From the 'Hey-It-Could-Have-Been-Worse' Department . . .

The Adminstration celebrates a decrease of 0.16% in the RATE of improper payments (waste, fraud, and abuse), all the while reporting that the actual AMOUNT of improper payments increased to $125,000,000,000.

Rationalizing the increase, OBM points out that when the federal government increases benefit payments, naturally the AMOUNT of improper payments will increase. So, it reports, had the rate not been reduced, the amount would have been about 4 billion dollars higher. 

http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2010/11/16/improper-payment-progress

Every cloud has a silver lining. 


later. iowan15