Throngs of Nearly a Dozen!
Wisconsin Freshman Republican Congressman Glenn Grothman has been in Congress for six weeks, has met President Obama, and has some idea for making American great.
… he told a crowd of 10 people at Oshkosh City Hall that he’s eager to dig into challenges like welfare abuse, immigration and cutting federal spending.
“The three biggest problems that have be solved are welfare, the debt and our ridiculous immigration system where we’re becoming the welfare magnet for the western hemisphere,” Grothman said.
Because nobody knows more about immigration than some guy in Wisconsin.
I have been told that there is a Hispanic person in Wisconsin but I cannot imagine why.
As far as welfare abuse, Grothman has a solution.
Grothman said he hears stories about seemingly able-bodied people receiving disability payments, Social Security payments and Food Share benefits. He told the people in attendance to keep an eye on the types of things people on Food Share buy at the grocery store or ask people for more information if they boast about being on disability.
Oh yes! That’s what we need! We need the grocery store check-out police making citizen’s arrests.
And hunt down those folks who are disabled because Lord knows they’re living in a mansion boasting about pulling down $733 a month.
And, dammit, we citizens need to start making people prove they are over 65 when they ask for the senior discount, no matter how thick their glasses or how their walkers roll.
Yeah, what’s wrong with this country is that we are not mean enough to grandpa, crippled people, and poor people. Sic ‘um, Glenn!
Thanks to Mike and Larry for the heads up.
So he is advocating for the violation of ADA? Typical following the usual hateful and wrong stereotypes and myths.
1Maybe after he identifies the Wall Street recipients of the trillions of dollars the American taxpayers bailed out in 2008 and gets them prosecuted for fraud, and after the huge agricultural conglomerates receiving government subsidies and then the corporations hiding billions in profits overseas are identified and forced to pay up the taxes they owe, then let’s see how much the little people trying to subsist might be ripping us off balances out that claim.
2I have had people ask in a condescending manner about my need for a handicapped parking sticker.
I very nicely tell them that is between my MD and myself. But I would be more then happy to trade their good health for my constant pain, 4 surgeries, medication and medical bills any time they want too.
Yes people scam the system, and they should be dealt with. But why are they not concerned with all those companies that are offshore, get tax breaks from the government and pay little or no taxes?
3I wonder how much Mr. Trump and Mr. Romney will pay in taxes this year????
Last disability check was for approx $780 and first SS ck was for the same amount,but you get one or the other,not both.I turned 46 for the 16th straight year(62) and was placed on SS and taken off disability rolls. I am still disabled and I still don’t get food share-whatever that is.
Welfare cheats are the ones labeled “too big to fail” in case wingnuts ever want to get serious about welfare fraud(like Maryelle mentioned). They are still cheating because of the trillions in offshore accounts that are supposed to be subject to 35% tax rate. That is Uncle Sam’s monies being held hostage and I personally feel we should send in the Marines to bring that money home and arrest the traitors and their accomplices in Congress for allowing this to happen.
4Apologies to Diane for covering the same ground. I did not see your post until I posted mine.
5Everybody’s making good points which will of curse be ignored by those who really need to hear them.
For my part, I copy a letter I had in the WashPost in Oct 2011:
More than $500 million in taxpayers’ money was wasted by the government’s investment in Solyndra. That’s a terrible loss.
But can you explain why that story is getting vastly more attention from journalists and Congress than an Associated Press story printed in The Post on Aug. 31 and then apparently ignored?
“As much as $60 billion in U.S. funds has been lost to waste and fraud in Iraq and Afghanistan over the past decade through lax oversight of contractors, poor planning, and payoffs to warlords and insurgents, according to an independent panel investigating U.S. wartime spending,” the AP reported.
It seems to me that a waste of 120 times as much taxpayers’ money should get, oh, twice as much attention.
6Welfare and food stamps is not the way to get anywhere. Cheating the system is not that easy. Most are in need of what they get. Yes I could steal my daughters disability tag and use the unused parking spot where I work, and I gain what for that?? I make more money on two part time jobs than I would on welfare. So want to stop welfare abuse??? Easy! Bring back the companies and jobs that have been shipped off to China & Mexico.
7Recycling Reagan-era dog whistles about “Welfare Queens”, and “Young Bucks” buying steaks and smokes with food stamps. Yikes!
There was a time when I didn’t think too much about disability. The man across the street listed his occupation as “Disabled” but also drove an (unregulated) “Amish Taxi” and he may have been gaming the system or he may have just been trying to make ends meet because disability payments will pay the rent or buy groceries but not both. A close friend meets all the legal qualifications for disability under the Social Security laws but doesn’t qualify for benefits. On the one hand, having stayed home and raised children on the theory that being there is more important than paying someone else to be there, there isn’t enough consecutive “quarters” of employment to qualify. There’s also the “Supplemental” Social Security program but if the total family income isn’t low enough, there’s no benefits available. So it’s not like there are a bunch of people living high on the hog by abusing the disability system.
8A lot of grocery store cashiers make so little they are on food stamps, too.
9If one is going to really cheat the system buy a bunch of land and get massive agricultural subsidies each year. You can literally make millions on that welfare scam.
The research and advocacy organization Environmental Working Group (EWG), found that the federal government paid $11.3 million in taxpayer-funded subsidies to 50 billionaires (or businesses in which they have an ownership stake) between 1995 and 2012. EWG compiled the list by matching their Farm Subsidy Database with the Forbes 400 list of the richest Americans. According to the list, the billionaires who received these farm subsidies have a collective net worth estimated to be $316 billion.
http://blumenauer.house.gov/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2261:outrageous-farm-payments-to-billionaires-highlights-urgent-need-to-reform-ag-policy&catid=66&Itemid=73
10The best thing about this news is that so damn few people showed up. Hey! Its Wisconsin and there is snow and cold everywhere. Sensible people stay home by the fire. I wonder how much this curmudgeon paid that little group to come and make a tad of noise just so he could get some press!
11Is “Wisconsin Steamer” defined yet on Urban Dictionary?
I’m thinking something involving Scott Walker & Glenn Grothman would be appropriate…
12The Republicans moan,
13The Republicans bitch–
Our rich are too poor
And our poor are too rich.
The problem is, the real scammers don’t even have to stand in line.
Take any of the people mentioned above, war profiteers, agricultural mega-corps, bankers, etc. They get their money by direct deposit. Wouldn’t it be great if on the first of every month they had to stand in line at the grocery store to get their government check? Then instead of being outraged at the person buying a pound of government cheese, we’d first notice the well dressed man (or woman) pick up their check for $1 million, and walk out to their Mercedes.
Better yet, make them take it in $20 dollar bills. Have the checker count it out in front of us. So there’s plenty of time for it to really sink in as we’re waiting there to buy the canned tuna, because it was on sale.
14I’ve heard stories about Grothman having inappropriate relationships with farm animals. Since someone said it, it must be true.
My daughter has applied, been denied, had a hearing and is still waiting three months later to hear if she can get SSDI. She is disabled by mental illness and can’t even go to the grocery store by herself. Before this illness struck, she had worked constantly for 22 years. If I ever meet Grothman, or the other arrogant, heartless politicians who spew this kind of garbage, someone better take my cane away from me, or I’ll be using it for more than walking.
15The wealthy should get their welfare like I get mine-on the fourth Wednesday of each month-based on your date of birth. My February check came the day after I turned 62(25th).
16The biggest government waste (federal and state) is the money spent for salaries and benefits for so many politicians. We’re surely not getting much benefit from most of them.
17Oh and there’s that little matter of the $24 million or was it billion wasted by the last Repug shutdown. Sure could buy a lot of cheese and canned tuna with what they flushed down the drain. They have to go!
18So much crap going on that it’s hard to keep up with it all. Rant on.
19A tale of rats and the United States Congress, with my apologies to the writers of Skyfall…
“One summer, … (we) discovered the place had been infested with rats. They’d come on a fishing boat and gorged themselves on coconut. So how do you get rats off an island? Hmm? My grandmother showed me. We buried an oil drum and hinged the lid. Then we wired coconut to the lid as bait and the rats would come for the coconut and… they would fall into the drum. And after a month, you have trapped all the rats, but what do you do then? Throw the drum into the ocean? Burn it? No. You just leave it and they begin to get hungry. And one by one… they start eating each other until there are only two left. The two survivors. And then what? Do you kill them? No. You take them and release them into the trees, but now they don’t eat coconut anymore. Now, they only eat rat.”
If you think I meant the GOP congresscritters were greedy rats and that there was a high probability they would start eating their fellow rats, you might be right.
20I would love to know how many in that throng get some form of government money. Besides Grothman, I mean.
21Lovely tale,Micr. 🙂
22Just who do you know that would “boast about disability”?-You must be pretty thick if accepting help is “Boasting”
23My son has autism and some other issues and my husband passed away 4 years ago from cancer. We were on food stamps and disability when he was still fighting his Lymphoma. I was trying to get him to eat anything while he was taking chemo treatments and my son only eats specific things and I just wanted things that were quick and required no thought. My cart looked pretty strange at times. Fortunately, no one ever said anything about what I had purchased as I have no idea how I would have reacted. Probably not well. I still cringe when I hear people talk about what people on food stamps (or whatever) SHOULD buy. YOU don’t know what their struggles are.
24I’m offended by “seemingly able-bodied people receiving disability payments.” All disabilities are not visible, or are not visible at all times. I look just dandy most of the time, but I can’t stand for 5 minutes. I can walk for 20, but can’t stand due to degenerative disc disease in my spine. Even when I’m walking I’m usually in pain. I have a friend with heart disease who is considered fully disabled but you can’t tell it just by looking at her, nor can you tell by looking at my friend who gets dialysis 3 times per week for kidney failure and is unable to work.
I’m lucky. I can still work. I can’t pick things up off the floor when they fall, but I can earn a paycheck.
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