Several years ago many Maine residents were surprised at how high their state ranked in percentage of the population receiving welfare benefits. It went against the self-image of the state's population for rugged self-sufficiency.   Thus there was political support for tightening the food stamp rules, as Thomas Lifson noted.  Note, too, that there are probably a lot of Maine voters who know someone who has chosen to work in highly paid but seasonal fields like commercial fishing, logging, heavy construction and the like who no longer seek lower paid work the rest of the year. Instead they game the welfare system.  The driveways of such people can be full of expensive toys like motorboats, ATVs, snowmobiles and the like.  The perception is that food stamps and unemployment benefits allow some of these people to spend their wage on toys rather than save money to see them through the months when their chosen industry is shut down.  Since many of these...(Read Full Post)