Is it time for the pitchforks and torches yet?

[wyo]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/04/us/mississippi-department-human-services.html

This is egregious even by deep south Republican standards.

TL;DR? Mississippi elected officials diverted almost a hundred million dollars of TANF (Welfare) funds to a couple of shady non-profits. These non-profits distributed the money to friends, family members, business associates, lobbyists, Brett Favre, and The Million Dollar Man Ted DiBiase.

Meanwhile, "A ThinkProgress article found that in 2016, only 167 of the 11,700 Mississippi families who applied for a TANF payment were approved."

You really can't make this shit up...

 

[Lagduf]

Mississippi, find yourself another country to be part of.

 

[lithy]

Considering all levels and forms of government are basically legalized and organized systems of grift, why does anyone think government will ever 'fix' anything? They have no incentive to do so.

From the recent PA Unemployment fiasco.

Even when the economy was booming, Pennsylvanians who had to file unemployment claims were struggling to get through by phone, and the ancient computer system was inefficient.

“To say that it is being held together with bubble gum would be an insult to bubble gum,” Auditor General Eugene DePasquale told reporters then.

That bubble gum still is there today, and it’s being stretched even thinner.

The computer system was supposed to be replaced a decade ago. But that project isn’t finished.

Initially planned to occur in three phases and cost $110 million, only two phases were completed, at a cost of $170 million, according to the audit. The part that wasn’t done when the state’s contract with IBM expired in 2013 was for benefits claims processing, payment and appeals.

The state sued IBM, which says it did nothing wrong. The case is pending.

New plans were drawn up, and at the time of the 2017 audit, the benefits delivery system was projected to be finished by last summer. That target date was missed, too.

The state Department of Labor & Industry, which includes the Office of Unemployment Compensation, told me Wednesday the new target date is this fall.

Meanwhile, claims continue to run through what the audit described as an “antiquated legacy mainframe computer system that is more than 40-years-old and very expensive to maintain, very difficult to modify and inefficient.”

 

[LoneSage]

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

Considering all levels and forms of government are basically legalized and organized systems of grift, why does anyone think government will ever 'fix' anything? They have no incentive to do so.

In a functioning system, a government that doesn't fix things will get voted out. The government is incentivized to work, because the people will get angry and replace it when it doesn't. Mississippi, in contrast, shows the result of one-party rule - Republicans in statewide office are never afraid of losing, so they steal with impunity.

 

[lithy]

In a functioning system, a government that doesn't fix things will get voted out. The government is incentivized to work, because the people will get angry and replace it when it doesn't. Mississippi, in contrast, shows the result of one-party rule - Republicans in statewide office are never afraid of losing, so they steal with impunity.

The trick is to get enough voters on the government payroll (directly or indirectly) before people realize what's happening.

 

[NexusX]

why does anyone think government will ever 'fix' anything? They have no incentive to do so.

Agreed, yet people still ask for even more government committees, programs, and other administrative awnsers... Isn't that the defenition of insanity??

 

[norton9478]

Republicans are always warning us of the evils of government.









Then they get elected and prove it.

 

[NexusX]

Republicans are always warning us of the evils of government.

Then they get elected and prove it.

When any politician gets elected it proves it. Government isn't inherently bad. But isn't it's roll supposed to be to bind society together not overwhelming structurally support it?

 

[Xavier]

Considering all levels and forms of government are basically legalized and organized systems of grift, why does anyone think government will ever 'fix' anything? They have no incentive to do so.

From the recent PA Unemployment fiasco.

YOU DON'T GET IT DO YOU?
This is the Libertarian dream, and this is what happens when you put private corporations in charge of things.

Prison systems, education, benefits distribution...none of this stuff should be privatized. What's the purpose of a company? Why do they open the doors? To make money. In reality anything they do that's shady or illegal is just following that directive.

I tell you what, here in my state IBM jacked up our welfare system as well. The unemployment office is run by some crappy company. The telephone system isn't working, the website crashes and doesn't work right. Now the office is closed because of the coronavirus so it's nearly impossible to file a claim. They do total craptastic work even in the best of times.

The education system here was barely passable then they closed down a bunch of the public schools. Every time I look they are are always underfunded.
Instead the money goes towards vouchers for private schools. Many of them have worse evaluations than the than the public schools. It's OK though because it's owned by the Governors boyfriend.

You know what it really boils down to? Saving a couple bucks. Nobody cares about efficiency. If you can screw some people out of a few dollars an hour, benefits and steal their pensions then it's a success. IBM can go and make a profit out of that money they took from other people.

 

[fake]

That really puts the pee-pee eye in Mississippi.

 

[Xavier]

That really puts the pee-pee eye in Mississippi.

This is everyday all across America. It's not just Mississippi

 

[SouthtownKid]

In a functioning system, a government that doesn't fix things will get voted out.

Please cite one example of a "functioning system". The rules are it can be anywhere, but it has to have existed and been functioning at some point during our lifetimes.

Ready....go.

 

[lithy]

Please cite one example of a "functioning system". The rules are it can be anywhere, but it has to have existed and been functioning at some point during our lifetimes.

Ready....go.

Russia, March 1917?

 

[SpamYouToDeath]

Please cite one example of a "functioning system". The rules are it can be anywhere, but it has to have existed and been functioning at some point during our lifetimes.

Ready....go.

Iceland is an obvious case. They've tossed out their government multiple times recently when incompetence/corruption scandals came to light.

 

[Marek]

Please cite one example of a "functioning system". The rules are it can be anywhere, but it has to have existed and been functioning at some point during our lifetimes.

Ready....go.

Costa Rica?

Finland?