Amazing news! Goldman Sachs just settled with the state of Massachusetts, on the claim that Goldman helped create the subprime housing crisis. So, you know, if there are 210,000 Massachusetts mortgages underwater, which the AP said in March, and Goldman Sachs just gave Mass. homeowners $50,000,00... math says that is a whopping $238.09 per household! That is like the lowest amount of food stamps you can qualify for a month.
not to be overly literal, because yeah, $238/household is absolutely nothing, but the lowest amount of food stamps you can qualify for a month is about $10. (each state will have a lower boundary on how small a grant will be issued - in CA, anything below $10 is considered not worth the administrative hassle to have a food stamp case open as is rounded down to $0.)
that said, $10/month in food stamp likely has more value than a single settlement of $238, because food stamps aren't taxed, aren't counted as income and so don't reduce other government benefits (welfare, disability, etc), and are ongoing each month.
Ha, you are correct! And I kind of love you, especially speaking as a former entitlements person. Correclty, I should say that it is the lowest maximum amount of food stamps you can qualify for, for somewhere between a one- and a two-person household.
yay for entitlements dorks!
your restatement is definitely correct, but i would still argue that it's a more meaningful comparison between the sachs settlement and a cash grant, rather than food stamps, because their value is so wonky because they're so restricted. what about saying that the $238 settlement is in fact $17 more than the monthly grant to single individuals without children in LA County, so this should totes be enough for people to pay for rent, food, clothing, health needs, and whatever else for a whole month!
DEAL. Hereby agreed this day, etc. etc.
NOTARY!
I'm disappointed there's no "wicked unfair" tag