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February 15, 2006
by Matt Barr

Your tax dollars at work

The GAO reported on Katrina victims blowing their $2,000 FEMA debit cards on superfluous stuff. In all seriousness, I see two, and possibly three, things on this list that could be considered "necessary to satisfy immediate emergency needs." And no, none of them is the last line item.

(Via E.M.Z.)

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Comments
TF Stern posted:

There were reports of the abuse, which is a problem when the government throws money at folks to proclaim their desire to help in a political frenzy. I did happen to observe several families at Walmart making purchases of true emergency items; mops, cleaning products, and things that would be on a list for someone starting from scratch. The largest abuse has yet to be identified, that being the corruption at the vendor levels where padding of the costs where doubled and tripled, the our right theft, not of a few thousand dollars; but hundreds of thousands and into the millions of dollars through a system that has limited checks and balances of its employees and their connections in the market place.

February 15, 2006 3:54 PM

MJB posted:

I'd be surprised if anyone actually learned for the first time that some people did things like gamble and buy booze with their FEMA cards by reading a GAO report. Setting aside the padding you describe, though, the card program even with the... interesting spending decisions was almost certainly less wasteful than if FEMA had tried to buy stuff for people and get it to them.

February 15, 2006 4:15 PM

Alex W. posted:

I actually work at a leather store in Dallas, Texas, where over 450,000 Katrina victims have migrated to. I never found out why it was necessary for one victim to buy 3 nascar jackets,3 matching nascar hats and 3 matching nascar purses. Not only that, but they put them on layaway, thus sending up a red flag saying "I don't need this right now." There have been numerous reports that they will sell the cards for cash so they can make a run to the liquor store, down to a corner or under a bridge. I am glad I can pay taxes so that these victims can get there next fix. hooray!!!

February 21, 2006 1:13 PM

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