This is literal insanity.
A new NBC report claims over ONE HUNDRED BILLION DOLLARS in COVID-19 relief was either outright stolen or misappropriated.
Your brain can't even comprehend 1 billion, let alone 100 of them.
In the report, NBC said they asked every single state workforce agency how much stimulus money they lost to fraud over the last year. Most responded "they did not yet know the full extent of the loss."
NBC elaborated further on the issue at a national level:
"The Labor Department inspector general has yet to complete a full investigation but, based on previous programs, estimates at least $63 billion of the $630 billion in disbursements has been misspent. The full scope of the loss in taxpayer funds is likely many times higher, experts and officials say, soaring well beyond $100 billion."
How in the world could this happen, you ask?
"A rush to release the funds put enormous strain on state workforce agencies, creating a bonanza for individual scam artists and international cybercrime rings," said NBC. "And the federal government was slow to act despite early red flags, according to interviews with more than two dozen fraud experts, senior law enforcement officials and state and federal officials."
The good news is that the problem the government created will now be solved through government investigations. By spending a lot more money, we are sure to figure out where all the money we initially spent ended up.
Can you imagine if a business was run this way?
Spoiler: It'd go broke on Day 2.
"A senior federal law enforcement source familiar with the investigation said the fraud is so complex and multilayered that it will take months to develop a full accounting."
"'It just continues to kind of spiral out and connect to other types of fraudulent acts,' the source said."
I'm sure the DOJ will find plenty of the people who stole these billions. Only 100 have been charged so far. There are plenty more, however, who will get away with it.
Even worse, a lot of the fraud was in the form of identity theft where people filed claims on behalf of others and then pocketed the money. People are now receiving IRS-1099 forms showing they received thousands in aid that they never actually received.
Oh, and a lot of the scammers are based in places like Nigeria, Russia, Hong Kong, and Dubai, meaning that money is looooooong gone to fund foreign crime rings and terror outfits. Good job, everyone!
Remember, if the government had ended lockdowns after "15 days to slow the spread" and let people get back to work with basic prevention measures in place, we wouldn't have needed trillions of dollars injected into the system.
There may be a silver lining here, however. Sure, a bunch of people stole billions, but since our country just printed reams of cash and is deeply in debt, inflation is promised to follow. If someone made off with a cool million or two, that might only be worth a few thousand in today's dollars by the end of the decade.
