Posted on 03/04/2013 1:32:32 PM PST by grundle
If you want to know why the U.S. Government is going broke look no further.
A four-month investigation of the $340 million taxpayer-funded "Wisconsin Shares" program of childcare welfare found that the program is riddled with abuses and loopholes.
In one case, the investigation carried out by the news media found that four sisters with 17 children between them racked in $540,000 in taxpayer dollars since 2006, just by staying home and babysitting each other’s children. The most impressive of this all is that it is perfectly legal.
"It's a loophole," said Laurice Lincoln, administrative coordinator for child care in Milwaukee County Department of Health and Human Services. "We are not worried about that? Yes, it can be a problem. But if allowed, it is permitted. There is really not much we can do." There's more.
The Wisconsin Shares program also allows parents to work in child care centers where their children attend. In one case, the newspaper found an employer and a team of parents accused of defrauding taxpayers more than $360,000.
Part of the problem is that the care of children in Wisconsin Shares subsidy program has wide parameters of what the state considers "work". For example, the research found that mothers who "claimed to work for a man ironing shirts, drying fruit and selling works of art made during art class," all received checks funded by taxpayers.
The program is so lax that it even pays for parents to sleep. As a report said, "counties have no way of verifying if parents are truly sleeping while their children are in kindergarten."
An estimated 34,000 families in Wisconsin today take advantage of the $340 million program funded by the taxpayers of Wisconsin.
I think Wisc needs to hire way more union government workers to ignore this....../s
the investigation carried out by the news media found that four sisters with 17 children between them racked in $540,000 in taxpayer dollars since 2006, just by staying home and babysitting each other’s children. The most impressive of this all is that it is perfectly legal.
TAX FREE
I once knew someone who bought a house which she carved up into 4 apartments. She lived in one and got section 8 money for renting to her mother and two sisters and their children.
professional moochers
I work with a lib who talks about this kind of thing all the time as though it is no big deal (and is always discussing stuff like this on the phone with her friends). The sad part is it is very common. Worse, at least in some local cases, these things are coordinated in churches by churches. The number of registered day cares in just one part of this town is staggering. Everyone watching everyone else’s kids and swapping days to collect money from the government.
Welfare fraud (they don’t see it that way) is becoming big business. The coworker is just an admin assistant but I know between her and her union husband they make over $100K per year but I’ve seen her at the store use Lone Star cards. (Texas version of Food Stamps). Apparently those who make a lot of money buy them from those who are on them.
This really is just the tip of the iceberg on this too. And it is happening everywhere.
540K divided by 6 yrs. equals exactly 90K per year, divided among the four sisters, which makes it $22,500 per sister, per year, which translates to over $400/weekly for babysitting their own (and their sister’s) children, since
this scam was seen as “a family affair”, apparently.
So approximately $1700,weekly was flowing among and between
this collective “entitlement family”.
There are any number of ways these agencies can rationalize
these payoffs, but looked at realistically,it comes down to funneling money directly
to scam artists( which scam artists are instantly minted by
being made aware of this opportunity which awaits them),
finding another backdoor wrinkle in welfare payments, and also eliminating employment for legitimate babysitters/nannies/daycare center workers.It benefits no one except the Obama voters in this particular constituency,
and that’s what it’s designed to do. It ALSO keeps all the recipients from finding gainful employment, getting off the dependency, all in the name of the noble goal of “keeping mothers and their children together”.
No one is supposed to know about these programs except the recipients. Speak out against it, and you’re a cold-hearted racist who is seen as crashing through the barriers of class warfare, spoiling for a fight. Just what they want.
Amish?
To play devil’s advocate a little.
Would it have been less objectionable if the same amount of money for childcare for these women had gone to unrelated care providers?
IOW, should a relative be excluded from the state benefits simply because of the family relationship? If so, why?
These scams will go away as an increasing number of whites do the same thing; that was what spurred the welfare reform in 1996. The government was willing to turn a blind eye as long as 5% of the population did it; we’re probably around 25% now. Hispanics and whites are increasingly taking seats on the gravy train, and the original parasites (of all colors) are still there. There are just less & less people to operate the train itself...
If honest, hardworking people that struggle to make ends meet are actually informed about things like this, doesn’t it stand to reason that they would revolt? Most of them aren’t informed; if they even watch any news it’s local MSM evening news, and if they get on the internet it’s usually only email and FB with their friends.
Not at all, as long as the women were going to work to earn their living, but if their work consists of watching their relative's kids, then we have the classic circle; i.e.:
Pay me $400 / week to watch my next door neighbor's kids from 9 to 5. Pay my next door neighbor $400 / week to watch my kids. Now we each collect $400 per week to sit and watch each other's kids. Or we can stay home and watch our own without getting paid. Can you say scam?
It must be great to live in a state that has so much wealth they can provide this.
Part of me feels okay with the children being supervised by relatives rather than by people they don’t know.
Besides, the nearly $540,000 claim gets a bit more real and puny if that money is divided by 7 years and then by 4 women:
$540,000 / 7= $77,142.85 / 4= $19,285.71
Sloppy and sensationalized reporting.
That’s $19,285.71 per gal.
$19,285.71 to take care of 5-17 children at a time doesn’t seem like a lot and the cost for sending all these kids to daycare would cost way more.
Am I the first to notice this headline is written terribly? “Sisters make $540,000 babysitting their own kids from welfare” should be “Sisters make $540,000 from welfare babysitting their own kids.” Same number of words.
The scandal is that working America has gone well over a million bucks into the hole for these folks, a sum that will never be repaid in even a small amount. And the future doesn't look rosy for the kids, either.
And this report is just scratching the surface. How much other money in assistance are these ladies receiving?
Actually, we probably were paying these moms to watch TV together or make more babies while their kids roamed the neighborhood.
“Amish?”
Undoubtedly, they are, Milwaukee County being a well-known Midwestern Amish enclave.
You should see what they get for barn-raisings, which of course they NEVER GET AROUND TO DOING!
“$19,285.71 to take care of 5-17 children at a time doesn’t seem like a lot and the cost for sending all these kids to daycare would cost way more.”
You beat me to the math errors, but why should anyone be forced to pay for another’s child?
Specific Constitution citations, please.
;-)
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