No. 896 WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

No. 896

Jim Davidson -- NEWSPAPER COLUMN

WHAT IS WRONG WITH THIS PICTURE?

If there is one thing I dislike it is controversy, especially when it involves being negative toward some person or group of persons. However, there are times when it’s necessary to set the record straight and then, if changes need to be made and are made, the outlook for the future is much better, A good example for those of us who are parents is when we had to discipline our child when they did something wrong. It was painful for a while for everyone involved, but after the fact things improved greatly from that point forward. I certainly hope this is the case here for what I am going to share with you.
A few weeks ago a friend sent me a story posted on Facebook by Tom Selkis, owner/dealer of Latham Ford in Latham, N.Y. This was posted on Oct. 23, 2012, and various Internet articles say it’s true. Tom begins, “I’ll try to make this as short and to the point as I can. One of my salesmen here had a woman in his office yesterday wanting to lease a brand new Focus. As he was reviewing her credit application with her, he noticed that she was on Social Security Disability. He said to her, “You don’t look like you are disabled and unable to work.” She said, “Well, I’m really not. I could work if I wanted to, but I make more now than when I was working and got hurt”(a non-disabling injury).
She said the government sends her $1,500 a month in one check. And she gets $700 a month on an EBT card (food stamps), and $800 a month for rent. Oh yeah, and 250 minutes free on her phone. That is just south of $3,500 a month. When she was working she was taking home about $330 per week. Do the math and then ask yourself why in the heck would she go back to work? If you multiply that by millions of people, you start to realize the scope of the problem we face as a country. Once those who are responsible for massive give-away programs have 51 percent of the population in that same scenario, we are finished.
Again, quoting Ford dealer Tom Selkis, “the question is when do we cross that threshold if we haven’t already, and there are not enough people working to pay enough taxes to support the non-working people? Riots? Be prepared to protect your homes. She didn’t lease the Focus here because the dealer down the road beat our deal by $10 a month. Glad to know she is so frugal with her hard-earned money.” In conclusion, Tom encourages everyone to pass this article along to everyone we know. The question that came to my mind after reading this true article is – “What is wrong with this picture?”
Of course the answer is obvious. This woman has no character and no integrity, and she is by no means alone. There are thousands, perhaps millions, of people in our nation who are more than willing to scam the government. This is a given but the real culprit here is the person or persons who approved her disability payment. These people are an affront to every honest, hard-working American taxpayer. We all lose when we allow this to continue, and even increase in the years to come. As a nation, let us shine the spotlight on these people and explain to them that what they are doing is wrong. As I have said many times, let’s don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater because there a lots of good public servants who are doing the right thing.
Here is a thought we would all do well to ponder: Why is the “new normal” always worse than the “old normal”? We can change things if we refuse to accept less than the best.
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(EDITOR'S NOTE: Jim Davidson is a public speaker and syndicated columnist. You may contact him at 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034. To begin a bookcase literacy project visit www.bookcaseforeverychild.com. You won’t go wrong helping a needy child.)