Lately I’ve been getting really frustrated at work. I, along with many other students, go to school full time and after a long day, we go straight to work and finish the day off by hopefully getting all of our homework done. As I stand behind my till helping customers I always notice people going through my line complaining about the price of something, even though they are on welfare, and then whip out their smartphone.
In my personal opinion, most people who really need welfare do not need to be walking around with designer purses or smartphones. It is understandable that some of these items are gifts, but not all of them. North Dakota has a surplus of money right now, so in its own way it is understandable that background checks on the recipients of these checks has fallen to the curb but it has to stop.
North Dakota needs to hire three or more people to do these background checks so that fraud is not being committed. A reason that this has not happened is the cost of paying those people doing the background checks. You cannot tell me that you could not take the money that the state would save from fraud and set up a job that could potentially pay 20 thousand dollars a year.
Another problem is drug testing. It does not make sense that I have to take a drug test to work but recipients of welfare checks do not have to take one to receive the check. I think it is only fair that if you cannot pass a drug test, you should not get the check.
Recently, a bill went up to be approved to require drug tests but was shot down 72-19. According to ‘Stop the Drug War’, a serious reason for the bill being denied was the legislators were not happy with the potential costs, around $595,000 in just the first two years and an added $125,000 in anticipated legal costs.
Overall, I believe the welfare system is a great thing and it can really help people out who are in sticky situations, but it is getting ridiculous how easy it is to get around the system. If everything was just made more secure, then things would be better.