lemme get that junk back

yer pal,

the gubment

3/19/2006 10:18:08 PM

about damn time. To save your life in one thing, but rebuilding your house is YOUR job.

3/19/2006 10:20:47 PM

Quote :

"FEMA sends letters requesting repayment of hurricane money BEAUMONT, Texas Thousands of people who received money from the federal government after Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma might be asked to give it back. The Federal Emergency Management Agency started sending letters last week asking people to return money they received in error. Officials say 1-point-7 (m) million households received FEMA assistance after Hurricanes Rita, Katrina or Wilma. About 34- to 51-thousand of them will reimburse the agency. Those who receive a letter requesting repayment can appeal if they believe they were entitled to the funds. But FEMA officials encourage them to make payments while the matter is resolved or to at least set up a payment plan. If the amount isn't paid in full within 30 days, a 2 percent interest will tacked on. ___ Information from: The Beaumont Enterprise, http://www.beaumontenterprise.com Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. "

3/19/2006 11:13:39 PM

shit I'd keep the money at 2%

3/19/2006 11:29:34 PM

i dont know the details, how did they decide who got money in error? because i think they should return money if they weren't supposed to get it

3/19/2006 11:37:50 PM

Leave it to the government to fuck things up... surprised? You shouldn't be.

3/20/2006 9:58:56 AM

Quote :

"i dont know the details, how did they decide who got money in error? because i think they should return money if they weren't supposed to get it"

one example: person i work with was affected somewhat - medium house damage, couldn't return to her home for 2 months, etc. she received an initial lump sum from FEMA. later on, they returned to their home, started fixing stuff, and no longer needed any assistence. so they filled out the necessary paperwork that basically said, "stop helping me" and sent it in. a few weeks later, they were sent another FEMA check. and then the week after that, someone called and told them they had a FEMA trailor ready to be delivered to them. this was all weeks after they told FEMA to stop helping them. my guess is that there are a lot of people in that situation. federal bureaucracy as in any other agency and the resulting slow/poor communication would be the culprit.

3/20/2006 11:18:12 AM

jesus months and months later and these guys are STILL fucking shit up

3/20/2006 11:49:47 AM

^^ i dont understand why they would think they could keep the money after they took care of things and told fema to stop

3/20/2006 11:57:11 AM

... and some people want to let the government control our healthcare?

3/20/2006 12:02:00 PM

^^ where did she say that the people were planning on keeping the money?

3/20/2006 12:02:53 PM

oh they aren't keeping it. they were smart and just put it away knowing they'd probably have to give it back. most people aren't that smart. most people would say, "OH BOY, $2000 extra dollars!!!" and then go buy something like a big screen tv. that was just an example of "how did they decide who got money in error?"

3/20/2006 12:09:35 PM

Quote :

"... and some people want to let the government control our healthcare? "

TWW STATEMENT OF THE YEAR!

3/20/2006 12:12:06 PM

^yep

and i think that what's done is done...they shouldn't be able to go back and re-claim the money.

3/20/2006 6:37:04 PM

so when a bank accidentally puts more money in my account i can spend it and shouldnt expect the bank to want it back?

im just having a hard time seeing why the government shouldnt ask for it back

3/20/2006 8:07:04 PM

the problem here is not them asking for it back, it's that they doled it out in error in the first place.

incompetency. i highly doubt any bank has ever given out this much money to this many people in error before.

3/20/2006 8:13:38 PM

accidentally....wow...just wow

3/20/2006 8:15:43 PM

I think I heard this on This American Life maybe a year ago, so this isn't 100% guaranteed accurate, but here's a similar story. Basically, this woman's house was destroyed by a hurricane. Her insurance won't completely cover it for whatever reason, and she applies for FEMA relief and gets like $7000. Using insurance, FEMA money, and new loans, she begins the process of rebuilding her house. Some time later, FEMA writes and is like "We weren't supposed to give you that money. We need it back now." So she calls and basically the FEMA people say that their money is for immediate disaster relief only, not for people rebuilding their houses. Her response was, well, you already gave me the money, I needed it to rebuild my house, and that's what I did. Their response to that was: tough shit.

I need to look this up. But anyways, in a scenario like that and it would be very difficult or impossible for certain people to give back the money.

3/20/2006 8:18:33 PM

It depends on the circumstances of each case. Suppose it takes a few buisiness days to get yourself taken off the payroll, so to speak. They cut a check for that pay period, in error. I could see that possibly happening in some cases. Or, there could be cases of incompetent people shuffling pay around, who knows. You'll find that the people who handle your pay in the government generally don't have a whole lot of financial sense or responsibility.

Generally speaking--and this is coming from someone who lives off a government paycheck--if you ever get more money than you are supposed to from the government, you'd better just put it away in your savings account and not touch it, because the government will take it back.

3/20/2006 8:28:19 PM

Quote :

"Generally speaking--and this is coming from someone who lives off a government paycheck--if you ever get more money than you are supposed to from the government, you'd better just put it away in your savings account and not touch it, because the government will take it back."

try explaining that to 31 -51 thousand homeless people

3/20/2006 8:31:16 PM

Quote :

"the problem here is not them asking for it back, it's that they doled it out in error in the first place."

i agree
but duke said they shouldnt be able to re-claim the money, which i think is absurd

also some am talk radio show (found it while flipping through, not sure which one) was mad that they were asking for money back, so its not an uncommon position

3/20/2006 8:55:41 PM

How the hell are you going to reclaim money from jobless/homeless individuals? That's the absurd part. Government reimbursement is futile in this situation, especially on an individual scale.

[Edited on March 20, 2006 at 9:10 PM. Reason : .]

3/20/2006 9:10:06 PM

they can setup a payment plan, the government isnt going to make anyone file bankruptcy over this

3/20/2006 10:08:27 PM

hell as inefficient and stupid as these people are it will probably cost more for them to reclaim it than it would just to leave it be especially if they try and do something like setting up payment plans for everybody

3/20/2006 10:44:24 PM

this is why i want more info, cause i am assuming they should know they shouldnt have gotten the payment

3/20/2006 10:49:08 PM

^How would all the people know that they weren't supposed to receive the money?

3/20/2006 11:12:48 PM

Did they get the money and immediately proclaim "Damn stupid government fools, giving away money to people that don't deserve it. Ha! I'll keep it, that'll show 'em."

3/21/2006 12:22:51 AM

FEMA just doesn't give out money. You have to fill out applications for the money.

3/21/2006 12:23:34 AM

Quote :

"About 34- to 51-thousand of them will reimburse the agency. Those who receive a letter requesting repayment can appeal if they believe they were entitled to the funds."

So they can expect about what, 34- to 51-thousand appeals? On average my guess would be that people that took money when they really didn't need it are the same kind of people that would extend the lie to ensure that they can keep it.

Quote :

"If the amount isn't paid in full within 30 days, a 2 percent interest will tacked on [sic] ."

2%. Wow. At that rate I'd gladly take a government loan. If the people that received money from FEMA did put it in an interest bearing account then they would probably still walk away with some money even after they paid them back. Of course they might destroy their credit in the process.

Quote :

"most people would say, "OH BOY, $2000 extra dollars!!!" and then go buy something like a big screen tv."

Yeah. It's sad that some people do that. Seems like a good lesson for them to get smarter would be to make them pay the money back. After all if you buy a big screen TV it sounds as if your basic needs (the needs that the FEMA funds were supposed to take care of) were already being met.

[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 7:46 AM. Reason : --]

3/21/2006 7:39:04 AM

I'd like to see you meet your basic needs with $2,000 after your home has been utterly destroyed. Fuck, I'm happy to hear about people going to strip clubs and buying TVs and shit with that money—entertainment as a diversion from horror is a basic need, as far as I'm concerned.

3/21/2006 8:24:56 AM

They gave financial aide to what 1.7 million and they are asking 34-51 thousand to give the aide back. Something tells me that the people they are asking to give the money back didn't have their home utterly destroyed.

Should we convince the strip clubs to start taking food stamps now? If your two choices are food & shelter or entertainment you have some priority issues if you side with entertainment.

[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 8:30 AM. Reason : -]

3/21/2006 8:28:23 AM

^^ not really, but its a nice sentiment

there are a lot cheaper ways of getting that entertainment or whatever than blowing your entire safety net

its a god damn shame, considering the world's refugees, that these hurricane victims would think they deserved to spend our tax money on hookers and televisions - oh yea they had it so hard - their house got destroyed, maaaaaaann....

of course, then you've got hundreds of thousands of africans with half their arms chopped off and who were forced to watch their wives and children raped with guns and killed before their eyes. and all they want is a fucking house away from the refugee camp.... none of this fancy strip club shit

americans are so fucking spoiled

[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 8:31 AM. Reason : s]

3/21/2006 8:31:03 AM

^ Hey, sympathy stops at the border, ingrate.

3/21/2006 9:25:49 AM

Quote :

"They gave financial aide to what 1.7 million and they are asking 34-51 thousand to give the aide back. Something tells me that the people they are asking to give the money back didn't have their home utterly destroyed."

absolutely. hell, i could have gotten fema money if i had wanted it. and my house wasn't damaged at all!!! i just had a few people living with me for a while. i know TONS of people that received fema money whose homes may have had "some" damage. a lot of that money went to paying evacuees' gas, food, lodging, etc. and MOST people didn't lose their home. they had damage but they didn't LOSE it. and a lot of people got more money than they needed.

my favorite scene was watching people use red cross cards to buy jewelry at wal-mart.

i don't recall the statistics but there were an ungodly number of red cross and fema cards/money given out based on false documents and info too. i mean it was like at least 1/4.


[Edited on March 21, 2006 at 9:49 AM. Reason : er]

3/21/2006 9:47:25 AM

I also find it interesting how they gave out cards. Sure, they are much more convenient than sending out a check but I'm sure they wanted to track the money also.

Kinda makes you wonder just how much more willing they will be to hand out aide to people that really need it in the future now that they are armed with the knowledge that many just waste it. Then again the government doesn't operate that way do they.

3/21/2006 10:30:36 AM

don't get me wrong, there were A LOT people that really did need the money. and there were a lot of people who were truly grateful and used the money for necessities. but there were also a lot of people who spent money on tvs, vacations, jewelry, alcohol, etc instead of replacing their clothes or household items. and they had to literally throw out a lot of people from hotels because their hotel was nicer than their home ever thought about being (i.e. the royal sonesta is nicer most people's home - including mine! they had to get court order to get people out because they didn't want to go back to their homes).

i'm torn honestly. i see a lot of people who lost their homes and need help, who work hard and try their best. and then i see a lot of lazy gimme-gimme people who have never worked, never took care of themselves, and who have a chance now to do better but won't (there are sooooo many job openings now in NO and they pay WELL). and they are the ones abusing the system. it drives me nuts that these two groups are getting the same amount of assistence, in many cases the lazy non-workers are getting more. sometimes i want to just drive around in some of those areas in my car with a bullhorn yelling "GET A JOB!" [/vent]

3/21/2006 10:52:29 AM

People need to SAVE MONEY. Put something away for a rainy day. Have savings in general. Only an idiot puts everything they own in one house on the ocean. Hell, only an idiot puts everything they own in one house.

Give them shelter if homeless, food if starving, rescue them if trapped. Everything else should be covered by their own plans.

3/21/2006 11:41:01 AM