Two headlines bothered me today. The first was from the Washington Post, "Social Security, Treasury Target Tax-Payers for Their Parents' Decades-Old Debts," by Marc Fisher. The article describes how the United States Treasury is confiscating tax refunds to pay for alleged overpayment of social security benefits to the recipient's parents from decades before. Apparently, this has been going on for about three-years, ever since a tiny provision in the farm bill overturned the ten-year statute of limitations on old debts to the government.
According to the article, the government has no proof of these overpayments, hasn't followed its own protocol for contacting the parties involved, and there seems to be little recourse for someone who is targeted. Read the post (linked above) for a more complete overview.
Are we now a nation who holds children responsible for their parents (supposed) debts? I find this disturbing.
The other headline that sent shivers over my skin? Again, from the Washington Post, "The Heartbleed Situation Just Got a Lot Worse," by Brian Fung.
A massive breach of our private data? Hooray.
Let's see, I have about fifty accounts with passwords. Yesterday, I read advice urging people to change ALL their passwords and to not use the same one twice. Um, sure. I'll just create fifty unique, strong passwords. Not to mention, some of my accounts are linked, meaning if I change one password, some features automatically get disabled.
The Heartbleed situation is making my heart bleed. Ugh.
What headlines grabbed you this week?
Have a fabulous weekend!
