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Broke Kansas To Tax Poor People By Placing $25 Limit On ATM Withdrawals

Tyler Durden's picture




 

On Saturday, May 2, Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback left Boss Hawg’s Bar-B-Q without leaving a tip for waitress Chloe Hough. 

It wasn’t that Brownback intended to shortchange his server, but rather when he received his credit card voucher, Hough had marked through the tip line and scribbled the following message to the Governor: “Tip the schools.” 

Around an hour earlier, Hough posted this message on Facebook:

"You guys 911 emergency. It's my last shift and I am waiting on our governor. What should I say to him. This is not a test. Go."

The animosity stems from Brownback’s move to push through a series of tax cuts, an “experiment” which eventually backfired, producing an $800 million funding gap which is in turn squeezing the public sector to the point where some schools are now being forced to file for emergency funding in order to make payroll. 

Here’s a look at the situation...

If, as the above suggests, the Governor was already unpopular with low-income Kansans, the situation isn’t likely to improve anytime soon because as The Washington Post reports, the state will now place a $25 daily limit on ATM withdrawals using a state-issued benefits card. 

Via WaPo:

Legislators in Kansas, not trusting the poor to use their money wisely, have voted to limit how much cash that welfare beneficiaries can receive, effectively reducing their overall benefits, as well.

 

The legislature placed a daily cap of $25 on cash withdrawals beginning July 1, which will force beneficiaries to make more frequent trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits.

 

Since there's a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that some families will get substantially less money.

 

It's hard to overstate the significance of this action. Many households without enough money to maintain a minimum balance in a conventional checking account will pay their rent and their utility bills in cash. A single mother with two children seeking to withdraw just $200 in cash could incur $30 or more in fees, which is a big chunk of the roughly $400 such a family would receive under the program in Kansas.

 

Since most banking machines are stocked only with $20 bills, the $25 limit is effectively a $20 limit. A family seeking to withdraw even $200 in cash would have to visit an ATM 10 times a month, a real burden for a parent who might not have a car and might not live in a neighborhood where ATMs are easy to find.

So Kansas, in an effort ostensibly designed to ensure that welfare recipients aren’t spending government cash on liquor, fortune tellers, luxury cruises, swimming, or movie watching (see list below), will essentially charge poor people for... well, for being poor. 

Clearly, there are a number of talking points here, but it's worth reiterating the fact that this may wind up being counterproductive.

That is, if someone intended to put say, $300 of their benefits towards a cash rent payment, they would have to go to the ATM on fifteen separate days and pay a fee each time (unless they can find an ATM that dispenses 5s). If they have no checking account (which applies to about a quarter of low-income families, studies show) that means that withdrawing $300 would cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $45 all-in. That's $1 to the state for each withdrawal (the standard fee) plus an assumed $2 bank ATM fee for each trip. That amounts to a sizeable rent increase and will only serve to further impoverish recipients, making it more likely that they will remain dependent on the public purse, thus driving up the cost of the program for taxpayers. 

Whatever the implications turn out to be, Kansas is now (literally) taxing poor people while simultaneously cutting funding to schools after a series of tax cuts for the wealthy bankrupted the state.

Between these types of legislative moves and central bank policies explicitly designed to inflate the assets most likely to be concentrated in the hands of the wealthy, it would appear that exacerbating the wealth divide in America is becoming official government policy.

*  *  * 

Bonus: Here is the official list of places poor people cannot use their welfare money in Kansas as of last month:

PLACES WHERE CASH ASSISTANCE COULD NOT BE USED

- Retail liquor store

- Casino

- Gaming establishment

- Jewelry store

- Tattoo parlor

- Massage parlor

- Body piercing parlor

- Spa

- Nail salon

- Lingerie shop

- Tobacco paraphernalia store

- Vapor cigarette store

- Psychic or fortune telling business

- Bail bond company

- Video arcade

- Movie theater

- Swimming pool

- Cruise ship

- Theme park

- Dog or horse racing facility

- Pari-mutuel facility

- Sexually oriented business or any retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment

- Any business or retail establishment where minors under age 18 are not permitted.

 

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Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:18 | 6119271 Achilles Heel
Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:24 | 6119293 TeamDepends
TeamDepends's picture

Don't see gun shop on the list.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:38 | 6119326 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

Only politicians would come up with the idea to take money from one sod (tax), give that money to another sod (welfare), and then realize they are broke and tax the welfare!

Regards,

Cooter

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:47 | 6119343 kaiserhoff
kaiserhoff's picture

Should I read something from the WaPo or the Onion?

What to do?  What to do?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:05 | 6119384 zaphod
zaphod's picture

Giving LESS in "benefits" is NOT A TAX. It is a reduction in benefits. 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:12 | 6119401 tmosley
tmosley's picture

Wow, the GOVERNMENT charges a dollar for a withdrawl on their own card?

Question is: can't they just go buy something at the store and get cash back for free (does the government charge for those transactions too?)? Would that bypass the $25 limit?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:43 | 6119473 NoDebt
NoDebt's picture

Social Security used to be non-taxable, too.  

Ah, well, we're all headed to a cashless system anyway, so there won't be any ATMs soon.  Problem solved.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:48 | 6119486 Deathrips
Deathrips's picture

Govt has no money, just a cannon aimed at the last few remaining taxpayers.

Strong arm taxpayer....Skim.

 

Rinse repeat..rinse repeat...default

 

RIPS

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:06 | 6119526 MonetaryApostate
MonetaryApostate's picture

It's war on the people......   This is what Fascism smells like...

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:38 | 6119608 Theosebes Goodfellow
Theosebes Goodfellow's picture

~"A single mother with two children seeking to withdraw just $200 in cash could incur $30 or more in fees, which is a big chunk of the roughly $400 such a family would receive under the program in Kansas."~

 

Where, pray tell, is the daddy of these two waifs? I would think the great State of Kansas would be particularly keen to find that fellow. Did she not learn the lesson about play with loaded penises with the first child? Where in the article are the calls for her taking responsibility for her poor choices? Don't the have jobs in Kansas anymore?

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 02:09 | 6120278 BuddyEffed
BuddyEffed's picture

This seems like a way to try to incentivize the poor to want/desire/beg for a cashless society to avoid the cash withdrawal fees!

Clash action lawsuit coming?  ACLU might come out with a statment on this one.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 06:55 | 6120573 N2OJoe
N2OJoe's picture

Giving less of something is not a tax

If you somehow twist your own mind to consider it a tax, it is on leeches on the public teat, not run of the mill "poor people" who are wholly unaffected by the change.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:17 | 6120627 Arnold
Arnold's picture

.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:25 | 6120848 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Its a wealth transfer to the banks. Overall a retarded situation.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:40 | 6119788 Panopticon 131
Panopticon 131's picture

This sounds more like a step towards capital controls and a cashless society for tracking purposes.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:40 | 6119789 Panopticon 131
Panopticon 131's picture

This sounds more like a step towards capital controls and a cashless society for tracking purposes.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:32 | 6120414 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

On who else is war to be waged on?

Martians?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:18 | 6119554 Umh
Umh's picture

JPM administers these cards for at least some states. There must be a profit involved.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:12 | 6119402 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

But they structured it as giving and taking back rather than simply reducing ... because they want to be the politicians who "didn't cut benefits." They just want room to dissemble for soundbites.

Regards,

Cooter

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:42 | 6119478 Son of Loki
Son of Loki's picture

"$25 limit on my state issued card!?" Strip joints are going to go bust!

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:48 | 6120945 zeroaccountability
zeroaccountability's picture

Yes!  When I got change for a $20, the bartender said, "Is 19 ok?"  (She charged me $1 for making change!)

ANOTHER tax on the poor. (Bartender was a stripper working one of the 'tubs'...I needed singles to 'tip' the dancers)

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 01:48 | 6120259 roadlust
roadlust's picture

Just like the tax reductions that jackass Kansas Republicans made that put the state in it's financial hole were an INCREASE in state "benefits" to rich people there. 

Kansas ain't gonna solve their fiscal problems by cutting school money and welfare to poor people (money that ALL goes back into the Kansas economy).   Like their brain dead brethren in Lousiana, they're siimply digging their own fiscal grave by "stimulating" their economies with tax gifts to corporations and wealthy individuals, at the expense of the health of the entire state. 

 

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:22 | 6120647 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Cut the budget for the schools back to heat, electricity, and flush toilets and then look for dedicated teachers.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:50 | 6120950 zeroaccountability
zeroaccountability's picture

Never fear, the lost revenue will be made up by State Patrol officers 'stopping' traffic leaving Colorado looking for dope, issuing speeding tickets, etc.

Fri, 05/29/2015 - 07:48 | 6143127 Beowulf55
Beowulf55's picture

Maybe they should cut school money.  In Lawrence, KS they send kids home with notes asking the parents to give them money so they can buy supplies to teach the kids, yet they had enough money in their budget to spend $11 million dollars on astro-turf for the football field.  WTF?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:08 | 6119391 0b1knob
0b1knob's picture

The cards can still be used to purchase groceries and other items at stores just like a debit card.   They don't have to take the money out as cash to spend it.

The limit and charge on cash withdrawals is to discourage them from using the cash to purchase such banned or illegal items as cigarettes and drugs.

Of course they could (gasp!) get a job and then spend the money they earn on whatever thay want.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:20 | 6119559 Umh
Umh's picture

They can almost certainly pay the rent with the card too.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:23 | 6120836 Bendromeda Strain
Bendromeda Strain's picture

Section 8 is paid directly to the landlord by the gummint. The subsidized tenant deals with the state. The landlord does not know what the tenant pays to the state. 

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:32 | 6120873 BeaverCream
BeaverCream's picture

You mean the tenant doesn't know what the state pays the landlord.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:08 | 6119393 nmewn
nmewn's picture

"The legislature placed a daily cap of $25 on cash withdrawals beginning July 1, which will force beneficiaries to make more frequent trips to the ATM to withdraw money from the debit cards used to pay public assistance benefits.

 Since there's a fee for every withdrawal, the limit means that some families will get substantially less money."

Ummm, everyone realizes the $25 is going to something besides baby daddies family right?

They shouldn't even be allowed to use it to withdraw cash.

Period.

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:29 | 6119443 vic and blood
vic and blood's picture

I agree. I can see that you thought this through, unlike the sob sisters on this site.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:37 | 6119466 Taffy Lewis
Taffy Lewis's picture

I agree, too. I live in Kansas; the welfare cash for the gals goes to the nail salon; for men, it goes to the strip club and liquor stores. Really dumb statement in the article: "not trusting the poor to use their money wisely".

Lots of open jobs in Topeka in fast food, the retail national food chains, and other stores like CVS, Walgreens, Lowe's, Walmart, etc. I could go out tomorrow morning and be working by the end of the day if I had to.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:59 | 6119515 you enjoy myself
you enjoy myself's picture

yep.  is this piece an attempt to generate sympathy for the beneficiaries?  if you were using your card as it was intended - to feed yourself - then there's zero reason to ever need cash.  all govt welfare should be ended anyways.  let private charities handle those in need like they did before LBJ.  watch how quickly that "need" dries up when you only get food from a soup kitchen instead of fungible cash.

it wouldn't surprise me if well over 50% in benefits are handed out to those who don't truly need it - ie, those capable of working but too lazy to do so, and those who just game the system to pocket an extra couple hundred a month because they can.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:27 | 6120855 Bendromeda Strain
Bendromeda Strain's picture

Every once in a while Statist Tyler gets to take a shift at the helm. I can just see Fight Club Tyler getting up out of the big chair, "you have the con Mr. Durden... you progressive pos"

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:48 | 6119349 greenskeeper carl
greenskeeper carl's picture

Oh well. That's still money that was taken from someone else, at gunpoint, and handed to them for nothing. BFD. And that headline is kinda misleading by not mentioning it only applies to welfare benefits

I also notice that these are debit card CASH withdrawal limits. Meaning they can still spend all that money at once in a grocery store, etc if they want just by swiping the card. I don't feel sorry for them either. If they can afford to pay 20$ for a bottle of liquor or go 'get their nails did' that's 20 dollars less money they needed from the govt.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:55 | 6119365 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

" That's still money that was taken from someone else, at gunpoint, and handed to them for nothing. "

MOAR of it is being directed to the private/commercial banks which issue the atm cards upon which EBT and the like services are run nowadays.

The proper thing to do is re-institute the Postal Savings System and allow beneficiaries of social services of all kinds: diability, social security, ebt, bankster bailout (..er, ok, NOT bankster bailout!) to access their benefits via Federal Passport/State Driver's License style cards issued by The Federal Government without having to pay skim on accessing their benefits to the likes of JPM Chase and Co...

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:57 | 6119654 ThroxxOfVron
ThroxxOfVron's picture

I see downvotes sans commentary or rebuttal...

So you like the idea of Social Security and Disability and Veteran's Benefits paying fees to JPM Chase and the like just to access their bennies?

Mind telling me why?

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:15 | 6119408 CrazyCooter
CrazyCooter's picture

It's what you got to did!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eK4umRMJlrs

Regards,

Cooter

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:31 | 6119310 Richard Chesler
Richard Chesler's picture

I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore.

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:37 | 6119324 ipud
ipud's picture

Someplace where there isn't any trouble... do you suppose there is such a place, Toto?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:44 | 6119339 knukles
knukles's picture

Dreamscape

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:27 | 6120664 Arnold
Arnold's picture

Cheers

 

 

 

(they  know your name anyway)

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:10 | 6119538 I need Another Beer
I need Another Beer's picture

Brownback should have a %100 penalty . Work or starve

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:33 | 6119764 thetruthhurts
thetruthhurts's picture

Da banks gotta make some money too!

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:18 | 6119275 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

They don't need gas money because they don't work.

To hell with the poor in Kansas.

Go to the city and find a job.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:51 | 6119359 Robot Traders Mom
Robot Traders Mom's picture

I know you're just being sarcastic, but the welfare queens we need to worry about work on Wall St. and run corporations. 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:04 | 6119381 Chuck Knoblauch
Chuck Knoblauch's picture

Just waiting.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:20 | 6119277 XqWretch
XqWretch's picture

"Heres your $25, which we borrowed from the banks, and which we pay interest on that debt, to the banks, with your tax dollars, and well charge you a dollar each time you withdraw the money that we borrowed, which will be paid to the banks... you're welcome."

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:21 | 6119288 q99x2
q99x2's picture

Fresh recruits for the revolution.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:03 | 6119379 Freddie
Freddie's picture

Maybe they can join a motorcycle gang and get arrested in a false flag.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:22 | 6119289 walküre
walküre's picture

Everyone knows that all you need to do in Kansas is waiting for the next tornado to lift you to the yellow brick road.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:24 | 6119294 CHC
CHC's picture

Damn...with all those damn restrictions, I'd be better off just getting a damn job.  Screw the state! 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:25 | 6119297 Uber Vandal
Uber Vandal's picture

$25 limit soon to be $0.00 limit.

This almost seems to be getting close to that cashless thing that has been discussed in a round about way....

Something about boiling frogs comes to mind here...

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:07 | 6119527 Fun Facts
Fun Facts's picture

either boiling frogs or dumb goyim cattle.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 22:55 | 6119991 samsara
samsara's picture

I was gonna post the same thing UV.

 

Attacking the $0.00 cash war on multiple fronts in multiple ways.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:27 | 6119301 GoldSilverBitcoinBug
GoldSilverBitcoinBug's picture

Fuck ! They can't get money anymore to pay for pussies, life suck.

Gotta buy Tide to get drugs...

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:43 | 6119338 MayIMommaDogFac...
MayIMommaDogFace2theBananaPatch's picture

But you can't eat TIDE </sarc>

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:27 | 6119302 Spungo
Spungo's picture

If I can't use my government money to get a blow job at the local massage parlor, I don't think I want to live on this planet anymore.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:27 | 6119304 U4 eee aaa
U4 eee aaa's picture

I don't really think it is fair to curtail psychics. How can they figure out what to bet on? If they can't do that they can't make a fortune and get off assistance. Sometimes the government just doesn't think these things through

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:59 | 6119660 Trucker Glock
Trucker Glock's picture

Loomis Simmons Psychic Line

976.L.O.O.M.I.S.C.A.N.S.E.E.T.H.E.F.U.T.U.R.E

"Stop dialing after the first seven letters."

http://www.hulu.com/watch/4935

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:31 | 6119312 Goldenballz
Goldenballz's picture

so what, they should receive 0 money, this welfare program doesnt work for business or middle class only for the poor, while the middle class pays for all that shit... the top 10% should be paying for all those free obama phones, food stamps and cash

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:42 | 6119336 Meremortal
Meremortal's picture

There's this thing in America called the progressive income tax. You should learn how it works, who pays what, and who receives what.

Cause you don't have a clue what you are talking about.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:54 | 6119362 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

The wealth of the top has increased over 15% over the last five years, while everyone else's went nowhere. They pay out in taxes and make it all back in asset inflation. Just sayin'.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:21 | 6119563 Trucker Glock
Trucker Glock's picture

"There's this thing in America called the progressive income tax."

There's also this thing called effective income tax rate.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 22:52 | 6119970 samsara
samsara's picture

If you are that rich,  you have a office full of guy/gals working 40 hours a week just to make sure you don't pay a dime in taxes in the end.

Notice your phrase, "Progressive INCOME tax"

That office full of accounants makes sure you don't show a Dime of "Income" on the books.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:00 | 6119516 Ballin D
Ballin D's picture

The top 10% already pays for materially all of that stuff. They pay more than 2/3rds of the total income tax collected and dont get any meaningful aid that lower brackets qualify for, further increasing the net disparity.

Try .1%

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:32 | 6119313 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Keep your money out of the banks. Save yourself the fee. Watch how fractional banking collaspes. Money skimming will get tight. 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:33 | 6119314 rickv404
rickv404's picture

"Whatever the implications turn out to be, Kansas is now (literally) taxing poor people while simultaneously cutting funding to schools after a series of tax cuts for the wealthy bankrupted the state."

Sounds like a liberal wrote this. Tax cuts never bankrupt anything, if they are genuine tax cuts. The federal government is mainly to blame, from all the inflation financed spending increases since 2003. The states can't do much to ameliorate the situation. Tax cuts aren't enough.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:58 | 6119507 Taffy Lewis
Taffy Lewis's picture

Yes, total liberal claptrap and erroneous. Am I on the wrong web site? Am I on Rachel Madcow's web site by mistake?

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:34 | 6119316 i_call_you_my_base
i_call_you_my_base's picture

Bareback should get the same rules.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:35 | 6119320 Moccasin
Moccasin's picture

A sure fire way to increase crime. Can you buy a box of 44mag /50 rounds for less than $20. It is going to seem like a good investment given the devolving state.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:17 | 6119552 DirtyHowi
DirtyHowi's picture

shit dude(ette) i work for a gun company and cant get .44 mag for less than 45 bucks a box...damn near criminal. and you can forget .22lr

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:44 | 6119615 Moccasin
Moccasin's picture

I checked out the www. the-armory. com and went with it. www .the-armory.com/shopsite_sc/store/html/44-magnum-ammo.html

It was the first one I looked at and ran with it and the comment. They claim 18.95 for 50 rounds of 44mag ammo.... seems to good to be true.. oh well. Next time I will get another source.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:44 | 6119617 vic and blood
vic and blood's picture

Howi,

What is up with 44 magnum? Price went sky high and I can never find my favorite lighter loads. I heard the manufacturers are only doing seasonal runs of everything except for the most popular calibers. Recently, I bought my 5 box limit of crap Korean 22's at Ace Hardware. I paid more per box than I used to get CCI standard velocity for. My nephew loads up on CCI ammo every week at Black Sheep in Coeur d 'Alene, Idaho. Black Sheep can't be that big of a company. How can they be so well supplied? Maybe they are thick with CCI down in Lewiston. You got a Black Sheep near you?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:36 | 6119322 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

Alligator tears on the TV, we have no money for new capital investments. 

/LOL 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:38 | 6119327 Atomizer
Atomizer's picture

This activity is all under Obama's watch. 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:38 | 6119328 Meremortal
Meremortal's picture

Strange. When ATMs came out I decided to ignore them. You can't steal my pin if I don't have one. You can't mug me at an ATM if I never go to one.

I have done without ATMs and never known the difference.

But, when you take money rather than earn it, you have to follow the dispenser's rules.

 

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:39 | 6119330 Jack Burton
Jack Burton's picture

I have a friend in Kansas, born and raised, running a small farm and raising Sled Dogs on the side. From what he tells me, the people of Kansas are more concerned with getting Government off their backs so they can work and make a living without living in a communist commune style system. The public employees are always gonna cry that they are under funded, what they never say is which worker or farmer should kick in more money to keep public workers happy. It is always THEY who shoukd pay more taxes, the unknown THEY. One thing about Public Employment the workers never seem to want to talk about is their full right to go into private sector employment or small business or farming. Instead, they hang like grim death to their public sector jobs and cry for more funding. It seems the very concept of freedom escapes them. If their public sector job sucks, then join the private sector, there is no Soivet Law forcing them to stay on the public payroll.

I live in a town where the streets are now nearly undrivable, they literally are falling to bits, and they dump gravel into holes and throw some cold asphalt on top. Last maybe a month. This is not on select problem spots, it's the whole friggen town. We pay city hall secretaries 50-75K are year. We pay our 8 cops, 60-90K a year. We have departments heads for everything, which means a 90K salary. The Library Janitor was caught making nearly 80K a year!  People just accept it. High wages for the public workers, no money for streets or sidewalks. In a small town you don't dare complain, there are dozens of high paid city workers who will not be too happy with you if you open your mouth. Small Towns can be a bitch, nobody dares rock the boat.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:09 | 6119537 Taffy Lewis
Taffy Lewis's picture

Your friend is correct, Jack. State government education, because "it's for the children", flies under the radar of criticism and scrutiny. You are sadly correct too: People just accept it.

Everybody is crying about attempted cuts to education funding, and I attended my son's lavish "6th Grade Promotion" party today at his school, replete with refreshments, props, and "promotion certificates" for the 100 6th graders. WTF?

It's an insane country that I don't understand and am not a part of. I just bought a farm and will be trying to withdraw more from society as much as possible.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:28 | 6120409 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

I would have thought it was easier to get to know and interact and complain with government officials in small towns than in large cities. It has to be somehow easier to get an audience with them. I know that to be the case in small companies, where the boss is always within yelling distance.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:42 | 6119335 Richard Chesler
Richard Chesler's picture

As far as evil thieving schemes go, this is fucking brilliant!

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:48 | 6119346 Government need...
Government needs you to pay taxes's picture

Kansas .gov justifies this by thinking "It's our money anyway".  And corruption hits the upper bound. <thunk>.  Or maybe that was the body of an unemployed.  Oh well, automation is SOO much better.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:50 | 6119356 FrankIvy
FrankIvy's picture

Pretty much every person I see with an EBT card around here uses it to buy garbage, expensive food.

No sympathy when my tax $ are being used to buy Red Bull and Potato Chips.

And then the cash comes out at the end to buy cigarrettes.

The whole welfare system is an insult to productive people.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 01:03 | 6120185 Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet's picture

The mortgage interest deduction and the deduction of interest payments for corporations is significantly higher than the entire federal governments spending on poverty measures. 

FACT. 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:50 | 6119358 MASTER OF UNIVERSE
MASTER OF UNIVERSE's picture

Pitchfork politics to see how the sheeple react just as GI Joe Jade Helm 15 and the MRAPS(tm) set up camp in Chuck Norris land Texas.

The little people of Kansas are more like Munchkins from Munchkin Land to the US Gubberment and the MSM. Kansas is a test case in Hobbesian brutishness and the level of depravity that the US Gubberment will take citizens of the land of the slave, and home of the indentured into servitude to the Synagogue of Satan.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 18:57 | 6119367 jjsilver
jjsilver's picture

How can property that is stolen from one and given to another be a tax on the recipient?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:44 | 6119481 minosgal
minosgal's picture

so, the steal-ors pay vig to the banks, which also comes from pockets of the steal-ees?

can't we cut out the middle man?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 22:02 | 6119861 Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet's picture

You have no idea what the word "stolen" means, dipshit. Taxes were either approved by ballot initiative or voted on by elected legislators.

That does not constitute theft, in any capacity.

God you fucks are dumb as shit. Ahh, makes sense you were raised in the USA.

Seriously, get off your high horse and take a quick look at a dictionary.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 02:26 | 6120271 Demonoid
Demonoid's picture

Your rhetoric-foo is weak, young padawan. 

In the reality-based world (a term those of your ilk find talismanic), strategies are proven by results. 

How many ZHers here were persuaded by your "strategy" here? None. 

More to the point, my dictionary defines theft as "the taking of another person's property without that person's permission or consent." Care to explain how that doesn't apply? You fail to understand that when a cabal of thieves "votes" to reach their hand in someone else's pocket, that doesn't abrogate the meaning of theft. We may (like beaten dogs) submit to theft under force of law, but it's still stealing...by definition.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:36 | 6120416 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Has your dictionary an entry for "property"?

Because how is one to define what consititues theft, if theft is taking someone's property, without knowing what "property" is?

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:14 | 6120625 Demonoid
Demonoid's picture

Semanticists do to discourse what johns do to prostitutes. "Depends on what the meaning of is is" remains a cardinal example.

Here's a real-world, non-semantic definition of property. If I possess something, you try to take it while telling me that because you and some other criminals "voted" to do it, I must accept it like a dog taking a kick, and my instinctual response is that my trigger finger gets itchy...you are stealing my "property."

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:21 | 6120632 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

What if we were to reverse the situation?

I say your property isnt yours, it was mine all along, and im the one with the itchy finger on the trigger. And to justify this i say my instincts say its allright, and might even win a vote to back it up.

Still yours? What actually makes it yours?

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 08:48 | 6120938 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

I gave him a chance to fake some civilized behaviour and look for his dictionary but he went with his instincts and itchy finger instead. Go figure, im the barbarian.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 07:33 | 6120681 mojine
mojine's picture

Ive got news for you, you fucking  retard. If it was taken from me without MY  personal permission, it is stolen. It is you who needs a dictionary.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:01 | 6119375 somecallmetimmah
somecallmetimmah's picture

"Broke Kansas To Tax Poor People By Placing $25 Limit On ATM WithDrawls"

Hmmm,....whose money are they withdrawing?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:13 | 6119404 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Is the gist of this article government presenting a backdoor transfer payment scheme to the banks through ATM fees, or poor folk who have more than $20.00 at a time will go berserk?

 

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:05 | 6119382 saldulilem
saldulilem's picture

Well, is the article didn't say anything about non-cash transaction, i.e. direct debit. If the cap doesn't apply there I find the the author disingenuous.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:06 | 6119387 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Aren’t you cats glad we aren’t impoverished.  Damn what a circle to be in.  Hahahahaha!!! 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:14 | 6119395 Ajax_USB_Port_R...
Ajax_USB_Port_Repair_Service_'s picture

Banks Win!

"to withdraw just $200 in cash could incur $30 or more in fees"

What did Brownback get from the banks for this legislation?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:11 | 6119399 kchrisc
kchrisc's picture

Great book to read, "What's the Matter with Kansas."

Good insight on the neo-con, and evangelical Christian thinking sheeple.

Liberty is a demand. Tyranny is submission..

 

Basically: If a sheeple can be convinced that he is more up right and better than "them over there," they will support and suffer just about anything. That includes having their children used as cannon fodder to enrich the MIC and Zion.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:32 | 6119453 Sophist Economicus
Sophist Economicus's picture

LOL!!!

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:45 | 6119621 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Creative Accounting: Instead of poorman tax and since they can't afford not to take back some of the EBT Money...

- Give them a 13th month of EBT in December and finance it by charging the expense on 2016 dollars when presumable Tax Revenues will normalize.

Fixed it for the Gov, but it probably breaks some accounting rules so would require an official bill signed to make it law.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:15 | 6119405 RichardParker
RichardParker's picture

EBT profit center for Dimon and company; winning!

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/10/01/jp-morgan-s-food-stamp-...

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:15 | 6119410 Parsecs Taxi
Parsecs Taxi's picture

It's not a "poor tax," it's a tax on un-success, and that's really what we want to discourage, isn't it?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:23 | 6119427 p00k1e
p00k1e's picture

Thought another way, in the natural world all those people suckling state-issued benefits would not be.

Every time a bank nicks them for the 20% juice on a $20.00 ATM transaction, a fragment of our purchasing power is splintered away. 

The producers are outnumbering the non-producers.  We need a great culling of the unproductive.  And that’s a job!

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:30 | 6119445 appocean
appocean's picture

the new capitalism.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:31 | 6119449 adr
adr's picture

Cry me a fucking river useless eaters. Here's a solution, TURN THE CARDS OFF PERMANENTLY.

The reason why the schools are broke is because the districts have more retired teachers on the payroll than active ones, and pay the retired teachers far more.

Fire all superintendents and other worthless administrators, cut pensions for worthless retired teachers in half (still giving most of them $30k+ per year), and you no longer have a funding problem.

Tax hikes only allow the broken system to continue on. In my old state teachers were asked to increase their pension contribution from 2% to 4%. They screamed about it, said it was unfair. 4% of 50k is $2000. $2000 x 25 years is $50k. So a teacher basically only funded one year's worth of thier pension based on today's going rate. Every other year comes out of tax payer's pockets.

A retired teacher is likely to have a pension in the $40-75k range, a newly hired teacher is lucky to make $30k and have to follow the worst curriculum ever devised. Better to close the schools than let this travesty continue.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:09 | 6119535 ghostofgo
ghostofgo's picture

Who the fk are you to cut somebody's pension? Sick. Is that your "free market" fantasy? Lies and cruelty. You probably love inherited wealth don't you? What psychotic economic and moral theory do you subscribe to that says it is ok to cut pensions but not cut the wealth of the wealthy?

You're the worst kind of Koch brother psycho scum that turns up on ZH. How much are you paid? Or are you just that stupid naturally?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:22 | 6119567 Polymarkos
Polymarkos's picture

You gonna pay the tax bill? Then STFU.

 

Something HAS to get cut somewhere. Idiot.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:25 | 6119575 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

Some of us here believe that pensions should be EARNED. Graduate from HS and take a government job at 18. Work 30 years and retire at 48. Collect a pension for another 40 fucking years. Do the math dick head.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:58 | 6119850 Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet's picture

You do the math fuckwad. Almost no one in the government actually retires at 48. Seriously,nice try, dipshit.

Most of the teachers I knew growing up didn't retire until their mid 60's. Most of my friends who became teachers now start off at less than 35k a year. What a dream job! Dealing with dumb, fat American kids for 35k a year! Sign me up for that!

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:45 | 6120421 newdoobie
newdoobie's picture

Teachers now days don't even have degrees in what they teach. They all have ed degrees. Pedagogy is the dumbest degree I've ever heard of. Beginning Teachers earn so little because they can't teach. Got to weed out the useless. Those dumb, fat American kids become dumb, fat American Teachers!

 

No Sympathy

 

but but but, the children

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:50 | 6120432 FredFlintstone
FredFlintstone's picture

After a few years on the job I met a guy ready to retire from the state at 48. You claim it is an extreme example, but there are many who started right out of HS working for the government. You must be sucking the teat in the wrong state. Almost all teachers in my state retire in their 50's and will then collect for as many if not more years than they worked. Goes for almost all government employees that started in public service early. Average wage for a teacher in my state is much higher than that. Plus you don't need to save any money when you have a golden pension.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:43 | 6120418 ghostofgo
ghostofgo's picture

So, how about have Mark Zuckerberg pay the pensions? He's only worked 10 years. Certainly he hasn't EARNED his tens of billions.

Or do you think oligarchic scum should continue to get special treatment?

What is it to "earn" money in your fantasy world?

Oh, and by the way, referring to "us" or "we" to try and apply peer pressure is a rookie shill mistake. Did you just get your shill job recently?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:31 | 6119450 NoWayJose
NoWayJose's picture

If you are unable to cut government spending, you have to raise money somewhere. There aren't enough rich folks, so go after the greatest numbers -- the poor!

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:07 | 6119529 flysofree
flysofree's picture

Where do you think all the money goes.....

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:00 | 6119637 minosgal
minosgal's picture

it's not where the money goes, it's where the money comes from, and how that money is obtained, and who gets a cut.

you and i have free will. we can choose to contribute to individuals or charitable organizations, as we please. i personally don't mind helping out fellow travelers along the road. many recipients are actual children, who are not responsible for their braindead parent(s)

the state (banks) is inserting itself into this charitable transaction, and taking a rather large cut, seems more of a problem.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:35 | 6119458 fremannx
fremannx's picture

The largest credit bubble in history has burst... it's that simple.

http://www.globaldeflationnews.com/anatomy-of-a-bubble-how-the-federal-r...

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:41 | 6119477 Ethnomycologist
Ethnomycologist's picture

It isn't your money when the gov't takes it off your paycheck. The real welfare scam is a little ol' place called Israel. Besides, the welfare cash is going back into the real economy in the form of profits for small business, and the larger companies that supply them.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:30 | 6119596 vic and blood
vic and blood's picture

I hadn't thought of it that way. I suppose that it could be considered an ongoing economic stimulus. Benefits recipients can be counted on to plow that money immediately into the real(and occasionally, real underground) economy. I am not certain that nail salons, strip joints, and tattoo parlors are the best way to goose the economy, however. Recently, my favorite convenience store began accepting ebt cards. Customer volume has increased and I realized that I had been unaware of the impact of benefits on the economy. Still, I would favor a return to old fashioned commodities, in spite of the loss of sales for Cheetos and Mountain Dew.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:56 | 6119502 welostyourgold
welostyourgold's picture

Saving $100 for the checking account isn't that hard.  If you can't manage to do that, you really sholdnt be making your own money descisions anyway.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 19:56 | 6119503 ersatz007
ersatz007's picture

Brought to you by Carl's Jr

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:04 | 6119524 DaveA
DaveA's picture

As long as the cards can still be used to buy one-way bus tickets to California, what's the problem?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:14 | 6119542 ghostofgo
ghostofgo's picture

$25 limit is just pure sadism. Goes way beyond ordinary selfishness. Hollywood taught America to be sadistic. It was always a violent place. But the ubiquitous sadism is a recent phenomenon. They don't know that the ATMs deal out multiples of 20s?? Riiiiight. Think they are so clever. Such a shithole anymore.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:23 | 6119568 minosgal
minosgal's picture

fatfinger. recind one downvote.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:18 | 6119555 WTFUD
WTFUD's picture

Didn't Dorthy come from Kansas? I always dreamt about following the yellow brick road and everything would work out just dandy.

Kansas here i come. How much benefits am i entitled too and i got 4 kids so would prefer a big house rather than a flat as my scooter takes a bit of handling?

Happy Dayz.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:27 | 6119582 Taffy Lewis
Taffy Lewis's picture

With Section 8 housing, free meals (breakfast and lunch) and busing for your kids for school, and a welfare check with 4 dependents, what you want isn't that farfetched.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:18 | 6119557 Polymarkos
Polymarkos's picture

Here's a thought: END ALL WELFARE. Suddenly we'd have lots of money.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 05:41 | 6120485 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

you cant do that! Too many large Banks would fail for sure! And the welfare given to the Military Industrial Complex-like 1 Trillion apiece for the F 35 fighters that are so riddled with bugs and poor design that they may go straight to the junkyard-all 125 of them

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:20 | 6119560 minosgal
minosgal's picture

wonder why swimming pools are lumped in to the list of prohibited places, along with casinoes, tat parlors, etc.

a little cardio is a good thing

 

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:25 | 6119579 Polymarkos
Polymarkos's picture

The welfare mob are all too fat. If we let them in the pools, they would take up all the room.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:57 | 6119652 minosgal
minosgal's picture

yeah well, laws of physics, gotta give you that. lol

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:14 | 6120401 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Pauli's principle.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:25 | 6119580 GRDguy
GRDguy's picture

Rich get richer off the poor. (2011)

"Bryce Covert at New Deal 2.0 reported earlier this month that, “big banks are making a tidy profit by acting as middlemen for what should be publicly provided services.” U.S. Bancorp made $357 million in revenue from its unemployment benefit card division — more than one-fourth of its total revenue. Meanwhile JP Morgan “made $5.47 billion in net revenue for most of last year in the division that handles food stamp cards.”

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/11/14/367467/bank-of-america-unemp...

Can you imagine just how much more they make in 2015?

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:33 | 6119599 BeerMe
BeerMe's picture

What's with this article?  It is kind of bleeding heart.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:48 | 6119625 TeethVillage88s
TeethVillage88s's picture

Snap & EBT fall under Federal Department of Agriculture.

So it is illegal for Kansas or the Governor Sam Brownback to actually do this or orchestrate it.

-----------------------------------------------------------------
** I'm thinking Federal Misappropriation of Funds, Felony **
-----------------------------------------------------------------

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 20:57 | 6119640 kareninca
kareninca's picture

There is no limit to how much some people will go, in beating up on the poor.  And I mean the hard-working poor, too.

I live in the Palo Alto, CA area.  I just managed to enrage a whole bunch of rich white women (on a neighborhood email list) by suggesting that they do their own fucking housework and child tending, rather than rage about pilfering by their house serfs and thinking of ways to catch and prosecute them.  Boy that made them mad!!!  They were even madder when I suggested that they could alternatively get to know their house serf as a human, or help the house serf so that it was a shared activity.  Way beneath them.  They are 1 percenters (due to hubbys' stock options), and feel completely entitled to hire some undocumented "woman of color" and have her cower and cringe and obey for some shitty wage.  Naturally they are all Obama voters, fucking hypocrites.  They fawn all over "undocumented oppressed unprivileged women of color," but let one (possibly) do something that offends them, and they want her blood, every drop of it.

You know, just as a practical matter, if I had a tiny infant (like the woman who issued the first complaint), and I thought the nanny was stealing from me, my first thought would not be what crap I had lost.  Just saying.

I was also just treated (on the same list) to the input of  a .1 percenter (boy was she mad at the idea that she might do a bit of housework), a white woman who runs a big company and who is affiliated with a right wing think tank.  Her view was that one should put out a couple of bucks (some amount that is trivial to the slaveholder, er, homeowner, but of substance to the serf) and set up a secret webcam, and if the serf takes the cash, bring in the cops.  Her post was wildly popular; everyone wanted to suck her off for her fabulous "innovative" contribution.  Oh, yes, these ladies really want the cops in to haul those dark skinned ones in to get their proper punishment.

People bitch about Hispanics taking over this country.  Could they truly be worse than these evil rich white women?  I have never met a Hispanic person who would treat another human being like a pet in a Youtube video (and then "off" the "bad" pet by calling in the cops); it's like something out of Les Miserables.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:53 | 6119826 Silver Bullet
Silver Bullet's picture

I could not agree more. I live in the BA too. The "liberals" out here are so full of shit. All they do is drive their Maserati's, I mean their Ferrari's around thousands of poor and homeless people, but it's okay because they gave Obama $2600 last campaign. What a joke.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 01:11 | 6120191 kareninca
kareninca's picture

I wonder who on earth could have downvoted you.  You are describing reality.  Well, except that it isn't Ferraris, it's Tesla's.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 05:38 | 6120483 dreadnaught
dreadnaught's picture

while the CONservatives drive around in limos and Rolls Royces and eat Caviar at the country club-attended to by their menial labor

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:12 | 6120399 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Thats impossible, because of Doctor Martin Luther King.

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:12 | 6120400 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Thats impossible, because of Doctor Martin Luther King.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:00 | 6119665 Pancho de Villa
Pancho de Villa's picture

Something a bit more upbeat from Larry's son...

 

/www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nggqe-L9ZQ8

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:52 | 6119776 HenryHall
HenryHall's picture

"Whereas banks have repeatedly proven themselves untrustworthy --"

It's time to start a USA Whitehouse (and a UK government) petition to allow pensioners to draw their social security / retirement each week in cash at the Post Office like they could in the old days.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:53 | 6119822 not a yahoo
not a yahoo's picture

I call it forced labor.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 22:58 | 6120000 samsara
samsara's picture

Once is good enough with the SAVE button...

Fri, 05/22/2015 - 04:06 | 6120393 Benjamin123
Benjamin123's picture

Even once is forced labor.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:53 | 6119823 not a yahoo
not a yahoo's picture

I call it forced labor.

Thu, 05/21/2015 - 21:53 | 6119824 not a yahoo
not a yahoo's picture

I call it forced labor.

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