Free FEMA Funds

$330 million. That’s the South Florida Sun-Sentinel’s estimate of how much FEMA has spent in disaster assistance to communities that didn’t actually need it in the past five years. Money quote:

In impoverished neighborhoods from California to the Carolinas, from Florida to Michigan, the newspaper found the same patterns. Residents call FEMA assistance "free money," "easy money" and "mobility money." Scamming FEMA is widely known and openly discussed.

Even before Katrina, FEMA essentially had two choices: Shovel money out the door or be accused of being inefficient and uncaring when it came to assisting disaster victims. They made the obvious choice. And under current circumstances, FEMA will be under more pressure than ever to distribute funds indiscriminately. The last thing FEMA wants to do is deny anyone benefits on the grounds they weren’t really a victim. Get just one of those decisions wrong and imagine how you’d get walloped by the full wrath of the media and members of Congress.