My Dad moved to Kanab when he was 14 and Grandpa Whiting was starting up Kiabab Lumber. Kiabab mill was located just outside of Fredonia, and permits to log on the Kiabab (or north side of the Grand Canyon) were purchased from the US Forest Service. As part of the permit process a US Forest Service agent was assigned to select trees for harvesting. Being pretty new to the logging industry and having Kiabab as his main permit holder, Grandpa Whiting ended up showing him (the agent) how to select the trees for harvesting. Now I’m sure Grandpa was completely altruistic in showing this young agent which trees Kiabab preferred to have marked for harvesting.
Anyway, the first Christmas came around and as a show of kindness, Grandpa Whiting gave the agent a little Christmas bonus. I know, these days that would be severely frowned upon. Well, the first year Grandpa offered the gratuity, the agent was a little reluctant to take it. The next year, he took it a little easier, and the third year…he came looking for it.
We laugh at that story, but this morning I was listening to the numbers for the increase in social and welfare programs by the US government. It used to be a stigma when you had to receive food stamps or government assistance, now people demand it. It used to be embarrassing to have to rip coupons for food stamps out of a little book, but because that was to obvious now we have EBT cards that look just like a credit card, so the “unfortunate” don’t feel self conscious about using the people behind them in the grocery lines money. Government programs now exist to help anyone and everyone.
Navigating these programs is truly an art, as my brother in law Jay said the other day, someone we knew had her “doctorate in welfare”. It is estimated that a person that qualifies for all the government programs from food stamps to section 8 will receive the equivalent of 34k a year. For staying home and filling out forms! How many able bodied people do you and I know that are in their situation, not from some horrible streak of bad luck, but in reality a sequential series of stupid choices? Back in the day, stupid choices from unprotected sex to financial ambivalence had consequences. Not now… “Don’t worry, Uncle Sam is here to help you with your incredibly stupid decisions, and we’ll make you neighbors pay for it”
Yeah…the US Forest Service Agent may of have come looking for his Christmas bonus, but now millions of Americans are looking at my checkbook.
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