Government Pays Dead Farmers

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.

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James Joyner
About James Joyner
James Joyner is Professor and Department Head of Security Studies at Marine Corps University's Command and Staff College. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.

Comments

  1. Tano says:

    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.

  2. James Joyner says:

    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.

  3. floyd says:

    HEY,WHY NOT! They TAX dead people don’t they?

  4. Grewgills says:

    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.