25 might sound like a small number, however, you must remember that was just one story about one particular type of fraud in one county over the last ten months, which is a very small slice of the overall pie.
From the story in question:
Oakes said his office’s anti-fraud effort is on track to bring in $100,000 this year, more than covering the cost of a part-time assistant district attorney.
$100k isn't small potatoes. It also isn't all the fraud, just those who are caught
and able to make restitution.
Let's assume, just for a moment, based on that story that there are just eight regular citzens (who are not in any type of office) every year in every county in the U.S. who commit fraud. I picked eight because: (1) 25 was 'more than triple' and 25/3 = 7, (2) 25 was for a ten month span, we're talking a full year, so add one more person. This equals .00007% of the poplation, so 310 million * .00007% = 21,700 people getting caught committing fraud. If we assume it's $100k per eight persons per year, that's $271,250,000 for ONE YEAR. If we cut the number by 75% (being generous) to account for the 'more than tripple', you have $25k * (21,700 /
people = $67,812,500. How many who should be getting help could get help from that amount? I'm guessing quite a few.
Even on the extremely super-duper low end, $67.8 million is a ton of cash. That's just for a single year, doesn't include every program or system that can be de-frauded, and also leaves out those who remain 'at large'.
I don't really understand what you mean by this:
Xarlaxas wrote:The problem with stopping cheating is that it tends to be done at the expense of people who really need assistance getting lost by the way-side, with many people arguing that that's fine so long as the cheats are caught.
Could you clarify?
Edit: How about this...
Dinesh D'Souza wrote:Some say that welfare fraud is not a significant problem. While there is a general feeling that welfare fraud is rampant, advocates for welfare programs insist that fraud is only found in 2%-3% of cases researched by the thousands of welfare investigators across the nation. It certainly is possible that more fraud takes place than is being reported. There isn’t any way to really substantiate that feeling, however, without it actually being reported. We know that some fraud exists; but, with such low rates of it being found, it certainly isn’t the biggest challenge that welfare programs face. Is welfare fraud a big enough problem with which we should even concern ourselves?
Let’s run some numbers to find out. According to the 2010 US Census Bureau findings, there are 114.8 Million families in the US. With 34.2% of US families “on welfare” (see related article: An Expansion of the Welfare State), this means that approximately 39.3 Million homes receive monthly welfare benefits. The Federal government expects to spend $451.9 Billion in 2012 on welfare expenditures. This averages out to roughly $11,500 annually per family or $958 per family per month.
If the fraud rate is only 2%-3%, how much money could it really be costing us? Well…these low rates would mean that roughly 785,000 to 1.2 Million families are illegally receiving welfare benefits. At the average rate of $11,500 per year, this is costing the tax payers between
$9.0 - $13.5 Billion dollars every year.
Edit2: Here is what he is classifying as 'welfare', because I know somebody
will want it defined.
...there are 5 main welfare program categories. In order of expense, they are: Social Exclusion, Family & Children, Unemployment, Housing and Workers Compensation.
1. Social exclusion programs pay cash and provide other benefits to people who are, for a variety of reasons, unable to fully provide for themselves. This category is more commonly known as “disability”. Beneficiaries range from those afflicted with blindness, chronic disease, destitute low-income earners, refugees, victims of violent crimes, indigenous people, immigrants, and alcoholics and substance abusers. The idea is that they are either excluded or at risk of being excluded from participating in society and thus incapable of earning a living that will provide for their needs.
Social exclusion programs will account for the largest percent of Welfare spending for the Federal, State and Local governments in 2012. In addition to the $161.6 Billion of Federal tax dollars, State and Local governments will add an additional $93.5 Billion to this category.
2. The Family and children category of programs will account for the second largest percentage of Welfare spending for government at all levels. In addition to the $113.5 Billion in funds from the Federal treasury, State and Local government entities are expected to add an additional $18.5 Billion in funds through programs of this category. As the name suggests, these programs provide cash and related benefits to family units and children directly. The largest expenditure for this category and most commonly know program is the Federal Food Stamp program.
3. Unemployment benefit programs account for the third largest percentage of spending in the Welfare category. Unemployment provides cash benefits to workers who are displaced from their jobs through no fault or issues related to their performance.
4. Housing programs constitute the fourth largest percentage of expenditures for Welfare expenses. In addition to the $59.6 Billion in tax payer money provided by the Federal government, State and Local governments contribute an additional $16.3 Billion to this category. Housing programs provide grants, loan guarantees, financial aid and other benefits to both home owners and those needing homes.
5. The fifth and final major contributor to Federal Welfare expenditures is in the category of Workers Compensation. Federal workers compensation benefits include general retirement and disability insurance which does not include social security. In addition to the $8.3 Billion of Federal tax dollars spent in this category, the States will expend an additional $14.1 Billion in compensation payments.