WASHINGTON (AP) — A government investigator says 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 each went to people who were either dead or in prison.
The Social Security Administration’s inspector general said in a report Thursday that $18 million went to 72,000 people who were dead. The report estimates that a little more than half the payments were returned.
The report said $4.3 million went to a little more than 17,000 prison inmates.
The payments were part of the government’s massive economic recovery package enacted in February 2009. Under the law, the $250 payments were sent to about 52 million Social Security recipients and federal retirees.
Submitting your tip... please wait!
Comments (80)
LoisLane1951
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:53pmI want my money back.
Report Post »Chief Empty Pockets
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:46pmI thought Joe Biteme was going to be accountable for all the stimulus money!
Report Post »red penny
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:34pmThe federal government at it’s finest! With today’s technology available for date retention, mistakes of this magnitude shouldn’t happen.
Report Post »RightWingKookTank
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:17pmI wish I was dead….er….let me rethink that….
Report Post »Ella
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:42pmSo nice to see how competent the government is. Do you want them running helath insurance?
Report Post »RESTORATION1787
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:39pmI guess in November they will be voting too!
Report Post »AngryTexanFromAmarillo
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:22pmeveryone making fun of dead people better watch it the ACLU Will come after you for discrimination
Report Post »not nice to talk bad about dead people.
BoilitDown
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:09pmObama had to pay back all the dead voters in Chicago.
Report Post »phlogiston
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:06pmAH HA!!
Finally, Monsieur Obama, if that is your real name, your plans are all but laid bare! Pay off the zombies so that when they arise from their unholy slumber they’ll leave you alone!
B U T . . .
I am one step ahead of you! I have invented and/or franchised a marvelous, nay, miraculous product called the iRENEW! Just one try and you‘ll be amazed at what you’re missing! We took these perfectly ordinary mall people and gave them some meaningless balance and strength tests. What pansies! Then we gave them iRENEW! Now behold! Their balance is indelible, their strength redoubtable. Additionally iRENEW bestows protection against the undead. Buy now, my friends!
flynmudd
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:30pmCapitalism.
Pelosis_Nemesis
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:12pmhahahahahahaha
now I can’t make this deal all day so order now !
jb1972
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:26pmlmao
asmith
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:03pmI heard that dead people can vote too. You can’t keep the dead down. We are seeing the emurgence of the new middle class.
Report Post »Waiting4George
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:23pmI know! These 72,000 ghosts were at the 10/2 rally making it bigger than 8/28. Ya just couldn‘t see ’em…..
Report Post »M-O-O-N Spells Moon
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:00pmOh my, now we have to educate our government on the difference between the living and the dead?
Perhaps we should require that citizens work in the Real World for at least five years before they can run for public office. A good dose of reality is clearly in order.
Report Post »AmericanPatriot01
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 11:30pmI have a better idea, lets require military service in order to represent an american you must have to serve in any branch of the military and get an honorable discharge. Not an unreasonable request if you ask me or any veteran.
Report Post »EqualJustice
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:59pmAre you sure those weren’t undocumented ACORN workers?
Report Post »Barb1954
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:45pmIs ANYONE surprised??? I know I’M NOT!
Report Post »Contrarian51
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:31pmRe the headline of this article:
The only thing that would surprise me less would be to find out the Dems are using the IRS to target conservatives and conservative groups. Yeah, I already read that story.
Report Post »Noodle
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:29pmThe question is:how many of those checks got cashed?
Report Post »TSNYDERinPA
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 11:59pmBetter question; What stupid banker would cash a dead persons check?
Report Post »No wonder banks are failing or getting bailouts.
chazman
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:29pmYeah, this is right up there with the $800,000 check we sent Africa to teach bushmen how to wash their ‘GENITALIA’ before having SEX!!!!!! HAVING SEX WITH GOATS FOR ALL WE KNOW!!!!!!!!
I must settle down … I will go and hump the leg of some ‘Right Wing Extremist’ now ….
Report Post »GOTT-EM-MAUSER
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 10:05pmYessir, this particular “EXAMPLE” shows just how totally FUBAR the Government of this country is today. Whenever folks try to tell me that we are going to straighten this mess out, working within the“SYSTEM”, I just laugh in their stupid faces and then tell them about what we spent $823,000.00 on. The ONLY CURE for this kind of GARBAGE is the Gallows, running 24/7s.
Report Post »MiketheTrucker
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 10:10pmYou’re one sick pup, glad your on our side. ;)
Report Post »TwoMinuteMan
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:27pmIf anyone reading this thought there wouldnt be graft with this MASSIVE slush fund, I have a bridge to sell you.
HELLOOOOOO the Democrats got their hands on $900 BILLION. Looks like its going to be a good christmas this year and Kerry isnt the only one who is going to register a new Yacht in Delaware.
Report Post »TexasGranny
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:26pmHas anybody figured out the tab for this stupidity? They stated that approx. 1/2 has been returned that means that approx. 36,000 checks have been cashed. $250 x 36,000 = $9M and I’m quite sure they have been unable to locate the other $4.3M sent to “inmates” – DUH….didn’t the address at some “Prison” give them a clue. Somewhere there is a “human being” entering the necessary info for this to happen. All they have to do for the “dead” folks is to bounce the SS# against the Social Security Death Index which is supposed to be current. (Note: my Father is not listed and he died in 1971 so….just another instance of mismanagement by a government agency!) I am so fed up with our incompetent and crooked government. Please vote Nov 2 and get rid of the crooks and/or incompetents!
Report Post »Pelosis_Nemesis
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:06pmmakes me wonder how many times your father has voted Democrat since ‘ 71
Report Post »TexasGranny
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:15pmI called the Social Security office and asked them why he was not on the list and that I was concerned that someone might use his SS#. I was told that eventhough he is not on the death index, they do show he is deceased and that no one has used his SS#. Do ya think I should have confidence in that voice? The voice also told me that he wasn‘t on the index because he wasn’t receiving any benefits at the time which is totally false – everyone that dies is supposed to be on the index if they were paying in SS taxes.
Report Post »Kinnison
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:24pmAnd the Dems just gave the Feds control of our health care system. Super.
Report Post »overlumber
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:23pmWanna bet these are the same folks who voted obamamama in????
Report Post »Sunnyr
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:09pmI read somewhere online yesterday that there is $169 Million Dollars that cannot be traced in the Stimulus Fund. It is unaccounted for. I thought old Crazy Joe Biden was supposed to be monitoring this Fund! It’s probably in a foreign Bank Account, waiting for it’s owner to be thrown out of office in 2012!
Report Post »Eagle07
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 11:39am$169 million is probaly the amount the dead people contributed to the DNC.
Report Post »belleharbor
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:05pmThis is Big Government a disaster but its not obamas fault it is however under his watch and this is what is wrong with this whole big government VOTE
Report Post »JnKC
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:02pmSocial Security pays dead people every month; their dishonest relatives make sure of it. Folks in jail need to be prosecuted for their dishonesty.
Report Post »sWampy
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:01pmA 100th the number of dead people that voted for Obama in the last election, wonder what they will do to pay the rest?
Report Post »Post-Progressive American
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:06pmBet they were all recently registered to vote as Democrats, too.
woodydad
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:48pmPerhaps this is the smoking gun we need to prove that the democrats are now paying the dead to vote. This could mean that they’re getting smarter since back when JFK was elected. I believe that those dead voters worked for free.
Report Post »broker0101
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 6:58pmAnd, of course, radical, evil, right-wing extremist Republicans would have denied these payments to the needy dead and legally incarcerated.
Report Post »untameable-kate
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:12pmIf I knew my dead nieghbors were getting checks I could have raided thier mailboxes, shoot, if only I had known
Report Post »wingedwolf
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 7:27pmDemolibersocialcommunism at work!!!!
Report Post »TruthTalker
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:15pmI didn’t get a check. I should have reported my death, might have gotten one….
Report Post »tobywil2
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:16pmDemoncrats have to reward their constituents. My Grandfather was a Demoncrat Ward Healer and I still remember him saying “why should a good party man be denied his franchise simply because he passed away?” http://commonsense21c.com/
Report Post »Marcobob69
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:38pm$162 Million missing? Look in Soros pocket. “nuff said.
Report Post »TeaPartyTim
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 8:44pmTruthTalker,
Report Post »You still would be able to vote too…
Rock Knutne ND
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:16pmJust wait until you see how many dead people vote for Rahm Emanuel when he runs for Mayor in Chicago.
Report Post »mizflame98
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 9:20pmDon’t mess with Joe.
Report Post »Dustyluv
Posted on October 7, 2010 at 11:32pmIt was advanced payment for their vote…
Report Post »Vast Right Wing Conspiracy Czar
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 3:15am“A government investigator says 89,000 stimulus payments of $250 each went to people who were either dead or in prison, and that each of them voted twice in the last election”
fyp
Report Post »CultureWarriors
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 9:54amIt’s just the Democrats paying back their voters.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9UtmTALMkU4
Report Post »Eagle07
Posted on October 8, 2010 at 11:37amHey The Dems don’t call them “Dead People” they call them Voters.
Report Post »Robert W
Posted on October 9, 2010 at 3:37pmMan I wonder if I can sign up all my dead relatives for food stamps….Ill be rollin in Doritos!
Report Post »