Food stamp receipt

[RivkahChaya]

Or for cripes' sake, she was driving her employers' BMW. Gassing up employers' cars is something that all sorts of employees, from housekeepers, to personal assistants, to nannies who use the vehicles to transport the children, do.

People who work in garages test-drive cars all the time, too. People who work for dealerships test-drive the trade-ins. There are services where someone who is moving can hire a person to drive their car to the new location. She did a neighbor a favor, and took the car in for new tires, or an alignment. Maybe the neighbor was elderly and disabled, and it is hard for her to wait around, or she doesn't like dealing with the counter-people.

I can think of way, way too many reasons for someone to be driving another person's car to blithely assume that the woman with the EBT card and the BMW was driving her own car.

[Cervus]

Personal example: while house-sitting for my parents this past week, I was given permission to use their Cadillac if my car developed engine problems.

[AnglRdr]

Originally Posted by TripleAAA

So maybe, I'm just a little annoyed that I just barely have enough gas money to get to work and they're working the system.

"Working the system?" Isn't that the point of the system, for people to work so that they get the help they need, and to which they are entitled?

Or did you mean "game the system?" If that is what you meant, then you do not have enough information to know if that is what is going on.

But if you think you do, every state has a fraud hotline for people to contact if they suspect people are receiving benefits to which they are not entitled.

[Don Enrico]

Originally Posted by TripleAAA

And I understand that people with this nice stuff may have fallen on hard times, but if I lost my job and money was tight, I'm pretty sure I would try to sell my beamer and bling to make ends meet.

I understand about the car (although it has been pointed out that it may not have been her own car) but how much money will you make selling a used purse and sunglasses? Calculating in that you will need a new purse and (depending on the region) new sunglasses, and will have to spent some money going to a car booth sale or sending the items to an ebay buyer, you'll end up with a few dollars profit maximum. Would you really do that, especially if you expect (or hope) that the "hard times" will be over in a few months when you find a new job?

Same goes for the car, by the way. I don't know about the US car market, but here, selling a used car (even an expensive one like a mercedes or BMW) doesn't net you so much money. You'd be able to buy another (cheaper) used car, and pay for gas for a few months. Would it be worth it to sell your reliable Mercedes to trade in a Hyundai that may need expensive maintenance a few months down the road?

[Lainie]

Also, in many areas of the US, public transportation is either unavailable or rudimentary, and not a reliable way to get to, say, a job interview, or the grocery store, or a medical appointment.

[Wintermute]

Originally Posted by TripleAAA

I'm pretty sure I would try to sell my beamer and bling to make ends meet.

I am pretty strict when it comes to food stamps and that is beyond my expectation. Just because someone has a BMW does not mean they paid a lot for it. In the area where I live I can purchase a used BMW fairly cheap do to the volume of them.

and for selling their bling. While you pay a lot for 'bling' it does not have much of a resell value. Even a Tiffany's diamond loses a lot of value in resale. Go to ebay and you will see what I mean.

Now I do get annoyed when the car still has the sticker on it and they are using food stamps. I also get annoyed when they buy garbage with their food stamp money.

It shows a pattern of bad decisions that led them to the point of asking the government for money.

[Liza]

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

I understand about the car (although it has been pointed out that it may not have been her own car) but how much money will you make selling a used purse and sunglasses? Calculating in that you will need a new purse and (depending on the region) new sunglasses, and will have to spent some money going to a car booth sale or sending the items to an ebay buyer, you'll end up with a few dollars profit maximum. Would you really do that, especially if you expect (or hope) that the "hard times" will be over in a few months when you find a new job?

Not only that, but some states are realizing that they don't WANT you to hit rock bottom. Helping you while you still own a decent car and the clothes to interview in and even savings to pay for school or bills is far easier than making you have to wait until everything is gone. It's easier to help people through a rough spot than it is to make them start all over.

[RivkahChaya]

Originally Posted by Lainie

Also, in many areas of the US, public transportation is either unavailable or rudimentary, and not a reliable way to get to, say, a job interview, or the grocery store, or a medical appointment.

Or your crappy job that doesn't pay enough for you to quite make ends meet.

Originally Posted by Don Enrico

Same goes for the car, by the way. I don't know about the US car market, but here, selling a used car (even an expensive one like a mercedes or BMW) doesn't net you so much money. You'd be able to buy another (cheaper) used car, and pay for gas for a few months. Would it be worth it to sell your reliable Mercedes to trade in a Hyundai that may need expensive maintenance a few months down the road?

No, you are right. Cars devalue very quickly. The only real advantage is for a person who has a car with large monthly payments to trade it in, in order to make a deal on a cheaper car with lower payments, which dealers will do, but only if they come out ahead on the books, so you lose in the long run. If the car is paid for, you are better off keeping the car. If it is close to being paid for, but is still costing you a chunk each month, you are better off approaching the bank, and trying to renegotiate the loan, for lower payments over a longer period of time. You will still lose money, but less than you would lose to the dealer if you trade the car in.

Really, if you have a car that is paid for, unless it is so broken down it is dangerous, you are always better off financially, keeping it. I had a paid-for car need a wheel cylinder, all four brake sets, alignment, and catalytic converter in one year, and that was unusual; typically, it wouldn't need that much. Total bill (over several months) was about $745. When I had been making payments on the car, they were more than $200/month (this was a while ago). We once had a paid-for car need a $900 clutch, and $200 tires in a year, but that car had been almost $300/month. Both those cars were bought used, but nearly new, and still under partial warranty, so the repair bills were minimal when we were making payments; but even if we had had no repairs at all when we were making payments, we still would have had bigger outputs in the not-paid-for years.

Just another note: you don't know under what circumstances the car was bought. I once was rear-ended, by someone who was completely at fault, and I got a settlement from the insurance company for more than the car was worth, because I probably could have gotten even more if I had sued, since the other driver was unbelievably careless (turned onto the highway at night, and had forgotten to put her headlights on, then ran into me when I was stopped at an intersection on red, because she couldn't see that I wasn't in the turn lane, which had a green arrow, plowed my car way into the intersection, which could have been horrific if there had been cross-traffic), but I took a quick settlement, rather than pay lawyers, and wait to get a check.

The car that was totaled was paid for (I have bought lots of slightly used cars on short-term loans, and also paid off one car with insurance money when my father died), and I needed a new car right away. So I bought something with the insurance money that was more car than I needed, and much bigger than the last car, but it was what was on the lot that had the stuff I wanted. It was also the first non-American car I ever bought. If there had been a Lexus, or something, on the lot, and I could have bought it with what I had from the settlement, and it had all the things I needed, I might have gone home with that. I wouldn't have bought a Jaguar, or Bentley, because I couldn't afford the insurance, but I needed a car that day-- since I already had the check, the rental car was on my tab.

So, there are just too many scenarios I can imagine where selling the car is either not in the person's best financial interest, in either the short or long run, and then, even more where it just isn't her car.

If she'd been wearing a Rolex, there'd be a better case for "sell it, and get a cheaper one."

The bit about not hitting rock bottom is well-taken, too.

I don't have a cite, but I am pretty sure that it is easier to get back up from a stumble, than from the bottom of a well, and probably saves the government money in the long run to help people treading water to get ahead (you can tread water in a well-- that isn't really a mixed metaphor, is it?) than to pull people out from under, resuscitate them, and leave them treading (did I pull that metaphor off?) Makes for a happier constituency, too.

[gopher]

Again why do people dress up their hatred with righteous indignation? Just be honest and admit you hate the poor. The truth shall set you free.