In the State of Wisconsin, there is a public database where people can look up the wages and benefits earned by public employees. Teachers, politicians, and other folks on the public payroll.Why isn't there such a database for those receiving welfare benefits? Food share, housing, free school lunch, energy assistance, TANF, etc.?
Why doesn't the public, the taxpayers, the citizens of Wisconsin have the ability to look up how much these folks make? Maybe this is a missed opportunity for cutting out waste, fraud, and abuse. How much free money / benefits are being given away?
It's hard to comprehend how welfare pays so much, and there don't seem to be goals / a road to work.
I never hear sad stories about people being pushed to work, having their benefits ended, or any expectation that they transition from welfare to work.
I do hear about welfare recipients bragging about how much they do in cash from the state.
Recently, here is one such story -
A woman with 8 children -
$500 cash per child, per month = $4,000 (I know divorced people who get much less from spouses and working people who do not make $4,000 per month)
Free School Lunches estimate = $5 each x 8 children = $40 a day. $40 a day x 5 days a week = $200 per week. $200 per week x 4.2 number of weeks in month = $840 per month in free food. May be more or less than the estimated $5 per meal.
Food Share = The max benefit is around $1,300 based on state website I looked at.
Healthcare / Medicaid = ? Families often pay more than $1,500 per month for health insurance, so estimate $1,500
Housing - ? How much is section 8 or reduced housing?
Energy assistance - ? How much is she getting?
Other programs - ?
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Cash, Free School Lunches, Food Share, and Medicaid may be over $7,640 per month that this woman gets.
That's $91,680 per year!!! That comes out of taxpayers pockets, or is DEBT being heaped on our children and grandchildren.
I know working families that don't EARN that much!!!Are they getting free breakfast and snacks too?
Where does the money go? This woman also reports getting food pantry groceries, free clothing from family and friends, free school supplies, and
her latest boast is a $25,000 'bonus check' from some government sponsored program.When did Wisconsin become a welfare paradise? A mecca for the greedy and lazy?
Where else does the money go? She reports spending every night in the bar with her boyfriend. How much are drinks? If she spend $100 per night, for say 200 days out of 365, that a $20,000 taxpayer funded bar bill.
There are working families in Wisconsin who do not make that kind of money, don't have that kind of disposable income.
If someone on welfare can spend every night in the bar, and get $25,000 government bonus checks, why can't they go to school?
If they have money to spend on a babysitter (I'm SURE she isn't leaving 8 kids alone
every night) for going to the bar, why aren't they going to school and working to get off welfare?
I'd like to know where the $25,000 bonus is coming from. Obamacash? Just a down payment to ensure Obama's re-election in 2012?
I think taxpayers have a right to know how much and where their tax money is spent on welfare. If providing this info on teachers and government workers isn't a privacy concern, it shouldn't be a privacy concern for welfare recipients.
One should be able to look it up based on address, not just name. How lax is the system for abuse? How many would use false names and provide no identification (as in the case of illegal aliens)?
Just my humble opinions.