If it can go wrong, it will: Bailout for cons
| August 27, 2009 | 5:59 PM
More journal entries from John Moore »
This brings whole new meaning to the “cons” of the bailout program.
The federal government accidentally sent relief checks to 1,700 prison inmates throughout the country. The money came from funds that were meant to help jump-start the economy, and the error happened because of faulty record keeping. Let’s hope someone slams the door on that problem.
The average check was for $250, so the total cost of the error comes to about $425,000 — which would buy a lot of hots and cots, or one heck of a “cell” phone for everyone.
Luckily prison officials haven’t been pokey about intercepting the money and returning it.
Read more at msn.com.
More stories from the “If It Can Go Wrong, It Will” department:
- In The Netherlands, A prized “moon rock” at the Dutch national museum has turned out to be just a piece of petrified wood. Read more at abcnews.com.
- In Calgary, Canada, the city brought in graffiti artists to spray-paint a mural at a skate park, but didn’t provide supervision. The repairs could top $60,000. Read more at calgarysun.com.
- In Pennsylvania, police accidentally gassed a town’s residents when the wind shifted while officers were training with pepper spray on top of a mountain. Read more at officer.com.
- In Florida, a political candidate’s robocalls jammed an emergency operations center phone line. Read more at upi.com.
- About 20,000 residents of a Florida town received tax bills 10 times higher than they were supposed to because of a decimal error. Read more at upi.com.
- In Britain, a local council has been assailed for spending the equivalent of nearly $163,000 on a “living wall” of plants at a London park that dried out and died. Read more at London’s Daily Mail.
bailout program, graffiti artists, inmates get checks, living wall, moon rock, petrified wood, robocalls, tax error
