Video Spills on Government Fraud
Posted on August 10th, 2010 by Katina »Permalink
Whoo boy. CNBC has some pretty disheartening video up this week that illustrates the findings of a recent GAO report that found some 1500 instances of people collecting Social Security disability benefits while continuing work – and not just in any old job, but in the public sector. Not that the working while collecting disability benefits isn’t hugely problematic on its own, but doing so while working for, say, TSA? Wow, that takes some serious chutzpah. And it is NOT cool. The GAO report is being criticized by some for not recommending steps for fixing the problem, so we’re happy to help out. Without pretending to be the experts on government management, how about a good old fashioned audit that compares disability rolls to, we don’t know, something like tax returns. Wouldn’t that show pretty quickly who’s gaming the system? And, you know, stealing?
It’s such a shame, the two steps forward, one foot back-ness of it all. Seems like yesterday we were singing the praises of Uncle Sam’s super-cool devotion to continuous monitoring at various government institutions, and then we read about totally obvious, totally preventable, completely embarrassing fraud at another.
In an age where automation enables such efficient means of monitoring all kinds of information, there’s really no excuse for stories like these. And in an age of soaring deficits with no real end in sight, letting this kind of thing slip by is something none of us can afford.
