When our government offers up free money, we shouldn’t be surprised if the crooks beat us to it.
The least we could’ve done was set up this money-grab so good ol’ American crooks could steal the taxpayers’ money. Instead, it appears we shipped these lucrative jobs overseas.
“Unemployment fraud surged during the coronavirus pandemic,” reports Fox Business, “with billions of dollars likely ending up in the hands of foreign crime syndicates based in China, Russia and other countries, experts say.”
Total damage? Around $400 billion lost to fraud, according to estimates.
We get it. When one’s country is more than $28 t-t-t-trillion in debt (that’s $85 thousand per citizen, $226 thousand per taxpayer), one tends to become indifferent to stories about fraud, waste, and abuse. But the amount we’re talking about here is hardly chump change. Indeed, $400 billion is nearly four times the annual budget of Texas, more than 10 times the annual budget of Tennessee, and about 80 times the annual budget of South Dakota.
The U.S. treasury must look like prime rib to these fraudsters, given that one of the most noticeable characteristics of our bloated bureaucracy is its incompetence. After all, when a schlub can’t possibly be fired for poor performance, he tends to pursue the path of least resistance.
Hmm … this here claim seems kinda fishy. But not fishy enough.
Still, even the most competent and conscientious of agencies would’ve been overwhelmed by the perfect storm of pandemic shutdowns, pandemic stimulus, and pandemic unemployment claims that hit the states last April. The graph below, built by Axios using data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, gives us a good sense of the weekly claims onslaught.
Thus, with state agencies overwhelmed by requests for free money, is it any wonder that fraudsters foreign and domestic had a field day? Unemployment fraud was never as lucrative as, say, healthcare fraud, but all that changed last year. Now scammers steal or trick us into allowing them access to our personal info, then they use it to make fraudulent claims. Simple. And with President Joe Biden still paying people not to work, and still spending money faster than his presses can print it, is there any end in sight?
“In the most predictable story of the Covid era,” writes the Wall Street Journal’s James Freeman, “it turns out that federal relief programs have been plagued with fraud and abuse. As for waste, well, that was always sort of the point. Shutting down much of the economy and attempting to replace it with federal spending, borrowing and money creation is not a strategy for productivity.”
The Biden administration was, predictably, quick to point the finger. “Widespread fraud at the state level in pandemic unemployment insurance during the previous administration is one of the most serious challenges we inherited,” said White House economist Gene Sperling, who also coordinates the so-called “White House American Rescue Plan.”
Right, Gene. “This is a howler,” as Freeman notes, “as if candidate Joe Biden and Democrats in Congress spent 2020 seeking to block Covid spending bills because they lacked robust accounting systems. In 2021, Mr. Biden enacted nearly $2 trillion in additional Covid-related spending even after it was clear the plan was no longer needed.”
James Madison would’ve seen this coming. “I cannot undertake,” he said, “to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.”
Sometimes, the most basic constitutional principles are the toughest to abide by.
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About admin
Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Jeffrey Bennett, President of Kettle Moraine, Ltd., the parent of Sierra Madre Precious Metals.
I have been married for 53 years with two children and four grand-children, a veteran of Viet Nam, student of history (both American and film), and was host for fifteen years of Perspectives on America on the alternative airwaves, covering such subjects as, health and wellness, news, political satire, education and editorial commentary on current events through the teaching of history, and Protecting Your Wealth. In early 2018, I took a several month hiatus to complete some family business but returned to airwaves April 17, 2018).
At the age of ten, I sat in a bank-vault in the Citizens Bank of Mukwanago, Wisconsin with my grandfather going through bags of old American Peace dollars, hand-selecting each coin as dated rolls of 20 coins were carefully put together and rolled. Learning of the history of these beautiful pieces of Americana, I asked my grand-father, "Why are we doing this?" to which he replied, "Because someday they are going to do the same thing with the silver in our money that, that (S.O.B.) Roosevelt did with gold in 1933." It took only six-years for his prediction to come to pass at the hands of a disciple of Roosevelt's... and what will a Federal Reserve 'dollar' purchase today - and what will that old 90% Silver Peace Dollar purchase?
Although at the age of ten, there was little understanding of the meaning of it all, over the next half-century I became well-versed on the subject matter. During this summer of my education, I began to purchase silver coins as a collector and some small, international gold coins two years later - not an easy feat in the shadow of the Roosevelt confiscatory policies of 1933. Although those policies remained in effect until the mid-1970's, it was not until 1991 that I found that one could make a living providing precious metals and collectible, historic numismatic coins to a willing and concerned clientele.
It was also during that year, that I began a relationship with one of the first Trust companies to give the public access to gold and silver as part of an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) - and Kettle Moraine, Ltd., founded in 1995, but have ceased providing service due the the intense change-over of the provider.
In November 2011, after a 15 month broadcast on another network, I returned to the airwaves with my then revamped program, Life, Liberty & All That Jazz, and for over 28 years, I have been proud to serve the family of listeners of my numerous broadcast programs for physically-held precious metals for investors and collectors alike. On March 23, 2020 I launched my brand new - appropriately named program, The Edge of Darkness on the Republic Broadcasting Network, and thus continue to remain available to our long time clients and their families. Ah yes - find out what "inter-generational" wealth provision has done for our clients over the past three decades.
Don't buy the sizzle of that steak until you understand the cost! In other words, don't buy the bull being dispensed by the 'rare coin' pitchmen until you understand the full story. We, at Sierra Madre Precious Metals, will be proud to serve your needs.
~ Quotables ~ "There is no clean way to make a hundred million bucks. Somewhere along the line guys got pushed to the wall, nice little businesses got the ground cut out from under them. Decent people lost their jobs. Big money is big power, and big power gets used wrong. It's the system." ~ Raymond Chandler, The Long Goodbye
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