America


the Relentless Growth of Government Is Devouring Our Economy — and Our Freedom, warns that heavy-handed federal spending threatens America’s democracy. Bill Clinton reluctantly signed onto


welfare reform in the mid-1990s after Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans seized control of the House for the fi rst time since 1952 in the Republican Revolution. States took over the control of wel-


fare programs, and recipients had to demonstrate work activity in order to maintain their eligibility. But in the pandemic era, much of


that has changed. “All of the new benefi t programs


like rental assistance don’t have work requirements,” Moore tells Newsmax. “We estimate in some states with


two parents getting unemployment benefi ts and all the rest, the package can be the equivalent of an $80,000 a year job. So why work?” In February, the U.S. Labor Depart-


ment announced there were 11 million unfi lled job openings. Those openings exceeded the number of people who are offi cially unemployed by 4.66 mil- lion.


Such a large gap between the num-


ber of jobs and the number of active job seekers suggests the “worker dearth” may be more than just a passing trend. One JPMorgan analysis, released


in the fall, projected lingering eff ects due to nearly 3 million workers who lost their jobs during the pandemic opting not to rejoin the workforce. The impact is especially signifi cant


A Long Downhill Slide? E


conomists base the size of the U.S. workforce on the percentage of working-age Americans who are either employed or looking for a job. Known as the labor force participation rate, this key metric has been on the wane


for over two decades. But Bureau of Labor Statistics data show it really fell off a cliff when the virus hit. And so far, it shows no sign of fully recovering.


CIVILIAN LABOR FORCE PARTICIPATION RATE, SEASONALLY ADJUSTED


among workers in service sectors that traditionally don’t pay much, includ- ing restaurants and hospitality. The chief economist at the Eco-


nomic Outlook Group, Bernard Bau- mohl, told The Washington Post: “This group is no longer willing to tol- erate those kinds of wages and those conditions that they experienced prior to and during the pandemic. “They also realize they have a lot more leverage now and are moving


out of those low-paying jobs with long hours.” The number of workers being fi red


or let go, meanwhile, has dropped to a record low. ZipRecruiter lead economist Sinem Buber told CNBC that businesses strapped for staff “are hanging onto the workers they’ve got.” Among the reasons cited for the


“vanishing American worker” syn- drome:


LinkedIn chief economist Karin


Feds: COVID Fraud Tops $100 Billion O


ne reason many economists tend to be critical of massive federal bailout programs, aside from work disincentives


they create, is the massive fraud that accompanies them. As the national trauma of the coronavirus gradually fades


into the history books, the ugly reality that billions of state and federal dollars were squandered or improperly allocated as “pandemic unemployment assistance” is only now emerging. Among them:


Federal of icials now believe that only about a third of the 16 NEWSMAX | APRIL 2022


$800 billion Paycheck Protection Plan funding went to workers who otherwise would have lost their jobs. Auditors have determined that the bureaucratic overhead cost for each PPP job saved ranged from $69,000 to a staggering $258,000 per job.


Although PPP funds were expected to go to smaller firms in order to save jobs at companies pushed to the brink by the pandemic, a ProPublica investigation identified 120 firms traded on stock exchanges that received $500,000 or more in


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