Omygosh, I just remembered this - FRAUD and stuff
I was listening to NPR yesterday and they had a feature on the SBA (that's Small Business Administration, duh). It seems that the SBA guaranteed a ton of loans in the wake of the 9/11 attacks intended to be for businesses that were adversely affected by the attack. Thing is, an audit was done of the loans. They pulled 59 random applications and they found that NINE (9) and ONLY 9 had any verifiable link to the 9/11 attacks. In other words, they could only verify that 9 of the 59 were adversely affected by the attacks. The other 50 had absolutely no evidence whatsoever in the applications.
Okay, well, maybe they didn't write it all down... No, they interviews 42 of those who recieved loans guaranteed by the SBA intended for those affected by the attacks. Only 2 of interviewed even had any idea that their loans were in any way tied to the attacks...
So, the statement from the SBA is that it's not their fault. They are understaffed to evaluate the merits of the applicants and their claims on this type of loan, that is up to the individual loaning institutions... The SBA is only the guarantor of the loans....
And, besides, when Congress enacted this (bill? whatever) the economy was really reeling from the attacks - something had to be done...
So, let me get this straight. It's not my fault, it's the banks. But even if it IS my fault, Congress is really to blame...
Heh, sounds just about right (Genesis 3)
God: Why did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat?
Man: It wasn't my fault, it was the woman YOU gave me.
Woman: It wasn't my fault, it was the snake who tricked me.
Snake: ummmmm......hisssssss?
In a related story - the Red Cross has distributed up to 500 million dollars in Katrina aid (maybe more) and a whole bunch of that went to people who never set foot in New Orleans. The story on the news was that the subcontractor in Bakersfield was handing out the PIN numbers to practically anybody who wanted them (friends, family, you name it). Here's a free thousand dollars.... People can be so stupid sometimes...
So, I only give to UMCOR...sorry...(well, those Salvation Army kettles are really hard to walk past...)
Okay, well, maybe they didn't write it all down... No, they interviews 42 of those who recieved loans guaranteed by the SBA intended for those affected by the attacks. Only 2 of interviewed even had any idea that their loans were in any way tied to the attacks...
So, the statement from the SBA is that it's not their fault. They are understaffed to evaluate the merits of the applicants and their claims on this type of loan, that is up to the individual loaning institutions... The SBA is only the guarantor of the loans....
And, besides, when Congress enacted this (bill? whatever) the economy was really reeling from the attacks - something had to be done...
So, let me get this straight. It's not my fault, it's the banks. But even if it IS my fault, Congress is really to blame...
Heh, sounds just about right (Genesis 3)
God: Why did you eat the fruit I told you not to eat?
Man: It wasn't my fault, it was the woman YOU gave me.
Woman: It wasn't my fault, it was the snake who tricked me.
Snake: ummmmm......hisssssss?
In a related story - the Red Cross has distributed up to 500 million dollars in Katrina aid (maybe more) and a whole bunch of that went to people who never set foot in New Orleans. The story on the news was that the subcontractor in Bakersfield was handing out the PIN numbers to practically anybody who wanted them (friends, family, you name it). Here's a free thousand dollars.... People can be so stupid sometimes...
So, I only give to UMCOR...sorry...(well, those Salvation Army kettles are really hard to walk past...)
Comments