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Tag: taxes
This State Lost HALF Its Pandemic “Stimulus” Benefits to Fraud and Scammers
The federal government’s multi-trillion-dollar “stimulus” efforts during the pandemic may go down as the biggest legislative failure in modern American history. Congress spent an astounding $42,000 per federal taxpayer (do you know anyone who received anywhere near that much in benefits?) and only successfully “stimulated” inflation. What’s more, evidence continues to mount that the biggest beneficiaries of this binge were criminals and fraudsters.
A new analysis from the American Enterprise Institute’s Matt Weingarten reports that the state of Illinois lost half of the money it sent out in expanded pandemic unemployment benefits to scammers.
Illinois’s inspector general reports that the level of fraud it experienced was “unprecedented” and amounted to more than $1.8 billion lost.
Trouble brews: Audit finds ex-mayor Bill de Blasio cooked books to hide $224M between 2015-2021
Former New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration has been accused by the city’s comptroller of using gimmicky accounting tricks to “hide” nearly $250 million in costs for a heavily subsidized ferry system that had reportedly been used primarily by the wealthy.
“We rely on the city to be honest in how much things cost so that we can make clear, shared decisions about where the money is going. When hide-the-ball is played with any amount — certainly with a quarter of a billion dollars — you can’t have confidence that your city is providing the truth,” comptroller Brad Lander said at a press conference Wednesday.
His remarks came after his release of a devastating 50-page audit that outlined issue after issue after issue with the city’s ferry service.
The audit found that the Economic Development Corporation, the agency that runs the ferry network, “did not disclose over $224 million in expenditures as ferry-related in its audited financial statements.”
For instance, the EDC “understated the City’s subsidy for the ferry operations by $2.08, $2.10, $3.98 and $4.29 for Fiscal Years 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021, respectively.”
In 2020, the city spent $14.57 per every ride, yet reported only spending $10.59. Meanwhile, the mostly wealthy “residents, commuters, tourists, and leisure riders” who used the ferry service paid only $2.75 per ticket.
FAA to give airports $1 billion for terminals and upgrades
The Biden administration is giving nearly $1 billion to 85 airports to expand and upgrade terminals and other facilities, using money approved in last year’s huge infrastructure bill.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said the projects will help meet future demand for travel and make flying safer and more efficient.
“I don’t think anybody could look at airports across America today and say that the existing system and existing levels of funding have been adequate,” Buttigieg told reporters.
The grants announced Thursday are the first installment of $5 billion for airport projects that were included in an infrastructure bill that Congress approved and President Joe Biden signed last November.
The largest of the Federal Aviation Administration grants include $60 million to improve the terminal and replace the bag-handling system at Denver International Airport, $50 million apiece for Boston’s Logan Airport and Orlando International Airport in Florida, $49.6 million for Dulles Airport outside Washington, D.C., to build a new concourse and $20 million for Pittsburgh International Airport to build a new terminal next to the old one.
The main airports in Detroit and Philadelphia will get more than $20 million each to renovate their restrooms.
Stop punching down; punch upwards.
US Funding Software For Russians To Access Banned Websites
The US is funding technology to allow Russian citizens to get past Russian government censors in efforts to circumvent an information crackdown related to the war in Ukraine.
The US-backed Open Technology Fund is paying out cash to a number of American companies who provide virtual private networks (VPNs). These are now seeking to allow Russians access free of charge, which aids in both accessing blocked websites and preventing Kremlin authorities from tracking IP addresses, thus better protecting online identity.
“Our tool is primarily used by people trying to access independent media, so that funding by the OTF has been absolutely critical,” said a spokesman one of the involved companies, identified as Lantern.
An attorney with an information access rights group called Access Now said of the program, “It’s so very important for Russians to be connected to the whole world wide web, to keep resistance going.”
One firm cited in AFP receiving US government funds reported that on average 1.5 million Russians are using its tools daily, and further:
Tech firms Psiphon and nthLink have also been providing sophisticated anti-censorship applications to people in Russia, with OTF estimating that some four million users in Russia have received VPNs from the firms.
Psiphon saw a massive surge in Russian users, with the number soaring from about 48,000 a day prior to the February 24 invasion to more than a million a day by mid-March, said a company senior advisor Dirk Rodenburg.
This US program to fund companies providing VPNs to assist users living under “authoritarian regimes” has been ongoing for years, but greatly ramped up in the wake of the Ukraine invasion and short-lived attempts of Russian groups to mount protests in major cities like Moscow and St. Petersburg.
A spokesman for Lantern said that getting past Russian censors is fairly easy with the right tools, given “They weren’t ready to block anything” – in reference to Kremlin authorities. “Over time, Russia learned how to block the easy stuff but Lantern and Psiphon are still up and running.”
Biden Admin Gives $820 Million More in Military Aid to Ukraine, Including 2 Surface-to-Air Missile Systems
The Biden administration announced new security assistance to Ukraine on July 1 in a package worth about $820 million in total.
The assistance comprises an authorization of a Presidential Drawdown (PDA) of security assistance valued at up to $50 million, as well as $770 million in Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) funds. The PDA is the 14th drawdown of arms and equipment from the Pentagon’s inventories since August 2021.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the United States has committed a total of about $6.92 billion in military aid to Ukraine to fight Russian forces. Prior to the invasion, since 2014, the United States had committed some $1.8 billion in weapons and military training to Ukraine, $700 million of which came from the Biden administration.
The latest $820 million aid package was broadly announced by President Joe Biden at a news conference on Thursday in Madrid, which was the third and final day of the NATO summit focused on the Russia-Ukraine war.
“We are going to support Ukraine as long as it takes,” Biden said, adding that the United States is giving Ukrainians “the capacity” so that “they can continue to resist the Russian aggression.”
G7 leaders unveil $600 billion infrastructure plan to tackle Chinese influence: President Biden commits $200 billion in funding for solar farms, vaccine plants and communications links around the world
The White House announced plans on Sunday to spend $200 billion on solar projects in Angola, an undersea telecommunications cable linking the Far East with France via Egypt, and nuclear power production in Romania as part of a huge G7 infrastructure plan designed to compete with China‘s massive Belt and Road initiative.
The proposals were unveiled on the first day of the G7 summit in Germany, where world leaders met to discuss the global economy and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
In all, G7 nations will commit $600 billion to the effort over the next five years, President Joe Biden announced, calling the investment a humanitarian, economic and security concern.
Biden spoke with the rest of G7 leadership standing behind him, the Bavarian Alps visible in the distance.
‘Developing countries often lack the central infrastructure to help navigate global shocks, like a pandemic, so they feel the impacts were acutely, and they have a harder time recovering,’ he said. ‘That’s not just humanitarian concern. It’s an economic and a security concern for all of us.’
The money will be spent in a variety of sectors, including health, climate, energy and gender equity.
‘These strategic investments are areas of critical to sustainable development, and our shared global stability, health and health security, digital connectivity, gender equality and equity, climate and energy security,’ Biden said.
He argued the investment would boost the U.S. economy and economies around the world.
‘I want to be clear this isn’t charity. It’s an investment that will deliver returns for everyone, including the American people and the people of all our nations. It will boost all of our economies. It’s a chance for us to share our positive vision for the future,’ he said.
The White House said its $200 billion in grants and federal financing would help low income countries meet their economic and national security needs.
‘And this will only be the beginning: the United States and its G7 partners will also seek to mobilize hundreds of billions in additional capital from other like-minded partners, multilateral development banks, development finance institutions, sovereign wealth funds, and more,’ said the White House.
Biden named the idea ‘Build Back Better World’ – after his troubled domestic agenda – when he introduced it at last year’s G7 summit.
Now it is called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure.
Biden wants more money to prepare for the “second pandemic” he promises is coming
President Joe Biden has suggested that the government would need more money to prepare for another “pandemic” during his remarks about vaccinating children against the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19).
“We do need more money. But we don’t just need more money for vaccines for children, eventually. We need more money to plan for the second pandemic, there’s gonna be another pandemic,” he said during a White House press conference on Tuesday, June 21, in response to a question about how many children can be vaccinated before funding is needed for the shots.
The question follows the U.S. Food and Drug Administration‘s authorization of the Pfizer and Moderna mRNA-based COVID vaccines for children from six months to six years, despite these children being at “little to no risk” from the virus.
“I encourage every leader to ask yourself, what more can I do? How can we work more closely together to help more people? How can we save more lives?” Biden appealed during his pre-recorded remarks.
The U.S. has already surpassed one million COVID deaths, with Biden urging Americans not to grow numb from the situation and remain vigilant against the pandemic itself. He also ordered federal flags to be flown at half staff to mark the grim milestone.
“Now is the time for us to act, all of us together. We all must do more, we must honor those we have lost by doing everything we can to prevent as many deaths as possible,” he said, adding that the U.S. is now at a new stage in fighting the pandemic and is facing an evolving set of challenges.
The U.S. Postal Service’s Insatiable Appetite for Taxpayers Dollars
The U.S. Postal Service (USPS) just got more than $100 billion in taxpayer assistance through the Postal Service Reform Act. It is licking its chops for billions more as Congressional Democrats and the Biden Administration work to serve up a smorgasbord of new programs and funding schemes.
USPS was once the federal government’s most responsible steward of taxpayer funds, with a focused public service mission, delivering the mail.
Under the 1970 Postal Reorganization Act, USPS is required to be self-supporting with the sales of postage and services covering the costs of operations. And from 1970-2006 it was, operating with a cumulative surplus of $3 billion during this time.
The rise of the Internet and a requirement to set aside funds for future retiree health benefits led to chronic losses at USPS starting in 2007. Some Republicans saw the Postal Service Reform Act (PSRA), signed into law April 6, as the reset button to provide USPS with financial assistance so that it could return to a focused mission and be self-supporting.
Hellbound and Down 
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