Katrina & Rita frauds top $1billion

FEMA Paid for Vacations in Hawaii and Football tickets


First, how many of you are actually surprised that when the government hands out money, some people will lie and try scams to get a piece of the pie?

Second, how many are surprised that FEMA is as incompetent at handling money as it is at handling emergencies?

having done alot of volunteer work in New Orleans, I was rather depressed and even angry at sometimes when you see houses that have fallen down, but theres a brand new car with huge rims in the driveway.

It's all priorities.

I haven't found a cite for it, but I was told that one person received hurricane relief funds to get a sex change operation.

i saw that earlier on the yahoo homepage but can't find it now

Here's some news stories that refer to the sex-change operation paid for by relief fund. I didn't read each story to see if there were any more details on this specific item.

http://news.search.yahoo.com/search/news?p=hurricane+relief+%22sex+change+operation%22&x=wrt

Its even worse if you look deeper into it.

If you lost a family member in the September 11th attack, you're going to get an average of $1,185,000. The range is a minimum guarantee of $250,000, all the way up to $4.7 million.

As a contrast, according to the military's Death Benefits chart, death benefits payable to the families of military members who die or are killed on active duty include:

1. A $6,000 death gratuity to provide immediate cash to meet the needs of survivors.
   
   
2. A burial allowance ranging from $100 to $3,000 (and other associated compensation for funeral and burial costs).
   
   
3. A Dependency and Indemnity Compensation for the spouse at a flat rate annuity of $833 per month, with an additional $211 paid for each dependent child until age 18.
   

What this piece doesn't mention is that military personnel are automatically insured (unless they decline the coverage) under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance (SGLI) program, which pays a maximum of $250,000 to the families of servicemen killed while on active service — the same as the base amount paid to the families of civilians killed in the September 11 terrorist attacks through the Victim Compensation Fund. However, the SGLI program is insurance for which servicemen have to pay premiums ($20 per month), its compensation doesn't begin to compare with the average of $1.65 million that will be paid to the families of September 11 victims, and many of the civilians killed in the terrorist attacks already had their own life insurance coverage.


Yeah we don't give out enough money...who deserves it more, the military or survivors? The survivors and families of a single attack, or those who served the country for years and were dedicated to it?

I don't think the families of the September 11th attacks should get any money really, other than whatever life insurance they might have had at the time. We don't give huge sums of money to the window who's husband was killed in a car accident, why should the 9/11 families be treated any different?

I also don't think military families should get huge sums of money either, other than whatever life insurance they happen to have.

Why should families profit from the death of a loved one? Frankly it seems to cheapen any meaning that might be found in their death. “Yeah your husband is dead, but here is $250,000 though so it's ok.”

Money doesn't make the death any less horrible.

I seem to recall that complaints that FEMA was being too strict about handing out money, back during the debit card thing, requiring identifying information that in many cases was sitting under a whole shitton of water.

Sounds like they're pretty much in a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation.