Remember the "Welfare Queen" during the Reagan era?

[jasmine621]

Well, please tell me when the public is going to wake up to all those "welfare kings and queens" living in the poligomist colonies across the nation? They have been swindling the government (that they say they despise) out of billions in welfare payments for decades.

[Juche]

1. welfare queen = subtle fear and hatred of blacks and freeloaders

The welfare queen was an attempt to play on peoples hidden fears of blacks and their outrage against cheaters. It never was a rational bias.

Point being, since poligamists don't arise alot of those same fears, I doubt it'll work.

[depakid]

8. Yep, it was code

Reagan had a way of marshaling "white backlash" without being overtly racist- though it didn't take much (even at the time) to see what he was doing....

Let's just say that it wasn't a coincidence that Reagan's 1980 debuted at the Neshoba County Fair in Mississippi.

Bob Herbert wrote about that not too long back:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/opinion/13herbert.html?hp

[jasmine621]

13. This was not about blacks or code words. It meant to be an exampl

the hopcrisy of the RW who actively pursue alledged welfare cheats in the inner citry but the coning and fraud that takes place in all thos polgamy colonies is seldom even mentioned.

[midnight]

2. I went to Chris Dodd's web site. There was some

discussion this week about helping the homeowners with subprime loans. In his discussion on how the FHA will do that it is expected that they will reap the benefits of homeowners equity. But the bail out of banks with tax payer money does not share the same benefits. No I think they get to keep all the benefits, and we get to shoulder the cost. The banks are the real welfare kings and queens.

[Hardrada]

3. Polygamist, actually.

[yourout]

4. Now we have Corporate Welfare Kings.

Big Oil being the most noteworthy.

[stevedeshazer]

5. Nice try.

Welfare queens in 'poligomist' colonies?

[leftyclimber]

7. What they do is this (spelling notwithstanding):

Because you can *legally* only be married to only one person, the other marriages in the FLDS "marriages" don't count in the eyes of the gummint. So what you end up with is a bunch of legally-unmarried mothers who qualify for welfare checks. So these guys with 20 wives, they're collecting welfare (because the women don't see a nickel of the money) for 19 of their "wives." They call it "bleeding the beast."

edit to the OP: These are not "welfare queens." These are young girls who are being physically, mentally, and sexually abused.

Check out Jon Krakauer's Under the Banner of Heaven (where I got this info). He's from Corvallis, and talks about the FLDS group outside of Woodburn. Interesting (and highly disturbing) stuff.

[napi21]

6. I disagree with that. At least in my case I had 2 kids, my husband worked daylight & I

worked 9PM to 5AM 5 days a week because we didn't have $$ for a babysitter. One of our neighbors bragged about being on welfare & getting food stamps, but lived in her paid for house & somehow managed to buy a new car every two years. Our newest car was 10 yo. One of the ladies I worked with bragged about being able to get welfare checks because she worked night turn so she was always home when they came to check, and she was also receiving a tuition voucher to go to school & a $400 a year clothing allowance check. She didn't let her boyfriend live with her because she'd lose her welfare.

NEITHER of those people were black, and I was really aggrivated every time they had one of their little bragging sessions, and yes it probably was because I was jealous. Not that I wanted to get away with the same thing, but because it just wasn't fair!

I doubt anyone gets away with that exct kind of thing anymore because technology would have found the W2 info on the lady I worked with, and who knows about my neighbor.

I honestly never thought of "welfare queens" in any racial context, but I sure thought they were scammers!

[Breeze54]

10. They didn't exist and you were scammed and gullible.

:eyes:

Being poor isn't a 'godsend' and I suspect whomever you were talking to was pulling your leg.

[napi21]

11. No I wasn't scammed. I told you, I lived next door to the one

lady, and I saw her at the grocery store using HER food stamps, and I Saw her new cars in her garage. I suppose the lady I worked with could have been exagerating what she was getting, but she sure had a lot nicer clothes than I did, and I know she was going to school...I saw her test score results, and I also know I sure wasn't making enough $$ to go to school even with my husbands pay combined with mine.

This was in the early 70's and as I said most of the things that some could get away with then couldn't be done today.

[Breeze54]

12. She could have had gifts from family for the clothes and student grants and loans too...

Some people who are 'down' ... talk it up... it's a way of saving face.

I went to school on a grant in the 70's (1979/80?) while married... on a grant. :shrug:

[Breeze54]

9. That was a big fat lie by Raygun and no such person was ever found....

But I don't find fault with the VICTIMS trying to survive their abusers at all!!! :grr:

I find great fault with the pedophiles and leeches that put those women and children

in a subservient position in the first place!! :grr: