The American entitlement system has grown immensely since the founding of the country. Only 53% of Americans pay federal income tax and the amount of people on food stamps have hit record highs. Many critics of the welfare state believe that it is heavily abused and does little to actually reduce poverty. Business Insider reports on an anonymous case worker who reveals the truth about the food stamp program:
Who cheats the system:
“You’ll see a statistic floating around that states than food stamp fraud is ~1 percent or less, but I’m here to tell you that is crap. That is only what is caught. ‘Fraud’ is a fairly loose term. We also use the term IPV, or Intentional Program Violation. It’s hard for me to put a percentage number on it because the cases that aren’t going through changes, or aren’t messed up and never come across my desk.”
How people get away with it:
“[The number of] People who inaccurately report their situation is rampant. Mother and two kids and mom’s boyfriend. Mom doesn’t report that the boyfriend is living there and making $3,000 a month. Or she does report that he lives there and pays the rent, but says that they ‘purchase and prepare’ their food separately so his income doesn’t count in the determination for mom and kids’ food stamps.”
What he really thinks about welfare/food stamp/Medicaid:
“It’s just this monster of an entitlement program that has grown into an expectation that I do my best to administer according to the wacko rules put in place by our politicians.”
