3 ms·

How can one not see how much bullshit that is? The very same program in European Union is called "Innovative Economy Programme" (website of it's Poland impleme

by dpc_pw 11y ago

How can one not see how much bullshit that is? The very same program in European Union is called "Innovative Economy Programme" (website of it's Poland implementation): http://www.poig.2007-2013.gov.pl/english/Strony/Introduction.aspx http://www.poig.2007-2013.gov.pl/english/Strony/Introduction... It was just one huge fraud-fest. You apply for a grant, making something completely useless, but with enough bullshit, that government minion can't tell. You make it "online" (a website), so it's "innovative". Bullshiting the grant is the hardest part - takes time, and creativity to write a good bullshit story. But! there are whole companies that do it for your, with a lot of experience how to bullshit government. Typical examples of projects are: social website for cat owners, something for e-commerce. Essentially just simple PHP websites with fancy names, and jargon to confuse the government. You get free money ($50k and more), you buy yourself TV, new PC, HD projector, and all the stuff you want. You put it into company expenses, but use to play games in your free time. You hire a CS student to make the actual website for like $1000. You pay yourself a nice salary for "maintenance" and fake statistics of usage. After 5 years, when the government is off your back, you close the "company". Or you have your normal company, you open a "fake one" with a grant, and suck all the resources into your normal company, keeping the fake company afloat for just couple of years to close it eventually due to lack of profitability. It's not even hard to cheat like this, as government does not care. They want the stats to look good, so they can pretend like they're "helping the economy". Last thing they want is the stupidity of such program to be exposed. There are other programs: for mothers returning to workforce, for people with disabilities, etc. etc. And there are all just one big transfer of public money to fraudsters. So yeah, I'm sure in Nigeria it was sooo much different... and it really boosted the economy. Now, back to email conversation with Nigerian prince that wants to share some inheritance with me...

vitd 11y ago
Do you have proof that this type of fraud is occurring? We hear this a lot in the United States about our welfare programs. They find one or two "welfare queens"[1] and claim that the whole system is fraudulent. It turns out that while there are some (sometimes spectacular) bad actors, the majority of recipients are not fraudsters.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Taylor [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud
- dpc_pw 11y ago
  It's different than "welfare fraud", as there are people who really need welfare, while if there was a business that would be profitable without government grant, it would already exist. So grants like this by definition support fraud or otherwise uneconomical businesses. Here, have an example, check-out famous: "the world of cats": http://swiatkotow.pl/ http://swiatkotow.pl/ (see UE logo at the bottom) . Government page about the grant: http://www.web.gov.pl/bazy-wiedzy/4_32_135_1353_swiat-kotow-platforma-e-uslug-dla-hodowcow-i-wlascicieli-kotow.html http://www.web.gov.pl/bazy-wiedzy/4_32_135_1353_swiat-kotow-... . Total UE grant: 790 600,00 PLN ($210k) . I was talking personally with people who had projects using this scheme. I know countless examples. There were whole web pages tracking the stupidest and most daring grants. Obviously, I don't have a proof about Nigerian program, but my Nigerian prince suggests that Nigerians are as clever (if not more) as Polish people, and it will work just as "well".
jgome 11y ago
Reminds me of the Start-Up Chile program...

by dpc_pw 11y ago

vitd 11y ago

Do you have proof that this type of fraud is occurring? We hear this a lot in the United States about our welfare programs. They find one or two "welfare queens"[1] and claim that the whole system is fraudulent. It turns out that while there are some (sometimes spectacular) bad actors, the majority of recipients are not fraudsters.[2] [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linda_Taylor [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welfare_fraud

dpc_pw 11y ago
It's different than "welfare fraud", as there are people who really need welfare, while if there was a business that would be profitable without government grant, it would already exist. So grants like this by definition support fraud or otherwise uneconomical businesses. Here, have an example, check-out famous: "the world of cats": http://swiatkotow.pl/ http://swiatkotow.pl/ (see UE logo at the bottom) . Government page about the grant: http://www.web.gov.pl/bazy-wiedzy/4_32_135_1353_swiat-kotow-platforma-e-uslug-dla-hodowcow-i-wlascicieli-kotow.html http://www.web.gov.pl/bazy-wiedzy/4_32_135_1353_swiat-kotow-... . Total UE grant: 790 600,00 PLN ($210k) . I was talking personally with people who had projects using this scheme. I know countless examples. There were whole web pages tracking the stupidest and most daring grants. Obviously, I don't have a proof about Nigerian program, but my Nigerian prince suggests that Nigerians are as clever (if not more) as Polish people, and it will work just as "well".

jgome 11y ago

Reminds me of the Start-Up Chile program...