Dead People Are Immune to Stimulus

Of the 52 million people who received $250 stimulus checks last year, 72,000 were dead. While the loss of much of that $18 million is unfortunate, and we are sure to hear all about it in various campaigns, the waste adds up to a tiny sliver of a fraction of the nearly $800 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

AP via Google:

The payments, which were part of last year’s massive economic recovery package, were meant to increase consumer spending to help stimulate the economy.

But about $18 million went to nearly 72,000 people who were dead, according to the report by the Social Security Administration’s inspector general. The report estimates that a little more than half of those payments were returned.

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Flickr / Alan Bruce (CC-BY)