RateItAll: The Opinion Network

And when you have your Caddy repossesed, you just tell your friends it was totaled in an accident and you are still waiting on the insurance money so you can upgrade to a Benz.

ORIGINAL COMMENT: This reminds me of that old CW favorite of about 35 years ago: "Welfare Cadillac."

UPDATED 2/1/07: I was going through some old 45's last night and I found an old copy of "Welfare Cadillac" by Guy Drake. I guess the song is over 40 years old now. It was controversial in its day, I vaguely recollect.

Johnny Cash was invited to the White House and someone asked him to play Welfare Cadillac and he refused.

Uh...shouldn't welfare be a hand-up instead of a hand-out? Crap, I know people who own homes and have jobs and even THEY can't afford a Cadillac Escalade while these non-working, welfare types start showing up with these things "tricked out" with expensive equipment.

The bank will make money. "Either way"

I would call it a case of fraud before I'd call it a class difference, honestly.

This is no exagerration. People do this while claiming a need for subsidized housing and food stamps.

While I was in college I used to sell used cars from a local Toyota lot. SUV's were always the big hitters, but they only bought the $17-$19K ones. Though they were credit criminals, they always had the cash. They would lay down $9900, because if it's less than $10k it wouldn't have to be reported to the IRS, and seek a loan for the rest. After a week goes by the dealer would tell them they couldn't get a loan, so they would show up and pay the difference, again in cash less than $10k. Pretty sly, hey. Inevidably, you would see the same SUV "blinged up" with the most expensive gadgets parked outside the nearest public housing complex. Nevertheless, my '93 Buick Century was a trusted work horse in getting me back and forth to my home, my school and my JOB.

This is exactly the kind of ignorant attitudes hit on by our buddy Mr. Bill Cosby when addressing a large segment of the black community. Obviously this is about plain ole ignorance and I agreed with all he was saying. I wont go as far as saying they are the only guilty parties but without admitting it, it very much sounds like this is who is being lent to here. In my area of the country at least, they are clearly the majority of those quilty of this and once again, its not about income level, just about low class.

Seriously, figure it out. Obviously, they're selling drugs, and using the government to pay for their groceries. It's a scam, and the only way it will get stopped is when they get arrested for dealing. It's a catch-22. You can't actually prove it, but if you do, you've got them on a more serious charge anyway. UPDATE: Also, somebody mentioned leasing, which is true, but remember these people buy expensive rims and other after-market stuff for the interior and exterior, and that needs a lot of cash to buy.

It means you are dealing!

I see that myself. I stand in line behind people who buy their groceries with food stamps. and are more than likely on the welfare. but when I see them in the parking lot their vehicles are often much nicer than my old car.I live in the city so driving around it is not uncommon to see old falling apart houses and nice fancy vehicles in the driveway.I guess you cannot drive your house around but you sure can take a vehicle with you. I have learned long ago that just because someone has a nice car truck etc. does not mean they are well off.

About 5 years ago I had a part-time job working as a tutor with a young autistic boy. I was sort of half a security guard and half an instructor b/c he was violent. You really couldn't take your eyes off him because he would punch, kick and bite fellow students if he got the chance. The result was that I went with him everywhere while he was at school; including the cafeteria. I would hold his hand while we stood in line with all the other children attending this working class public elementary school (filled largely with the offspring of recent immigrants) in the San Fernando Valley. I was struck by the fact that my kid was the only (and I mean ONLY) child who was paying full price ($1.25) for the school lunch. All the other students were holding district issued cards that allowed them to receive food for free or half price. Resultingly, I went to the office after about a week and asked for an application for my student's family to fill out. One of the secretaries handed it to me along with a sheet indicating the household income necessary to qualify. I can't remember what it was but I was astounded how low it was. My kid's family (Mom was a part-time accountant for Brink's Armored Trucks and Dad was one of those guys who worked in a one hour photo place) would not even be close to being this impoverished. Now none of this would have struck me as odd had it not been for my experiences each weekday morning. As I mentioned, the kid was violent. Consequently, I waited in front of the school every day for one of his parents to pull up with my charge in tow in the back seat. I would then walk him directly to the classroom. As I was standing around each morning for several minutes I, naturally, saw the other parents dropping their kids off (with LAUSD taxpayer funded food discount cards stashed in their backpacks). What struck me is that it was invariably a parade of BMWs, Escalades, new SUVs and other vehicles much nicer than the Nissan Sentra I always deposited in the faculty parking lot. Americans (perhaps we Los Angelenos more than others) have this thing about appearing wealthy and successful. Substance and reality are not to be considered in the 21st century! The problem with all that is that you'll die broke if you don't get your financial act together. Those who fail to understand at least part of this reality are commonly the poor.

With lease terms the way they are today, ANYONE can drive almost anything, at least for a while. That is why vehicle type is a poor indicator of financial status. I'm much more impressed by someone who lives within their means than by the foolish individual who goes into debt in an attempt to 'put on the dog'. Having the money for something, and being able to AFFORD it, are 2 entirely different things. You are not even fooling yourself when you act this way, knowing that you don't have a pot to piss in, or a window to throw it out of. No shame at all in admitting that some things are just out of your reasonable budget.