Surprise surprise -- food stamp fraud is rampant

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Americans receiving food stamps were caught selling and bartering their benefits online for art, housing and cash, according to a new federal report that investigates fraud in the nation's largest nutrition support program.
Complicating the situation is the fact states around the country are having trouble tracking and prosecuting the crimes because their enforcement budgets have been slashed despite the rapidly-rising number of food stamp recipients, according to the Government Accountability Office report.
Under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, 47 million people have been awarded $76 billion in benefits. State agencies are responsible for addressing SNAP recipient fraud under the guidance and monitoring of the Food and Nutrition Service.
"Such rapid program growth can increase the potential for fraud unless appropriate agency controls are in place to help minimize these risks," the investigators said in their report.
The GAO report resulted from a review of 11 state and federal efforts to fight food stamp fraud, effectiveness of certain fraud detection tools and how FNS oversees state anti-fraud efforts.
The report found that "most of the selected states reported difficulties in conducting fraud investigations due to either reduced or maintained staff levels while SNAP recipient numbers greatly increased from fiscal year 2009 through 2013."
The report also said some of the state officials interviewed suggested "changing the financial incentives structure to help support the costs of investigating potential SNAP fraud."
As for the actual fraud itself, during a 30-day testing period of the automated tool for e-commerce websites, the GAO report found "28 postings from one popular e-commerce websites that advertised the potential sale of food stamp benefits in exchange for cash."
The GAO also found limitations on the effectiveness of recommended replacement card data and website monitoring tools for fraud detection.
It also said states have different thresholds for prosecuting food stamp fraud.
In Tennessee, for example, $100 in benefits must be fraudulently obtained before officials will consider prosecuting, but in Texas it is a $5,000 level.
Allegations of fraud and abuse have long-plagued SNAP and have been used by lawmakers in Washington to argue that the program has spiraled out of control.

Food stamp fraud rampant

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

How many were caught? What percentage? Sounds like a great excuse to cut funding. Allegations that would indicate there is a massive issue when in reality they don't mention how widespread it is.


Allegations of fraud and abuse have long-plagued SNAP and have been used by lawmakers in Washington to argue that the program has spiraled out of control

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

A few facts for you mental giants out there:


http://www.upworthy.com/some-facts-that-would-really-help-next-time-your-uncle-wants-to-talk-about-welfare-fraud?c=bl3

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

I don't know who works hard or who is lazy, the problem is basically math. You have 100 million people who work full time and 100M people who receive welfare. The math doesn't work. This is even worse when you add in retirees receiving SSI and Medicare. How can all this be funded by the same people?

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

First of all your numbers are inflated due to an inaccurate definition of welfare. Social Security is being counted in that group. Secondly there are millions that go on assistance for a few weeks, find a job and move on. Those same people paid into the system for a long time before using it.. Lastly it's not just SS. and those that briefly use foodstamps that is included in that. 100 million it's also the group receiving unemployment. Welfare is welfare housing and food stamps. Not the other groups. It's spin to say that briefly100 million are on welfare.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

109,631,000 Americans lived in households that received benefits from one or more federally funded "means-tested programs" --also known as welfare --as of the fourth quarter of 2012, according to data released by the Census Bureau.

The Census Bureau has not yet reported how many were on welfare in 2013 or the first two quarters of 2014.

But the 109,631,000 living in households taking federal welfare benefits as of the end of 2012, according to the Census Bureau, equaled 35.4 percent of all 309,467,000 people living in the United States at that time.

When those receiving benefits from non-means-tested federal programs -- such as Social Security, Medicare, unemployment and veterans benefits -- were added to those taking welfare benefits, it turned out that 153,323,000 people were getting federal benefits of some type at the end of 2012.

Subtract the 3,297,000 who were receiving veterans' benefits from the total, and that leaves 150,026,000 people receiving non-veterans' benefits.

The 153,323,000 total benefit-takers at the end of 2012, said the Census Bureau, equaled 49.5 percent of the population. The 150,026,000 taking benefits other than veterans' benefits equaled about 48.5 percent of the population.

When America re-elected Barack Obama in 2012, we had not quite reached the point where more than half the country was taking benefits from the federal government.

It is a reasonable bet, however, that with the implementation of Obamacare --with its provisions expanding Medicaid and providing health-insurance subsidies to people earning up to 400 percent of poverty --that if we have not already surpassed that point (not counting those getting veterans benefits) we soon will.

What did taxpayers give to the 109,631,000 -- the 35.4 percent of the nation -- getting welfare benefits at the end of 2012?

82,679,000 of the welfare-takers lived in households where people were on Medicaid, said the Census Bureau. 51,471,000 were in households on food stamps. 22,526,000 were in the Women, Infants and Children program. 20,355,000 were in household on Supplemental Security Income. 13,267,000 lived in public housing or got housing subsidies. 5,442,000 got Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. 4,517,000 received other forms of federal cash assistance.

How do you put in perspective the 109,631,000 people taking welfare, or the 150,026,000 getting some type of federal benefit other than veterans' benefits?

Well, the CIA World Factbook says there are 142,470,272 people in Russia. So, the 150,026,000 people getting non-veterans federal benefits in the United States at the end of 2012 outnumbered all the people in Russia.

63,742,977 people live in the United Kingdom and 44,291,413 live in the Ukraine, says the CIA. So, the combined 108,034,390 people in these two nations was about 1,596,610 less than 109,631,000 collecting welfare in the United States.

It may be more telling, however, to compare the 109,631,000 Americans taking federal welfare benefits at the end of 2012 to Americans categorized by other characteristics.

In 2012, according to the Census Bureau, there were 103,087,000 full-time year-round workers in the United States (including 16,606,000 full-time year-round government workers). Thus, the welfare-takers outnumbered full-time year-round workers by 6,544,000.

California, the nation's most-populated state, contained an estimated 38,332,521 people in 2013, says the Census Bureau. Texas had 26,448,193 people, New York had 19,651,127, and Florida had 19,552,860. But the combined 103,984,701 people in these four massive states still fell about 5,646,299 short of the 109,631,000 people on welfare.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, when Obama was elected, there were 96,197,000 people living in households taking benefits from one or more federal welfare programs. After four years, by the fourth quarter of 2012, that had grown by 13,434,000.

Those 13,434,000 additional people on welfare outnumbered the 12,882,135 people the Census Bureau estimated lived in Obama's home state of Illinois in 2013.

The 35.4 Percent: 109,631,000 on Welfare

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Below is a link to the GAO's report. Some stats are pretty startling. For example, Florida SNAP recipients nearly tripled in cases per investigator with over 10,000 cases per investigator! Other states say they don't prosecute SNAP abuse because there are too many other priorities. However, one Texas card was found to have a balance of $7000! Yikes! (see link)

SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

Ok, start applying that same logic to our outrageously bloated military and we can talk and come up with a compromise.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Despite the rising threat of the Islamic State jihadist group, the increased cooperation between Russia and China, and the Obama administration's $1 trillion cut in defense spending, you still believe the U.S. has an "outrageously bloated" military.
Once again, you just proved that liberals don't understand evil.






Obama defense cuts jeopardize U.S. tech edge

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

That's laughable....$1 Trillion over what, 10 years? We spend almost $800 billion a year...about as much as the rest of the world COMBINED.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Originally posted by BlueRaiderFan:

That's laughable....$1 Trillion over what, 10 years? We spend almost $800 billion a year...about as much as the rest of the world COMBINED.

BRF,

Here are the facts whether you like them or not. Since WW2 we our average spend has been 5.5% of GDP, in 2013, we spent 3.5% if GDP. Keep in mind our responsibilities, we basically protect the free world and keep the shipping lanes open around the globe - nobody else can do it. If you think most of the other countries are honest about what they spend then you are a born sucker. I am comforted by the fact that we have a technological capability beyond most of the world and we need to keep this advantage.

If you want to have a discussion about what our policies should be then great, but know this, with these cuts we are well below our average spend on the military. Things will get hot again and more than likely we will be ill prepared and have to spend much, much more.

We actually spend 36% of the "known" defense spending

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

Originally posted by Blueraider_Mike:


BRF,

Here are the facts whether you like them or not. Since WW2 we our average spend has been 5.5% of GDP, in 2013, we spent 3.5% if GDP. Keep in mind our responsibilities, we basically protect the free world and keep the shipping lanes open around the globe - nobody else can do it. If you think most of the other countries are honest about what they spend then you are a born sucker. I am comforted by the fact that we have a technological capability beyond most of the world and we need to keep this advantage.

If you want to have a discussion about what our policies should be then great, but know this, with these cuts we are well below our average spend on the military. Things will get hot again and more than likely we will be ill prepared and have to spend much, much more.

We actually spend 36% of the "known" defense spending

Mike,'

Using your logic we spend about 4.8% of GDP on health and human services and medicare/aid. I could go on, but the point is that even when you try and spin it using "GDP" it's still a hell of a lot. These numbers on military spending are researched and are believable. Do you think our own government doesn't know what China et al spends? Even if is 36% it's still a hell of a lot. You want to do something about welfare etc but the truth is that we should be spending money to help people. We don't just "keep shipping lanes open." We go around the world stirring up shit until we make a bad situation worse and in comes Isis or God knows who else. We don't just spend to "defend." We spend to go around and stir up shit. We spend $700 billion + on "defense" and you still cry about cuts? It's laughable.

 

[nashvillegoldenflash]

Blueraider_Mike, I appreciate your support on this issue and your willingness to debate military spending with BRF. However, I'm now convinced that no matter how many facts you offer to refute BRF's position, he will continue to follow Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals which essentially states that you never concede the issue no matter what the facts are. But in all fairness to BRF, he is not the only one on this forum who follows Alinsky's playbook.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

I feel the same about you. We have generals saying that we don't need tanks and yet they buy $500 million dollars in tanks. We have such a surplus of military vehicles that we are giving it away to the police, some of it never used. We are spending a trillion dollars on a fighter jet that doesn't work as well as it should and in quantities that military leaders say aren't needed. We stirred up a shit storm in Iraq and yet even with all of this you think we should continue go spend about as much as the rest of the world combined. Our navy dwarfs the next most powerful navy. We could cut it in half and still be far stronger on the ocean than anyone else...you don't look at the facts and then claim that I am unreasonable.

 

[Blueraider_Mike]

Originally posted by BlueRaiderFan:
I feel the same about you. We have generals saying that we don't need tanks and yet they buy $500 million dollars in tanks. We have such a surplus of military vehicles that we are giving it away to the police, some of it never used. We are spending a trillion dollars on a fighter jet that doesn't work as well as it should and in quantities that military leaders say aren't needed. We stirred up a shit storm in Iraq and yet even with all of this you think we should continue go spend about as much as the rest of the world combined. Our navy dwarfs the next most powerful navy. We could cut it in half and still be far stronger on the ocean than anyone else...you don't look at the facts and then claim that I am unreasonable.

BRF,

You bring up some excellent points here on wasteful spending and what our role in the world should be...ones that a lot of folks wouldn't disagree with, but you have changed the subject now in the context of defense spending

The thread was about food stamps and the massive growth in the program which of course contributes to fraud. Why can't we agree to go after the fraud and abuse in both programs?

But the programs are going in opposite directions - Food stamps have doubled and Defense spending is at least 35% less than average in our modern history. Even in the build up in Irag we never spend more than 5% if GDP despite fighting in a costly war - even at this spend we were less than our historical average.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

With our deficit spending we will need to cut in all areas or increase taxes or both. I just find it interesting the focus on all wasteful spending on here except the "defense" budget. Budget direction means little to me. I ask " is it needed? Is it wise? " We need a strong military for sure but we also need to feed people.

 

[BlueRaiderFan]

Also, has it ever occurred to you that our GDP has been outpacing our need for military expenditures? I can tell you that we have one hell of a military. See my previous post about all the issues associated with it and those aren't even all of the issues.