Big Government Programs Mean Big Fraud and Big Problems for Americans

When will Americans learn that big government programs allow more people to abuse the system?  And the more the system is abused the costlier it gets for the rest of us?  The bigger the program, the less chance that those administering it will be able to catch the fraud, waste, and abuse that occurs.

Take, for example, food stamps.  The abuse of food stamps has long been documented, and food stamp use has grown by almost 15 million people over the last 4 years, which means the problems have grown with it.  The latest example is the case of food stamp recipients who are buying food with our tax dollars and then shipping that food overseas.  This is what happens when nameless and faceless bureaucrats in state or federal government are the ones who administer it instead of local people who know exactly who needs help and what the best way to help them is.  When no one is local to be able to verify what's going on, fraud like that happens.

Then there's the federal disability programs.  That program has grown greatly, the number of enrollees is greater than the job growth.  Well, many recipients admit they are capable of working but simply cannot find a job, or will not even look for a job.  Now this is a program which is intended to help those who are truly unable to work, but it's being used by many as a way to get paid for not working.  It's a good gig if you can get it, and the government is taking a lot of comers.

Then there's the problems that happen when people actually try to follow the law.  Obamacare is the most egregious of the bunch at this point.  Because it's such a "train wreck", the administration is scaling back on things they need to do for enforcement and verification.  One of those things is the income verification required to receive subsidies (aka: tax payer money) to help pay for health care.  That means people are on the honor system to accurately report their income for what would qualify them for "free" money.  So someone could claim their income is much lower than what it actually is, and get a bigger check from the government.  Another problem is that many workers will essentially get penalized for working too much.   Obamacare rules make it so that if you earn too much, even $1 too much, you no longer qualify for subsidies.  Of course, all you'd have to do is intentionally under report your income, which would be government program fraud created by government programs.

We need to learn our lesson that big government programs don't work and create waste, fraud, and abuse?  They create the conditions where people get paid to not work, or where working too much is a penalty.  We need to end these programs now.