On a recent intercontinental flight, I learned something intriguing from one of the flight attendants. At the back of the plane, as most passengers dozed, she told me that an increasing number of passengers over the years have requested early boarding because of limited mobility. Some arrive at the departure gate in airport wheelchairs. Others need assistance walking down the jetway.
After the plane lands, something remarkable happens. Many of those same passengers suddenly seem far more mobile, briskly making their way off the plane and through the terminal with little or no assistance. The flight attendant jokingly called the phenomenon "The miracle of landing."
We both laughed because the story rang true. I've witnessed it myself. While some passengers undoubtedly have legitimate medical conditions, in practice the ruse illustrates a timeless lesson: A system, program, or policy will be exploited when little or no penalty is apparent for taking advantage of the system. That observation extends well beyond airline travel.
Running Roughshod Over Uncle Sam
Consider government benefit programs. The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), Congress's independent watchdog, estimates that fraud costs the federal government between $233 billion and $521 billion every year – serious money, enough to fund major federal agencies or build thousands of schools, highways, or hospitals.
Improper payments, which include overpayments and administrative errors, are another enormous expense. While not every improper payment is fraud, every dollar that should not have been spent is money that honest taxpayers must replace. Federal agencies reported approximately $162 billion in improper payments in fiscal year 2024, and the cumulative total since 2003 exceeds $2.8 trillion. Ouch.
Within the realm of Social Security, benefit payments might continue after a recipient dies because the death is not reported promptly or records are not updated. In many cases, those payments are eventually recovered, but not always. If a surviving family member knowingly allows those payments to continue, that is outright fraud.
The same opportunities exist in many other federal programs. Whether involving healthcare, unemployment insurance, disaster assistance, or pandemic relief, investigators have repeatedly uncovered applicants who intentionally understated their income, concealed assets, used false identities, or otherwise manipulated the system to receive benefits they simply were not legislated to receive.
Rationalization 101
Fraudsters often justify their behavior by saying, "Everyone else is doing it,” or "The government won't miss it." Actually, our government has no money of its own. Every dollar lost to fraud rips off taxpayers.
The issue isn't that Americans are dishonest. Quite the opposite. The vast majority obeys the law and seeks only the benefits for which they qualify. Alas, a small percentage of gamers can inflict enormous financial damage when oversight is weak and enforcement is inconsistent. Such cheaters make chumps out of all of us.
When people believe that there is little chance of being caught, watch out! However, if they know that claims will be verified, audits conducted, and penalties imposed, many will think twice. As such, human nature hasn't changed much in eons.
The Trump Administration to the Rescue
Throughout the federal government, Donald Trump's second Administration has applied stronger oversight, more audits, and aggressive investigations, all with the intent of reducing waste, fraud, and abuse.
Leftists, like clockwork, cry foul, claiming that increased scrutiny slows the delivery of legitimate benefits or makes programs harder to access. Occasionally, and temporarily, those are legitimate concerns, but there should be no disagreement that actual fraud deserves prosecution regardless of which party occupies the White House.
The fakestream media, always on the side of forces that weaken our nation, actively obscures the issue of accountability and claims that the Administration is careless, cruel, racist, fascist, or all of the above. In the convoluted world of the left, individuals caught abusing public programs are portrayed as victims, while those insisting that laws be enforced are accused of being heartless authoritarians.
Oversight to Make Right
Not so long ago, government assistance was widely viewed as a safety net for citizens facing genuine hardship. This group included the disabled, the elderly, those suffering temporary setbacks, or families experiencing tragedy. The safety net was not put in place to become a feeding trough for freeloaders.
Americans are generous people. Most willingly support programs which help fellow citizens in legitimate need. What they resent is watching able-bodied individuals, or illegal aliens who have no business being here, game the system while taxpayers foot the bill. Who among us volunteered to be a gamer’s sugar daddy?
The experience of the airline industry ought to be clear. If no one clamps down on passengers who request a wheelchair to board but then vigorously deplane, others will imitate that behavior. Government programs operate under the same reality. Weak oversight encourages cheating. Strong oversight discourages it.
If verification improves and penalties are certain, abuse sharply declines. That's not politics. That is common sense.