Poor Poor
This was written by my friend Deb in Missouri. I am putting it here because (1) Deb tells a good story, and (2) there is no way to be funny about this.
Kansas has found the ultimate way to punish the poor
Work with me on this one…..
Kansas gives poor folk getting public assistance a debit card, as a part of “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families,” a small program that, unlike food stamps or housing assistance, provides parents and children funds they can use for all kinds of purchases. A single mother with two children is a typical beneficiary, and a family of three in Kansas received an average of $354 in 2012. Current estimates indicate the average beneficiary receives approximately $400 a month.
The Kansas legislature placed a daily cap of $25 on cash withdrawals from the debit card, since most banking machines are stocked only with $20 bills, the $25 limit is effectively a $20 limit.
In Kansas’s system, every withdrawal incurs a $1 fee, and if the beneficiary doesn’t have a bank account, they will have to pay the ATM fee, too. ATM fees (US NEWS indicates that the average fee to use an ATM in the US was $4.52 as of October 2015.
Add to this the fact that the card issued by the state of Kansas isn’t like a debit card from an ordinary bank. Ordinary debit cards allow their holders to make purchases for free in stores. In Kansas however, beneficiaries only get two free purchases a month. After that, they pay 40 cents every time they use the card to buy something.
So I’m trying to do the math here, since the research indicates most poor folks don’t have checking accounts and as such they pay their bills in cash or through postal money orders (Postal money orders for amounts up to $500 are available for a $1.25 fee) how big a hit could a poor Kansan take as a result of this?
Worst case scenario: 20 $20 ATM withdrawals, minus a $1 per withdraw a fee, minus the $4.52 ATM withdrawal fee ($5.52 X 20 = $110.40) equates to approximately a 25% reduction in benefits ($400-$110.40 leaving you with roughly $289.60). So once again the banks get richer and the poor get screwed!
Thanks to Deb.
Yup. No way to make ripping off the poors funny. This just makes me furious and I won’t tell you what I’d like to do with those legislators and governors who instigated this tranferral of meager funds poor people really need to live and hand it over to banks (for whom these funds amount to a rounding error).
1JJ, you are 100% correct. There is nothing funny about these miserable a$$hole$ increasing the pain and humiliation of being poor. Sorry, Momma, but sometimes you just have to be blunt. If there is a hell, these unfeeling ba$tard$ belong in its hottest regions. End of rant.
2This should be criminal! Isn’t the TANF program a federal program? If so, how can the state be skimming funds off to banks just to further distress poor people who are hungry? Damn politicians who approve of this action!
3Juanita Jean,
This is pretty bad, but not the worst of it. Since AFDC was turned into a block grant program (TANF) the previously served poor are now denied the money PERIOD!
Of those eligible for AFDC, an estimated 76% got it. Of those eligible for assistance under “The end of Welfare as we know it” (Thanks Clinton!)… 26% get it.
The attack on the poor is nothing new. In fact we’re constantly reminded that we had better take whatever crappy job is on offer, or suffer the indignities of poverty, homelessness or starvation. This is the whip in the hands of the plutocrats.
4The cap on daily withdrawals is an older story.
5To the vile and otherwise horrible snacilbupeR add in excess of 25% usury on the poor. Nothing says “compassionate conservative” like kicking people when they’re down. Thirty plus years and “Trickle Down” still has that straw siphoning to the top. Next up Koch brothers and ALEC will be coming for your kidneys and any other body parts they find desirable to sustain their lives.
6E Platypus onion – The state’s controversial ATM limit was added as an amendment to a welfare overhaul bill signed in April by Gov. Sam Brownback.
Sandi – You are correct this is a federal program and the new provision limiting what the poor can do with their debit cards is causing particular problems for Kansas because it could conflict with federal rules that appear to require that states provide beneficiaries with “adequate access” to their benefits, putting approximately $102 million in funding for the program in jeopardy. Brownback told McClatchy news last week that he planned to work with administrators in Washington to make sure that money remains available for poor families.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/economy/article24784612.html
Given that Brownback doesn’t care about the poor but does care about banks and the bankers who give him big bucks, this should be interesting.
7I read this in Wapo earlier today. We need a new name for Brownnose’s Kansas. Meanest state? Cruelest state? The Marie Antoinette of states? The Herbert Hoover of states?
Regarding the 3rd one, at least Marie let them have cake. Brownass plans to let them starve. Despicable creature that he is.
8Deb,not to be argumentative, but, I saw this last year from WAPO https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/05/21/kansas-has-found-the-ultimate-way-to-punish-the-poor/
And,since most machines discharge $20 at a time,the limit is effectively only $20 per day.
9E Platypus – you are correct, the story first got traction last year, the stuffing hit the fan this week when the Feds suggested that there was a problem with the way the program was being administered. Imagine that!?
I’m always blinded by Both the Kansas Legislature and Brownback’s callous disregard for the welfare of the people they represent so I didn’t look back at the original date the legislation was passed – my bad. A local reporter commented last night that given Kansas’s dire financial circumstances (courtesy a Koch Brothers / ALEC designed tax policy), this was but a drop in the bucket.
Why do people vote for these idiots?
Deb of much as I hate to admit it I think Marie and Herbert may have been nicer than Brownback but as I said I despise the guy so I’m probably biased.
10Sickening.
11(Deb, I think you meant “Debbo” but it autocorrected to “Deb of” and you were talking to me.)
You’re probably right about Marie and Herbie. I completely despise Bb too. He is skin-crawly ickeeee. So is that perverse legislature.
epo and Deb, I didn’t check the date on the Wapo story either.
12May there be a special place in hell for Brownback’s entire administration.
13maryelle, the way Brownback is going Hell may end up looking a lot like Kansas.
14Why do people keep voting for these guys? Let me count (some of) the ways. First, while Republicans have been running against the “Ultra Liberal Tax and spend, economy-wrecking Democrat [sic] Party” for six decades, we continue to run against individual Republicans, without ever connecting the dots that tie in NC’s bigotry, Kansas’ War on the Poor, LePage’s craziness, Flint, Christian nationhood, voter suppression, even nullification, all into the same package called Republican policies.
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We no longer do a very good job of finding a state-based story and getting it noticed nationally — as we did with ‘macaca,’ Conrad Burns’ corruption, and that MUDFLATS in particular did with Palin.
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We mention middle class about fifty times as often as we mention poor people — and too often that is because we are afraid that whites will hear ‘poor’ as meaning ‘black’.
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We run — and have since 2010 — candidates who seem ashamed of Obama and his successes, only heightening the belief coming from the radio talkers and preachers that ‘all we heard must be true, becaue even Democrats are backing away from Obama’.
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We NEVER campaign on the social issues, still stuck between ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ pf Bill Clinton and the absolute economic determinism of the Senator from Vermont. When is the last time — before this electoral cycle — in even a slightly unsafe district — when Republicans were challenged on abortion, LGBTQ rights, racism — including racist tweets by party officials — or even challenged for religious bigotry — BY AN ACTUAL CANDIDATE.
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More to come.
I said we never combined our issues across state lines, but we don’t even challenge the bigots and monsters in our own states, leaving too man candidates running unopposed. (Yes, back to the fifty-state strategy, only even reaching down into legislative districts. It will be expensive, but pay results on even the short run.
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We waste money on tv commercials that get fast forwarded through. and on Internet commercials that are usually seen only by the already convinced, and ignore print and radio that could allow even moderately wealthy to run without needing a rich backer.
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And, sadly, in this election, when we have the perfect examples of Republican Monstrous
Not only is this an attempt to demonize the poor, but take a look at the money–this is another politician who has made sure to do “payback” to those banks and financial institutions who funded his campaign–it could be Chase or another, but that does not matter–This should be declared illegal as well as trying to control what can be purchased with the money they receive. This is theft from the poor and the taxpayer to the 1 % once again–this is not right and hope the state is somehow sanctioned for this.
17I was thinking that Kansas story had been discussed here once before. Have to look back through the archives when I have time. Not a big deal. Brownback deserves the electric chair for what he has done to the state of Kansas and the poor. POS-pas. ( pas-plain and simple)
18This a very logical and politically astute approach to dealing with the poor. A winner at every turn.
19First, the policy provides a clientele and profits to the financial sector, (the GOP donor base) making sure to include tax exemptions for providing this public service.
Second, it provides an opportunity to demonize the poor and people of color, claiming they just can’t manage money and will only squander it when given to them.
Third, blame the Liberals, the Clintons and Pres. Obama to rile up the over taxed working and middle class. Thus providing a voter base.
This sounds soooo close to how the Brits treated the Irish during the famine. For years and years, Britain had been getting extraordinary amounts of food staples from Ireland. then when the famine struck they waited good and long before coming up with any idea of possibly “helping” their food source. Of course, it was deemed a very bad thing to just “give” them the help they needed. They had to sign up on work crews to fix roads etc. before they ever saw a farthing come their way. Only one problem. You have to be hale and hearty to do such work and the majority of the men were not. Hence there were stories abounding in Britain on how lazy the Irish men were! Those that did get tuppence out of Britain found their wages were not what they had been led to expect when they got their pay. Deductions had been made!
Kansas or Killarney! Its the same old elitist story!
20Hooray for themudflats.
21Evil. I think there’s other states that do that too.
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