D.C. Mayor Funding Trips to Miami for the Poor

DC Mayor Muriel Bowser cares about the poor. She really cares about the poor. She cares so much about the poor that she implemented a program to give cash payouts of $10,800 in no-strings-attached cash to the poor — and at least one of those used that windfall of taxpayer's hard-earned money to take a luxury vacation in Miami.

Washington D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser distributed thousands of dollars to low-income moms with no strings attached as part of an "equitable economic recovery strategy" to offset the costs of childcare. In at least one case, the taxpayer dollars were used to fund a lavish trip to Miami.
The direct cash payments were part of a pilot program to determine whether the flush of cash could demonstrate "economic improvements among participants." "Additional cash has allowed women to achieve further financial stability, financial security, food security, and health insurance coverage," Bowser's office had claimed.

As you might have guessed, it didn't work. Payments like this rarely do. Although, a fancy hotel and a couple of tour companies in Miami did see some of that sweet free taxpayer cash.

One recipient – Canethia Miller – told The Post that she took the money and spent most of it on a lavish trip to Miami.
"Some of it I just left alone. The other side is, I wanted to blow it. I wanted to have fun," Miller said. "[My kids] got to experience something I would never have been able to do if I didn’t have that money."
Miller blew it on a "five-day, $6,000 trip to Miami," which included "a boat tour [that] exposed them to million-dollar homes and luxury yachts."
"In what she called a rare moment of self-indulgence, Miller spent $180 ahead of the vacation to get her own hair and nails done," The Post reported. She also took her kids shopping and got them new outfits and toys for the trip.

If you are a taxpayer and live in the District, this woman is spending your money. If you are a taxpayer and live in the United States, your money is being spent on welfare programs, and a lot of that money goes to people who should not even be in the United States in the first place.

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There are a couple of problems with the societal "safety net," aside from the fact that it has become a hammock.

First: There is no societal onus placed on having the taxpayers fork over a portion of their resources to feed a person and pay their bills. There was a time when being on "relief" was a bit shameful. My grandparents, who raised six children during the Depression, would talk about how embarrassing it was for friends and neighbors when they took charity to survive. Now, today, it's an entitlement, not an embarrassing necessity.

Second: There are too many programs that are ripe for abuse — like cash handouts that end up paying for vacations in Miami. Welfare benefits should come as, essentially, coupons, which can be exchanged for certain necessary goods and services, and nothing else. Dietary support should be an issue: Bulk rice, bulk beans, lean ground turkey, and so on; no candy, no soda pop, no pastries, no carry-out pizzas, no premium cuts of meat.

Muriel Bowser claims that she cares about the poor. It's too bad she doesn't care a little bit about economics, or figuring out programs that might work to lift people out of poverty by instilling the skills and values that lead to success (a work ethic would be a good start) instead of wasting the taxpayers' cash.