A Hurricane of Fraud

LA Times ^ | June 17, 2006 | Editorial

[jmranchman]

MOVE OVER, RECKLESS CONSUMERS. The Federal Emergency Management Agency has outdone your irresponsible spending by racking up a debit card bill so outrageous it could have been created using Mad Libs. Sex-change operations, vacations to the Dominican Republic and wild nights at strip clubs were all bought on the government's dime by both con artists and legitimate victims of Hurricane Katrina. But try to keep that knee from jerking — although FEMA's oversight was lacking, wasted money is an inevitable byproduct of providing rapid emergency assistance.

The tawdry expenses are listed in a report released Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office. Though the headline makers were select items purchased with debit cards that FEMA gave out immediately after Katrina struck, the centerpiece of the survey was an estimate that about 16% of the agency's more than $6 billion in overall hurricane relief payments were improper and potentially fraudulent. And that figure is probably on the low side because it only accounts for certain categories of fraud, such as misrepresentation of identity and duplicate payments.

[technomage]

If memory serves, is it not true that in Kalifornia the fraud, theft and mismanagement costs of their welfare services runs into the billions of dollars??

[Atchafalaya]

Gotta watch out, the Mambas get you if you mess up; they reel fass!!!

[jocon307]

"...racking up a debit card bill so outrageous it could have been created using Mad Libs."

LOL! That's a great line!

[december12]

This editorial is racist. In implies that black people should be expected to steal money whenever they can, so they shouldn't be blamed when they do steal.

[texas booster]

I just figured out how to get images to post...and I am quite proud of that. :)

Next time please label your photos. It helps us great unwashed to keep a clue.

The dead cows are what happens when folks don't practive Bovine Lightning Education.

[P-40]

Is that one of them UFO cattle mutiliation photos?

It was a photo of a lightning strike on a fence during a storm. Cattle like to all line up along the fence like these did...and about forty or so bit the dust.

[P-40]

Next time please label your photos. It helps us great unwashed to keep a clue.

It's a deal. :)

[WildHorseCrash]

But obsessing about the spending habits of refugees comes perilously close to blaming the victim.

What a bunch of b.s. It is unjust to blame the victim for that of which he has been victimized. It is perfectly legitimate to blame them for being greedy and fraudulent criminals on the public dime. What morons they employ at the Times.

[RKV]

Thanks for posting. LA Times sets new low and races lower.

[RKV]

As far as I am concerned you and I are the victims here. We never should have spent a penny on these people. That was and is a state responsibility.