Shameful: $69 million in California welfare money spent in Vegas and Disneyland

More than $69 million in California welfare money, meant to help the needy pay their rent and clothe their children, has been spent or withdrawn outside the state in recent years, including millions in Las Vegas, hundreds of thousands in Hawaii and thousands on cruise ships sailing from Miami.

State-issued aid cards have been used at hotels, shops, restaurants, ATMs and other places in 49 other states, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Guam, according to data obtained by The Times from the California Department of Social Services. Las Vegas drew $11.8 million of the cash benefits, far more than any other destination. The money was accessed from January 2007 through May 2010.

Welfare recipients must prove they can't afford life's necessities without government aid: A single parent with two children generally must earn less than $14,436 a year to qualify for the cash assistance and becomes ineligible once his or her income exceeds about $20,000, said Lizelda Lopez, spokeswoman for the Department of Social Services.

This probably why Cali is broke and handing out IOUs because of those who take advantage of the welfare system. Over the course of time they found out that many who qualified were using benefits to go on gambling junkets and vacations.

Of the nearly $12 million accessed in Las Vegas, more than $1 million was spent or withdrawn at shops and casino hotels on, or within a few blocks of, the 4.5-mile strip. The list includes $8,968 at the Tropicana, $7,995 at the Venetian and its Grand Canal Shoppes, and $1,332 at Tix 4 Tonight, seller of discount admission for such acts as Cirque du Soleil.

Of course the resources to investigate people who do not check in with the system is being cited however that in no way can account for the millions spent on things other than what welfare was intended for. There is clearly a foundation of abuse here on a massive scale. Perhaps Cali should legalize a popular and benficial "herb" to help pay for Californians lifestyle they have become accustomed to at the hand of their state.

Source and article here

a girl that used to work where I worked would take nice little weekend holidays in the mountains....rented a nice little hotel with a jucuzzi, pool table, and a bunch of other goodies in it.....
it seems that the child support money was placed on a gov't issued atm card....
maybe this is where they are getting the money for the cruises and gambling...
either that or they are hitting it big on the gambling...

reply to post by dawnstar


Morning,

Funny you say that because there are several cases being investigated now here in SC where child support is deposited to the EBT cars that replaced food stamp "dollars" and those people did the same hting. Most forget or do not know that the cards work the same as a Mastercard, Visa in that they give the spender a reciept and it records the same as credit cards where and what time they spent their funds as well how much.

yes, but if the person is only getting child support and no food stamps or other aide....
well, can we really say much??
the dad might have something to say, unless of course, he's meeting her in vagas for a fun weekend...
but, well.....
if it's not tax money...then it's no one's business...

if its child support its NOT government money .Its money dad pays to help with kids.
and sure ca is broke because of 69 million .It has Nothing to do with the Billions in froad .
Why just ONE small town mayor was pulling in OVER 700k a year.
ca problems have little to do with the poor.
But i do understand you .because have been bitten by a BIG dog and cant bite him back you turn on a smaller dog and bite him.
Personal i find that cowardly and weak. I know the real difference between the US and UK the people in the UK have courage to alest try and fight the real problem. But like two dogs in a fighting ring you will go after each others thought never once stopping to realize its the men who PUT you in that ring that are getting you to fight each other wile you kill each other they get all the money thats made from it.
No i take it back not cowards FOOLS And the US government just LOVES a fool.

Child support is for the child, NOT the parent to use on junkets and such. A little more research will do both of you good on that issue. If the paying spouse can prove that the money is was being used for vacations, shopping and such and not the child's best interests, then that money must be paid back into a fund setup by DHSS or if the agency chooses, if the other parent is found to be a suitable home then the child can be moved to them or placed in state care.

The argument of "its child support not welfare" does not diminsh nor excuse a parent who recieves such money to be excused from the law.

the state will not cut out-of-state access for the cards. As long as welfare recipients get clearance from their county case worker to be absent from the program's 32-hour-a-week job training requirement, Wagner said they may travel out of state and utilize the funds in a proper fashion. But casino and cruise ship purchases will no longer be authorized.

www.travelagentcentral.com...

this is a warning sent out by travel agents that their cards will not work anymore in certain locations.

reply to post by mikelee


hey, I already said, dad might want a say in it....
but, as a taxpayer, unless taxpayer money is being used, it isn't my business...

I can see a trip to a vagas casino being a little hard to justify...but in the case of my coworker, well...it was a little muddled....ya see, the kids went along also, so well....they got to enjoy the luxury cabin also..
and remember, you are talking about california...I imagine some of the child support recipients are quite used to luxury!!
and, well, if mom is earning a ton of money also, and she just saves the child support for a rainy day or whatever, and the kids have everything that the need or want.. with her money, well....it gets a little muddled there also...

it's something that needs to be investigated, first to find out if the person is accepting gov't aide, and then to see if her splurging is depriving the kids of an adequate lifestyle (remember, if the father is someone like tiger woods, well, the "adequate lifestyle" woudl seem a tad bit luxurious to us common folks.
and, hate to say this, but wonder how many of these cards might belong to foster parents???

Frankly. I'm not surprised. This state is filled with these worthless, bottom-feeding heathens.

S&F

reply to post by dawnstar


Agreed

reply to post by inivux


Love this post Inivux. with the exception if its' beauty this state is already bankrupt on several levels. Oh and to stay on topic let us not forget the welfare money showing up on cruise ships....abclocal.go.com.../state&id=7704795

This reminds me of that lady who was displaced because of Katrina. She was given one of those preloaded visa cards that was supposed to be used to buy food, clothes and whatever else she needed for her family.

She bought a lottery ticket with it and won millions of dollars.

This is why when I see a person in need of food, I take them to the store and buy them food. Welfare reciepents should be given store vouchers only. Give them vouchers for everything, clothes, food, gas and rent. Child support should be done the same way.

I wonder how much child support is used for cigarrettes, alcohol and clubs for mommy or daddy to enjoy. I know my sister uses her child support for these things.

It floored me when I found out that there is no law that dictates how Child Support is to be spent, and yes it does bother me that many recipients of Child Support do not spend that money on the care of their child, but upon themselves.

However, it doesn't surprise me in the least that there is no law that dictates how Welfare is to be spent by the recipient either. Granted, Welfare is Public Tax Dollars as opposed to Court-Mandated Personal Funds, but the premise is the same legally.

At what point should the State violate the privacy and autonomy of their Constituency? Do we want the State to play the role of supervising Nanny in all things or not?

To propose monitoring and enforcing how these monies are used by the recipients starts one down that "Slippery Slope" argument towards a Nanny State.

Besides it not being the State's right to violate the privacy and autonomy of the recipients, to monitor and enforce how this money is spent would be overly burdensome financially, to the point where concerning oneself over a few bad apples wasting $69 million out of California's $12.4 billion spent annually on Welfare doesn't amount to much. To micro-manage less than .005% is simply not cost-effective.

Yes, it is insanely unfair that in troubled times those who are given a hand-up would treat it as a hand-out and blow it all in Vegas instead of feeding their kids or trying to better their situation in a more tangible way, when other people in need might be denied because there isn't enough to go around. However, monitoring and enforcing how that money is spent by recipients, Civil Liberties and the ACLU be damned, to try to minimize (as you can't prevent) that .005% loss is not the answer either.

Originally posted by Becoming




This is why when I see a person in need of food, I take them to the store and buy them food. Welfare reciepents should be given store vouchers only. Give them vouchers for everything, clothes, food, gas and rent. Child support should be done the same way.

they tried vouchers once and found they were being used for drugs. the vouchers were called food stamps.
there were stores that would buy them a $.75 on the dollar and then the holder would buy drugs.
they went to the cards as it was easier to track there use

reply to post by fraterormus


and yet, I do believe that if your child recieves social security money, you have to keep a log as to how that money is spent!

so they are meddling anyways...

reply to post by ANNED


The vouchers I had in mind was tradable for goods only, no cash.

Think about it.

A grocery, clothe and gas chain gets a contract with the state to accept these vouchers. They are told that in no circumstances they are to give money for these vouchers. They are only used to trade merchandise. This place of buisness then turns in all vouchers and reciepts to show that they were used as told.

Kind of how WIC has done.

Originally posted by Becoming
This reminds me of that lady who was displaced because of Katrina. She was given one of those preloaded visa cards that was supposed to be used to buy food, clothes and whatever else she needed for her family.

She bought a lottery ticket with it and won millions of dollars.

This is why when I see a person in need of food, I take them to the store and buy them food. Welfare reciepents should be given store vouchers only. Give them vouchers for everything, clothes, food, gas and rent. Child support should be done the same way.

I wonder how much child support is used for cigarrettes, alcohol and clubs for mommy or daddy to enjoy. I know my sister uses her child support for these things.

I was going to post something similar. I am curious to know how much welfare money is spent on beer, cigarettes, and lottery tickets. I've been in convenient stores in low income area and watched many people who I assume or on welfare do exactly that. Some people are poor for a reason.

I am all for food stamps for those who qualify because only food can be bought with an EBT card, but giving out welfare checks, free money is simply irresponsible.

There are many stores that will swipe the ebt card for "grocerys" then give cash to the card holder and they charge like 20 bucks for every 50 dollars ( or something along those lines) the card holder gets. This is a well known scam that goes on in many citys. Just because someone has an ebt card does not equate into them only being able to get food stuff with it.

reply to post by Becoming


there really isn't any way for them to prevent someone exchanging their food stamps for money....
the food stamp vouchers used to be sold to friends for cash....I've had many people ask me to do it for them through the years....
then they went to the debit cards, so well, they take their buddies in, let them shop and then cash out for them....and they are given the money after they leave the store.
or they bypass even going to the store and give them the debit card...

the wic is a little more tricky...you have to go to the store, you can only buy certain types of food with them, and then you're signature is on the back of the voucher....
about as secure as they are going to get them I think!