Federal agencies set a new record for improper payments last year, shelling out $125 billion in questionable benefits after years of declines.
The Feds, as the AP reports, blew the billions on (among other things):
… tax credits for families that didn’t qualify, Medicare payments for treatments that might not have been necessary, and unemployment benefits for people who were actually working.
The government, which was going badly enough already, managed to increase the amount it wasted by an impressive:
$19 billion over the previous year, according to a report by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress. In addition to fraud, the errors included overpayments and underpayments, as well as payments made without proper documentation.
A recent poll showed a mere 11 percent of Americans expressing confidence in their government.
Those people, especially, need to read the whole thing.
