A Measly $236 billion
(Attkisson) An estimated $236 billion in improper or incorrect payments was made under the Biden administration last year, with Medicare and Medicaid accounting for $100 billion of that total, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
“For fiscal year 2023, 14 agencies reported a total estimated $236 billion in improper payments across 71 programs,” said a March 26 GAO report. Improper payments refer to payments “that should not have been made or were made in the incorrect amount.” The $236 billion calculation does not include certain government programs that agencies determined were “susceptible to significant improper payments.”
As such, GAO believes the $236 billion estimate “potentially does not represent the full extent of improper payments.”…
Medicare accounted for the largest percentage of government incorrect payments, totaling $51.1 billion.
Medicaid followed this at $50.3 billion, Federal Pandemic Unemployment Assistance at $43.6 billion, Earned Income Tax Credit at $21.9 billion, and the Paycheck Protection Program Loan Forgiveness at $18.7 billion.
Read more from Epoch Times here.
In Red China
Chinese entrepreneurs are leaving the country. Optimism is dimming among Chinese youth. The Chinese stock market is tanking. Foreign direct investment is in freefall as global businesses seek alternatives to the ‘world’s factory’ that don’t come with the same geopolitical risk and Big State political meddling. The economic indicators are so bad that Beijing is pulling many of them from public view.”
Red China’s recession can be measured in kilowatts and empty factories. The South China Morning Post reported on Monday, “Behind China’s new-energy overcapacity as it changes the face of manufacturing and raises the stakes of competitiveness.”
The story began, “Undeterred by the overcapacity that is looming large in domestic manufacturing and unfettered by the mounting risks of trade restrictions imposed by the West, Wang Rongshuo has still decided to go big this year — with an all-in expansion of his business in the new-energy sector.”
The story said manufacturing is below 75% capacity. That seems to mean that only three of every four mills are operating. I am a far cry from being an expert, but building a factory is so expensive that you would not build four when you need only three.
SCMP said, “Beijing is also facing strong pushback from the United States and the European Union, which have repeatedly raised concerns that their domestic companies have been squeezed out by low-priced Chinese products that have flooded in as manufacturers see overseas markets as the means to help them absorb excess capacity.”
And why is there a strong pushback?
Donald Trump.
Six years ago, when we had a real president, he slapped tariffs on Red China, which his apologists in the think tanks immediately mislabeled as a tax on Americans. Um, every Republican president has used tariffs to protect American factories, but never mind; the official revised history of America has him inventing them.
The Tax Foundation said, “The Trump administration imposed nearly $80 billion worth of new taxes on Americans by levying tariffs on thousands of products valued at approximately $380 billion in 2018 and 2019, amounting to one of the largest tax increases in decades.”
Of course, Red China ate most of the tariffs to maintain market share. The problem for the communists was under Trump’s leadership; other countries joined in. There is more to the story of Red China’s recession. Spreading COVID around the world had a backlash. And communism doesn’t work. However, we should not discount the role of the wrecking ball we call Donald Trump.
This weekend, the New York Post posted an excerpt from Steven W. Mosher’s new book, The Devil and Communist China.
He wrote, “The Trump tariffs—imposed in 2018 and still in place today — set China back on its heels. And the covid debacle deepened China’s economic malaise.
“But most of the wounds have been self-inflicted.
‘The Chinese economy is suffering from a kind of death by a thousand cuts perpetrated by the policies of Xi Jinping, a man who models himself on one of the most monomaniacal — and deadly — communist leaders in human history.”
Reagan took down communist Russia along with Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher, and Pope Paul II. Trump is taking down Red China with the help of Chairman Xi.
Bullet Points:
** It’s all about mindset.
** We are all weary of hearing the claim that opposition to the widespread normalization of sodomy, pederasty, transvestitism, and castration is bigotry akin to fascism, and we are likewise weary of the claim that tolerance toward perversion will usher in the paradise of endless worldwide orgies, like some mad vision of hordes of houri from an Arabic afterlife.
** Chinese Human Organ Donation – More here In the West, organ “donation” is a—mostly, though not informed—voluntary act; in China, it’s often the last step of the prison discharge process. What the Chinese government does to procure these organs doesn’t qualify as “donation” but rather “harvesting.”
** Israel’s underreported restraint in Gaza – More here – Despite these provocations, Israel, under the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has shown a level of restraint that is both noteworthy and instructive. The decision to delay the expansion of its offensive into Rafah, in consideration of the Islamic holidays of Ramadan and Eid al-Fitr, is a poignant example of Israel’s broader approach to conflict: a commitment to the possibility of peace and the mitigation of further violence, even in the absence of reciprocity.
This approach is not limited to military strategy but extends to the ethos underpinning Israel’s engagement with its citizens and the international community. The decision to hold off on military action is also a strategic move to navigate the complexities of global diplomacy, particularly in light of the pressures from the Biden administration in the United States.
** Rogan on the New Left. Make America Great Again.
China’s economic indicators are grim; but, so are most of the EU nations and our home plate, the USofA. When do we run out of everyone else’s money and see the actual economic state of the US?
The interest payments on the national debt will outstrip the GDP. When the US economy slows, the world catches a cold. When the US goes bankrupt, the world catches cancer.
Part of the cause is 49% of GDP is provided by government employees. Unsustainable regardless those running things into the ground believe it is the first ever Perpetual Motion Machine.
How can ‘dotgov’ be included in the GDP? They produce nothing. Every business I’ve had a hand in would call that “overhead”. And too much overhead will (and has) kill many companies.
I’ll dig around, pretty sure I heard Beck say it the other morning, or maybe it was an economist guest on Chris Stigall…because correct, govt produced nothing, unless it was in the context of “uses” and I misheard.
Okay, the word I missed was “spending”, Gov’t accounts for 49% of GDP spending (up ten points), which is unsustainable.
“Israel’s underreported restraint in Gaza” … Gee, it’s almost like they have a 4000 year old culture that’s better than the Islamic culture, or pretty much all the others. As if it’s divinely inspired or developed by some sort of super intelligent people or something.
X2
X3
“almost” :)
RE: Chinese organ donation. For some time now it’s appeared to me that government in Chy-nuh seems to be run as the continuation of cannibalism by other means.
They’re not deterred by moral restraints that seem to hold the rest of the world back. But they’ll tell you that they’re celestials and therefore are smarter than you are.
China organ ‘donation’ has been a thing for over 20 years. Just finally some people are finally paying attention. What amazes me (not) is that the Arabic Muslims really don’t give a flying fig what’s happening to the Urghar Muslims, who are the main donators of said donated organs.
China Organ Donation- Yeah, Planned Parenthood does the same, only on infants. Evil Incarnate under the guise of “Woman’s Healthcare”. Bravo Sierra a steroids. Just wait until TPTB (aka. The Tyrannical’s…which sounds a lot like The Soprano’s only more worse because they got no code)…start doing organ harvesting (outside of DL allowance post demise) on the unsuspecting…assuming they aren’t already.
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“improper or incorrect payments”- Well now, that’s a new name for criminal theft by those on the receiving end (MD behind your name doesn’t give a free pass to run a grift). Problem is the level of ineptitude from those in nice suits ruining (yep, meant that) our hallowed Congressional hallways. Call me skeptical…and cynical (which is their fault by upholding their offshore accounts instead of upholding their oath of office).
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Mindset- Major h/t, not only to him but to all of you who stepped up to that plate and swung away. Yup, all about the mental strength. Beck played a couple of clips by Gen-Z wymin’s whining about the 9-5 life…job situation, cost of things…..wahwahwah. I can hear my parents: “Get out of bed, put your big girl shoes on, and get a job. Life isn’t solely about fun.” Now I sound like an old guy. But heck, how many of us worked a farm early before school, had a paper route, worked our way at lousy jobs until we found our calling or that decent work? Tired of hearing “what you deserve”…dad would remind me “the world owes you nothing, it’s your responsibility to go out there and make something of yourself.” Yup. Dad was a wise man, couldn’t stand the lazy. This is common sense to those actually paying attention to their actions, not what the world owes them. Besides, invite the world in and all hell breaks loose, a concept lost on the Social Media lovers.
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Sidebar: Finally working my way through Mike W’s ‘Hunting in the Shadows”…incredible doesn’t quite cover it. Next in line, “Broken Toys” (h/t on the possible Netflix deal).
Interesting commentary on cultural catastrophe:
https://tennesseestar.com/culture/commentary-societys-dangerous-embrace-of-stupidity/admin/2024/04/01/
So Surly takes a break, and now the rest of us don’t get a fair shot at identifying stuff?
That’s a nice video about mindset, but seriously, if I’m interviewing for a job, I try to make sure I have the basic skills, presumably by learning them.
What mindset does not?
I admire the way Israel is conducting their Gaza strategy (and f**k the world’s opinion). Taking out those Iranians in the Embassy annex in Beirut was nearly a perfect operation. Maybe a back channel message has been sent to the Ayatollahs in Iran that a small tactical nuke could be in their future?
Toady’s troubles are a continuing 3,000 year conflict between Persians and Jews. Likewise, Persians and Arabs. In that context, SloJo and his criminal enterprise is just a pimple on a tick’s ass.
Unless I’m forgetting something, historically, the Persians treated the Jews quite well.
Read Ezrah, or Daniel, or Nehemiah.
It’s the Mohammedans, Nazis and democrats that have a problem with them.
Ed, you are correct up to the time of Islamisation. Even then they weren’t treated badly. The big Jewish emigration from Iran occurred after the fall of the Shah.
X3
X2 WSF…every other country in the world is allowed to go to war to defend itself….except Israel…who have had to develop defense strategies and defenses in order to not get obliterated. Hamas and their Pakistani voters go unarmed, everybody wins…Israel goes unarmed and they get wiped off the planet. Gee, what would a normal thinking person do? Hmm, let me think….yeah…”Alex, I’ll take door number 1 with all the weaponry, and a middle finger salute to those who wish us dead, you’re not in our shoes pal.”
That ‘loss’ is pocket change for the idjits in DC, and of course they won’t try to ‘claw it back’, unless it went to military or veterans…
236 BILLION in “Improper Payments”. Kiss that money goodbye….
People have stopped buying chinesium products for lots of reasons. I think “lack of disposable income due to inflation” is a leading contender. And it’s hard to make a conscious choice to NOT buy chinesium products when that’s where an astounding amount of “stuff” is sole-sourced from.
We’ve off-shored ourselves into a tenuous position, and nothing good will come of it.
Funny how under PDJT these things were being remedied. But…but…democracy! HRC came out of her cave spouting the same political drivel. Dems are getting desperate if that’s who they turn to.