Who Knew They Had Checking Accounts?
The federal government sent coronavirus stimulus payments to almost 1.1 million dead people totaling nearly $1.4 billion, Congress’s independent watchdog reported Thursday.
You’ll be glad to know that the breakdown was caused by the fact that the Social Security Administration has death records, but the Treasury Department does not, and apparently the two of them had a tiff of some sort because cross referencing them was just too damn much trouble. Gee, if the government just had some manner of machine on their desk that could cross-reference data. You know, with a screen so they could see it.
The report makes clear how, in the mad dash to pass legislation to prop up an economy in free-fall in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, mistakes were made.
Mistakes were made? Well, Honey, that pretty much sums up the Trump presidency.
Trump objects to mail-in ballots for live voters, but is fine with checks mailed out to the dead. A stable genius at work.
1I might find this more amusing if i weren’t still waiting for mine.
And yes, i am alive.
2Gawdamighty, they’ve been at this for almost four years, and STILL, nobody knows how anything works! Maybe Trump, the stable genius, shouldn’t have hired people who knew even less than he did about the agencies they were supposed to lead? But it’s not his money, so why should he care?
Let’s never, ever, hire amateurs to run the government again, or foxes to guard our chicken coops.
3Joel @ 2, I haven’t gotten mine yet, either, but I am ever so comforted by the fact that I *have* received my letter assuring me that it’s on its way, signed with the official Covid-45 magical marker.
4This might go against the grain, but when they start taking $1200 back from people’s bank accounts because they died, they need to get more info. I have a relative who’s husband died in early April, not because of Covid 19 but hastened by not being able to get a hospital bed. Thank Trump’s lack of action. I suspect in that period, thousands were in the same boat or died directly from the pandemic. What pisses me off more is how there’s 100’s of billions of $’s that we have no idea who or what got them. Then on top of that, the Trump family has been raking in and spending taxpayer $’s for personal gain or pleasure with no consequences. So, while there may be money that went improperly to some deceased people, it’s pale in comparison. Hate to be a downer to this discussion, but had to get it off my chest.
5Regarding the stimulus payments, my brother finally got his. It was not a check, but a debit card. It cost him nearly $5
6to cash it in, and could not do it all at once, but had to do it in increments, so it cost nearly $15 total to deposit it in his checking account. Those of us who got checks didn’t have to pay a service charge.
I have two parents, four grandparents and eight great grandparents…all dead…who are still waiting for theirs too. Who do I write to about this?
7Ok, I’m the frequent commentor. And I’m pissed. Not only are they wanting to take back my brother in-in-laws $1200 from my sister in-law, which he paid taxes on for 2019, they won’t pay his last social security check which is due after numerous calls. Seriously, this is so incredibly broken. But ya, let the Trumpf family romp around. Sorry for being a downer in this discussion, but this struck a chord.
8Frequent Steve @ 5 & 8:
9That sucks big ole.,….well, you know.
Stay frequent.
How does one cash in the debit card, incrementally or otherwise? I got an automatic deposit into my bank account, but my neighbor who’s on Social Security and in the past has had at least one income tax return refund done by automatic deposit–such that you’d think she would have gotten the $1200 as an automatic deposit also–instead got the debit card instead of the automatic deposit. Which is a pain, plus the card was in a rather plain envelope she almost threw away as junk mail, and then additionally she had to confirm with her credit union that it really was from the U.S. government rather than a scam something.
10Sigh! And then there are those folks who are definitely alive and still don’t know why they didn’t get the benfits they legally deserved.
11Chris K, my brother’s bank would not allow him to cash in the debit card all at once. He was forced to cash $1,000 at a time.
12Since it was made out to him and his wife, it took 3 trips to the bank and they charged about $5.00 per transaction.
“A billion here, a billion there, pretty soon you’re talking about real money.” (Everett Dirksen)
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