Putting on the brakes
Paul LePage is claiming to do what the people of Maine want.
There are some people out there, mostly LePage supporters, who feel that he is doing the right thing by cutting help for the poorest and most venerable Mainers at a time when the state can't provide any better options. They are somehow lead to believe that all of the financial problems in the state are caused by that tiny segment of the population known as the Welfare Queen.
Changes in state's welfare laws long overdue
While the fact remains that there are women out there who may very well fall into the Welfare Queen category, targeting them as the ultimate solution will be a disappointment in terms of cost savings. In fact LePage's solutions might even bring about greater costs to society in the long run when you consider the cost of addressing those who are helped right off of welfare onto the streets of Portland, due to the FACT that for many people out there, welfare is a better option than anything else that is available. Also, I can assure you that there are much more lucrative targets that haven't even been brought out into the spotlight. Why? Because addressing these issues would be a major hit to a few of the successful and prominent Mainers.
Let me give you an example.
You want welfare fraud? Here you go. Maine's Child Protective Services and foster care system.
There are some people out there, mostly LePage supporters, who feel that he is doing the right thing by cutting help for the poorest and most venerable Mainers at a time when the state can't provide any better options. They are somehow lead to believe that all of the financial problems in the state are caused by that tiny segment of the population known as the Welfare Queen.
Changes in state's welfare laws long overdue
While the fact remains that there are women out there who may very well fall into the Welfare Queen category, targeting them as the ultimate solution will be a disappointment in terms of cost savings. In fact LePage's solutions might even bring about greater costs to society in the long run when you consider the cost of addressing those who are helped right off of welfare onto the streets of Portland, due to the FACT that for many people out there, welfare is a better option than anything else that is available. Also, I can assure you that there are much more lucrative targets that haven't even been brought out into the spotlight. Why? Because addressing these issues would be a major hit to a few of the successful and prominent Mainers.
Let me give you an example.
You want welfare fraud? Here you go. Maine's Child Protective Services and foster care system.
Oh my God! How can I say that about the Angels of Mercy who protect Maine's most venerable citizens from child abuse and neglect?
You don't even realize it because you're sold on the concept of the heroic endeavors of the government worker who protects children from abuse and neglect. You turn on channel 6, 8, or 13 for your news and see nothing about it. Perhaps the occasional case of horrific child abuse, perhaps the occasional drive to recruit foster or adoptive parents. But nothing more. Why? Because this segment of the Department of Health and Human Services operates in secrete and ALL of the news that comes out about it comes directly from the Public Relations department.
What they don't tell you is that when they do remove a kid from their home due to abuse and neglect, there are instantly 25 service providers who all get a cut of the $40,000 a year it costs to keep that kid in their out of home placement, via kinship placements, foster care or group homes, juvenile detention and residential treatment facilities.
First you have the lawyers who get those nice state contracts, typically 3 per kid. You have the AAG, (the lawyer who represents the department), you have the GAL, (the lawyer who represents the child) and you have the lawyer for the parents who are working towards regaining custody via services provided by the state. All of these people are paid by we the tax payer, and are great at dragging it all out. But it doesn't stop there. You also have the foster care and adoption agencies such as Youth Alternatives and Casey Family Services, who, although are often designated as non-profits, still must obtain funding for administrative and labor costs so that they can hire professionals such as social workers, administrators and attorneys, and of course they have to pay the foster parents. Of course that funding comes from many directions from state and federal grants to neighborhood bake-sales. Not to mention all of the shrinks that are making a killing off of providing psychological "help" to the children, services to the parents who are working towards reunification, you have DHHS social workers, supervisors, program administrators, etc and the special schools, and group homes. The list goes on and on.
This is all paid for by the tax payer. A lot of it is fraud. A lot of these families are easy targets. And you don't even have a clue.
This is all paid for by the tax payer. A lot of it is fraud. A lot of these families are easy targets. And you don't even have a clue.
What do you really think will happen when they start drug testing every welfare recipient?
Still we can't get away from the people suggesting the solutions off the backs of the poor, which will ultimately result in more children being taken into the states child welfare system. Take for example this George Fogg from North Yarmouth who wrote a letter to the Lewiston Sun Journal regarding the "great job" that LePage is doing.
Still we can't get away from the people suggesting the solutions off the backs of the poor, which will ultimately result in more children being taken into the states child welfare system. Take for example this George Fogg from North Yarmouth who wrote a letter to the Lewiston Sun Journal regarding the "great job" that LePage is doing.
I asked a dear friend of mine from Detroit to respond to this. Here's what she said.
Congratulations to Gov. Paul LePage for his efforts to rein in welfare fraud. He is to be commended, along with the current legislators, for their efforts to correct the many failings in welfare.
One has to only look at Detroit, Mich., to see what runaway entitlements can do to a once proud city. Detroit plummeted from 1.8 million citizens to 912,000 today. It has descended into the abyss of crime, debauchery, gun play, drugs, school truancy, car-jacking, gangs and human depravity. Hundreds of thousands today exist on federal welfare, free housing and food stamps. It was and is entitlement gone wild. Total chaos prevails.
The liberals scream about helping the needy, but it has gone way beyond reason or the state's ability to pay for it. I thank Gov. LePage for seeing the end result and putting on the brakes before the state's taxpayers are all destitute.
It is not a matter of ignoring human needs but rather of trying to restore human dignity in those who have become entitlement junkies. You can give a man a fish or you can teach him to fish for himself. The latter better serves all and is more like the old Maine Yankee who was too proud to ask for help.
It is obvious that government cannot be all things to all people and each should care for their own. The fact that the state is about to go bankrupt is a major red flag that LePage recognizes and is trying to prevent.
George A. Fogg, North Yarmouth
Interestingly enough a letter to the editor of the Sun Journal was published with no credibility except the flagrant usage of sound bites and buzz words. Then, to season this economic pundit as a voice of authority, he presents an incompatible comparative analysis between a local and a state political economy by analyzing Detroit with Maine.
Without any statement of authority utilizing bad census data, Detroit is reduced to the descriptive of an embarrassed city poverty due to, what an armchair economic expert, who became a subject matter expert on history of urban Detroit by cable channel surfing, has cleverly called "runaway entitlements".
Obviously this pseudo-subject matter expert has never been to Detroit and has no knowledge of Maine's own $44 million runaway entitlement train, just one of many that state is hiding by blaming its economic woes on its newly created cheap labor force.
This is the Motor City. This is what we do.
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