- That’s the (entrepreneurial) spirit. You may have heard that Seattle had a major freeway mess the other day, with all lanes of I-5 closed for eight hours. But that didn’t stop the operators of one taco truck who were stuck in traffic along with everybody else.
- Only four federal agencies to abolish? Surely we can do better than that!
- Anyone who has stood in a grocery check-out line behind people paying with SNAP/EBT cards will not be surprised.
- Nor will anyone who knows the sordid history of “anti-violence” workers.
- This is cool. A DIY doorbell cam for less than $40. (H/T MJ)
- Cuss at a celebrity on Twitter, get locked out of your account. While I’d like to see a return to higher standards of civility, I fail to see why cussing at a member of the elite is worse than cussing at anybody else.
- Thirteen signs somebody is lying to you. (I thought about posting this to the Cabal, where it would complement Kit Perez’s invaluable lessons on telling truth from lies via statement analysis, but her posts are about language alone; this article also covers body language.)
- Oh man. Can you picture the unintended consequences of this? Yeah, let’s everybody move to Hawaii and declare ourselves homeless! (H/T MtK)
- J.D. Tuccille pens an unconventional remembrance of his unconventional father Jerome. With reflections on failing your way to success as a writer. (Via Wendy McElroy)
Don’t get too comfortable about your ability to detect liars because of the “body language” thing… they don’t usually apply to people who actually believe the lies they are telling. Sociopaths, among others, can also lie without revealing any “tells.” Too bad the article didn’t mention that.
I’m pretty sure Section 8 already assists the homeless and low income families/individuals with housing. It is heavily used in my neck of the woods. But you have to be compliant with the rules of your rental, whether you are self-pay, or government subsidized. If not, you will likely be asked to move on. The mentally ill, who are unable to manage daily chores and hygiene without supervision/assistance still end up homeless.
My memory says that President Reagan appointed a Secretary of Education whose stated intent was to abolish the department. Congress wouldn’t send Reagan a separate bill on it, so Reagan’s only choices were to sign the bill given to him or shut down the government. Reagan signed the bill.
FWIW, this sort of list of sociopathic professions probably has been posted here before, but here it is again anyway. Interestingly, surgeons are up there and nurses and doctors in general are at the other end. http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/top-10-jobs-that-attract-most-psychopaths/. One can’t fool animals, children, or a number of the mentally ill, as they haven’t been conditioned to accept social graces automatically. Unfortunately for me, I have to turn my BS meter on consciously or I tend to get in trouble.
Anyone who has stood in a grocery check-out line behind people paying with SNAP/EBT cards will not be surprised.
Another “If we just have more regulations” article.
The real problem with SNAP is that you can’t buy anything but food with them.
If I take a debit card to the grocery store, and buy fresh food I have to prepare, I save dollars, which I can then use for rent, child care, medical expenses, whatever.
If I take an EBT card to the grocery store and buy fresh food I have to prepare, I save EBT credit, which is legally useless* for anything but food. Therefore, why not get the fast/processed/sweet, more expensive junk food?
* Of course, and inevitably, there are any number of fraudulent, black market, illegal ways to convert SNAP into cash or to purchase contraband.
move to Hawaii and declare ourselves homeless
Meanwhile, one of the reasons my daughter, SIL, and grandkids reluctantly left Hawaii was because there’s simply no way for a two-middle-class-jobs family to purchase a decent house.
Now that the Taco Truck story is out, I hope the operators don’t get fined and driven out of business for violating all kinds of Seattle food truck regulations.
If I take a debit card to the grocery store, and buy fresh food I have to prepare, I save dollars, which I can then use for rent, child care, medical expenses, whatever.
If I take an EBT card to the grocery store and buy fresh food I have to prepare, I save EBT credit, which is legally useless* for anything but food. Therefore, why not get the fast/processed/sweet, more expensive junk food?
Good point about there being little reason to save the credit on an EBT card, but that doesn’t explain using an EBT card for cookies, sodas, ice cream, chips, etc. It’s possible to buy prepared foods that are healthy — or that are at least food. Many frozen dinners are quite good, nutritionally, as are some canned or boxed foods and ready-to-eat items in the dairy section.
“Now that the Taco Truck story is out, I hope the operators don’t get fined and driven out of business for violating all kinds of Seattle food truck regulations.”
Sigh. I had the exact same thought. I wonder how many of us shared it.
Me too. Any sort of free enterprise is totally unacceptable to the control freaks, both official and ordinary.
Oh, and the real problem isn’t what people buy with the EBT cards, WIC and all the rest, it’s the fact that they are spending other people’s money… stolen tax money.
Did you see this link in the taco truck story?
http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/politics/superwealthy-seattle-entrepreneur-pushing-property-tax-to-battle-homelessness/
Seattle statists are proposing a property tax levy to combat homelessness. How many people will be rendered homeless by the higher taxes?
The study found that SNAP shoppers bought slightly more junk food than non-SNAP shoppers. For example, 9.25 percent of total purchases by SNAP shoppers were for “sweetened beverages” such as cola, which compared to 7.1 percent for non-SNAP shoppers.
but that doesn’t explain using an EBT card for cookies, sodas, ice cream, chips, etc.
True, Claire. But it might explain the two whole percent difference between SNAP and non-SNAP shoppers the study is obsessing over. (And I like me my two daily small Cokes.)
I’m pretty sure Section 8 already assists the homeless and low income families/individuals with housing.
IMHO in my neck of the woods Section 8 herds low-income families into “poverty housing” developments, much like Native Americans are herded onto reservations. I see one result on the weekly police report and county court report I compile for our newspaper.
Also IMHO, “homelessness” is not so much a problem as it is a symptom. There are a number of reasons people end up homeless. Providing residences (and the article sounds more like they are contemplating forcing them into shelters than homes) without addressing the underlying problems doesn’t accomplish anything.
Misplaced compassion is rough on taxpayers.
As someone who works in EMS, I have seen the “prescription” of housing actually work to save money. We had a “frequent flyer” that we took in to the ED several times a week, some times a day. Double amputee who liked to drink…a lot. They would get money (beg, borrow, social security, cash assistance, etc) and go to the liquor store then go out side and sit and drink and share his drink with others. They had lots of “friends”. Once they were drunk, they would start pushing the wheelchair to different places (often to get more drink) but as soon as a bump or curb was hit, out the person would go. That is when the passing motorist good citizen would grab their cell phone and call 911 (not stopping of course) to report that a man was dead/fell/hit by car/etc.
EMS would show up, find them incapable of decision making ability, and have to take them to the Emergency Department which had to hold them till they could make decisions – mostly discharge Against Medical Advice, where they would go back to the store and get more booze.
Cost: EMS tranport: $900, ED stay and treatment (cuts, scrapes, noted injuries, etc) $3,000 about 1.8 times a day, over seven days $51,000+
The Hospital worked with social services on this person, HUD section 8 did not work because the person has to be sober before they can get it, has to pay a part of the rent ($8 a month for this person) and they spend every dime they could on booze. The shelters in the area are temporary stays, long term shelters (besides being full and having a waiting list) require you to be drug free alcohol free before you can even apply.
Finally the Hospital got a grant to help “develop new diversion tactics for repeated ED visits”. They took a week’s worth of the cost of this one person and rented an apartment a block from the liquor store they liked the most for one year.
Three weeks after this started, We in the EMS world started asking if “X” had died. (the normal way we find out a regular died or was sent to jail is they stop going to the hospital.) The answer as No, they have an apartment now.
Instead of getting up from what ever alley or bus stop they had been sleeping in (or bushes, drainage ditch, between parked cars, or riding lawnmower in a shed) then going and getting drunk, falling, going to the ED released, repeat, They had a new pattern. Wake up, eat breakfast, go to the liquor store go back to the apartment, drink, pass out inside, wake up, drink a little more, eat dinner, go to bed, repeat.
The Hospital would send an RN three times a week to check on them, Social Service would check three other days and use his EBT to get food for them. The result was one visit to the ED in the first month, one more visit in the next six. (fell out of chair while going back to apartment after drinking all night) They were actually drinking less, eating better, going to their appointments for long term care, and generally costing a lot less. The Hospital estimated this one apartment saved just under $1 million in care that would not have been paid.
Of course the grant money ran out, they were not able to meet the requirements for housing again and were back on the street going to the hospital twice a day.
(but don’t worry, under ACA, they now have insurance that covers the cost of the visits and transports. -because ACA allowed hospitals to file for coverage on behalf of people with their permission.)
That’s a fascinating story, BusyPoorDad. Both sad and hopeful; mostly sad. You get a view of life from your work that most of us never see.
I knew there was a problem of poor people relying on ERs for regular medical care, but that there were “regular customers” — weekly or more frequently — for EMS services, I had no idea.
The regular customers are also often referred to as “frequent fliers,” as I understand it. I certainly had never heard of a hospital renting rooms; I guess it’s just another outside-the-box success story killed by government.
Our police department and sheriff’s office also have loose-leaf binders of frequent flyers.
My grandparents lived in Eastern Kentucky, which is-and has been-heavily dependent on various government programs. I was there every other weekend from around 1981 to 1994, taking my grandparents out to do shopping, repairs around their place, doctor’s appointments and to just visit. That part of the state has a beauty all its own. The old paper food stamps were, for all practical purposes, money. You could buy beer(if the county wasn’t “dry”-quite a few-in theory-are),gasoline ,or whatever with them..though sometimes, the buyer didn’t get face value of the stamp. It was very common to see food stamps used as money.
I thought you couldn’t buy junk food with an EBT card-if I’m not mistaken, you (technically) couldn’t with the old paper food stamps. I saw a woman with two cartloads of frozen pizzas try to pay for them with an EBT card. Apparently, she had run the card “dry” and didn’t have any money left in it (I would guess there’s a easy way to check how much you have left). She went absolutely ballistic-could’ve heard her all over the store..claiming she would starve, along with her family. I’ll be nice and say she was at least 275 pounds away from starvation. I *think* you can buy some non-food items with the SNAP/EBT card…baby supplies, like diapers? I’m not sure on that point.
I’m going to guess there’s a record somewhere of what purchases are made with an EBT card-at least if the place uses a scanner.