Grievance 53 - Welfarism

The U.S. Constitution, and the government that grew up under it, failed
to protect the financial resources of Americans from political
opportunists and greedy recipients, both corporate and individual.
Timeless wisdom made the point from a politicians perspective;

"Spending other peoples' money
is easy."

Payment of funds to "for-profit" corporations, including financial
institutions, were a particularly heavy drain on taxpayers. Subsidies
and bail-outs became common as lawmakers stood to gain politically from
influential investors and powerful labor unions involved with them.

Consumer-advocate Ralph Nader's report on "Aid to Dependent Corporations"
of 1994, said taxpayers spent more than $100 billion yearly on subsidies
and tax breaks for influence-buyers. At the same time, taxpayers were
required to put out $75 billon in Aid to Families with Dependent
Children, food stamps, housing subsidies, and other welfare programs to
14.3 million people identified as "low income", many with "dependency
addiction".

Subsidies to families included moving recipients into upper and
middle-income homes at one-tenth of the monthly mortgage payment.
Under the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development program,
home builders and bankers were assured of a profitable return paid by
taxpayers, even in cases of over-building.

Fraud and waste were commonplace in all weflare programs. One county
in Calfornia reported a 45 percent fraud rate in 1995. State Health and
Welfare Secretary Sandra Smoley was outraged over its implication;

"...it is beyond belief to think that
$590 million in taxpayer dollars
that could have been spent on
services for the truly needy went
to greedy people out to defraud
the system."

Some people lied to obtain welfare benefits, others lied to increase
them. Penalties were seldom severe enough to slow the fraud. An
example was seen in the case of a 28 year old woman and her 48 year old
Mother who were convicted of claiming $11,000 in payments for two children
that never existed. The women were ordered to pay restitution and the
youngest was given 30 days in jail, but a newspaper editorial correctly
pinpointed a common travesty of justice in the courts;

"If $11,000 had been embezzled from
a bank or private business (she) would
probably be behind bars for much longer
than a mere month. But isn't the offense
really much worse when the robbery
victims are the taxpayers...?"

Unorganized taxpayers had no direct control over any welfare programs,
corporate or individual, or the judicial process that pretended to
administer justice in their behalf.

With an AUTHENTIC CONSTITUTION in harmony with the natural
Cosmic Laws of the universe, and producuing High Moral Values and
Democratic Ideals, government programs and penalties are established
by the people at-large, one-person one-vote, and taxpayers may designate
their percentage of taxes to specific programs.

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