More than $400 billion (for emergency relief purposes) was lost during the pandemic due to waste, mismanagement and theft.
The truth is that the United States government has approved more than $5 trillion in stimulus programs for individuals. Also for companies, non-profit organizations and state and local governments.
According to the Responsibility Committee for the Response to the Pandemic, $3.2 trillion of the approved amount was allocated during Donald Trump’s administration. $1.9 trillion was approved during President Joe Biden’s administration.
In other words, more than 7.5% of benefits (approximately $403,000 million) were lost due to theft and other causes..
Nearly half a trillion dollars were lost in the stimulus packages, leaving the least spending on managing and overseeing the federal program.
What was all that money wasted on?
Incorrect payment deliveries are one of the most common causes. The authorities rushed to send the stimulus stimulus as quickly as possible with no protection system or controlled strategy in place.
So it’s clear that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) made mistakes that cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The IRS has struggled to send the stimulus checks to the right people and got 99% right. However, 1% resulted in potential losses of $8 billion.
Therefore, this is the amount that the agency incorrectly distributed to ineligible individuals. In that sense, a sum of $123 billion was wasted or squandered. This was confirmed by an analysis by the Associated Press.
The scam and scam wave is also one of the most common causes of this money loss. The aim of the scams was to steal money directly from consumers. While the scams aimed to fool the system.
Currently, the US government has charged more than 2,230 people with fraud offenses. This includes the massive looting of pandemic aid funds. Moreover, the investigation does not end here as the country analyzes causes and problems in order to provide clarity and act fairly.