Why is $60 billion in fraud OK?

Obama signed legislation in July with the goal of reducing government payments to dead people, fugitives, and jailbirds by $50 billion. Sounds great, doesn't it? But, as Paul Harvey used to say, here's the rest of the story.

Last year, we paid out $110 billion in fraudulent payments. Shouldn't our goal be to reduce fraudulent payments by $110 billion? Is Obama saying, "$60 billion's OK"? But then again, when you've been spending trillions, I guess billions seems such a trivial amount.

"Obama signs law intended to slash waste." The Dallas Morning News; July 23, 2010; p. 5A.