After 35 successful years in targeted publishing operations management I became a bail bondsman and bounty hunter at the age of 58. I have three guys working for me and three teams of bounty hunters.
Here are some thoughts on food stamps and welfare and those who participate:
1. After a year and a half of hunting we just picked up a felon on the south side of Chicago who was on the run on a $10,000 bond we had to forfeit. When we snagged him he had a Michigan Bridge card (food stamp credit card) on him in fact he had just gotten back from the store when we nicked him. I can say from experience that many if not most of the folks we deal with, their families and friends have Bridge Cards.
2. A law is now going forward in Michigan, yes this is true, to stop Bridge Card holders from getting cash from ATM’s at casino’s, no I am not making that up. And included in this same bill is a statute to prevent criminals with pending charges and/or on the run from getting Bridge Cards (currently there is no communication between Dept of Human Services and the Dept of Corretions, the left hand does not know what the left is doing. Criminals on welfare, ain’t that a hoot.
3. We know for a fact that Bridge Cards are regularly sold for cash usually at a discount. We know for a fact because all to often Bobby calls us from jail and tells us to call Jimmy and have him go sell his Bridge Card so that he can get out of jailf or a family member or friend they’ll get Bobby out as soon as they run down the street and sell their Bridge Card.
4. If you have a history of drug use and/or alcohol abuse there is nothin to prevent you from getting a Bridge Card. The card is then sold for drugs and alcohol. 99.534% of our clients and most of their friends and relatives smoke. 90% of the clients, friends and relatives we deal with look healthy (even the drug users usually), in fact many are chubby, certainly dress well (except for the baggy low rider thug pants, utterly tasteless in my view, but heck I’m an old guy), smell good, probably dropped out of school before 16, have at least two kids if they are 17 or 18 (the record was a young lady who was 20 with six kids by 4 different fathers, she was cute as heck), and probably never worked in their life as they have no skills whatsoever, no education, have no idea how to apply or interview for a job, have learned a faux English that at times is very difficult to understand (I am forever saying please repeat that and talk slow). AND THIS IS TRUE OF WHITE AND BLACK equally, just so you know I am not a racist, although I guess I am because no I don’t like Obama’s policies.
5. Many of these people, white and black, are on Social Security Disability. Those on SSD are young, in their 20′s & 30′s and also old. Most have learned how to game the system, usually a bad back works the best, and the game is to keep going back until you get the checks rolling in for life, you never leave SSD and it is something highly desired in all low income cultures. Welfare, subsidized housing is a way of life. So they got themselves a life, a bad one and a sad one, but it is all they know.
The welfare system from top to bottom is gamed and abused by everyone and keeps the low income end of our culture entrenched from generation to generation. It is all they know. Poverty in 1960 America 12%, Poverty in 2010 America 12%, poverty in 2011 under Obama 15%. What a waste.
Bottom line is I have coined a phrase that pretty much sums it up:
“The Federal and State governments pay the poor to stay poor, no hand up, just a check down”. At this one thing the Bureaucrats excel beyond our wildest dreams.
Thanks
