I just heard something I hadn't before...that stimulus funds went to "fictitious" zip codes

[secondwind]

or counties in VA somewhere? And in other States?

Is this TRUE? And if so, has it been corrected?


SHEESH. :crazy:

[PBS Poll-435]

1. Somebody fucked up entering the data into an Excel spreadsheet

SHEESH. :crazy:

[secondwind]

2. that's it? jeez. so was it corrected?

[PBS Poll-435]

3. The error was not in the allocation of stimulus funds, but merely the reporting/tracking IIRC. nt

[DevonRex]

4. Thank you for posting the facts. nt

[PBS Poll-435]

10. :-)

A 5 second search on "teh Google."


Next....



:D

[secondwind]

5. where can I find proof of that? Is there a link somewhere?

[PBS Poll-435]

6. STL Online & The Hill Magazine

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/political-fix/political-fix/2009/11/stimulus-site-tracks-funds-to-non-existent-ill-mo-districts/

In Missouri, the six non-existent districts include the 29th and 31st districts.

A spokesman for the Recovery Board tasked with updating the Web site told ABC News the discrepancies are caused by stimulus funding recipients inaccurately filling out tracking forms.

“Some recipients clearly don’t know what congressional district they live in, so they appear to be just throwing in any number,” Ed Pound, the board’s communications director, told ABC News.




http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/74617-recovery-board-stresses-zip-code-stimulus-errors-are-typos

The Recovery Board is pushing back against concerns that its stimulus website attributes millions of dollars to nonexistent ZIP codes .

While one watchdog group alleged Wednesday that more than $375 million in stimulus funds recorded on Recovery.gov went to "phantom" locales, federal officials tracking those funds said "human errors" during the early reporting process are actually to blame.

The incorrect ZIP codes are merely typos, Cheryl Arvidson, spokeswoman for the Recovery Board, told The Hill this week. Moreover, those numbers do not change the administration's initial projection that stimulus dollars have so far helped create or save more than 600,000 jobs, she added.

"The material was put in by the recipients was transferred from the recipient reports on the website to these charts," Arvidson said. "Just because there are some typographical errors in ZIP codes doesn't mean this money is disappearing somehow."

[LiberalFighter]

11. When relying on the recipient to provide the data there will be errors.

Too many don't know the Congressional District that they live in.

Too many don't know their own zip code. Or probably fail to include it.

- * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - * - *

Now on the other hand when a government official or duly authorized person is charged with taking the information and recording it the errors go down. Mainly because they are aware of the details and take the necessary time to fill out the details.

[quiller4]

9. That's it and it was corrected. Much ado about nothing

[Speck Tater]

7. OMG! Somebody committed a typo?? Tell me it isn't so!

At least it didn't happen on the Internet. That would truly have been a tragedy worth front page headlines.

[harun]

8. Stimulus funds don't go to zip codes they go to an entity, group, state, etc.

Did someone enter an invalid zip code in their address, probably.

[LiberalFighter]

12. Most likely. And would be easy to do when they have turnover involving the job responsible.

[harun]

16. That and I do a fair amount of software work on shipping software and you can get

phantom zipcodes for a myriad of reasons. The biggest being the USPS publishes lists of what is valid and they change. So invalid zips is the norm. The USPS eventually sorts it out and you modify your lists, etc. This is normal.

[jillan]

13. That's from the people that input the information. The information is then verified by the WH team.

This is an old discussion - why is coming up again?

[suzie]

14. Because it's another chance to bash Obama and his administration?

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Well....There's that too. nt