surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

[woodsmoke]

This is a video, not about surfing, but about a guy describing how he lives "off the system".

Now, lest there be people who cast stones one must remember that the original model was in Kerouac who wrote "on the road" and which was later scavenged into the t.v. series route 66.

Also, the sixties, especially, glorified the fellow who wanted to "catch the ultimate wave".

The problem with all this was that ...Kerouac actually did WORK and also was a paid author.

Route 66 was built on the idea of working temporary jobs while "road tripping" in the U.S.

And the UNstated idea about the surfer "catching the ultimate wave" was that it was implied that he would work in a "surf shop" or maybe be so good that he could earn money from contests etc.

But the model for this guy was promoted loud and clear.... a half century ago.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xkr...odstamps_sport

woodsmoke

[ardvark71]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

Hi...

I don't know what the percentages are but I can assure you this is not the scenario for everyone receiving food stamps in the United States. There are many who are genuinely disabled that need these benefits.

Regards...

[GreyGeek]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

This is a video, not about surfing, but about a guy describing how he lives "off the system".
....

A typical example of a leech who has gamed the welfare system in this country. It points out how easy it is to do that.

Other excuses used to game the system are "Fibromyalgia", obesity, effects of drug abuse, etc... Some of the gamers are college graduates with advanced degrees. I'm thinking of one in particular who I met because her Windows got infected and I put Mandrake on her computer for her. She claimed she had Fibro and couldn't work so she quit her teaching job and applied for benefits, which she got. That was 12 years ago. Since then she conned the system out of a new computer - "job training"- she was going to use it and the digital graph table that was also supplied to create "art work" to sell online. She never sold a piece and displayed her work only for a few days. Over the years her weight rose up to 400+ pounds, which meant that she can barely stand and couldn't work. More welfare. Her knees gave out. Now she has Titanium knees, at your expense. She spent so much time at the keyboard, using bad posture, that her thumbs gave her troubles and she got two thumb operations to fix the problems. All through this time she managed to hold onto her small house (worth about $70K) and truck. She spends ALL of her time browsing the web and visiting social groups. The last time I visited her house to fix her computer it was because it was over heating. The cause was due to cigarette smoke particulates. It was over 1/4" deep on everything inside the computer, and everywhere else in the house except for her chair, the keyboard, the path between her computer chair and the bathroom and the kitchen. The stench of tobacco smoke permeated your clothes just from walking in, staying a few moments, and walking right back out. After that last visit I told her I wouldn't be fixing her computer any more. That was three years ago. She's still on welfare, still smoking like a stack, and still online more than I or Dibl are. Besides the welfare agencies I don't know who she's conning now to support her Coke, cigs and browsing habits.

[charles052]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

Question is: Does the government really care?

Hospitals and other agencies are treating Medicaid/Medicare like a free ride all the time. From having $8 pair of Tylenol to unnecessary treatments, everyone's sponging off the system. It's broken beyond repair, or very well near it.

[bsniadajewski]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

I'm with ardvark on this one. There will always be those (relatively) few "bad apples" gaming the system, no matter what that system you put in place. All you need to do is have a mechanism to remove most, if not all, of these "gamers" (sic) from the system so that the system does what is was created to do: Help those to are truly unfortunate get back on their feet again.

[GreyGeek]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

My wife and I help with FoodNet every Tuesday. About 80 to 120 people come in for food and clothing on that day every week, depending on how close the day is to the end of the month and the welfare and SS checks. About 1/3rd of them are our neighbors and friends. We know them and their situations, and most are responsible people who've encountered financial misfortunes, usually one or both have lost their job, or had an accident or health problems. Most aren't abusing alcohol, drugs or gambling and they keep up their homes and yards. About half are White, the other half are divided between Blacks and Hispanics. We've recognized college students from UNL, which is about 2 miles away. We've had people pull into the parking lot driving $40K+ cars. People who were effluent six months ago have run out of stuff to sell to the pawn shops and are getting hungry. Most carry a cellphone or smartphone. Over the summer we've seen a few who appear to be living out of their cars.

Besides the obvious misery, we know of some whose lives show obvious affluence. Expensive new toys for the kids. Two expensive SUVs. Steaks on the BBQ. Burning through $100s worth of fireworks on the 4th. $56/seat tickets to Husker FB games. Camper, used frequently. Several are moderate to morbidly obese. One is not mobile except for the powered chair she needs. To maintain that 450+lbs (her ankles are as big as my thighs), she has to be eating enough food to feed four or five people of normal weight.

As a rough estimate I'd say that at least 10-15% are gaming FoodNet.

[woodsmoke]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

WOAH!!! I did NOT expect this much response so quickly.

And from BOTH sides.....

which is a wonderful thing....

woodsmoke

[bsniadajewski]

Re: surfer lives on selling his blood and food stamps

WOAH!!! I did NOT expect this much response so quickly.

And from BOTH sides.....

which is a wonderful thing....

woodsmoke

Yes, it is!