Social Security Administration

Just because you're dead doesn't mean you can't be robbed. Identity thieves steal the personal information of about 2.4 million deceased Americans each year to apply for credit cards, cell phones and anything else requiring a credit check.

If you're divorced, your ex-husband or ex-wife might still be able to help you feather your nest in retirement. And there's at least one former-spouse benefit you won't need to go to court to get access to: payments based on their Social Security earnings record.

Each year, some 14,000 people are wrongly declared dead by the Social Security Administration, CNNMoney reports. Data-entry errors can lead to major financial turmoil for victims of these mistakes, who they can lose their benefits and credit.

For years, policymakers have reassured the public that Social Security will be solvent for decades. But outlay and income data from the Treasury reveal that Social Security is already deep in the red -- by $76 billion in 2010 alone. That's just the beginning.

Besides the unemployed, nobody is getting hurt worse in this economy than seniors. Prices on many commodities are skyrocketing, but the Consumer Price Index, which is the yardstick used to adjust Social Security for inflation, is virtually unchanged.

The federal government sent out checks to 89,000 dead or incarcerated people in 2009 as part of the $814 billion stimulus program, a watchdog reported. One component of the stimulus plan was the distribution of $13 billion by the Social Security Administration, The Washington Post said. The money...

A provision that allows retirees to correct the mistake of tapping their benefits too early has been used by some as a fairly lucrative investment strategy. Now, the Social Security Administration wants to end the practice.