Symptom of the Disease: $600 million in benefits paid to the dead

Six hundred million in the past five years. The AP story claims the federal government and the Obama administration are working to clamp down on the unearned payments, but there is no mention of prosecutions or attempts to recover the cash.

Yeah, it’s not all that much money. My emphasis in bold.

[The incorrect] payments are meant for retired or disabled federal workers, but sometimes the checks keep going out even after the former employees pass away and the deaths are not reported, according to the report this week from the Office of Personnel Management’s inspector general, Patrick McFarland.

In one case, the son of a beneficiary continued receiving payments for 37 years after his father’s death in 1971. The payments – totaling more than $515,000 – were only discovered when the son died in 2008.

That’s a handout of almost $14,000 per year. There must be some sort of lottery program where a few lucky families get payments after the death of a loved one who spent their working years working for the federal government.

Well, in many places you don’t need to prove who you are to vote, so why need to prove your alive to receive federal benefits?

Just another symptom of the disease. The federal government is way too big for it’s britches.