WaPo : Stimulus checks and other relief hindered by 1960s technology and rocky rollout

[Celerity]

On Friday, Trump hailed the ‘incredible success’ of getting out payments, but millions are still awaiting stimulus checks, unemployment aid and small-business loans

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/04/17/stimulus-unemployment-checks-delays-government-delays/




The national effort to get coronavirus relief money to Americans is at risk of being overwhelmed by the worst economic downturn in 80 years, as understaffed and underfunded agencies struggle to deliver funds. Three weeks after Congress passed a $2 trillion package to lessen the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, millions of households and small businesses are still waiting to receive all the help promised under the legislation, according to government data and firsthand accounts.

The bulk of the challenges have occurred with three initiatives designed to get cash to struggling Americans: $1,200 per adult relief payments that launched this week, $349 billion in Small Business Administration loans, and $260 billion in unemployment benefits for the more than 22 million people — and growing — out of work. The SBA ran out of money to make small business loans this week, almost no unemployment aid has reached eligible self-employed and gig workers, and a significant number of Americans who were due to receive relief payments this week went on the IRS.gov website only to see this message: “payment status not available.”

Current and former government officials say it would be a tall order for any president to execute massive new programs in a matter of weeks, and tens of millions of Americans did receive direct deposits worth $1,200 or more this week. But the Trump administration’s promise of swift and effective action — President Trump called the small business program “flawlessly executed” this week — is colliding with a federal and state apparatus not well designed to deliver so much money so fast. The technological backbone to much of the relief — including the distribution of relief checks and the unemployment insurance system — requires knowledge of a software programming language not widely used in decades. An administration that had made little priority of keeping senior positions staffed, meanwhile, is struggling now to quickly implement one of the biggest government interventions in history.

snip

The IRS uses a decades-old software — its “MasterFile” software responsible for processing individual and business tax filings was developed in 1962 — and a computer programming language called COBOL. The stimulus program has required multiple coding changes, and the agency has at least 16 other databases with taxpayer information, none of which easily can communicate with the other, said a person familiar with the matter.

snip

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

1. Ahhh, yes.

Back in the late 1960s, the FAA said, What? Lease a computer? No! We will buy our computers, so there! And so, the air traffic control system became computerized.

The years rolled by. Companies that leased computers, got new ones every few years. Those who bought them, didn't.

There was a time when the air traffic control system was in a huge crisis because of this. I recall reading various articles on this topic, which all of a sudden went away. Apparently the crisis was solved. I do wonder what was not reported.

I'm offering this as an example of the problem given in the OP. Although, in all honesty, the real problem may be that 200 million people are trying to log in and track their payments, which is probably five times or maybe ten times what the system can handle. So ease off everyone.

[mr_lebowski]

2. They probably cheaped out on their godaddy account ...

They bought the 'max 1000 connections' package for $99.99/month lol ... and configured a single virtual linux box in AWS with 8GB RAM and a 2.4GHz 4-core processor to run the database

[Backseat Driver]

3. Ahhh...the heartbreak of those legacy systems.

What, you want them to work flawlessly and communicate with the new stuff too???

Now I see the problem...His tax returns would not handshake with the printers which all have new drivers for Windows 3.1 and the MasterFile is still stuck in an endless loop Easter Egg situation no one, especially those forensic auditors, can seem to locate in the code that lacks documentation as to its location, hahaha!

[sinkingfeeling]

4. Blame the systems and language not the jerks who cut

the budgets and the new CS whiz kids that make the decisions.

[JI7]

5. This would be considered part of the nation's crumbling infrastructure

[neeksgeek]

6. You know you're in trouble when...

You know you’re in trouble when Derp Donald uses words like “flawlessly.”

[TheBlackAdder]

7. It's not COBOL that's slowing it down. It's a fucked up Trump administration.

.

It would be the database. COBOL is so much easier to code, promote and debug than Java.

With the new compilers, the code is as efficient or more efficient that Java, even at COBOL V4.x.

.

[US4u2]

8. The trouble, it seems to me...

... is that the pause in delivering checks to people on SS is like, "let's wait to see if they survive or not." Why send a stimulus check to people who are dying? Where they gonna spend it? Every minute they hold onto that money, is another $1200 saved. Sick.

[Buns_of_Fire]

9. IF PRESIDENT EQUALS ASSHOLE GO TO ELECTION-2020. nt