Fraud Going Rampant in the U.S.
By: Obie Usategui
6/15/2023

So, let me preface today’s narrative by kind of reminding my loyal reading audience that, ever since I first started writing my political blogs, you may or may have not noticed that I always paid special attention to accuracy, hence I always try very hard to document myself as I find that readers are owed, first and foremost, truth and/or factual information as opposed to trivial undocumented stories which, more often than not, are fabricated to accommodate the author’s philosophies, views, and/or his political viewpoints, however distorting reality.

As a matter of fact, there have been numerous times, almost always, when I was compelled to decide on how fact and truth may extend the narrative to where you have conflicting interest between length and accuracy while realizing the need to draw a fine line between them that spares me from compromising either one. Case you are asking why I am giving you this explanation as an opener for today’s article, reason is in this particular article which I am about to share with you, I tried very hard to ascertain the most accurate data possible relative, as you will see, to the infinitesimal repercussions that today’s topic has on all of us, on all taxpayers of the U.S., on you and I specifically.

So, without any further ado, today’s topic deals with corruption and fraud in government in the United States. I ask you to please pay close attention to what I am about to share with you since it is incumbent on all of us to know precisely what is going on, however, much it is taken for granted by many of us. Let me just start by saying that corruption and fraud in government in our United States is rampant, widespread, out-of-control.

Most every day in the news, we hear about some or other fraud involving both federal and state funds with numbers that are astonishing, shocking. Notably, since the beginning of the Trump administration, there have been concerted efforts to stop the wave of crime surrounding a true cancer of our system. Let me preface my analysis by saying this time around, that the issue here is by no means limited to democrats alone. Ironically, fraud could be [the] only bipartisan issue where both political parties’ democrats and republicans equally must share the guilt.

Like I told you in my opening statement, before I go on, why do not I give you some basic statistics and facts followed by my humble comments on same.

 Unemployment Benefit Fraud – $382 million.

 Treasury Entitlement Fraud – $50 billion

 Healthcare Fraud [Medicare -Medicaid] – $2.7 trillion

Back in September, you may have heard, the Justice Department announced a conspiracy in a massive housing stabilization fraud scheme involving Minnesota’s Housing Stabilization Services [HSS] program. To make it short, the Justice Department alleges there were approximately $304 million dollars of funds earmarked for the elderly, the disabled and drug-addicts, which were submitted as fake reimbursements for non-existent claims. There are rumors that our esteemed U.S. House Representative from Minnesota, Ilhan Omar engaged in the scheme along with some other defendants of Somali descent.

In another instance, as recently as last Thursday, the Trump administration sent a letter to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority suspending their participation in any further federal funding programs. According to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development [HUD], the agency LAHSA, misused government funds with multiple diversions.

I will put it to you this way, what really pisses me is, we keep saying that Medicare is broke with unfunded financial obligations to where it could probably be out of business by 2033 yet we allow for Medicare loses due to fraud errors and abuse, estimated at $60 billion dollars, to go on. According to my math, to reach the $2.7 trillion as mentioned before, it must have taken some 45 years to reach this number – meaning that government fraud is sort of another permanent government institution funded by us the taxpayers.

As we speak, the gross national debt of the United States now stands at some $39.2 trillion dollars. So, whichever vantage point we use, be it our national debt, be it Medicare, by whatever metric you choose, if we stopped, even reduced the amount of fraud involving federal and state funds, we probably could pay our debt in no time, and certainly Medicare would be rather stable without any risks for insolvency.

What really pisses me, is to know just how bad it is, and how little we can do about it. Most everyone in both Houses of government use their seats to become filthy rich, with monies coming in mostly from donors, from lobbyists, and from those that are stealing from government, to keep their Ponzi schemes going, all the while as you and I sit and watch the news on how money is being stolen from the poor, from the sick, from the impoverish – all with the blessing of governments before Trump.

I you really think about it, we are no different than any other third-world country. We are no different than all those “banana” republics. Our only difference is that this is that we are such a rich nation that fraud is larger, on steroids. The numbers are just astronomical in comparison, but the moral character of those responsible is just as bad, worse maybe.

Actually, we could put a stop to it all, if we, the taxpayers, came together as a universe and followed in the footsteps of our ancestors, “no taxation without representation” and start our own “Boston Tea Party” protest. Yes, I know, that is never going to happen, which means, that we will keep watching the news and learn about each new fraud as they are discovered, as well as we will continue seeing federal judges dismiss culprits based on all kinds legal technicalities all of which has led to our collective dismissal, disinterest, and indifference, which also has led for each of us to continue struggling to meet our tax obligations to continue subsidizing all kinds of fraudulent activities throughout our nation. God save the United States of America.