I have the same experience in Baltimore. A few times a month I will see someone pull out their “Independence Card” aka Maryland welfare card and buy food while wearing new leather jackets or just buy junk.Then our state government actually runs ads on radio prompting people to come get the support. They do this because if not enough people are on food stamps the Feds will cut back the amount given to a state. Meanwhile I live well but have needed a new jacket for a few years and driving my 10 year old compact into the ground.
I fear the only solution is to get old...somehow retire...disengage as well as you can...pay as few taxes as possible by moving away from urban “black holes”. That is pathetic, I know.
We have entered George Orwell’s 1984...
The “Independence Card” signifies “Dependence on the State” in the awkwardly 180 opposite meaning put in by the Statists seeking power via taxpayer-funded mandates to the underclass.
2 + 2 = 5
The Progressives have successfully made generational poverty via Woodrow Wilson, FDR, JFK, LBJ, Carter and Clinton who used every means necessary to steal from the working to pay for the eternally Democratic voting dependent base.
The “Independence Card” shows the Lefts almost blatantly ironic slap at the taxpayers.