If a welfare mom gets too much money or she later becomes employed,

[SoCalDem]

she must pay back the money she "owes" the government..or it's withheld from any tax refund she might have coming in April.. The government will hound these people and withhold services until the money is paid back.. they get no mercy..

Why is Brownie not being held to the same standard?

He ripped off the US government when he lobbied for, got a job that he was totally unequipped for, and his bungled job not only cost money, it cost LIVES..

It may be impossible to legally hold him responsible for the deaths, but the very least that should happen, is for him to be forced to REPAY the money he "earned" while occupying his position at FEMA. Apparently he did show up for work, so whatever the lowest paid FEMA employee was making at the time, could be deducted from what he owes..

I would not have the money returned to federal coffers though..

How about a "Brownie Lottery" for people in the 9th wArd? Call it "Win Brownie's Money".. New Orleans folk love a fun time..hell why not tie the lottery into a parade or festival...

just sayin...

[WildClarySage]

1. Same for Halliburton, Exxon, etc...

Can't figure out for the life of me why corporate welfare fraud is never punished.

[unpossibles]

2. 2 words:

white. males.



(generally)

((ok, that was 3 words... sue me))

[tx_dem41]

4. Huh? n/t

[unpossibles]

14. "2 words" is my answer to the previous question

"Can't figure out for the life of me why corporate welfare fraud is never punished."

because it is a good old boy network, and mostly white males. The same people who complain about the poor stealing their money did not get upset when Noe "lost" several million dollars, or when we overpaid Haliburton several million more.

[tx_dem41]

18. So if it were any of the hundreds of white male Democratic politicians...

they would get the same hands-off treatment, but if it were Condie Rice, or Clarence Thomas they would be frog-marched. Got it.

[unpossibles]

22. well, I did say "mostly"

unless you want to argue that women and non-whites are well represented in the world of CEOs. Of course, it is more of a class issue than a gender or race issue, but I think that to a lot of people who froth at the mouth at Welfare, when they hear "welfare" the first thing they picture is a black single mom.

Racism, sexism, and xenophobia are still very much alive, sadly. Tell me you have never heard the following: The Mexicans(or blacks or Irish or women or gays or whatever) are out there stealing our jobs (or tax money or women or marriage or whatever).


And yes, you could interpret my statement as racist/sexist if you chose, but it was not how I meant it. I was just trying to say that the right wing welfare hatred meme is (in my opinion) very racist at heart. If not, why don't they care when a rich person steals or loses more money than is in the entire welfare program?

[tx_dem41]

3. Source on your "paying back welfare" claim? n/t

[SoCalDem]

8. 3 people I know had it happen to them

I know that 3 is in the category of "my old friend Ann Ecdotal", but one friend was on assistance when her daughter was a toddler and her marriage ended...YEARS later (like 14), she finally got a chunk of money collected by the DA for child support, and the state deducted what she had collected on assistance for those months she had help..


another is the daughter of a friend of mine.. she was on assistance for a while after her husband died in a car accident.. The amount was withheld from her tax refund..

and a friend of mine whose brother is on SSI, was "accidentally" overpaid $30 or $40 a month for a few checks, and they deducted it all from one check....never even told him....

[tx_dem41]

11. Overpaid amounts I understand completely.

I also understand on the child support one. That seems fair, since she eventually got the money (regardless of the time interval).

On the employment thing, I think your friend is confusing the fact that tax (especially SSI and Medicare) is owed on even assistance money and they will be withheld. Just a guess though. I was on government assistance once, and that was the case.

[Rainbowreflect]

15. You sign over your rights to child support for the time

you are receiving public assistance. SSI will alway make you pay back any over payment. But I have never heard of anyone having to pay back public assistance & I work if that field.

[left is right]

10. Me

When my kids were 5 and 6, I went umemployed and had used up all of my unemployment benefits--well, kids insist they have to eat and they like having a roof over their heads so I went on welfare for a few months. Later, I got a job but I wasn't going to receive a check for 4 weeks, so I defrauded the government by accepting the welfare check and the food stamps even though I had already worked a week. It caught up with me and I had to pay back both and inorder to get it, they took my state income tax return for three years in a row

[tx_dem41]

12. Not to seem harsh...

but that only seems fair. You were collecting two checks for the same time period. The same thing happened to me.

[BuelahWitch]

24. She wasn't being paid for four weeks

The landlord doesn't want to wait four weeks. They want to be paid NOW. So do the utilities. How is she going to feed her kids?

The money that she got was more than likely a mere pittance compared to the Corporate Welfare Whores. A drop in the bucket. Have a little compassion please.

[SoCalDem]

26. People forget that when you get a job, they do not pay you in advance

and the "bridge" time can be brutal..

MOST middle class families are a month from homelessness..

Mosty have lttle or no savings, and if there is NO MONEY coming in for a month, you either belly-up or get so far behind, that you never catch up

[Oeditpus Rex]

5. You answered your own question

It's because he's not a "welfare mom."

[spindrifter]

6. They will also prosecute

the person who makes false statements, knowing they are false to receive welfare benefits. There are numerous areas where people are prosecuted, as these cases are "fraud" or various degrees of theft. In order to get federal dollars, states must have audit programs and be willing to prosecute in order to get back money that "shouldn't" have been paid.
I agree, what is good for the goose--who may have an overpayment of a couple of thousand $$s is good for the gander.
Yes, Br*wnie, you can go home now--find the dog sitter, and roll up the sleeves--as you need to look like you are working. But you ought to take back the clothes from N*rdstrom. You'll be shopping at K-Marche now like a lot of the rest of us.

[Clark2008]

7. What state does this happen in?

I was on welfare for a couple of months when I was unemployed and I've not had to pay anything back.

[SoCalDem]

9. Kelli-forn-yah

:)

[melissinha]

13. let me get this straight

so you eventually have to pay it back... Now say someone had been collecting for years, what is the incentive to get a job???? you'd have to pay for years and years out of refund.....

I had no idea, that sure debunks the whole welfare mommies crackpot notion right wingers are so against.

Frankly, I support it. I think that like most things, it can get abused, but that isn't a reason to punish everyone... Like all of your friends and two friends of mine who went on it temporarily to get out of a tough situation for two monts...

[SoCalDem]

17. My point is that if you are high on the ladder,

things like this get overlooked, but if you are poor or were poor when you got the help, they always seem to be able to find you, and get the money repaid..

Brownie was well paid for a job he never should have had, cost lives and untold suffering, and he gets SYMPATHY.. the poor guy..he was in over his head... poor brownie...

[melissinha]

20. I got it

I was just trying to understand hwo it affects real people... But yes the argument should hold true for everyone.... frankly... it has been my position that if Bush should have to donate his entire family fortune to the treasury for bankruoting the country.... most people have to live with the consequences of their financial decisions or with the consequences of unforseen emergencies, yet when people purposefully defraud the government of millions of dollars their wealth and power protects them????

[Gormy Cuss]

19. Payback in very specific instances

When it is later determined you weren't entitled to it or, in the case of child support when your assistance would have been lower if the nonpaying parent had been contributing at the time.

One of the worst things about public assistance is the mind-numbing web of rules and regulations. It's all too common for people to be dinged retroactively because they used benefits in a month when their income eligibility changed. Transitioning to work on your own is much harder rather than through a sponsored program with counselors who can lead you through the regulation minefield.

It's one of those ways the system makes the welfare families feel special, sort of like Queen for a Day. :sarcasm:

I think anyone who talks about how easy it is on welfare should be stripped of their possessions and told to try it out for six months.

[SoCalDem]

21. My friend's daugher-in-law had just had a baby and was on WIC

and public assistance. The husband (my friend's shifty son) had no job.. The assistance they got was in the form of an ATM-style card, which the daughter-in-law had full access to. Since he is able-bodied, he was required to go to classes and then a "make-work" job..of course he was paid in check form, so HE had the check, and the "assistance" was reduced by the amount of his check.. The outcome? She now has less money to live on for her and the baby, and scumbum son/husband cashes the check and blows the money..:grr:..

She needs to divorce him, but her self esteem is minus 500, and she's flat broke.. My friend has all but cut her own son off because she feels so terrible about how he treats his wife & baby.. Grandma always sees to it that they get what they need, but she's struggling herself..

[Gormy Cuss]

23. Yes, and if she was divorced his check would have been reduced

Ain't it grand? The rules don't have room for bad behavior by one parent. If she had her own case, the agency would have gone after him for the child support and reduced the check or transferred it to her and cut her benefit dollar for dollar, but either way she would have had the resources for the baby.

I prefer the old names for welfare, ADC and AFDC (Aid to Families with Dependent Children) as opposed to TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families) because the old name for welfare put the emphasis where it belonged: it's all about kids.

I hope she can get up the courage to file for divorce. There should be resources in her county to help her figure out what it will take and for how much money. If she qualified for TANF there should be some Legal Aid type help available. At least she has the support of her mother-in-law.

[alarimer]

16. I had to repay some unemplyement insurance once

When I finally got a job. It was maybe one week's worth. Apparently I started work and collected unemployment during the same week. Unfortuately because it was a state job and only paid once a month, I did not see any money from that job for over another month so I was REALLY broke, though I had a job. The pay period for that job was the 10th of one month to the 9th of the next (we got paid on the 10th, instead of the 1st; it was bizarre) and I started the job on about the 5th of Jan. So my big fat paycheck in Feb was for about 5 days. I actually did not get an real paycheck for two months!!! And the state required me to pay back some measly amount in unemployment compensation.

[Iris]

25. White Collar Welfare works a little bit differenlty.

[SoCalDem]

27. White collar welfare just plain works..

They have the connections necessary to get all the bennies, and to have it all neatly covered up..

Most people do not know that McDonalds Corp gets govt subsidies...Walmart gets "concessions" in EVERY community they infect...ConAgra/Archer-Daniels-Midland/etc get "farm subsidies"..