When the pandemic hit, President Donald Trump in conjunction with a bipartisan cadre of governors across the nation, made the tough decision to shut down the economy to save lives.

But the choice wasn’t between economic ruin and hospitals turning away dying patients because for a brief shining moment, America’s leaders came together in a bipartisan way and approved billions in federal aid.

That aid did demonstrable good. The country has recovered faster than its previous two recessions, Americans kept their homes and many came out from the shutdown without facing financial ruin; many were even ahead financially.

However, there were drawbacks to rushing out billions in aid (similar to the drawbacks seen with President Barack Obama’s American Recovery Act), and The Denver Post’s reporters have chronicled the pitfalls in a first-of-its-kind investigation. The Big Payout tracked more than 367,000 loans, grants, and awards from multiple federal agencies to Colorado businesses and homes.

There is so much to learn from the investigation. — fraud, questionable spending, uneven allocation per capita. Our federal, state, and local elected representatives should take note because economic stimulus will likely be needed again either for the state or the country. We can do better.

The Denver Post found that Colorado received $66 billion.

Coloradans should be outraged that mountain communities, many of them made wealthy by both residents’ income and tourist dollars, received more of...

Read Full Story: https://www.denverpost.com/2022/05/17/colorado-pandemic-aid-big-payout/