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based charities instead. Million dollar salaries, Cadillacs, mansions, vacations to exotic locations, and enlarged overseas bank accounts were the result. People going to the so called 'faith based' charity for help paying their rent, or light bill, or even to get food, would be put through (and still are today) an arduous application process, and after hours of waiting, would invariably be told there was no money left to help them. Organizations would give the poor the bare minimum required to keep up with federal guidelines. Oversight was nonexistent, because hey, these are 'religious' charities right?

But then came the biggest scam of all, and why all of the efforts of those who wished for welfare reform were worth the wait. Because the payday was finally coming, and the largest heist in world history came to fruition with the precision of a missile strike. They privatized the Food Stamp program. They privatized Medicaid and Medicare. They privatized every aspect of the welfare system they could, with the result being out of control costs and less services for those who need it.

With the Food Stamp program, the criminal politicians gave control over it to the banks. Banks like Citigroup and J.P. Morgan. even though there has not been any real rise to food stamp allotments for recipients for over a decade, the costs of the program have doubled during the past ten years. Why is that? Because now there's a middle man. The banks that administer the programs get their cut, the store that accepts the food stamps get an extra few cents per food stamp dollar spent, and the food stamp recipient gets lower aid amounts to offset the corporate welfare. The same with Medicaid and Medicare. HMO's and insurance companies as middle men, paid extra money to ensure less services for recipients. To the tune of billions of wasted tax dollars every year.

As they ship more and more jobs overseas every year, and more and more of the middle class begin to join the ranks of the poor, the demand for services from the welfare system is going to rise. This will be great for the thieves in our midst in the short term, whose sole intent is to steal as much as they can before they break the bank. But it will mean nothing for the people in need of help, as the budget axe falls again and again and again. There will be plenty of money for the corporations that are running their respective programs, but in true trickle down fashion, the people who the programs are intended to help will get

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