UK Guardian: Looking for fraud? Don't look at food stamp recipients, look at Wall Street
A few weeks ago South Bronx public schools had a half-day, with dismissal at noon. Yet almost all the kids stayed an extra hour, waiting in the cafeteria to eat the schools' free lunch. Teachers even got calls from parents of children who hadn't stayed, asking them why they let their children leave without a meal. The teachers explained that this had never been an issue before. Kids had always left when they could. The parents responded, "That was before the cut in food stamps. We get $45 less a month now".
Sadly, Republicans in Congress are not just content to let the prior increases lapse, they are pushing for even greater cuts. They try to justify the reductions by pointing to the growth in food stamps and painting it as program rife with abuse. Of all the rule breakers out there, it's sad that Republicans seem to be focused only on the poor. You can look at any program and find some degree of abuse. When it comes to benefit fraud, food stamp abuse attracts a small, desperate group looking for another way to stay alive, to feed their addiction. They don't take any pride in their desperation.
Yet food stamps also keep about 47 million people fed, legally and efficiently. A tiny amount of fraud, estimated to be only 1.5% of the system, is not a bad price to pay for that to keep people from starving.
The much bigger abuser of programs, and exploiter of loopholes in rules, and regulations is Wall Street. They don't do it out of desperation. They do it out of greed. When will congressional Republicans call them out for it?
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/03/fraud-wall-street-food-stamps-congress-cuts
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