The LA Times has a story out about the mess with FEMA and the money that was issued to victims. A lot of money was issued to people who were not entitled to it and others spent the money on questionable items. The LAT partly excuses FEMA stating that when you are dealing with rapid relief mistakes are bound to be made. Isn’t it unfortunate we live in a country where people would come from all over to scam money from the government.
The LAT also tells us about the folks who were entitled to the money and spent it on divorces, sex change operations, pornography and many other things that one would have a hard time describing as essential. The problem I have with the LAT is they claim that we should not blame the people for how they spent the money because it was given to them to spend as they saw fit and on things they thought they needed.
I am sorry but the government gave people my tax money in an emergency. As a taxpayer I have a reasonable objection to people spending that money of non-essential things. People can pay for their own divorces, sex changes and pornography. Our tax dollars, and make no mistake, this is our money, should be spent on essentials like food and beverages. The casual dismissal by the LAT shows that they do not understand what it means to be responsible with the taxpayers money. They believe it is OK to spend it on junk.
When people get food stamps there are mechanisms in place to prevent them from using the stamps to purchase things that are not allowed, like liquor, and non-essential items. The stamps (a misnomer in today’s computer world) are to be used for food and beverage. The machines will not allow people to purchase items that are not allowed. There has got to be a way to code the debit cards so people can not use them for anything but the essentials. They should never be able to make a cash withdrawal.
No, the LAT has it wrong. People who used the cards for the items mentioned should have to pay the government back and those who received benefits and were not entitled should be sent to jail. I told you back when the government so casually and carelessly started giving our money away for Katrina that there would be a great deal of fraud and abuse. They promised that there would be people from the Inspector General’s office to oversee this. Where are these people because they are slacking on the job.
Source: LAT