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A comment on ‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil companies. Parent comment

Re:‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil comp... by georgeecollins on Friday May 15, 2020 @04:34PM (#23197082)
There is not really a mechanism to do that. The US does not have the mailing address of every citizen, or no sure knowledge which SSNs belong to dead people, and what the current address is that corresponds to an SSN, etc. The closest is tax returns. There are about 100m more people in the US than tax returns, and some people file more than one return (companies, trusts). I am sure the US has the correct information for half the population. But if you start thinking about millions of $10k checks being sent to the wrong address the potential for fraud is pretty mind boggling.

I don't think that is the only reason, but it is something to consider.

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Re:‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil comp... by oneplane on Friday May 15, 2020 @04:52PM (#23197232)
That seems rather silly. How can a country function well if you don't have basic information to connect with the people?
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Re:‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil comp... by georgeecollins on Monday May 18, 2020 @05:51PM (#23228803)
There are people in the US that don't like the idea of a national id card. The US has a very special love / hate relationship with government.
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Re:‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil comp... by imtringued on Friday May 15, 2020 @08:08PM (#23199031)
People who need the stimulus can contact the government voluntarily. This problem only exists for central banks that want to spread the helicopter money perfectly evenly among the population because an uneven distribution will not have the intended effect (e.g. mortgages with low interest are only available to those who actually buy a home).
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Re:‘Stealth bailout’ shovels millions of dollars to oil comp... by DarthGhandi on Friday May 15, 2020 @05:51PM (#23197920)
We did it in Australia by giving it to everyone who filed a tax return (necessary even if you aren't paying any tax).

Went into the same bank account, you had to arrange for it to be different with the tax office otherwise. Didn't hear anything about fraud but some dead people did get payments.

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