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Of the 1/3 who are eligible for food stamps and don't apply, guess which demographic group is least likely to apply... yep, Mexicans. Blacks and whites who are eligible are more likely than average to apply.

What the article assumes is that the 500,000 on the rolls who did apply are all eligible. Other studies consistently show that about 1/3 of those who apply and receive food stamps are not eligible. They lie on their applications .... or more likely the "bigger staff" creates the lies on the application in order to justify the existence of the "bigger staff".

In addition to these state employees, our tax money contracts "outreach programs" to city Human Service departments and to non-profit groups. I was previously on the board of a non-profit which was precinct captains for the Dick Mell-Pat Quinn organization. They were constantly pre-occupied with trying to justify their existence in the face of low numbers of eligible people signed up. It was hard to determine whether Pat Quinn's petition drives or concern for the needy drove the "outreach".

I KNOW Pat Quinn's motives are not empathy for the hungry. I won't say how I know but I KNOW.

Also, when I was a child, I caught a fleeting glimpse, out of the corner of my eye... oh wait, that's a Pink Floyd song....
What I meant to say was when I was in my 20s, I worked for the Social Security Administration. We would get an error if we processed a claim and did not make sure the person was signed up for ALL benefits to which he or she was entitled. But worse was the waste (and this was during the Reagan years!). It was absolutely sickening, even to a careless youth such as I was at the time. They would spend every penny of their "budget" in fear of having that "budget" cut. So if there was travel money left at the end of the fiscal year, they would make up stuff to spend it on rather than admit they funded too much for travel. Same thing with da*n pencils and pens! They would even tell us to take home office supplies so our supplies budget would not be cut. This was one SSA office in one suburb of Chicago. It is astounding to take that wastefulness and multiply it out including all the SSA offices, public aid offices, etc. all around our country. It's appalling! I had to quit because it was so sickening and because those in charge did not like people who "rocked the boat" in any way. It's a long story on how they tried to get me in trouble and failed (ha ha ha) but I did quit on my own terms back in 1988.

Sorry if I got off-topic.