[Drolefille]

Someone who buys beer is not cheating his foodstamps. You realize that assistance is more effective if we don't wait for someone to get down to the absolute last straw before helping them, right? If you lost your job, wouldn't you prefer to get help sooner, so you could get back on your feet, rather than wait until you had nothing left? If you wait til the last minute you're going to have a much harder time regaining the status you had before. And I'm not talking about who has the biggest car, I'm talking about owning a car, having a mortgage, the things that require equity.

You've now assumed that this woman lived beyond her means because she had a TV. When you get a spreadsheet with her financials before and after, let me know. The idea that she could sell a used TV for anything close to what she paid for it is unlikely. And if you're making up scenarios why not make one up that actually favors the person you're looking at instead of judging that person for not living up to the standards you set for them - not for yourself as you're not there. That TV could have been a present from someone more well off, it could have been something they saved a very long time for and selling it could break the camel's back, but mostly it's not any of your business, nor the government's business when it comes to aid.

The myth of the welfare queen lives on *sigh*