Hans Bader points to a serious problem of food stamps being available to people without limits on assets with what is certainly a extremely rare situation--but one that just makes me scratch my head in amazement, because when I was young, Food Stamps was considered a little bit shameful. You might do it out of need, but this doesn't seem like
need. From the March 7, 2012
Daily Caller:
While most people have played the “if I had a million dollars I would ____ ” thought game, few fill that blank in with “stay on public assistance.”
Amanda Clayton, a 24-year-old from Lincoln Park, Michigan, is one of the few who does, and she is getting away with it. Clayton won $1 million from the Michigan State Lottery this fall, but she is still collecting and using $200 a month in food assistance from the taxpayers with her Michigan Bridge Card.
“I thought that they would cut me off, but since they didn’t, I thought maybe it was okay because I’m not working,” the lottery winner who just purchased a new house and car told Local 4 in Detroit. The station even filmed her shamelessly purchasing goods.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/07/lottery-winner-on-food-stamps-i-thought-maybe-it-was-okay-because-im-not-working/#ixzz1oSu2hFQI
Her justification is that she has no income and two houses. Of course, one of those is a house she bought after winning a million dollars. Even if she is taking the payout over 30 years (as would be sensible for someone her age), that's more than $33,000 a year gross, or about $2200 a month net. It's not extravagant income, but unless she has five or six kids to feed, it's hard to see her as needy.
Talk about a distorted sense of entitlement!
ReplyDeleteThe Daily Caller story mentions that she took the lump sum, about $500K after present value cuts and taxes. if she paid cash for a house, she might be down to $400K. there are several casinos in the metri Detroit area, so she likely will fully qualify for food stamps quite soon.
ReplyDelete"Even if she is taking the payout over 30 years (as would be sensible for someone her age),"
ReplyDeleteShe took a lump sum payment. Idiot that she is.
It is well documented that a high percentage of lottery winners quickly end up broke again in a few years. The stories of lottery mansions with dead lawns and green swimming pools comes to mind.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't know how to manage money when you don't have it, you aren't likely to suddenly learn how when you get it. Instead the compulsive spending just goes insane!
"If you don't know how to manage money when you don't have it, you aren't likely to suddenly learn how when you get it."
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it, if you don't understand enough about finances that you think gambling is a good way to obtain money, then there's a very good chance that you don't know how to manage your money, too!