$2M Michigan lottery winner defends use of food stamps

We also know many hard working Michiganers--they've moved here to the South. (Hard working Ohioans, too.)
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And here's another one!

Truthfully I loved growing up in Michigan; it is a beautiful state, especially on the western side with Lake Michigan as our backdrop. Just too cold for me to want to go back there to live.

My dad grew up in a small town in the U.P., and you have never seen such ethnic diversity for such a small place. Finns, Welsh, Slovaks, Italians, Poles, Croats - they all came to work the copper mines in the early 1900's, and many of them stayed. The street signs in Houghton are in Finnish and English to this day. Only place I know of where you can go for a Finnish sauna in the morning, have a Welsh pasty for lunch, and go to an Italian supper club for dinner, all within a 3 mile radius.

And if you're smart enough, you can study engineering and technology at Michigan Tech. You will freeze your tushie off in the winter, but it's a great school. (No, I didn't go there - stayed in the L.P. for university.)

Anyway - this guy who won $2 million and is still on food stamps - he did the right thing by reporting his earnings. He is technically not doing anything illegal by continuing to use food stamps. Morally, he's on the wrong side of the fence there, and I hope he realizes it. He has certainly exposed a big loophole in the law that allows such a large amount of liquid assets to not be counted.

I wonder if he took his $2 million as an annuity or as a lump sum? As an annuity, it's probably giving him an income of about $60,000 - $70,000 a year, maybe less after taxes. As a lump sum, maybe that $2 million boiled down to about $1.3 million or so after taxes, which should generate maybe $50 - $60k or so yearly income, if he's smart enough to not spend all his money at once.

He's not rich, in my book, but he's certainly well-off enough to not need food stamps. I hope they close the loophole that allows it.
 
i cannot believe you don't even address what's so wrong with the state's eligibility rules?!?!?!
 
Beach girl said:
And here's another one!

Truthfully I loved growing up in Michigan; it is a beautiful state, especially on the western side with Lake Michigan as our backdrop. Just too cold for me to want to go back there to live.

My dad grew up in a small town in the U.P., and you have never seen such ethnic diversity for such a small place. Finns, Welsh, Slovaks, Italians, Poles, Croats - they all came to work the copper mines in the early 1900's, and many of them stayed. The street signs in Houghton are in Finnish and English to this day. Only place I know of where you can go for a Finnish sauna in the morning, have a Welsh pasty for lunch, and go to an Italian supper club for dinner, all within a 3 mile radius.
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Yes, the UP is a different world from Lansing, Flint, and Detroit. (Hubby/TCS grew up in Lansing.)

...He has certainly exposed a big loophole in the law that allows such a large amount of liquid assets to not be counted.
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The state may be taking a closer look at that loophole for the future. The state of MI is in a bad financial hurt, and needs to tighten the reigns on entitlements.

I wonder if he took his $2 million as an annuity or as a lump sum? As an annuity, it's probably giving him an income of about $60,000 - $70,000 a year, maybe less after taxes. As a lump sum, maybe that $2 million boiled down to about $1.3 million or so after taxes, which should generate maybe $50 - $60k or so yearly income, if he's smart enough to not spend all his money at once.
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He can also move with his winnings to a southern state with a lower cost of living and milder weather, and live well, even if it means giving up the food stamps. :)

...I hope they close the loophole that allows it.
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Quite possible.
 
How is it different from rich companies looking for loopholes not to pay taxes?

Food stamp = tax.
 
saywhatkid said:
Generalize much?

I know of many hard working Michigan residents that would never consider taking the welfare road. Thankfully, I have never met the "typical greedy Michigan people" during my lifetime.
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Link?
 
Also, most Republican states are welfare states:

"The list, alas, hasn’t been updated — in part, no doubt, because conservatives didn’t like what it revealed: that those states that got more back from our government than they paid in were overwhelmingly Republican. The 10 biggest net recipients of taxpayers’ largess were, in order, New Mexico, Mississippi, Alaska, Louisiana, West Virginia, North Dakota, Alabama, South Dakota, Kentucky and Virginia. The 10 states that paid in the most and got back the least were New Jersey, Nevada, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Minnesota, Illinois, Delaware, California, New York and Colorado.

Now, that list has surely changed since the middle of the last decade — Virginia has probably gotten richer and paid in more; Nevada has surely gotten poorer and paid in less. But today’s ranking are probably much the same, unless farming and manufacturing suddenly pay more than finance and high-tech. Even allowing for cyclical variations and political transformations, it’s patently clear that the states that drain the government also constitute the Republicans’ electoral base, while those that produce the wealth constitute the Democrats’. Far from strengthening our moral character, the red states plunge us into the slough of dependency."

Welfare-queen states - The Washington Post
 
netrox said:
How is it different from rich companies looking for loopholes not to pay taxes?

Food stamp = tax.
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One person's "loophole" is another person's "legitimate deduction." Try closing the "loophole" of being able to deduct mortgage interest, and see what an outcry you'll get from the middle class.

i cannot believe you don't even address what's so wrong with the state's eligibility rules?!?!?!
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To whom are you speaking? Everyone who has posted has said words to the effect that this is something which the state should not allow. Sounds to me like every poster so far is in agreement that the state's eligibility rules need to be changed.
 
Reba said:
The state may be taking a closer look at that loophole for the future. The state of MI is in a bad financial hurt, and needs to tighten the reigns on entitlements.
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That's probably one of reason why MI population has decrease
 
PowerON said:
That's probably one of reason why MI population has decrease
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Probably has more to do with the decline of the American auto industry. Plenty of reasons for that, but the result is that Detroit is in a tail-spin, and as Detroit goes, so goes the state. There are many, many small businesses that support and/or depend on the auto industry in one way or another, so when Ford, GM, Buick, etc. don't build cars that people want to buy, Michigan gets into a world of hurt.

Used to be a good kid could get a job at one of the auto plants right out of h.s., work there for 30 years, and retire with a good pension, which he could collect for perhaps another 30 years. Those days are over and not coming back.
 
Only funny that Detroit have excellent ice hockey and basketball. What given? lol
 
Now, that list has surely changed since the middle of the last decade — Virginia has probably gotten richer and paid in more; Nevada has surely gotten poorer and paid in less. But today’s ranking are probably much the same, unless farming and manufacturing suddenly pay more than finance and high-tech. Even allowing for cyclical variations and political transformations, it’s patently clear that the states that drain the government also constitute the Republicans’ electoral base, while those that produce the wealth constitute the Democrats’. Far from strengthening our moral character, the red states plunge us into the slough of dependency."

Welfare-queen states - The Washington Post
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:laugh2: #1. Washington Post Opinion Page

:laugh: #2. A survey on Federal spending in 2005! Gee, I wonder why the Feds spent so much money in the Gulf Coast states in 2005. I wonder if something happened.... :lol:

and then the 4-5 of the states on the list That received the least are highly populated states that are about the size of my Texas yard.

What's amazing is that Texas ISNT on the bad side of that list considering they were affected by both Katrina and Rita not to mention the population explosion after those events. Looks like Texas does it right. And without a State I come tax too.
 
saywhatkid said:
It would be to my brother's Facebook page, among others. Sorry to have made the comment. Did not know defending a group from a generalized slander would elicit replies like these. I did not get the joke.
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We are just yanking your chaln..... We knew you missed the sarcasm on that one
 
PowerON said:
That's probably one of reason why MI population has decrease
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Some areas are becoming like ghost towns. Lots of empty buildings and closed schools. People can't sell their houses. It's rough.
 
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