American taxpayers fund a massive federal government. Much of that money is spent with little oversight. The problem has persisted across administrations with few repercussions for those responsible.

Something changed this year. The Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) began investigating government waste. Led by Elon Musk, the team started digging through records across federal agencies.

What they uncovered shocked even seasoned government watchdogs. Indeed, the findings were so bizarre that officials had to double-check the numbers.

Americans’ tax dollars were apparently going to people who haven’t even been born yet. An initial survey of Unemployment Insurance claims since 2020 revealed that thousands of people with future birthdates received benefits totaling millions of dollars. Can you believe it? Your hard-earned money went to someone supposedly born in 2154!

From ‘Fox News’:
“In one case, someone with a birthday in 2154 claimed $41k,” the post also notes.

The DOGE team uncovered that 9,700 people with birth dates more than 15 years in the future claimed $69 million in unemployment benefits. But the fraud doesn’t end there.

Another 24,500 claims came from people supposedly over 115 years old, totaling $59 million. For perspective, America’s oldest living person is 114. Even more shocking, 28,000 claims were filed for children between ages 1 and 5, resulting in $254 million in payments. Let that sink in for a moment — we’re paying unemployment to toddlers and people who won’t be born for another century.

Musk expressed disbelief at the findings, writing on his social media platform X: “Your tax dollars were going to pay fraudulent unemployment claims for fake people born in the future! This is so crazy that I had to read it several times before it sank in.”

Recovering Taxpayer Dollars

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer confirmed the findings in a statement to Fox News.

“This is another incredible discovery by the DOGE team, finding nearly $400 million in fraudulent unemployment payments,” she said.

The Labor Department is taking action.

“We are committed to recovering Americans’ stolen tax dollars,” Chavez-DeRemer added. “We will catch these thieves and keep working to root out egregious fraud — accountability is here.”

Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) shared her frustration over the findings.

“Of course toddlers and someone with a birthdate 129 years in the future are unemployed, but they definitely don’t qualify for unemployment benefits,” she told the New York Post.

Ernst, who describes herself as the “top watchDOGE in the Senate,” added that she’s “working with DOGE to restore basic competence in the federal government and eliminate glaring and costly examples of fraud.”

A Pattern of Waste

This discovery highlighted a major failure in the unemployment benefits system. As Musk noted on X, “There was no sanity check for impossibly young or impossibly old people for unemployment insurance.”

I don’t know about you, but I expect at least basic math skills from people handling our tax dollars.

The problem appears to have worsened during the pandemic when unemployment claims skyrocketed. The previous administration oversaw significant losses during this period.

Former acting Labor Secretary Julie Su faced criticism for mismanagement of California’s unemployment system, which reportedly sent between $30-40 billion in payments to fraudsters during the pandemic. Meanwhile, the Trump administration’s DOGE team is finding and fixing these problems within months of taking office.

The latest DOGE findings represent just one example of widespread government waste. As the team continues its investigations, more shocking discoveries may come to light. What other absurdities are hiding in plain sight within our bloated government systems?

For many Americans frustrated with government waste, these findings confirm their suspicions. Basic verification systems could have prevented these losses. Instead, hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars went to obviously fraudulent claims.

The DOGE team’s continued efforts promise more accountability for how the government spends our money. As these investigations continue, taxpayers can hope for better safeguards against such obvious fraud in the future. The question remains: how much more waste is still waiting to be discovered? We can only imagine.

Key Takeaways:

• DOGE uncovered nearly $400 million in fraudulent unemployment claims paid to non-existent people.
• Some claims were approved for recipients with birth dates over 100 years in the future.
• Basic verification steps could have prevented this massive waste of taxpayer dollars.
• The current administration is actively working to recover these stolen funds.

Sources: Fox News, The New York Post