NYT: US government made it ‘shockingly easy’ to commit pandemic fraud

“The COVID stimulus spending was one of the greatest scams in history & we’ll be paying for it for decades to come. Libertarians like ⁦@RepThomasMassie⁩ were the canaries in the coal mine who warned about this from the beginning.” ⁦@HannahDCox⁩ https://t.co/98cg85tcsv

— Jack Hunter (@jackhunter74) October 6, 2022

BASEDPolitics‘ Hannah Cox writes, “In an episode of their podcast ‘The Daily’ this week, The New York Times said that, ‘when it comes to pandemic aid, the United States government made it shockingly easy to commit fraud.”

“The admittance comes on the tail of a grand jury recently indicting dozens of people in Minnesota for stealing almost a quarter of a billion dollars (yes, billion) from COVID relief programs,” Cox wrote. “But this incident is really only the tip of the iceberg it seems.”

She continued, “On the podcast, Times reporter David Fahrenthold said, ‘When you write about the fraud that happened against pandemic programs starting in 2020, it’s hard to think of any other episode in at least recent American history where so many people stole so much from the US government or so many people — just make it more broad, so many people broke federal law all at the same time.”

Cox observed, “Ultimately over 5 trillion was spent on COVID relief programs, and the dollars went in a lot of directions. But the Times says three programs were the most vulnerable to fraud: the federal unemployment benefits program, the Paycheck Protection Program, and the Economic Injury Disaster Loan program.”

“The truth is we still have no idea just how much fraud occurred under these programs,” she noted. “Many of them used an honor system at the time that merely required people to declare under perjury they had been harmed by COVID and the lockdowns.”

Read the entire column.

The post NYT: US government made it ‘shockingly easy’ to commit pandemic fraud appeared first on Liberty Tree.

FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “The federal government has spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer on so-called ‘stimulus’ efforts since the pandemic began. Where did all that money go? Well, as it turns out, one of the biggest stimulus programs, the Paycheck Protection Program, failed miserably.

$800 Billion Stimulus Program Failed Terribly and Mostly Benefited the Wealthy, MIT Economist Finds.@brad_polumbo has the story: https://t.co/y5rItRw7KH

— FEE (@feeonline) January 18, 2022

At least, that’s the finding of a new study from MIT economist David Autor and nine coauthors. They examined the $800 billion Paycheck Protection Program, which gave ‘loans,’ most of which won’t have to be paid back, to businesses. It was created by Republicans and Democrats in Congress alike in hopes of helping businesses preserve their employees’ jobs for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

The study tracks the money to see where it ended up and what it achieved. The results… aren’t pretty.”

Read the entire column.

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FEE’s Brad Polumbo writes, “The petition calls on Congress ‘to support families with a $2,000 payment for adults and a $1,000 payment for kids immediately, and continuing regular checks for the duration of the crisis.’ An addendum to the petition argues that Congress should set up ‘stimulus’ checks that automatically kick in when certain economic thresholds are reached, applying to the current pandemic and all future recessions.

Simply put, a lot of people want a lot more taxpayer-financed checks…

As Margaret Thatcher famously said, “the trouble with Socialism is that eventually, you run out of other people’s money.”@brad_polumbo has the story: https://t.co/WZl7a8asCq

— FEE (@feeonline) September 21, 2021

Resources cannot be created out of thin air. And, as Margaret Thatcher famously said, ‘the trouble with Socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.’ Indeed, you run out of it very quickly. Such a vast public expenditure can and will not be financed solely by taxing ‘the rich’ or ‘Big Business,’ both mathematically speaking and because they have the resources to easily evade taxes or pass along the costs.

Here’s the simple truth. To give working-class Americans monthly ‘stimulus checks would require, directly or indirectly, vastly increasing the taxes those same Americans must pay.”

Read the entire column.

The post Misguided petition demanding permanent monthly $2,000 stimulus checks nears huge milestone appeared first on Liberty Tree.