I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. A great ma

I think you all know that I've always felt the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the Government, and I'm here to help. A great many of the current problems on the [thing] were caused by government-imposed embargoes and inflation, not to mention government's long history of conflicting and haphazard policies. Our ultimate goal, of course, is economic independence for [thing], and through steps like the tax reform bill, we seek to return [thing]ing to real [thing]ers. But until we make that transition, the Government must act compassionately and responsibly. In order to see [thing]ers through these tough times, our administration has committed record amounts of assistance, spending more in this year alone than any previous administration spent during its entire tenure. No area of the budget, including defense, has grown as fast as our support for [thing]. - President Ronald Reagan[1], 1986 Sometimes it is appropriate to invest vast sums of public funds into unproven technologies and ideas. The pandemic seems to be a textbook example of where we can reasonably expect our federal government to act swiftly and decisively, for the greater good. That does not mean we should simply shrug our shoulders when, in hindsight, it becomes obvious a lot of misfeasance occurred during this unprecedented time. Billions of dollars were thrown around everywhere with very little oversight. It may be decades before we fully understand where all the money went, and most would likely be shocked to discover pandemic-fighting funds were used to prop up pet projects and ideological programs instead. Funds pitched to the public as destined to fight the pandemic were instead used for anything but - and collectively, red or blue, we are all suffering the consequences of those poor, often obfuscated decisions. We should scrutinize the relationships these farma companies had with the federal government before, during and after the pandemic. They mostly received a blank check for the government to "solve" the pandemic, and it's debatable if that is what really unfolded. [1] https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/presidents-news-conference-23 https://www.reaganlibrary.gov/archives/speech/presidents-new...