Government Pays Dead Farmers
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James Joyner | Monday, July 23, 2007 |
The USDA routinely gives money to dead people, the GAO found.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture distributed $1.1 billion over seven years to the estates or companies of deceased farmers and routinely failed to conduct reviews required to ensure that the payments were properly made, according to a government report.
In a selection of 181 cases from 1999 to 2005, the Government Accountability Office found that officials approved payments without any review 40 percent of the time.
You’re shocked, right? Me neither.
About the Author: James Joyner is the publisher of Outside the Beltway and the managing editor of the Atlantic Council. He's a former Army officer, Desert Storm vet, and college professor with a PhD in political science from The University of Alabama. He lives just outside the Beltway in Alexandria, Virginia.
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Yeah, no shock,,,entirely predictable.
'Office found that officials approved payments without any review 40 percent of the time."
So we need more review of where our money is going, right?
Yet we have an administration, and a reigning political philosophy that sees government administration as the enemy, to be cut whereever possible. And so the necessary work doesnt get done well.
Part of the great Republican logic train. Trash governmental administration, insure the government does its job badly, then use that as further grounds for trashing the government, leading to further cuts etc. Yes, it is no surprise whatsoever that this leads to a downward cycle in the efficiency of governmental administration.
Yes, it is no surprise whatsoever that this leads to a downward cycle in the efficiency of governmental administration.
This is simply the nature of bureaucracies spending large amounts of money. It happens regardless of the politics of the administration, which has virtually zip to do with the day-to-day operations of such things.
HEY,WHY NOT! They TAX dead people don't they?
Floyd,
No. They tax living people who inherit over $1.5 million. There are considerable exemptions above this for family farms, family businesses, being married etc.
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