Gregory D.

Lee

Read Greg's bio and previous columns here

August 21, 2009

The Giveaway Program that Got Away

George Soros, billionaire philanthropist and champion of socialism, last week kicked in an additional $35 million to a $140 million federal grant that was intended for needy New York state families to buy school supplies. The federal money came from something called the “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Emergency Contingency Fund,” which was created under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the $787 billion “stimulus package.” According to George Soros’s “Open Society Institute” press release, “the fund is solely dedicated to covering benefits and services targeted to needy families.”

That all sounds well and good, but the program soon got away from its intended purpose. Some genius decided the money could be best distributed by supplying “needy families” with a debit card loaded with $200 for each child in the family between the ages of three and 17. How could anyone possibly spend $200 in school supplies on a three, four or five year old? Each family was on the honor system to use the money for buying school supplies and school uniforms, but instead, a significant amount of the money ended up being used for liquor, beer, cigarettes and big-screen televisions.

Does this come as a surprise to anyone? If so, please identify yourselves so I can sign you up for George Soros’s other philanthropy projects dealing with legalizing marijuana and “dying with dignity.”

I wish I had been there to hear needy family members say, “Obama is looking out for me,” and “Where’s my money?” There was a run on local banks to get cash advances from the debit cards when false rumors circulated that the money had to be spent that day.

One hundred forty million dollars is chump change when compared to $787 billion, but this giveaway program illustrates how the Democratic-controlled Congress designed the so-called stimulus package to be used for everything but things that would truly stimulate the economy. This program only serves to make poor people more dependent on Democrats to provide them everything from school supplies to big screen HDTVs.

If the administrators of this program were serious about providing school supplies to needy people, then why didn’t they issue vouchers that could only be used at office supply or clothing stores, or require recipients to provide receipts where school supplies and clothing were purchased for reimbursement later? Or, could they have at least programmed the debit cards to only work at stores that sold school supplies instead of liquor stores? Where’s the accountability?

Some may argue that regardless of where the money was spent, “spreading the wealth around” will have a stimulus affect on the overall economy. I hardly think $175 million will do so, especially when the federal government had to borrow the money to give it to many people who obviously didn’t need money to buy school supplies.

This ill-conceived program falls in line with the notion of a single-payer health care program – a notion President Obama endorsed only six years ago. His recent statement at a town hall meeting where he tried to explain why a government health care program would be best for America proves my point: “I think private (health) insurers should be able to compete. They do it all the time. I mean, if you think about, if you think about it, um, UPS and FedEx are doing just fine. Right? The, uh, know they are. I mean, it's the post office that's always having problems.”

The U.S. Postal Service is a perfect example why government should not be involved in providing either school supplies or your health care. Although the Postal Service was designed to be self-sufficient, it is billions of dollars in debt. If the government gets a foothold on our health care, it will drive private insurers out of business and you’ll be stuck with one-size-fits-all socialized medicine. Despite what President Obama claims, private health insurers cannot compete with a government program that can print its own money to undercut its competition.

If the Nancy Pelosi-led Congress had to design the perfect thoroughbred race horse, the end result would be a camel.

Gregory D. Lee can be contacted at info@gregorydlee.com.       

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