Sneeze At New $45B Covid Fraud Estimate?

That Covid-19 unemployment insurance fraud may have topped “historic” $45 billion not only goes to show how no good deed goes unpunished but how foolish politically-driven taxpayer largess can be during a crisis.

According to the WSJ, for example, “people used Social Security numbers from dead & the imprisoned to get money from the [unemployment insurance] program meant to help those laid off during the pandemic.” That new tally estimated by the DOL’s inspector general’s office “is nearly three times last summer’s estimate of over $16 billion in fraudulent payments.” One DOL spokesperson called the news “shocking.” Yet, what did Uncle Sam expect when it waved so much green at the greedy? The pandemic unemployment insurance program, in fact, paid out more than $872 billion since March 2020 by giving those who lost their jobs [ahem, thanks in part to government mandates & resulting lockdown of the economy] $600 a week in federal aid at first & later to be reduced to $300 a week until the supplemental benefit expired last year. The DOL’s latest disclosure means about 19% of that unemployment insurance money was misspent during the pandemic compared to the “usual” 9%, i.e., before the pandemic.

Not that Covid relief wasn’t necessary to help get folks through the disastrous early stages of the pandemic. But, had Congress pumped a more modest amount of money into the unemployment insurance program (as well as broader economy) with proper financing safeguards attached instead of pandering to a fearful public by shelling out money wildly with few or no safeguards, that Covid-19 fraud number would have been greatly reduced. Or no?

Davd Soul