Oh if ever there was a story to feed the flames of welfare-recipient hatred, it's this. A Michigan woman who won a million dollars from the lottery and was still receiving $200 a month in food stamps was found dead in her home this weekend. She was found with her one-year-old daughter in her arms. Police suspect she may have died of a drug overdose.
Oh great. Bring up food stamps and you'll see people frothing at the mouth, insisting that welfare fraud is rampant and they're all cheaters ("except for my cousin/sister-in-law/mother that one time they lost their job and really needed it..."). And now here's probably the most heinous example of welfare fraud we've seen in a long time: A millionaire on food stamps. But I still say this story is the exception that proves the rule. Food stamps fraud is rare.
Food stamp fraud is actually down to one percent. It's still one percent too much, and obviously we'd all like to eradicate it completely. But it's nowhere near as common as some folks would like you to think. The vast, VAST majority of people on food stamps are on assistance because they need help feeding their family. Many actually work, but they earn so little they can't afford to pay for food and housing and childcare and medical bills.
When Amanda Clayton won the lottery she failed to report her winnings. But she was found out and was sentenced to probation in July. She paid back the $5,500 she owed. After paying for a few things for her family and setting up college funds for her two children Amanda was left with $67,000. She said she hated the attention her winnings brought her and didn't want any more of the money. So there you go -- looks like Amanda was less a conniving scam artist and more just a deeply troubled woman.
I just think it's a lot easier to get angry and blame welfare recipients than to take a clear, sober look at our whole system and ask some tough questions about why we pay people so little, why record-high corporate tax breaks and CEO salaries haven't produced real jobs, and what we can possibly do about it all.
As always, whenever you scratch the surface of an outrageous story like this there's always a whole lot of details that tell another, less outrageous, much sadder story. Another lotto winner made miserable by the burdens that come with winning. Another life out of control. Two kids who've lost their mother. I have only compassion for Amanda. There's no need for hate here.
Do you think winning the lottery causes people more pain than helps them?
Image via WXYZ.com
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Comments 50
Had you taken the time to actually read and comprehend your very own sources you would see that the "1%" you so gleefully quote related to retailer fraud, NOT client fraud. I understand why you would be selective in your data to make sure it marches in lockstep with your narrow minded belief structure, however to present it as factual without making it clear that your data in no way paints the complete picture regarding fraud shows an immense lack of journalistic integrity at the very least.
While I get that living in your insulated ivory tower prevents you from grasping the struggles faced by those of us living in the real world, to claim an understanding of a situation that you know nothing of simply displays you to be the pseudo-elitist you are.
The current welfare/TANF system is rife with fraud, and the fact that these fraudsters are protected by your demagogues in the Democratic party only serves to ensure that those truly deserving of the benefits are denied time and time again in favor of those willing to lie and perpetrate fraud.
Doing drugs with a baby in her arms? Cry me a river.
Also there is a major lack of priorities among americans (not just welfare recipients). How is it when people claim they are strugling, they still manage to get the latest iphone. You don't need a smartphone in the first place, at leat make do with a cheap one. And since when are cable and internet "neccesities"?
Did I shout for joy, bill? No, I just have no patience for stupid people or the "we don't know, we weren't there" rationalization. I don't need an eyewitness report to believe something and I don't have to give a known liar and cheat the benefit of the doubt.
She made a mistake. She said she was sory, paid back the money. She deserves a second chance. You do not know what happened. None of us do. She might of had a heart attack or a stroke. And if it is one of those, you owe he family an apology, for being a heartless person.