It has been referred to as “one of the greatest frauds in American history” by the New York Times. In point of fact, it will be far more difficult to identify who is responsible for stealing more of your hard-earned money.
Three separate stimulus relief packages were passed by Congress to assist people and businesses that were impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These packages, which totalled approximately $5 trillion in various loans and grants, were passed beginning with the administration of Donald Trump and continuing through the first part of the administration of Joe Biden.
On the other hand, many of these initiatives included the distribution of enormous sums of money based on little more than the honour system, with little or no control whatsoever.
It would appear that a significant number of American students were absent on the day that their schools held honour-related classes.
According to what was reported in the Times, Uncle Sam gave money to people who were incarcerated, to people who were specifically labelled on government roles as being on a “do not pay list,” to people who called the grass in front of their homes “farms,” and to people who were both fictional and non-existent.
An enterprising employee of the United States Postal Service earned $82,900 for a company he called “U.S. Postal Services.” Someone else obtained ten loans for a fictitious bathroom remodelling business by using the email address of a burrito store.
By taking advantage of the way that states were assigned to distribute that distribution, one individual was able to collect increased unemployment benefits from a total of 29 different states.
The examples are endless. According to The New York Times, no one is certain of the actual amount, but conservative estimates place it at well over one hundred billion dollars.
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion regarding the diminishing trust that Americans have in their own government.
In a survey conducted in May of this year by the Pew Research Center, which has been tracking this topic for more than 60 years, only 2% of respondents indicated that they trust the federal government to do what is right “just about always,” and only 19% of respondents indicated that they trusted it to do so “most of the time.”
In 1964, 77% of Americans believed that most of the time Washington did what was right.
Were individuals of that era simply too naive? What about the present day?
Undoubtedly, a significant portion of the mistrust that exists in our modern society is the result of partisanship that is both foolish and acrimonious.
According to another finding from Pew, since Joe Biden became vice president, only 9% of Republicans and independents who lean Republican have any faith in the government, whereas 36% of Democrats have such trust.
On the other hand, when Donald Trump was president, the figures were practically the exact opposite of what they are now.
Some people have an irrational hatred for persons who identify with the opposing party’s colours and are happy to make up reasons to justify their prejudice.
According to the Center for Election Innovation & Research, despite the mountain of evidence, approximately 32 per cent of Republicans and voters for Trump continue to believe that the results of the 2020 election were incorrectly tallied.
Therefore, it can be said that there is a certain amount of unwarranted mistrust directed toward institutions and political figures.
However, it would be irresponsible on my part to minimise the significance of the part that politicians, as well as the federal and state governments, have played in this.
When the government spends your money sloppily and carelessly, there is little need to generate new reasons to be suspicious.
Or when politicians misrepresent significant pieces of legislation as being something else.
On Tuesday, Vice President Joe Biden put his signature on a big piece of legislation that has been given the name the Inflation Reduction Act.
It does a lot of things, such as establishing an alternative minimum tax for corporations, pouring money into green energy, protecting forest lands, allowing the government to negotiate cheaper drug prices under Medicare, and hiring tens of thousands of new IRS agents. These are just some of the things that it does.
But what about bringing down inflation? This may be the most important issue on the minds of voters right now, but it’s unlikely that this bill will do much to address it.
A statement that it is “a false title applied to a policy that will likely achieve the exact opposite impact” was included in a letter that was signed by more than 200 economists.
Even average citizens of the United States do not believe it. Only 12% of respondents to a recent survey conducted by The Economist and Yougov.com believed that the measure would have the effect of lowering inflation, while 36% said that it would have the opposite effect. The Philadelphia Inquirer issued a call to action to its readers, urging them to “gird your loins.”
According to the editorial board of this paper, “The euphemistic word belies the tremendous price we are about to pay for a likely political cure rather than a policy answer.” This statement was made about the name of the proposed solution.
To return to the topic of the pandemic stimulus money, The New York Times cited anonymous sources as suggesting that it could take up to ten years for authorities to apprehend those responsible for stealing relief monies.
In the offices of 21 inspectors general, only 500 investigators are working on what might be millions of criminal cases at any given time.
When compared to the total amount of assistance provided, which was $5 trillion, $100 billion is a relatively small amount. The majority of this assistance was responsible for keeping millions of Americans afloat during a period in which they were unable to earn money through no fault of their own.
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However, one hundred billion dollars is not a trivial sum, and it would be irresponsible to allow it to be wasted away like stale bread crumbs in a duck pond. The cynicism and mistrust that would result from doing so would not be worth it.
