Benefit Abuse

During the last election cycle, there was plenty of discussion concerning people on federal benefits and the abuse which abounds. For the sake of disclosure, due to my multiple disabilities, I am presently receiving Social Security Disability payments, all because I lost a kidney, had colon cancer, lost my spleen and had several ancillary surgeries related to all this since December, 2010.

I am physically unable to perform the tasks I did at Home Depot after I retired from banking in 2007. Now that I have disclosed this, from my perspective I can assure you that I am endeavoring on a path to a new career, obviously commenting on issues of the day, and hopefully, I will be picked up by a media company and finally no longer collect disability.

Having disclosed all this, I would like to talk about the massive fraud presently infiltrating certain government benefit programs, specifically the Department of Agriculture's SNAP Program, generically known as food stamps. Ed Koch and I debated this many times when he was alive.

I can tell you from my own experience the fraud and abuse I have personally witnessed.

I was behind a woman not too long ago, who purchased her groceries with her SNAP card and received $80 as a cash return. When I was walking out of the grocery store, she was buying a carton of cigarettes at the courtesy counter.

Another time I was in a convenience store and the man in front of me was purchasing a case of beer with his card.

And still another time, the woman in front of me paid with her groceries with food coupons and was given cash as change.

Now, I agree that we need to help our brothers and sisters in their time of need. I have written about our need to help others less fortunate. But when the  person is abusing the system, well, that just gets me over the edge. And when the vendor takes the card or coupon for ineligible items, well, that is the height of hubris.

I suggest you watch Fox News tonight and see other examples of abuse and fraud of a system that has no checks or balances. From what I have seen from the trailers, the stories are of worse fraud than the stories I have related, especially the man who collects disability, surfs all day long and buys lobster with his SNAP card.

And we wonder why we are so in debt.