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Ok it is a very kind and heart-warming story about the officers helping I understand this. But the question is being how does a living situation get so bad like this such that all the government programs and welfare etc. thats available and the absurd amount of tax money thats taken out isn't already preventing kids from going three days without food? Not to mention donate here donate there etc. America spends trillions of dollars flying soldiers to every part of the world to help this or that, but kids in Hillsborough cannot eat more than once per week unless the mother steals?
I am paying almost 40% of my total salary for taxes for this or that, where do these funds go if kids are still starving?
This thread is gonna turn political real fast. Moderator - moving it might be a good idea. . .
Actually, Mike, this is one of the few times I'll disagree with you. And the OP is also incorrect.
Reporting of these expenditures is inconsistent because everybody had an agenda and different methods of classifying expenses. However, the largest amounts are spent on healthcare, medicare/Medicaid, and federal pensions. Debt service is around 10% and "welfare" programs are around 9%.
This thread is gonna turn political real fast. Moderator - moving it might be a good idea. . .
Actually, Mike, this is one of the few times I'll disagree with you. And the OP is also incorrect.
Reporting of these expenditures is inconsistent because everybody had an agenda and different methods of classifying expenses. However, the largest amounts are spent on healthcare, medicare/Medicaid, and federal pensions. Debt service is around 10% and "welfare" programs are around 9%.
There's a lot more to the story than portrayed by the media. The mother has made some very poor choices and continues to do so. And she knows it. The 3 children are adopted. She gets a check per child from the state each month.
I know a lot will argue with me and question how can I make such a judgement without knowing her situation. I can because I know the system.
A story is told about Fiorello LaGuardia, who, when he was mayor of New York City during the worst days of the Great Depression and all of WWII, was called by adoring New Yorkers "the Little Flower" because he was only five foot four and always wore a carnation in his lapel. He was a colorful character who used to ride the New York City fire trucks, raid speakeasies with the police department, take entire orphanages to baseball games, and whenever the New York newspapers were on strike, he would go on the radio and read the Sunday funnies to the kids.
One bitterly cold night in January of 1935, the mayor turned up at a night court that served the poorest ward of the city. LaGuardia dismissed the judge for the evening and took over the bench himself. Within a few minutes, a tattered old woman was brought before him, charged with stealing a loaf of bread. She told LaGuardia that her daughter's husband had deserted her, her daughter was sick, and her two grandchildren were starving. But the shopkeeper, from whom the bread was stolen, refused to drop the charges. "It's a real bad neighborhood, your Honor," the man told the mayor. "She's got to be punished to teach other people around here a lesson."
LaGuardia sighed. He turned to the woman and said "I've got to punish you. The law makes no exceptions -- ten dollars or ten days in jail." But even as he pronounced sentence, the mayor was reaching into his pocket. He extracted a bill and tossed it into his famous hat saying "Here is the ten dollar fine which I now remit; and furthermore I am going to fine everyone in this courtroom fifty cents for living in a town where a person has to steal bread so that her grandchildren can eat. Mr. Bailiff, collect the fines and give them to the defendant."
So the following day the New York City newspapers reported that $47.50 was turned over to a bewildered old lady who had stolen a loaf of bread to feed her starving grandchildren, fifty cents of that amount being contributed by the red-faced grocery store owner, while dozens of petty criminals, people with traffic violations, and New York City policemen, each of whom had just paid fifty cents for the privilege of doing so, gave the mayor a standing ovation.
Sometimes people don't know what's available or are too proud to ask for help. My parents had six kids, my dad was on disability after working for USPS, my mother didn't work (until they separated). We did get food stamps but my parents were too proud to take anything else, even though it would have helped us. We had enough to eat, but just barely.
Ok it is a very kind and heart-warming story about the officers helping I understand this. But the question is being how does a living situation get so bad like this such that all the government programs and welfare etc. thats available and the absurd amount of tax money thats taken out isn't already preventing kids from going three days without food? Not to mention donate here donate there etc. America spends trillions of dollars flying soldiers to every part of the world to help this or that, but kids in Hillsborough cannot eat more than once per week unless the mother steals?
I am paying almost 40% of my total salary for taxes for this or that, where do these funds go if kids are still starving?
I very much doubt that.
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