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Common Cents

Clouds Account

Ralph Murphy

(6/17) Late last March Congress passed a little noticed Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act which provided $ 8.3 billion to varied federal agencies and their clients to slow the impact of the COVID-19 virus on the economy. While the amount involved was eclipsed that same week by the $2.2 trillion dollar CARES act that offered near unilateral overlapping aid for that flu it is noteworthy the initial law likely will be funded by tax equity. CARES lacks a procurement provision and fell flat as did other similar efforts to reestablish an arbitrary and uncontrolled equity base with linked system costs in illegal aid projects whose withdrawal has revealed political and social irregularities that helped lead to recent urban riots.

The newer bill also draws attention to a post World War Two effort of affording or providing general disaster relief from a federal fund and control regimen initially tied to storm damage or other natural disasters to states or local regions should they be 'overwhelmed' by its effects. Prior to the fund creation local governments and private sector organizations could appeal to the federal authority on an Ò ad hocÓ basis with emergency aid provided pending review to circumstance and actual need.

The system as it evolved, however, went from disaster relief to income guarantees in a 'disaster relief fund' as a component of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) created in 1979 by President Carter with a mandate to guarantee the federal aid. The fund grew in size and complexity then diverged to a mandatory allocation standing at just under $13 billion last year. FEMA guaranteed about $ 29 billion total allocations in FY 2019 with the variable allocation under the administrative control of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Again about half of FEMAs budget since a 1988 Stanford Act that created the DRF amount to guaranteed disaster aid to statutory dictate. The rest has more competitive rotational players, but both should be tracked to receiver and provider as the spirit of that law was hypothetical need and disasters are now broader defined to include the virus type concern linked to other programs and agencies as CDC or NIAD of the Department of Health and Human Services that all benefit from the arbitrary fund access. Ad hoc aid did work prior to the income guarantees of evolved FEMA with the newer funding part of broader self-policing in fiscal control that did fail to opportunistic overcharge until recent legal redress reversed much of the actions themselves by process scrutiny and not simple support by law enforcement officials.

There are other funds and programs to varied federal departments also linked to disaster relief that should be reviewed after the violence of related dislocations to fund loss or access has settled. Included were the Departments of Urban Development, Small Business Administration, Departments of Agriculture and Army Corps of Engineers along with DHHS Organs now being assessed for overcharge or lack of need. Program reviews have also drawn a troubling focus on the state of evolved federal agencies post Cold War with intelligence personifying the need for change amid mission creep and foreign penetrations resulting in real turmoil to varied programs.

Intelligence as perceived in post World War Two formal programs was envisioned as a security force to combat emergent hard left or communist threats of totalitarian control. The poverty of this regimes almost spoke for itself in convincing the populace of market economies advantage, but debates could be lost if subjective reasoning prevailed. After the fall of the Soviet Union in the 1990 s hiring standards became more liberal to it even allowing the homosexual community top security clearances. That used to also include support of their causes and even foreign penetration to the point where it seemed to cleave, affecting operations and broad role understanding simple and clear to previous Cold War anti left efforts. It impacted the business and even entertainment sectors as sponsored programming, and now varied social or religious movements as they have often sided in those areas resulting in resource imbalance and instability and now the COVID-19 alleged threat.

The Black Lives Matter Campaign is a direct sign hanging from the Unification Church and linked to liberal social programs adopted by one faction to intelligence support. The other involved Russian linked vice campaigns amid the control usurp and that to the police unions which now protect varied political groups both opposed by an emergent legal faction that want to drop the social programs and concentrate on penetrations amid technological advantage to programs at home and abroad. They're fighting each other but both lack the technological support of emergent law linked intelligence authority.

The church and Muslim groups were linked to an awkward immigration lapse during the Obama administration that flung open borders and allowed an almost unregulated inflow of often-impoverished British Commonwealth masses especially sub Saharan blacks also relevant to military controls. Black Muslims to those regions were generally al Qaeda in recent years and the British had real control problems even in their professed colonial role pacifying them. Countries as Nigeria could be neatly divided north Muslim south Christian with reflective political alignments. The Russians could run the Muslims, the British couldn't and seem to have brought them here and elsewhere amid the intelligence anomie. I can't prove it but many of those rioters appear al Qaeda to pallor and action.

Other groups are obviously involved, but I'd imagine it's the result of the legal emergent intelligence just cutting support funding as their product base so weak otherwise. The Russian police unions and I use the term Russian to mean an ethnic bonding though not necessarily citizenry ascription, appear to still support the municipal authorities and their allies so are better funded as the Muslims were paid under the table in bank access now denied.

Where the Unitary Church group was supported by liberal social groups the politics appealed as more conservative pro market. The Russian groups were just the opposite with conservative social but liberal economics. Physically quite tough that really is their only competitive advantage as system support remains primitive commodity depth. I read a quote in Henry Kissinger's book White House Years where he mentioned official policy is constrained to the incumbents by their backgrounds in previous experience as learning on the job was impractical to action sequences.

That group roared in and 'shot the place up' more in executive action but the Unitary Congress was also involved. At this point control limits to sound governance are absolutely necessary and it does appear emergent intelligence with a federal law type orientation and not sweeping cultural control is all that's needed to broadly steer us out of that mayhem as again alternate uses of the intelligence organs haven't helped social order as witnessed by the riots. That presumes better relations with federal domestic law as well. They're often at odds with the vice and social issues dividing them in the previous control pattern. They could never balance adequately with varied prop efforts as a free market does while operating under legal parameters of action.

For now the legislative interests have condoned an attempt by the older order to restore arbitrary fund usurp with low scrutiny to tax programs resulting in over billing and irregular caps and redirects of the money. That and program guarantees themselves as described in earlier text have to reviewed in light of need. Scrutiny alone may be enough both to impetus then law.

There also has to be interjected a realistic range of possible output or wealth to a given region both in production potential to the area or imported levels as expectations can be fanned that don't approximate the likely values or vice cress. Geographic confines limit resource controls but the range of possible output can also be affected by arbitrary legal or cultural restrictions even in optimal areas. The intrinsic output of temperate regions are so routinely higher productive it does seem they have a comparative output advantage over the tropics or polar areas with wealth then reflecting it if capital can be wisely assembled. Policy officials who promise vast wealth to low yield regions let alone control opportunity in policy conviction should be challenged to the false impression unless they have a unique and convincing new angle on It or admit its gift sourced and vulnerable as lacking exchange value.

It might seem petty to lean on that $ 8.3 billion bill when compared to other program overcharges, but it is considerable and poorly tracked funding, does reflect equity transfers that affect other programs, and can be replaced through timely ad hoc expenses that provide federal resources as witnessed by the older programs operating per need. Administered as grants not loans the SBA and others need better process scrutiny with the disaster guarantees reflecting that anomaly and not a standing income source based on that perception. There will be fewer disasters, hard feelings, diminished devalued social expectation and realistic authority posture in the emergent environment.

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