It seems California’s needy aren’t so much in need of food and shelter as they are in need of vacations. Millions of dollars in CA state welfare funds are being spent in Vegas casinos, on trips to Hawaii and cruise ships departing from Miami.

Advantage Card

An investigation by the LA Times has uncovered that $69 million in CA state welfare funds was withdrawn or spent using Golden State Advantage aid cards in all the 49 other states, and even the US Virgin Islands.

Out of the $69 million, the most ($11.8 million) was spent in Las Vegas. Around $1 million was spent in shops and casinos or in close vicinity of the Strip. $34,700 was withdrawn at an ATM near Wynn’s Encore Resort. Nearly $8,000 was spent at the Venetian.

Florida got aid worth $1.5 million – $7,000 spent at Walt Disney World and $13,109 in the bars and restaurants on Lincoln Road in South Beach.

Hawaii enjoyed a $387,908 handout from the California welfare funds, out of which $234,000 went to Oahu – mostly spent on stores ($12,433 at the Ala Moana Shopping Center) or withdrawn at an ATM.

To top it all off, $16,010 was spent on 14 cruise ships, eight of which sailed from Miami and the rest from such exotic locations as Rio de Janeiro and Beijing.

And the irony is that California state and county officials aren’t able to do much because they’re not able to separate the genuine cases from these welfare tourists because there’s no budget for the manpower required to follow up and verify fraud.

CalWORKs and the Dept. of Social Services have already been hit with a similar report like this in June, in response to which they came up with a fraud prevention plan (pdf file) in July. It includes extending ATM restrictions on the aid card to other locations (casinos and strip clubs in California) and guaranteed funding for fraud prevention and investigation.

As an immediate reaction to the LA Times report, ATM access on the aid cards has been cut off on cruise ships and at all out-of-state casinos. Also, State Assemblyman Ted Gaines (R-Roseville) is about to introduce legislation that would prohibit spending benefits outside California.

On Oct 3, 2010, the US Department of State put out a travel alert for Europe, citing terrorist threats to “public transportation systems and other tourist infrastructure.”

State Dept

This is not a travel warning. In a conference call to discuss the travel alert, Under Secretary Patrick F. Kennedy explained that “Well, we’re not saying don’t travel to Europe. We’re not saying don’t visit tourist — major tourist attractions or historic sites or monuments.”

In fact, the German Interior Ministry actually put out a statement which said it had no “concrete indications of imminent attacks.” It started looking like a big deal only after the UK backed up the US alert, and there have been no conflicting statements since from other European states.

This apparent disregard for US travel advisories by the subject of the alert is nothing new. It is something the State Dept has brought on itself, by crying wolf or flip-flopping one too many times on travel alerts and warnings.

Back in August, First Lady Michelle Obama made plans to visit Spain’s Costa del Sol for a 4-day visit with daughter Sasha and her friends. The only problem was that the State Dept had a travel advisory in place urging African-Americans to be careful in Spain because “Racist prejudices could lead to the arrest of Afro-Americans who travel to Spain.”

As the First Lady arrived in Spain, the State Dept quickly got rid of the advisory. It hasn’t been activated since. One can only assume that Michelle Obama’s visit somehow erased all racist prejudices overnight.

Also in August, the US updated its travel advisory for Israel with an additional warning about the Eilat area, and advised US citizens in Eilat and Southern Israel to “learn the location of the nearest air-raid shelter.”

Israel’s Ministry of Tourism went ballistic and responded with a sharp statement that said the advisory “undermines regional stability and the sense of security that Israel gives to everyone who enters the country.” The State Dept promptly backtracked and removed all mention of Eilat from the Israeli travel advisory.

And Mexico remains a perennial punching bag. Just before spring break 2010 when Mexico was gearing up for the influx of students, the State Dept pulled the rug out from under them by reissuing a travel alert for Mexico on account of crime and drug-related violence in Michoacan, Chihuahua, Sinaloa and Durango.

But the Mexican Tourist Board says foreigners can go anywhere. In fact, VisitMexico responded by running an ad campaign in the US & Canada that promotes 10 “Routes of Mexico.” And here’s the kicker – 4 out of these 10 routes wouldn’t be safe if you go by the State Dept’s travel advisory.

So while the state dept is busy sending out alerts advising US citizens to be careful about visiting these locations, they’re being advertised on cable tv and mass-market magazines.