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Declarations of Covid-19 as a health emergency, followed by extreme and continued government mitigation mandates, are unprecedented for any respiratory virus in our history. The economic consequences of these directives – masks; social distancing; testing; travel, school and business restrictions − have led to historic levels of job losses and businesses stopping new hiring. People looking for work have been crippled from finding jobs. Tens of millions of Americans are at risk of losing their group health insurance. As Americans grow increasingly more desperate, they are more willing to be convinced to accept government bailouts.

Government handouts come with strings attached and lead all of us down a dangerous path.

Government Bailouts .

As emergency orders crippled people’s ability to work and support themselves and their families, the government-created economic crisis was used to rationalize government giving away “free” taxpayer money and expanding social welfare programs. These political measures to “help” are important to closely examine, as they reveal a very different motive.

The $2 trillion CARES Act, which was preceded by the $3.5 billion Families First Coronavirus Response Act, the $8.3 billion Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act, and the $75 billion Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act, resulted in massive Federal and State money towards expanded government aid and social programs. These included:

$290 billion in stimulus checks. (The stimulus bills alone cost each American taxpayer $16,800 according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.)

$260 million on extended unemployment benefits from 26 to 39 weeks, with four months of an additional $600 in weekly benefits under Pandemic Emergency Unemployment Assistance.

Extended four weeks of paid sick leave and ten weeks of expanded family leave benefits under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act for workers impacted by Covid-19.

$750 million for Head Start. (Since it began in 1969, the program has still not demonstrated quantifiable improved long-term academic outcomes for children, failing even after 90 studies, while costing taxpayers about $12 billion a year, according to the Congressional Budget Office.) .

$3.5 billion for early learning and child care. (universal preschool has no research to demonstrate meaningful positive outcomes for children or to be cost-effective, as the School of Public Policy at George Mason University reported.).

$685 million for public housing and urban development (HUD). (This program was established in 1965 and budgeted at $59.5 billion for 2021. It has been plagued with scandal and corruption since its inception.).

read more:

https://www.aier.org/article/how-a-virus-was-used-to-transform-a-free-country/

Part 2:

https://www.aier.org/article/how-a-virus-was-used-to-transform-a-free-country-part-2/