Friday, April 25, 2014

Welfare Fraud

The pictures in this post are my first attempt to visualize the issue of welfare fraud.  Being able to visualize an issue gives us a common means to discuss it, to analyze it and to start addressing it.

I cranked these out at 4:00 in the morning because I could not sleep.  These graphics are the equivalent of scribbles on a dry-erase board.  It is a working tool.  You will not agree with everything I wrote or how it is organized.  You will see many things that should be added or fine-tuned or word-smithed.  That is GREAT!  It means that we have the start of a shared visualization of the issues at hand.

I need to catch a nap.  I plan to add some text between the pictures at a later time.

Overview

Click to enlarge.  Chart makes the most sense if you start with box in lower left corner.  A red arrows is a necessary condition for the box being pointed to.  Blue arrows are countermeasures to the box being pointed at.

Looking more closely at specific functions of money

My strategy to reduce welfare fraud is to cripple the Bridge Card's ability to serve as an alternate form of currency.  Since all actions will be defeated, to some degree, by those who wish to defraud the system, it is necessary to seek "horizontal resistance".  That is, to implement multiple countermeasures that put a "tax" on each attribute that defines a viable currency.
 
Universally accepted appears to be the best choke-point.  I believe there are already many generic laws on the books regarding fraudulent use of Electronic Fund Transfer cards.  The Feds have many restrictions on laws that specifically target Bridge Cards but using existing, generic laws avoids those restrictions.

The Orange Arrow denotes a factor that will assist, but is not a necessary condition, for the box being pointed at, but is not required.  It is valid to have the same countermeasure show up in several places.


2 comments:

  1. The problem is difficult to solve because it is closely related to current intrinsic social values in our society.

    Such as there was a time when:
    -living together out of wedlock was unusual and if done kept quiet
    -having a child out of wedlock was unusual and if it happened kept quiet
    -accepting welfare was literally a "last resort" means and if done kept quiet
    ( - there's a lot more)

    All of the above now seem to be considered quite the norm. Our government makes special efforts to advertise the availability of "how to get it" for welfare. Many view it as their "right" and see it as normal as requesting a social security card.

    My opinion: It all starts at home and how children are raised and taught their values system. From what I gather schools are not helping (liberal thinking petri dishes), though I'm sure there are "good" educators.

    But on a practical basis what you diagram is a good approach to understand and minimize damages from a fundamentally broken situation.

    When the CBO announced that the ACA will cost jobs (and job hours) the liberals called this a "good thing" because it reduces "job lock". Job lock is one of those liberal new-speak terms. Employment = job lock.
    http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/dc/pelosi-cbo-report-shows-obamacare-americans-freedom-follow-passion-blog-entry-1.1706082

    -Doug

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Doug:

      Thank-you for reading, and especially, thank-you for taking the time to post your detailed and thoughtful comment.

      I think you should copyright your observation: "...schools are not helping (liberal thinking petri dishes)"

      Best regards,

      -Joe

      Delete

Readers who are willing to comment make this a better blog. Civil dialog is a valuable thing.