The Cash “Magically Appeared on Their Electronic Benefit Cards”
August 12th, 2009What’ll it be? A $100 bonus to get the chip implanted early?
Via: New York Daily News:
A $200 back-to-school giveaway for needy kids sparked a mad rush for money on the streets of New York on Tuesday.
“It’s free money!” said Alecia Rumph, 26, who waited in a Morris Park, Bronx, line 300 people deep for the cash to buy uniforms and book bags for her two kids.
“Thank God for Obama. He’s looking out for us.”
Thousands of people lined up at banks and check-cashing shops to withdraw the cash that magically appeared on their electronic benefit cards.
Some rushed out because of rumors the money would vanish by the end of the day.
“Rumors, there’s always rumors,” said Teresa Medina, who waited four hours at a Pay-O-Matic in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, to get $600 for her three teenagers – just in case they were true.
The no-strings-attached money went to families receiving food stamps or welfare.
Well, that is clearly a lot more useful than giving the money to banks or investors holding AIG stock. They are spending the money by the end of the day. The Bronx has barely any chain stores. The local store owners can both pay their rent, pay employees, and send the money back into the economy. All for less than one day for the army in Iraq, or one fraction of the prescription drug bill