The United States Department of Labor’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) revealed that criminals ran away with billions of dollars in unemployment benefits that were distributed throughout the Wuhan virus pandemic. According to Kataballa Roberts of The Epoch Times, these criminals used the unemployment benefits to buy drugs and weapons.
(Article by Jose Nino republished from BigLeaguePolitics.com)
Back in March 2020, Congress enacted an unemployment assistance program for Americans who lost their jobs as a result of the lockdowns and other destabilizing measures that state governments across the nation implemented. This aid was an instrumental feature of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.
That said, the OIG discovered that several states were unable to prevent some of the funds from being used improperly, and in some cases, used for fraudulent ends. In effect, the Pandemic Unemployment Assistant (PUA) was sent to individuals who were not eligible to receive the benefits.
According to a OIG report published on September 30, 2022, the four states it concentrated its research on—California, Georgia, Kentucky, and Michigan—saw $30.4 billion of the $71.7 billion in PUA and Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation be paid in an improper manner. These improper payments make up 42.4% of the payouts.
Roughly $9.9 billion was likely sent to individuals committing fraud in those states, which included “criminal enterprises” that discovered that unemployment insurance fraud is a “low-risk, high-reward crime,” per report.
“They have invested fraudulent UI [Unemployment Insurance] proceeds to further other criminal activity, such as purchasing guns and drugs. Individuals who we find are central to this conduct have been indicted on charges including racketeering conspiracy,” the report outlined.
In California’s case, criminals stole approximately $20 billion in unemployment funds per a report by California Employment Development Department (pdf).
That’s what happens when big government is normalized. It incentives corruption and graft.
More cases of this nature will occur if the US government continues to dole out massive amounts of money to people. Welfare is unconstitutional at the federal level and should only be provided at the state and local level, if anywhere.
Unfortunately, the DC uniparty, which is addicted to Big Government, will not bother to pursue the necessary reforms to correct these flaws.
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