Coronavirus thread

[ccmdfd]

"Here’s the icing on the cake. The Internal Revenue Service sent out $1.4 billion in relief checks to people who are dead or in prison. IRS bureaucrats had no intention of trying to recover the funds, until GAO suggested it. A billion dollars down the rat hole doesn’t seem to matter to bureaucrats on the federal gravy train."

I heard about that recently. The article i read further stated that it would be highly unlikely for the IRS to go and try to collect those funds. The optics of going after grieving families being not good.

[TheRoland]

I heard about that recently. The article i read further stated that it would be highly unlikely for the IRS to go and try to collect those funds. The optics of going after grieving families being not good.

Ironically, I've been attributing this decision (to send funds without cross referencing death lists) to the Trump administration, as an intentional choice to make sure they went out as fast as possible. And approving of it as one of the only pieces of decisive leadership they made on this issue.

[peterb]

More data sources, including a map of daily new cases per capita.

https://globalepidemics.org/key-metr...d-suppression/

https://www.dartmouthatlas.org/covid...-mapping/#maps

Description: https://www.npr.org/sections/health-...oks-even-worse

[UNK]

How the Swamp mucked up America’s coronavirus response

"The GAO reports that even now, four months in, the CDC can’t provide accurate data on who is getting tested. In the private economy, these CDC officials would be fired."

Thats exactly my thought for a while now. It would be great if any administration would put together teams and go in with the idea to thoroughly modernize and streamline across the board and make them function like a private corporation. For sure take away the power they have accumulated so they dont act like a mini government within the government. There are plenty of companies that audit entire corporations for a variety of things.

[peterb]

https://globalepidemics.org/key-metr...d-suppression/
Color code is based on daily cases per capita, 7-day rolling average.

By state:


By county:

[Cookie Monster]

Thats exactly my thought for a while now. It would be great if any administration would put together teams and go in with the idea to thoroughly modernize and streamline across the board and make them function like a private corporation. For sure take away the power they have accumulated so they dont act like a mini government within the government. There are plenty of companies that audit entire corporations for a variety of things.

I am not in the medical field but a federal employee in land management, over my 15 years I’ve seen private corporations do the work that I do and I have not been impressed. I have seen worked done for three or four times the cost I and my crew could of done it in and at lower quality.

Private corporations can do this better than government is not universal, I’ve seen contracts for the work I do with big and small companies and they lacked. Lacked hard to the point I just ended up redoing their work so we could move the project forward.

[Borderland]

When I think of the U S treasury, I think of the social security administration.

I had to close a bank account due to fraud. That meant I had to go to SSA to change my account info so they could electronically deposit my check. I had to have proof of my new account, my old account (checks) and 2 pieces of ID with photo. I then had to sign about 4 documents. They ask me why I didn't do it online. Finally they said it would take 4-5 weeks for SSA to process the account change and get money into the new account. I also told them their website didn't work but they didn't seem interested in that.

Now 1.4 billion seems like a lot of money, but that doesn't surprise me at all considering how F'd up the SSA is. How is the treasury supposed to know who is alive and dead. Easier just to send the checks to everyone and hope they hit a few live ones. Success.

[blues]

When I think of the U S treasury, I think of the social security administration.

Social Security is under the Dept. of Health & Human Services.

[willie]

About privatizing. I have never seen a private prison that was not totally fucked up. How could one not be when paying minimum wage?

[Borderland]

Social Security is under the Dept. of Health & Human Services.

True, but the money comes from the Treasury Dept. So did the economic stimulus checks. That's why social security is going broke. They don't actually have any money.