It's the Chupacabras!
Posted on 08/12/2002 7:22:11 AM PDT by Tancred
Phantom Goatsucker on Government Payroll Mon Aug 12, 8:43 AM ET
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Reuters) - Argentina's bankrupt government is notorious for writing checks to workers who have never showed up, but eyebrows were raised when an imaginary "goatsucker" showed up on payroll recently.
Registered as "goatsucker, male, born in 1900," the mythological figure blamed for animal maulings throughout Latin America is eligible to receive unemployment benefits of about $42 per month, local media reports said on Friday.
"It could be in doubt whether he deserves the money or not, but he is registered as a real person with an identity number and everything," a systems analyst investigating the case for the government of Catamarca province told television. His name was not given.
Officials blamed the error on a technical glitch, saying the name may have been entered by a government employee, and the goatsucker would be eliminated from the benefits list as quickly as possible.
Excessive government spending and corruption are cited as the two root causes of Argentina's worst-ever economic crisis, which has left more than 21 percent of the workforce without jobs and half the nation living in poverty.
The government said the goatsucker never showed up to collect his checks.
Didn't need 'em - the goatsucker's been finding reasonably steady work lately...
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