The Government is cutting back due to lack of funds.

[sledge]

I saw this today.

Social Security Statement

In light of the current budget situation, we have suspended issuing Social Security Statements.

http://www.ssa.gov/mystatement/

I also read where the Dept. Of Agriculture is going to stop issuing many crop reports due to lack of funding.

[Colombo]

Smart move on their part, no need for the government to cover up something if they have no actual knowledge of the problem.

[Veritas]

Another thing that they did a while back (I think it was last year), was to stop issuing actual checks.  You have 2 choices now....direct deposit into your bank account or you can receive a pre-funded debit card if you don't have a bank account.  (kind of like a gift card)

The reason of this is simple.  Think about the gift card you got last year for your birthday.  Did you spend all $25 dollars at Outback or was there a few cents left over?

Now take those few cents and multiply by a few million people who receive those Social Security cards.

The government now gets to keep quite a bit of money on it's books, rather than in the hands of those who it belongs to.