| User | Comment |
|---|
Matty    | | posted 22-Aug-2008 9:32am |
Every day, my current position is a disability claims examiner with the US DoL. |
Galomorro   | | posted 22-Aug-2008 11:26am |
No. The gov. doesn't give people ENOUGH to live on as it is when they need help. |
LindaH  | | posted 22-Aug-2008 11:47am |
I'm sure I've read about some, but I don't remember any. |
| Enheduanna | | posted 22-Aug-2008 12:31pm |
Not that I know of. |
| LJD | | posted 22-Aug-2008 4:01pm |
No |
| JessicaWoman99 | | posted 22-Aug-2008 10:10pm |
No I know no such person and myself I would never ever think of it |
| LindaH | | (reply to Matty) posted 23-Aug-2008 12:06am |
You make sure people who claim to have hurt themselves at work aren't out windsurfing and such? |
| southernyankee | | posted 23-Aug-2008 10:31am |
No one personally. |
| they | | posted 23-Aug-2008 11:25am |
Yes, I see people like this in my job all the time.
My other answer is Yes, someone I know. (you forgot that one). My daughter's father and his entire family cheat the government, claiming to be disabled. |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 23-Aug-2008 11:25am |
I knew this was yours! |
bill  | | (reply to they) posted 23-Aug-2008 12:38pm |
This seems like a key aspect of someone's political point of view. I mean, if one perceived welfare to have a problem with cheating, it can undermine the value of government social programs (e.g. making one more likely to be right-wing, Republican, or libertarian, etc.)
I'm actually shocked that a great majority of people said "no". I've heard of many stories from various sources (friends online, family, newspaper) and that's all fairly recently. I wasn't even looking for such stories. I'm probably forgetting some from years ago as well.
Now I wonder if my experience is unusual or if people just tend to see things differently. Maybe, we don't all agree on what might constitute cheating. Or, maybe most people don't know many people on welfare.
Here are a couple stories I heard about in the last month or two:
o An online friend of mine who owns some rental properties recently mentioned a tenant who gets disability and gets "section 8" money to pay her rent, doesn't work, but otherwise seems fine. She just bought a 42" plasma TV. -- maybe that's not proof of cheating, but it appears very suspicious to my friend.
o My dad mentioned a story that got some attention in the Boston area where a fireman on disability was competing in a body-building tournament. The disability was a for a "career-ending back injury" not actually related to fighting fires, he was an inspector. Boston's rate of retirements due to disability is twice that of similar cities (there's an implication that there are probably many more cheaters). |
| aquawolfy | | posted 23-Aug-2008 4:06pm |
grandma!!! how could you??! |
| Pomeranian | | posted 25-Aug-2008 3:59am |
I don't, because I don't believe it's really possible to "cheat" on welfare. If you need to break the rules to get on welfare you probably still need welfare and I am an advocate for as generous and liberal of a welfare system as possible. I think we have a really messed up view of what welfare systems should accomplish in America. |
| Pomeranian | | (reply to Galomorro) posted 25-Aug-2008 4:04am |
I completely agree. |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 25-Aug-2008 7:59am |
I was training a new person at my job and she was telling me a story about how she didn't have any money because she only had $10 and she went to The Dollar Tree to buy some food and she had her friend's food stamp card and it turns out, that particular Dollar Tree doesn't take food stamp cards, so she had to spend all her cash. She was very nonchalant about it - the fact that she is obviously able to work and is using a food stamp card, and also that it's not even her food stamp card.
|
| bill | | (reply to they) posted 25-Aug-2008 9:13am |
All these stories are anecdotal.... I wonder if there are statistics on the rate of cheating. I suppose it's never clear to what degree the cheating is being found, though. |
| bill |
This is interesting and may help me understand the other side of this. Did you see the anectdotes about potential cheaters that I and they mentioned here? e.g. The section 8 tenant who bought a 42" plasma TV, the Boston fire inspector on disability who entered a body-building contest, the woman using someone else's food stamp card, etc. Does those all not seem like cheating to you? What should a welfare system accomplish? |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 25-Aug-2008 9:34am |
There's no way to know because people are a bunch of big fat liars. |
| bill | | (reply to they) posted 25-Aug-2008 9:51am |
true true... hey, speaking of big fat liars, have you seen stories about Clark Rockefeller in the news? He come from the town I live in! We're famous! ...and even cooler, he may be a serial killer (well, probably not quite, but perhaps a killer)! Jen is semi-excited about this. |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 25-Aug-2008 10:13am |
You know I'm a news junkie, don't you? I know as much about this as they have put out about all of it. I remember seeing your town's name in a news story somewhere, but I forgot it was this one. Yeah, I think he's definitely a killer... but his situation is rather sad as well -- apparently he was very close with his daughter... maybe more so than she was with her mom. |
| Cain | | posted 25-Aug-2008 10:59am |
Not that I know of - I'm sure there are people I know who do this, but I'd rather not be aware of it to be honest! |
| bill | | (reply to they) posted 25-Aug-2008 2:43pm |
We're recording the Today show this morning and tomorrow to watch the interview with him. We saw bits of it Friday. He was obviously lying, with a gleam in his eye. He "doesn't remember", oh please! Originally, I felt sorry for him about the kid, but after all the info, I'm not sure what to believe. I noticed that some groupies are calling him "Oysters". |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 25-Aug-2008 4:17pm |
Yeah, I agree that he remembers everything. And he's obviously a con artist - he even tricked a rich woman into marrying him.
I'll have to look online for that interview. |
| they | | (reply to bill) posted 25-Aug-2008 4:17pm |
He reminds me of Kevin Spacey. |
| bill | | (reply to they) posted 25-Aug-2008 5:19pm |
All the pictures they keep turning up... lots of different looks. Maybe Kevin Space can play him in the movie that make about it all, in a couple years. |
| Matty | | (reply to LindaH) posted 27-Aug-2008 8:02am |
Essentially, yes. |
| cloudhugger |
I could never do that, and I am pretty clear on how I feel about cheats. If someone was, they didn't tell me. |
| HMC35 |
No .. but I'd have a thing or two to say to someone who did. |
| judgescratch | | (reply to bill) posted 1-Oct-2008 10:22am |
> I'm actually shocked that a great majority of people said "no". I've
> heard of many stories from various sources (friends online, family,
> newspaper) and that's all fairly recently. I wasn't even looking
> for such stories. I'm probably forgetting some from years ago as
> well.
I'm paranoid and I abstained.
|
| LindaH | | (reply to bill) posted 4-Oct-2008 11:10am |
The section 8 tenant may have had an 'invisible' disability, like mental illness or nerve deterioration. Not sure how they could have afforded the tv though. Sometimes people get on partial disability because they can't work very many hours per day (too strenuous). In that case, it's possible their part time work enabled them to save enough for a tv. Or maybe a relative helped them pay for it. I'm just throwing out possible innocent scenarios. |
| bill | | (reply to LindaH) posted 4-Oct-2008 1:34pm |
With talk like that, it sounds like I may be able to get disability too... maybe I should try... why not, free money! |
| LindaH | | (reply to bill) posted 4-Oct-2008 1:39pm |
I think anyone with any condition that prevents them from getting or working in a regular job full time should be able to get disability. |
| LindaH | | (reply to bill) posted 4-Oct-2008 2:24pm |
Unpredictable conditions are like that. If complications arise sporadically and unpredictably, the only way to work is to be lucky enough to find an employer that will work you into such a flexible schedule that you can go home when you need to. Not many jobs out there are like that. |
