‘I wasn’t crazy.’ A homeless woman’s long war to prove the feds owe her $100,000.

[sl8]

From: https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/i-wasnt-crazy-a-homeless-womans-long-war-to-prove-the-feds-owe-her-100000/2016/08/22/3913e4c2-6541-11e6-8b27-bb8ba39497a2_story.html :

If you’ve spent any time in downtown Washington, you’ve probably seen 80-year-old Wanda Witter.

Shock white hair, a determined, unsmiling set to her mouth, jeans. She may have asked you for some change and probably didn’t smile if you gave her some. This month you may have also been taken aback by the black eye and stitches across her face.

For years, Witter bedded down for the night at 13th and G streets NW, on the concrete in her blue sleeping bag, pulled up tight to keep the rats and cockroaches out. Her tower of three suitcases was stacked on her hand cart and bike-locked to the patio chairs next to her.

She may have even told you that inside those bags is all the paperwork to prove the government owes her more than $100,000. And she was right.
...

[CanSocDem]

1. Good story. k&r

[msanthrope]

2. I am not crying. Nope. nt

[MyOwnPeace]

3. Love reading....

the "comments" -

"Crystal" said it was all Obama's fault.

Guess she forgot about Hillary being involved (after all, she had to be, right?).

[niyad]

6. the harlan peeps person was the one I wanted to smack, hard.

[MyOwnPeace]

10. Harlan

joined in after I'd read it and entered my response.

Yeah, he's a "special one" - for sure!

[niyad]

11. one wishes that he receives everything he deserves.

well, that is annoying. I went back to read the comments again, and am being told I must subscribe first, which I did not have to do this morning.

[Festivito]

4. publicans forced 10% cut in SS admin just as baby boomers hit SS age.

to claim government doesn't work and look how bad it is with the Dem in office.

They should all be hogtied and dipped in bovine doo.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

5. :(

[tammywammy]

7. k&r

[Hugin]

8. Ms. Witter simply wanted what she had earned.

Shame! Shame! On the Republicans for turning Social Security into a political football at the behest of Wall Street. (I'm talking to you, Peter G. Peterson.)

They should be lowering the retirement age and not raising it. To open up opportunities in the workplace for younger people to move in and up.

[dembotoz]

9. this is what happens when you understaff everything

[hunter]

12. But here's a question: Why should it matter if she's mentally ill?

I suspect she is, since she reminds me very much of my grandma who definitely was mentally ill. My grandma's symptoms got much worse after she retired and it's very easy for me to picture my grandma as a homeless person like Ms. Witter.

But my grandma got her pension and her social security exactly as she was entitled to it. She also owned her house with no mortgage, and didn't leave it until she was declared a danger to herself and others and removed in a fiery hours long standoff with police and paramedics.

Of course no assisted care place would take my grandma for long since she was extremely demanding and mean and occasionally violent, so then my grandma would live with my parents.

A $100,000 payment and more is what Ms. Witter is owed, but money isn't everything. Every grifter who reads this story is going to be on the lookout for her.

There are no social safety nets for most people in the U.S.A.. In many cases our society actively makes life worse for people who have mental illnesses.