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If you’re a recent startup founder, chances are you’ve taken a huge paycut. Well guess what - America was built on innovators like yourself and there are go

If you’re a recent startup founder, chances are you’ve taken a huge paycut. Well guess what - America was built on innovators like yourself and there are government assistance programs designed to help you while you sacrifice to grow your business. mRelief helps a user determine whether they qualify for Illinois government assistance programs like Food Stamps. Wow.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago
Chicagoan here. The amount of fraud in welfare here is astounding. I regularly go to the grocery store and see people with nicer cars than me using their link card to pay for "groceries." By groceries I mean high-end items like lobster and steak, which they are clearly cashing out the card on and not shopping for food like everyone else. I don't know how they qualify for this, but imagine via some creative accounting that mRelief, I'm sure, is also willing to share. I don't think people outside of the city realize how bad things are here. The corruption, handout mentality, patronage, politics, public sector unions, etc are probably the worst in the nation and it only seems to be getting worse. The various attempts to build a SV-like environment in Chicago will continue to fail until this corruption is cleaned up. I don't see a lot of incentive to invest in startups here, especially if we factor in our very high tax load and the little public value we get from it.
- jjwiseman 12y ago
  Welfare fraud is one of those things that people seem to think is rampant, and politicians often encourage that idea, but when measured turns out to be pretty infrequent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_St... http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the-truth-behind-the-lies-of-the-original-welfare-queen http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the... http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-welfare/ http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-w...
  - drzaiusapelord 12y ago
    None of your links are local to Chicago. Yes, diluted nationwide I'm sure its an acceptable loss, but locally things are different. Politics are local and dismissing my experience with nationwide links makes you look especially disingenuous here. This is like saying Detroit is very safe to live in if you look at nationwide crime stats. The only thing local here is the Reagan welfare queen comment from almost 40 years ago, which is far from timely. Nor was I making that argument. I don't think there are welfare queens of any type, but I do see, almost daily, casual abuse of the system designed to help the poor. With little political motivation to fix this broken system, if we consider the patronage from the aldermen, there's actually disincentives to fix this system. Considering our high tax rates, its a shame our leadership can't make this a priority.
    - jjwiseman 12y ago
      True, none of the links I posted were about the Chicago area. Do you have data?
      - peterevans 12y ago
        I imagine if they had data, they wouldn't have trotted out tired gripes and stereotypes in the first place...
    - antidaily 12y ago
      Feel free to add your own links. Or do we just have to take your word for it?
      - cpher 12y ago
        Here you go: http://watchdog.org/96500/illinois-rewarded-for-misspending-only-52-million-on-food-stamps/ http://watchdog.org/96500/illinois-rewarded-for-misspending-...
        tptacek 12y ago
- unprepare 12y ago
  Why would you assume someone with an expensive car is wealthy? Statistics show time and again that the majority of wealthy people (millionaires or greater) drive used cars[1] It seems that the people buying brand new Audi, BMW, Lexus etc are people with little regard for personal finance, and are more often than not overextending their credit to afford such a purchase. Any surprise should be aimed at lending institutions who provide low income homes with loans for luxury cars. [1] http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cars-wealthy-people-drive http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cars-wealthy-people-drive
- rhino369 12y ago
  I've picked up groceries from Jewel for my brother who is quadriplegic. Just because I'm in a 1000 dollar suit, doesn't mean I defrauding the government. I worked at a Jewel as a cashier for 3 years: "By groceries I mean high-end items like lobster and steak, which they are clearly cashing out the card on and not shopping for food like everyone else. " Is mostly an uban legend. There is some fraud going on, but it mostly lazy people who get disability diagnosises and just live on $1000 a month. Sucks for us tax payers, but they aren't living high on the hog.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
urda 12y ago
One of the many reasons that Chicago, and companies there, should not be taken seriously.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

Chicagoan here. The amount of fraud in welfare here is astounding. I regularly go to the grocery store and see people with nicer cars than me using their link card to pay for "groceries." By groceries I mean high-end items like lobster and steak, which they are clearly cashing out the card on and not shopping for food like everyone else. I don't know how they qualify for this, but imagine via some creative accounting that mRelief, I'm sure, is also willing to share. I don't think people outside of the city realize how bad things are here. The corruption, handout mentality, patronage, politics, public sector unions, etc are probably the worst in the nation and it only seems to be getting worse. The various attempts to build a SV-like environment in Chicago will continue to fail until this corruption is cleaned up. I don't see a lot of incentive to invest in startups here, especially if we factor in our very high tax load and the little public value we get from it.

jjwiseman 12y ago
Welfare fraud is one of those things that people seem to think is rampant, and politicians often encourage that idea, but when measured turns out to be pretty infrequent. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud#In_the_United_St... http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the-truth-behind-the-lies-of-the-original-welfare-queen http://www.npr.org/blogs/codeswitch/2013/12/20/255819681/the... http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-welfare/ http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2014/01/08/3136631/lepage-w...
- drzaiusapelord 12y ago
  None of your links are local to Chicago. Yes, diluted nationwide I'm sure its an acceptable loss, but locally things are different. Politics are local and dismissing my experience with nationwide links makes you look especially disingenuous here. This is like saying Detroit is very safe to live in if you look at nationwide crime stats. The only thing local here is the Reagan welfare queen comment from almost 40 years ago, which is far from timely. Nor was I making that argument. I don't think there are welfare queens of any type, but I do see, almost daily, casual abuse of the system designed to help the poor. With little political motivation to fix this broken system, if we consider the patronage from the aldermen, there's actually disincentives to fix this system. Considering our high tax rates, its a shame our leadership can't make this a priority.
  - jjwiseman 12y ago
    True, none of the links I posted were about the Chicago area. Do you have data?
    - peterevans 12y ago
      I imagine if they had data, they wouldn't have trotted out tired gripes and stereotypes in the first place...
  - antidaily 12y ago
    Feel free to add your own links. Or do we just have to take your word for it?
    - cpher 12y ago
      Here you go: http://watchdog.org/96500/illinois-rewarded-for-misspending-only-52-million-on-food-stamps/ http://watchdog.org/96500/illinois-rewarded-for-misspending-...
      - tptacek 12y ago
unprepare 12y ago
Why would you assume someone with an expensive car is wealthy? Statistics show time and again that the majority of wealthy people (millionaires or greater) drive used cars[1] It seems that the people buying brand new Audi, BMW, Lexus etc are people with little regard for personal finance, and are more often than not overextending their credit to afford such a purchase. Any surprise should be aimed at lending institutions who provide low income homes with loans for luxury cars. [1] http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cars-wealthy-people-drive http://www.daveramsey.com/blog/cars-wealthy-people-drive
rhino369 12y ago
I've picked up groceries from Jewel for my brother who is quadriplegic. Just because I'm in a 1000 dollar suit, doesn't mean I defrauding the government. I worked at a Jewel as a cashier for 3 years: "By groceries I mean high-end items like lobster and steak, which they are clearly cashing out the card on and not shopping for food like everyone else. " Is mostly an uban legend. There is some fraud going on, but it mostly lazy people who get disability diagnosises and just live on $1000 a month. Sucks for us tax payers, but they aren't living high on the hog.
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]

urda 12y ago

One of the many reasons that Chicago, and companies there, should not be taken seriously.