A New Low..

Mike King's picture

This past weekend I happened upon a story here in Peachtree City that, at least to me, signifies a new "norm" for those living out of the pockets of taxpayers.

An aquaintance working as a parapro at a local grammar school having their salary reduced by the county school board decided that in order to maintain their standard of living took a part time job as a cashier at Kroger (Kedron). It wasn't that they needed the money for mortgage or car payments, but rather to insure the three kids would have all that was necessary to begin the school year.

One evening while working a local resident came through her lane purchasing food items with the government issued debit card (food stamps). Of the rather small number of purchases was that of a twenty-eight dollar tin of caviar. The parapro was stunned, how is it that the working class of our society has to take on an extra job in order to make ends meet and those subsiding on the government get to eat caviar?

Times and standards have certainly changed over the years, but this simply can not continue! I know this sort of thing is unenforceable, but it's Monday and I'm allowed to vent occasionally.

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Nothing new about it, Mike
maximus's picture
Submitted by maximus on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 10:30am.

Thirty five years ago my mom and I were behind a no-load woman with food stamps trying to buy dog food. When the cashier told her she could not use food stamps for dog food she went off in a huff, picked up a package of hamburger meat and announced that she would just feed her dog hamburger instead. The food stamps were accepted, and cash was given for change which she used for cigarettes at the convenience store next door.

I’m sure the parapro also makes lunch for her own kids unlike all the waste-cases who sign up for “free” school lunches that her taxes pay for.


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I'm sure it's rare..
Submitted by Spyglass on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 10:16am.

but their should be a way to stop abuse like this. Wouldn't surprise me if they had someone who was going to buy the fish eggs from them (at a discount). Cheap fish eggs for someone, and CASH for the welfare recipient.

Oh, give my appreciation to the Parapro for me. Sounds like a winner to me.

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It's a matter of PRIDE !!!!
dawn69's picture
Submitted by dawn69 on Mon, 08/24/2009 - 1:29pm.

Twelve years ago, when my daughter was born, we had hit some pretty rough times. She was born in August ... the same month our fridge went, hot water heater busted, and the air conditioner died. Murphy's Law: If the worse case scenario CAN happen...rest assured it WILL happen.

As some young mothers find out, it is not always easy to feed your infant the NATURAL way - sometimes you have to resort to formula. My God! Formula was so expensive and I didn't know how we were going to manage it so I went to the Health Dept. and signed up for W.I.C. (Women, Infants, and Children). The W.I.C. program was great - it paid for formula, carrots, beans, peanut butter, etc....

The only problem was my PRIDE. I felt humiliated to have to pull out those vouchers at the register. Often, I went to the store when they were the least busy because I was too embarrassed to be seen with the vouchers. To me, it was like saying: I'm weak and can't take care of myself. It was a feeling I didn't plan on keeping long.

My husband got a second job and I stopped using W.I.C. I used the vouchers for a month - long enough for the pay period to come around on his second job and for us to get our balance back.

The point to,yet another personal story, is that the problem with many that RIDE the system is often total lack of PRIDE. When one can take from the tax payers without guilt or at least respect - they have no shame, no pride. This lack of personal PRIDE is yet another trait that seems to be completely lacking in the younger generation.

It is more a mix of: desire vs. need and entitlement vs. pride.


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