Add this to the list of government programs that lack the appropriate internal controls:

A recent GAO audit confirms that the USDA distributed over a Billion dollars to the estates or companies of dead farmers. According to the audit, the USDA approved payments “without any review 40% of the time.”

[T]he Agriculture Department depends on heirs and businesses to alert the agency to deaths and does not use other sources, such as Social Security records, to confirm eligibility.”

So in summary, the problem is thieves and liars (a category which may be expanded to include the recipients of farm subsidies). Thieves and liars, upon whose statements the USDA depends in granting subsidies. Granting subsidies to thieves and liars. The problem (at this level) is not the people who are playing by the rules – that’s another issue for another day. The problem is those people or companies who disregard those rules. And the inherent flaw in the political system is that it encourages this sort of behavior.

If the government isn’t going to police them, they sure as hell aren’t going to police themselves.