Precedented Payments

by Paul Jacob, Contributing Author: I idly wonder who cooks up the initialisms for the big federal legislative packages ("laws") -- you know, like the recent "CARES Act" that distributed $2.3 trillion conjured out of thin air . . . and the faith and credit of a wobbly reputation. CARES stands for "Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security," and I say "idly" because I am not googling this.

If I can resist searching for (as I am instructed to do daily) "any three numbers and 'new cases,'" I can let others do that initialism research.

Whoever it is, though, does a pretty good job. Usually. Good P.R. But they missed the boat a bit on CARES. It should have been CORPSE, standing for "Coronavirus Overpayment, Relief, Prodigality, Stupidity and Eeeeek!" Act.

For, you see, $1.4 billion was sent to dead people.

More than a million of them.

At least we can be thankful that the IRS wants that money back.

Well, "wants" is a funny word to use for a bureaucracy. Especially since the IRS has no current plan "to notify ineligible recipients on how to return payments." According to the General Accounting Office.

You canread about it all at Reason.

I would say it makes for fascinating reading, but it doesn't really. This is the same-old/same-old. The Department of Kludge and Fubar, you know, which would be a better name for most government bureaus.

The Reason piece call the CARES Act "unprecedented emergency spending," but I think we could find plenty of precedents.

If we googled.

This is Common Sense. I'm Paul Jacob.
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Paul Jacob (@Common_Sense_PJ) is author of Common Sense which provides daily commentary about the issues impacting America and about the citizens who are doing something about them. He is also President of the Liberty Initiative Fund (LIFe) as well as Citizens in Charge Foundation. Jacob is a contributing author on the ARRA News Service.

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Tags: Paul Jacob, Common Sense, Precedented Payments
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