to help herself to the food baskets but doesn't as there are people that need it more than us.
We leaned how to get by on nothing at all a long, long time ago.
Oh well, off to bed, 7 hrs at the ER has taken it's toll on me for the day.

I'm not sure if there's a point anywhere in there or if you're just venting..

Being unhappy about it doesn't change anything

 

[STANGBOYTOM]

I think his point is that well some of us are working our asses off trying to put food on the table, other folks are raising a generation of self entitled everyone gets a trophy I "Deserve" an I phone, please feed my children for me because I cant keep my broke *** member in my pants, witch are by the way hanging a foot down past my ***, and I cant figure out why no one will hire me, monsters.

 

[Squidly]

I'm not sure if there's a point anywhere in there or if you're just venting..

Being unhappy about it doesn't change anything

Unhappy is not the right word.

And I'm not sure there is any point to your comment, except to be condescending.

 

[raftman]

Hmm I seem to remember not very long ago selling off cars, big screens, audio, guns and whatever else I could to keep the bills paid and food on the table.
Bought second hand clothes, shut off cable and the internet and anything else to not spend money on anything that was not vital to staying alive and sleeping inside.

They are only things, not really important to the grand scheme of staying alive.
I just shelled out nearly $15,000 for medical and CC bills, worked 60-70 hrs a week for months on end, went all week without eating so my kids could eat.
I can tell you I could really care less what people think of me or if I am poor.
I worked my *** off to pay my bills and pay my debts and have $5K saved for another car.

Can't find work? BS, BS and more BS.
Stop sucking on a meth pipe or sticking a needle in your arm or getting drunk every damn day and get a life.
I have no, zero, zip, nada sympathy, empathy or any of the other feel good nonsense that people bestow on the dregs.
Having a tough spell? Then suck it up and do something about it.
So yeah, when a large portion of my check is sucked out to pay for these parasites during the year and then I get to pay another $1200 in income tax at the end of the year.. I have a hard time feeling sorry for any of them.
I've been on extended "camping" trips before with 3 kids and a wife when times were hard so spare me.
I also worked 2 full time and a part time job to pull through when there was "no work"

I have never received help and I will never ask.
Must be a character flaw.
I just sought out and landed another $2800 side job. More 7 day weeks for me.
44 years old and still working circles around kids half my age.

If you can afford $200 nails and can afford to pay for a $50,000 rig you do not need any kind of assistance.
Embarrassed? Cry me a river.
My wife volunteers at the local shelter a couple time a week as well. That's right, she works for no money helping those in need.
She has been told to help herself to the food baskets but doesn't as there are people that need it more than us.
We leaned how to get by on nothing at all a long, long time ago.
Oh well, off to bed, 7 hrs at the ER has taken it's toll on me for the day.

Cool story bro.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Two sides to this story guys. You got the single stay at home mom who just bailed with her three kids because the "man" of the house busted her nose for the last time and needs the food stamps. I'm not proud of the fact but that's how we rolled when I was a kid and I'm thankful that food was there. I don't see any good damned reason why a woman or kids should have to suffer because their world was turned upside down. Then you have people like my neighbors who have not worked a day in the 4 years I've lived in this house but they are physically capable enough to make multiple trips each to the store on foot for groceries or spend day after day fishing at the local lake or drinking on their front porch. Problem is that when you're at Winco at 10:00pm and the lady in front of you flashes that food stamp card you don't know if it's the single mom healing from the broken nose buying groceries while her kids are asleep in the locked and parked car which they now live in or if it's the loser neighbor lady buying late night munchies for her and her bum husband. Try not to judge the person in line next to you as you really have to clue what their circumstances are.

 

[The B]

I think his point is that well some of us are working our asses off trying to put food on the table, other folks are raising a generation of self entitled everyone gets a trophy I "Deserve" an I phone, please feed my children for me because I cant keep my broke *** member in my pants, witch are by the way hanging a foot down past my ***, and I cant figure out why no one will hire me, monsters.

Your perception of the number of people just living on the system seems incorrect, to me. The average length of time on SNAP is 8-10 months. So if you include all those people who literally live on public assistance (years and years for a small segment of the population) in the average, that means the vast majority of people are only on it for a couple months or so, between jobs.

Unhappy is not the right word.

And I'm not sure there is any point to your comment, except to be condescending.

I was challenging the poster to tie his rant into some kind of applicable, relevant point.

 

[The B]

For the record, in case there's any confusion here... I also work hard, and pay taxes. I also receive zero public assistance for my home-making wife and five kids under 18.

Why am I not fighting mad?

 

[Kelzebubba]

Two sides to this story guys. You got the single stay at home mom who just bailed with her three kids because the "man" of the house busted her nose for the last time and needs the food stamps. I'm not proud of the fact but that's how we rolled when I was a kid and I'm thankful that food was there. I don't see any good damned reason why a woman or kids should have to suffer because their world was turned upside down. Then you have people like my neighbors who have not worked a day in the 4 years I've lived in this house but they are physically capable enough to make multiple trips each to the store on foot for groceries or spend day after day fishing at the local lake or drinking on their front porch. Problem is that when you're at Winco at 10:00pm and the lady in front of you flashes that food stamp card you don't know if it's the single mom healing from the broken nose buying groceries while her kids are asleep in the locked and parked car which they now live in or if it's the loser neighbor lady buying late night munchies for her and her bum husband. Try not to judge the person in line next to you as you really have to clue what their circumstances are.

Yeah, two sides. The mother of my children left me and ran off with a pedophile (he is registered with the state). I was a single father of two kids and you know what I was told when I applied for assistance. In short that I had a pe*** and was not qualified. I made a lot less than I should have with my educational level because the mother of my children was not supportive. I am still grossly underpaid, with college debt burden, working a full time job and any other odd job I can find. I tell you how I judge the person in line. If they are on an iPhone, then they don't deserve the card. If you can afford $100+ a month for a phone then you can afford your own food. I pay $55 a month for my phone and get the same benefit as an iPhone, so there is one. Also if I happen to be behind said person and while going out to my car they are getting in a $40K+ car, I really don't see why I should pay for them to be able to do that when I drive around a car worth $10K. That is pretty much how you can tell who does and does not deserve the money.

Did your mom buy candy with her food stamps or pretty much real food with hers? I am willing to bet she bought real food with hers. You can tell by what someone purchases whether they need it or not. When people need it, really need it, their priorities change. They get the necessities and not what some would call luxuries. I have said it before, I am glad we have this system. And it is a hell of a lot easier to tell who needs it or not and to follow up on it than a lot of these lazy bureaucrats let on. The biggest problem I have found with most people in my working life is they are stuck on "it is what it is", "that's the way it has always been", or my favorite "it isn't in my job description". Lazy bums who are there to collect a pay check for the bare minimum effort.

 

[The B]

Hell of a lot of judgement going on. How do you know she's not on a company iPhone? I'm on one right now. How do you know she's not driving her mom's 40k car? We borrowed my mothers car a lot when we were young, broke adults, and then again when we were older broke adults. Especially for single moms living with family, I'm sure it's pretty common to be getting a lot of help from different sources. Dad paying the phone bill, mom loaning the car, baby-daddy buying clothes, etc.

If you're going to judge your neighbor, at least broaden your mind a bit.

 

[Jim Colvill]

Good points, Ben. In my case my sister gave me her old phone and put me on her plan just so I had a point of contact. My clothes were in good repair because I had purchased quality. When I was able to pick up a short term job I bought personal items, i.e. toothpaste, razor blades, soap and other necessary items not covered by food stamps in bulk. Public assistance is no gravy train. 2010-2011 was a year in hell. As far as just "get a job and suck it up" it wasn't as simple as it seems. No one, and I mean NO ONE, wanted to hire a college educated 55 year old man. I spent each day sending out resumes to no avail. I called on leads, lived at the State Employment center. I wasn't being lazy, I was just being unsuccessful. I had to collect bottles to raise bus fare. Yeah...It was a real smooth ride on public assistance. Walk a mile in my shoes guys before you judge.

I gave thanks for the help I received. I would rather pay taxes for that and eat what the sponges take than pay for other crap the government spends on. That's my story and I stick by it.

 

[Kelzebubba]

Hell of a lot of judgement going on. How do you know she's not on a company iPhone? I'm on one right now. How do you know she's not driving her mom's 40k car? We borrowed my mothers car a lot when we were young, broke adults, and then again when we were older broke adults. Especially for single moms living with family, I'm sure it's pretty common to be getting a lot of help from different sources. Dad paying the phone bill, mom loaning the car, baby-daddy buying clothes, etc.

If you're going to judge your neighbor, at least broaden your mind a bit.

Dad paying phone bill (counts as income). If he is spending $100+ for the iphone, scale it down a bit and get a less trendy phone. Also if she worked for a company that gave her an iPhone for personal use she is probably making more money than I do without the assistance. So you can sort of rule that out. Loaning a car... possible, but you can typically tell that 50 year old women don't have "interesting" bumper stickers or "Princess" stickers and license plates. If the baby-daddy is giving money that is not state sactioned child support, that is income. It isn't hard to understand this. I am broadening my mind, by not expanding it with illicit drugs. When you are in line with some skank talking about how she slept with three different guys and was so "high" the entire time paying for her case of soda and funions with food stamps with two infants in tow and then stops you out in the parking lot to ask you for gas money in her new mustang complete with "princess" accessories on the car, that goes beyond "borrowing" a car, and also abusing the system.

I am sorry, but if their family can afford to give (not loan every once in a while) them a car, pay a $100+ cell phone bill, then I really don't think they qualify for a government assistance to have a better quality of life than those that are working hard for it.

 

[Kelzebubba]

Good points, Ben. In my case my sister gave me her old phone and put me on her plan just so I had a point of contact. My clothes were in good repair because I had purchased quality. When I was able to pick up a short term job I bought personal items, i.e. toothpaste, razor blades, soap and other necessary items not covered by food stamps in bulk. Public assistance is no gravy train. 2010-2011 was a year in hell. As far as just "get a job and suck it up" it wasn't as simple as it seems. No one, and I mean NO ONE, wanted to hire a college educated 55 year old man. I spent each day sending out resumes to no avail. I called on leads, lived at the State Employment center. I wasn't being lazy, I was just being unsuccessful. I had to collect bottles to raise bus fare. Yeah...It was a real smooth ride on public assistance. Walk a mile in my shoes guys before you judge.

I gave thanks for the help I received. I would rather pay taxes for that and eat what the sponges take than pay for other crap the government spends on. That's my story and I stick by it.

Added to a plan, probably not an iPhone would be my guess, probably $10 a month, that is reasonable.

Good quality clothes.

And you went the extra mile. You DID NOT ABUSE the system. But the people who do, are easily rooted out, people are retarded, you check their facebook pages at the least, see what they are doing. I knew people on food stamps and welfare that went on a cruise every year. It ain't right and it needs to stop.

 

[t.huynh]

Dad paying phone bill (counts as income). If he is spending $100+ for the iphone, scale it down a bit and get a less trendy phone. Also if she worked for a company that gave her an iPhone for personal use she is probably making more money than I do without the assistance. So you can sort of rule that out. Loaning a car... possible, but you can typically tell that 50 year old women don't have "interesting" bumper stickers or "Princess" stickers and license plates. If the baby-daddy is giving money that is not state sactioned child support, that is income. It isn't hard to understand this. I am broadening my mind, by not expanding it with illicit drugs. When you are in line with some skank talking about how she slept with three different guys and was so "high" the entire time paying for her case of soda and funions with food stamps with two infants in tow and then stops you out in the parking lot to ask you for gas money in her new mustang complete with "princess" accessories on the car, that goes beyond "borrowing" a car, and also abusing the system.

I am sorry, but if their family can afford to give (not loan every once in a while) them a car, pay a $100+ cell phone bill, then I really don't think they qualify for a government assistance to have a better quality of life than those that are working hard for it.

Now I feel like you're just making things up.

 

[The B]

Much smarter men than you have absolutely no clue what's going on in other people's lives. Drop some ego and mind your own dn business. If you have ANY reason to suspect abuse of the system, it's your civic duty to report it. Otherwise, you have no standing to complain.

 

[nwwoodsman]

Did your mom buy candy with her food stamps or pretty much real food with hers? I am willing to bet she bought real food with hers.

Not a bit of candy. I remember eating a lot of fruit and bread and butter sandwhiches. I believe we'd see a lot less children with "behavioral" issues and a reduction in obesity that is supposedly related to poverty if there were limits as to what people could purchase. There is absolutely no reason to allow the purchase of chips, ice cream, frozen pizzas, soda etc etc on those cards.

 

[Kelzebubba]

Thanks for your honesty nwwoodsman. That is what I am saying, you can tell by the purchase if someone needs it. There was a point in time when people were ashamed of being on public assistance. Now there are tons of folks that just walk up with their hands out and if you don't put anything in it, they are confused. I am tired of it.