Latest GAO Report out on Government overpayments.
The National School Lunch Program continues to be rife with fraud and overpayments, increasing every year.
The 2014 numbers are:
School Lunch: Overpayments of $1.75 BILLION DOLLARS or a rate of 15.3%.
School Breakfast: Overpayments of $923 MILLION DOLLARS or a rate of 25.6%.
$2.67 BILLION DOLLARS, an absolute waste in the school lunch program.This also leads to further waste due to the fact many programs are tied to this "poverty program".
The pathetic, sad facts is, the USDA will only allow school districts to audit a 3% sample - IF they even conduct one.
It is in the LEA's interest to get as many kids signed up whether they qualify or not.
When my son was in kindergarten his lunch account went into deficit approximately $5.00. A CMS lunch lady made my son put his food back which made him cry. His teacher intervened on his behalf and told the lunch lady that we were a family who would pay the amount we owed at which point the lunch lady gave my son his food back.
ReplyDeleteNow here's the thing. This particular CMS school had a 56% free and reduced lunch population that the school system can't "stigmatize" by denying these kids a free lunch. However, it was perfectly OK to embarrass my son and deny him lunch because we did pay our fair share for government cheese.
I'd like to think this was an isolated incident involving someone who probably got a promotion and now works for the North Carolina DMV.
ReplyDeleteAnd some people actually doubt that there is "privilege" in "poverty".
As the Commies used to say, from each according to ability, to each according to need.
If you aren't "needy", it's OK to take something away from you as long as the "needy" get their share.
See how that works.
It's just like funding public education.
The "rich" kids are expected to all do well anyway (according to the "poverty excuse" crowd), so it doesn't matter if their schools get less money and the "good" students receive less resources.
They'll be fine. Nevermind that due to their "higher" aspirations, they just might need a few things. They can cut back their expectations for the sake of the "community".
A "community" which would just as soon riot and burn their places to the ground if provoked, BTW.
And the beat goes on...
All one has to do is look at the dismal failure of the "war on poverty" since 1965 and see that we're still trying to win an unwinnable war.
DeleteWhen people expect things to be given to them; a job, money, a house, a car, etc. without doing anything for them, that's where the breakdown comes in. The cycle goes on and on.
I've always hoped that the United States could turn around manufacturing, but when it costs a company $29.00 to make a shirt here versus $9.00 overseas, we'll never get those jobs back. The shirt is still going to retail at a much higher price regardless of where it's made.
If I can make the exact shirt overseas and wholesale it for $39.00 to Macy's and they retail it at $79.00, they're making the profit they need and I'm making $30.00 instead of $10.00.
So where do we get jobs to help people get out of poverty?
Shouldn't education be the horse in front of the jobs issue instead of behind "we need to CREATE more jobs?
We all know what the elephant in the room is - culture.
Until the culture or mindset is embedded into every person's brain that education is the most important thing you can do for yourself and your kids, we'll still have the gimme gimme-I'm repressed-diversity crowd whining about what the burbs have and they don't.
The sad fact is from a school standpoint, they already get more than students in the burbs will ever receive in education dollars from the government.
Well, as I've traveled and lived various places, I have noticed the differences culture makes in many places. I think it's a big factor.
DeleteI know Asians are noted for their obsession with education. Some of that is actually changing, though, as people realize the extreme measure they promote may not be the best.
There is a lot of rote learning, but there is also some creativity.
A lot of people simply do not want to believe that Asians are creative and innovative, but they do have a few good ideas from time to time.
I've seen some comparisons of innovation in countries, and the US ranks near the top, but there are some Asian countries up there as well. Singapore ranks right below the US and Hong Kong is just below.
The usual suspects are taking up the bottom. But it's fairly obvious which countries those should be because they seem to be always at the bottom and probably always will be.
Take this for what it's worth:
https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content/page/data-analysis/
The other thing about culture is the relative safety and security factor.
That's something which I think has been eroding in the US since I was a child.
In those days, people felt safe roaming around their neighborhoods and kids could play far away from home without many worries.
I don't think that's as true today. It seems that kids always need adult supervision to make sure nothing "bad" happens to them.
I used to walk (or bicycle) for miles in my old neighborhood to a nearby shopping area, to some open fields and parks, to the library, to baseball practice and games, etc., etc.
Of course, that neighbhood is an urban ghetto slum today and dangerous for people to visit. Especially white people, as my sisters found when they took a drive down our old street and were met by menacing stares and such from the blacks who live there today.
Contrast that with the situation in Japan. A lot has been written lately about the "independence" of Japanese kids.
And there is a trend towards raising "Free Range" kids that you read about in the media.
Not something we normally consider an "Asian" trait, but it seems that kids in Asia do have a lot of freedom to go places on their own. I see that in HK as well, where kids seem to get around using public transportation without much worry.
It just has a lot to do with the safety factor. People in these places just don't bother other people.
In fact, they tend to look out for both the young and the old, so they are fairly secure in their daily activities for the most part.
Here's a recent article on WHY Japanese kids can roam around on their own without as much fear as we have.
http://www.citylab.com/commute/2015/09/why-are-little-kids-in-japan-so-independent/407590/
Yeah, try this in the US at your own risk in many neighborhoods.
Oh, yeah, and for the "poverty excuse" crowd, I just might add that my kids go to school near government housing in Hong Kong and really there is nothing bad about it.
DeleteNo street thugs, no problems.
Old people sit around on benches minding their business and no one bothers them. They practice Tai Chi, Kendo, and whatever suits their fancy with no one harassing them or anything.
You don't see roving "gangs" of teens looking for trouble or loud, ill-behaved morons out causing trouble just for the heck of it, either.
Kids walk to school and no one bothers them.
Again, you couldn't get away with that near any "projects" in any large urban jungle in the US.
You really have to look hard to find trouble here. Usually somewhere around a bar area.
But residential areas are generally very safe. Even around the "poor" housing.
And trust me, there are "poor" people here.
They have a squatter's village just around the corner from our complex and those people live in what's basically a shanty-town but they don't bother anyone.
We don't need "gates" to keep the riff-raff out.
"So where do we get jobs to help people get out of poverty?"
ReplyDeleteWell, that's apparently the big question all over the world.
People do tend to forget that there are billions of other people in the world in either the same or worse conditions than our "poor" and they are looking for a way out of their "poverty", too.
Yes, dumb labor just cannot compete worldwide. Actually, the low-skilled, semi-skilled, and even skilled laborers in the US are rather lucky because the things they do in the US get paid a lot less elsewhere.
I was surprised to see how little electricians and plumbers get paid in Hong Kong. Now you can argue that the "quality" isn't as good (or whatever), but my toilet flushes and my lights work, so I can't complain.
Also the infamous "truck drivers" don't make much here, either. Neither do fast food workers and other lower-level service people. You can hire a full-time domestic helper (usually from the Philippines) for about $500 a month.
The minimum wage in Hong Kong is $HK32.5/hr. That's $US4.19. And that's with their recent raise of $HK2.5/hr last May. And things are not that cheap here.
But a lot of prepared food is cheap.
Again, lower skilled labor just doesn't get much pay outside the US.
Also, there is the "problem" that as wages rise, it becomes cheaper to automate. Add that to the additional "problem" that automation is also getting cheaper to implement and you have a really serious "problem" for people whose work can be easily automated.
And lest those who work fast food think their jobs are secure, they should see the kinds things I've seen here in HK. They actually have restaurants where you walk up to the front, look at an electronic menu, order your food on a computer by number, pay with a debit or credit card, and then get your food and find a place to sit.
It is basically an automated cafeteria and those are very popular. They've even managed to eliminate waiters and hostesses. All they have is people cooking and people cleaning the tables and floors.
And they have never tipped in HK, so that source of revenue doesn't exist, either.
What reminds me of this is that article in the CO recently about these fools protesting for $15/hr minimum wage for working at a WAFFLE HOUSE!
Talk about your pie in the sky.
Really, most people have NO IDEA how their jobs could be easily automated for less than the expense of hiring people at $15/hr.
But maybe we'll see how that works.
Most people who look at this problem seriously see higher unemployment for the lesser skilled.
And, as if that isn't enough, there is some noise that ENTIRE economies may not be able to use manufacturing jobs as a way out of "poverty".
You can see that happening in China already.
Which means that Africa and the other places which HAVE YET to jump on that bandwagon have probably already missed their chance.
No surprises, though...
Here's an example of what I mean from the Financial Times.
Cheap Automation raises risk of "premature deindustrialization"
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/de07e776-2172-11e5-ab0f-6bb9974f25d0.html?ftcamp=Traffic/Offsite/Taboola/Connected_Business/AudMark#axzz3nkC9pyKE
Oh, and I might add that in Hong Kong you see a lot of what we would call "developmentally challenged" people cleaning and bussing tables.
ReplyDeleteSo, again, that primarily leaves cooks. And I'm talking about the larger "chain" operations. There are still smaller mom and pop type places, but they tend to be low paying anyway.
So prepared food here is sometimes cheaper than making things yourself.
I think the labor costs are so insignificant that they make money on the same margins as supermarkets do, just buying food in quantity and selling it in smaller chunks.
I can buy sushi, for example, for around $HK2 per piece, which means a typical package of 10 pieces costs $HK20-25, which is around $US3.
These are slightly better than the usual sushi boxes you get at Harris Teeter and similar stores for a lot more money. And I'm talking about sushi with salmon, tuna, etc., etc., not the cheaper California rolls.
Of course, there are more expensive options, but if you are talking about the basics it can be fairly cheap to eat freshly prepared foods here.
Those cafeteria-style places (except there aren't steam trays, the food is prepared to order) are serving meals which are typically about $US5.
Western fast food is generally more expensive, but the local stuff is usually very good and not expensive. Pizza at Pizza Hut is ridiculously expensive, for example. McDonalds is competitive with some local fare, though.
I find it difficult to prepare foods at home as inexpensively as I can buy prepared meals at the local supermarkets, for example.
Dairy is expensive here, but that's because it's almost all imported.
But we still make some things at home because we prefer to.
I do feel like there is a war on people who do things socially right. These are folks that: get married, have enough money saved for 20% down on a house, wait to have kids at the right financial time, do not have kids out of wedlock, don't do drugs, save for kids college, have no more than $1000 debt on credit cards, never been arrested, make sure kids have manners and read to them every night, have enough for a comfortable retirement but not enough to travel to Bora Bora for vacation every year.
ReplyDeleteI don't consider kids at the best CMS schools to be wealthy. Wealthy in Charlotte send their kids to the private schools. The kids at the best CMS schools most likely are the above parents, they are not wealthy, in my eyes they are just normal folks trying to do what they are supposed to do in life. And they and many other families get socially butchered for doing things right.
My husband and I would be better off if we got a divorce (using it of course as just a piece of paper). Being a stay at home wife, I make nothing. If we got a divorce, I could go on food stamps, WIC (for kids under 5), get help with my bills and most importantly get a $4000 school voucher for a private school, we wouldn't have to pay as much on our taxes every year and probably get a ton back. The list of freebies goes on and on. So why do what we should? We get nothing for doing everything right but societal guilt for actually having money in the bank, saving for our kids education (which is now is not tax deductible).
It just seems like there is a war on middle to upper class in this country.
I say this over and over that any politician, should have to read William Sumner's essay "The Forgotten Man".
So who is paying for all this food and money waste at schools? The normal, taxing paying family and then as Alicia said, her son gets hounded by the lunch lady who is probably is pinching the cheeks and giving hugs to all the kids who are on the free lunch program.
I usually don't get my feathers ruffled much, but this war on the middle class has started getting to me. We are the family that is zoned for a crappy school, but can't afford an expensive private school. Where is our help? We just have to keep our fingers crossed to win some sort of lottery in a magnet or charter. Sickening. Or just get a divorce to get a $4000 voucher to a private school.
Unfortunately, the two things which seem to speak the loudest in our society are money and the threat of violence.
DeleteThe middle class really isn't a credible threat for either.
So they are what used to be called "The Silent Majority".
Only they probably aren't the majority anymore.
Of course, one problem is trying to define "middle class".
I think what you described is pretty much what I would call middle class, though.
It's where we've spent most of our lives, but are probably now at the upper end.
We spent plenty of time at the lower end and quite possibly in the "poor" category.
I don't think it's as easy to move up as it was two generations ago.
Not that it was easy then, but at least I know many who did.
And many who didn't, but it was usually because of the various life decisions they made.
Typically involving school, drugs, alcohol, and getting married to the wrong person and/or having kids too soon. Or just being flat out too lazy or ignorant to see what was the most likely outcome of some dumb choice or the other.
This still plagues many of my other family members.
Today, I think it's much easier to get by being "poor", though, if you're just willing to milk it for all it's worth and don't let "pride" get in your way.
Like many of our grandparents and great-grandparents did during the Depression when some people would rather go without than accept a "handout".
Man, those days are gone forever.
I know that even though we grew up very poor, we did not get free or even subsidized lunches. We paid the same for our school lunches as every kid did. We occasionally had relatives or neighbors pitch in with a few things, but it was mostly on our own.
Free lunch would have been a real help, but we never did without.
Even with a divorced mom working minimum wage as a waitress/cashier and having four kids in the 1960's.
Those were definitely hard times, and we had to live with our widowed grandmother in a 800 sq.ft. 3br. house during a time when her beauty salon business was going broke.
But we did all right.
I say this over and over that any politician, should have to read William Sumner's essay "The Forgotten Man".
Delete-------------
Have to admit, I haven't read it until now.
It's a very good essay and seems to ring even truer today.
Hard to believe it was written by someone who was actually one of the first "sociologists" at Yale. My, how things have changed.
http://www.blupete.com/Literature/Essays/Best/SumnerForgotten.htm
Just a few good quotes. The whole thing is "quotable", but I found these particularly relevant...
"the State cannot get a cent for any man without taking it from some other man, and this latter must be a man who has produced and saved it. This latter is the Forgotten Man."
"Every bit of capital, therefore, which is given to a shiftless and inefficient member of society, who makes no return for it, is diverted from a reproductive use"
"Almost all legislative effort to prevent vice is really protective of vice, because all such legislation saves the vicious man from the penalty of his vice. Nature's remedies against vice are terrible. She removes the victims without pity. A drunkard in the gutter is just where he ought to be, according to the fitness and tendency of things. Nature has set up on him the process of decline and dissolution by which she removes things which have survived their usefulness. "
"When we see a drunkard in the gutter we pity him. If a policeman picks him up, we say that society has interfered to save him from perishing. "Society" is a fine word, and it saves us the trouble of thinking. The industrious and sober workman, who is mulcted of a percentage of his day's wages to pay the policeman, is the one who bears the penalty. But he is the Forgotten Man. He passes by and is never noticed, because he has behaved himself, fulfilled his contracts, and asked for nothing."
Whew! Lawdy, Have Mercy!
Couldn't see such a man keeping his job at Yale today!
You hit the nail on the head of what has been happening since forced busing to achieve integration.
DeleteSeparate but equal absolutely had to end, but it unfortunately coincided with the Federal government implementing the "war on poverty" which began the ball rolling to giving people stuff instead of them getting an education and working for it.
Schools were integrated, but government wasn't satisfied enough with the fact there were some schools you just could not get the utopian percentages of Blacks to Whites they so desperately wanted. Since they couldn't control where people chose to live, MANY got fed up with all the tinkering in the name of "diversity" instead of in the name of EDUCATION, they started sending their kids to private schools or moving to a more satisfactory are for learning.
CMS is the poster child for epic failure in public education, even though they continue to tout how well they weathered integration.
Look at where they are today. Pathetic.
"Like many of our grandparents and great-grandparents did during the Depression when some people would rather go without than accept a "handout".
ReplyDeleteMan, those days are gone forever".
Can't agree with you more.
Whew, read that essay about the Forgotten Man.
DeleteI can remember seeing a documentary several years back about the Depression and how MANY people back then REFUSED handouts even though they were literally dirt poor.
I'm not saying that is necessarily the best way to behave and if my kids were hungry, I'd certainly take what I could (especially since we've already paid into the system quite nicely!).
But it says a LOT about how our society and the "social contract" has changed.
Today, many people seem to ask what they can get from others before they consider what they can do for themselves.
Not to dwell upon my particular sad story of "woe", but...
DeleteWhenever I see people talk today about how "poverty" prevents people from doing things, I remember how we grew up.
I never really felt "deprived", but I know we didn't have much.
I can remember, for example, that our family car (so, yes we had a car) was pretty much a real clunker.
In fact, it had a hole in the floorboard in the back seat which we kept covered with a floormat. If you raised the floormat, you could actually stick your feet under the car like one of those Flintstones cars they had in Bedrock.
A bit dangerous for us kids, but sometimes we would peek under the mat just to watch the road zip by as our mom drove us to school.
Just an interesting tidbit about the Depression and people refusing to take welfare...
Deletehttp://www.iptv.org/IowaPathways/mypath.cfm?
"Before the Great Depression, people refused to go on government welfare except as a last resort. The newspapers published the names of all those who received welfare payments, and people thought of welfare as a disgrace. However, in the face of starving families at home, some men signed up for welfare payments. For most it was a very painful experience."
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Can anyone imagine the CO "shaming" the "poor" like that?
Ha. Again, the world has changed a lot.
Nowadays, they do everything they can to make the folks who receive "assistance" blend in with the crowds, even to the point of eliminating Food Stamps in favor of debit cards.
And I remember passing by a Pizza Place just across the SC border near where we lived which proudly displayed a sign:
"We ACCEPT EBT".
For PIZZA!.
Wow, what a great place America has become for the "poor" and "disenfranchised"...
No wonder people are willing to die to cross our borders and drop anchor (babies)...
Or seeing a 12 year old using an EBT card and telling everyone he has a credit card and lots of money.
ReplyDeleteI can remember being a college student (obviously without much money) and standing in line behind a well-dressed black woman who was buying all kinds of fancy food and paying for it with food stamps.
ReplyDeleteI followed her out the door and saw her getting into a brand new Buick, too.
Some people claim these types of things are urban legends, but they do happen.
At least I've witnessed it.
Oh, yeah, and the pizza place was in Indian Land and was called Figaro's.
It was in a strip center next to a Food Lion as I recall.
It wasn't the kind of place too many people could walk to, so I doubt that the pizza was just for the "homeless" as many people like to claim when you see it sold in urban areas or convenience stores.