In a shocking revelation, it was learned that California’s welfare system is being abused. Yeah, I know. Sit down, breathe deeply and take some time to let that sink in. The Los Angeles Times has reported that in more than half of the state’s casinos, people are able to use welfare debit cards to withdraw money. Somehow that doesn’t seem like the best use of the cards.

California’s welfare system uses an Electronic Benefit Transfer, which is basically a debit card given out to welfare recipients. Those debit cards are intended to be used to buy food, clothing and other essentials. As anyone who has studied welfare and other government entitlements knows, the system is being abused and people are buying a lot of things that are nonessential, all on the taxpayers’ dime.

The EBT cards can be used in the automated teller machines in 32 of the state’s 58 tribal casinos and 47 of the 90 state-licensed poker rooms. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, when informed of this problem, promised to take immediate action. Of course, since he’s taken a few years trying to figure out what to do about the state’s budget – which definitely requires immediate action – I wouldn’t hold my breath.

The social services agency running their welfare program contracts with a private ATM network for the transfer of funds to welfare recipients. According to a spokesman, no one at the agency or the ATM network was aware that funds were being withdrawn at casinos.

Showing better acting ability than Schwarzenegger himself, one of the governor’s spokesmen said that he was surprised to learn this news and that it is “reprehensible that anyone would use taxpayer money for anything other than its intended purpose.” Somehow I don’t buy that a California politician is surprised that taxpayer money is being wasted.

All of this, of course, is the fault of the state of California. The EBT debit cards were created in order to “remove the stigma sometimes associated with public assistance,” according to their government website. Therein lies the problem. Why would you want to remove the stigma?

Receiving government assistance should only be a last resort. By getting rid of food stamps and other easily-identified programs in favor of debit cards, they make people more likely to sign up for the welfare program. That leads to an increase of public spending. Considering that California is crumbling under a mountain of debt – with entitlements being the largest problem – the last thing you want to do is encourage people to be on welfare and use public money. Switching to a debit card also makes it easier to use the money for things it was not intended, as this report makes clear. By switching to the debit card system, California has led to an increase in spending under the welfare program as well as an increase in abuse. So please, California politicians, stop pretending to be surprised.

Tags: California gambling, Electronic Benefit Transfer, Schwarzenegger, welfare, welfare casinos, welfare debit cards

This entry was posted on Friday, June 25th, 2010 at 6:38 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.