Grant Advertising Takes Off
Some states are announcing the end of their business grant programs for COVID relief, shortly after the federal unemployment benefits expired. The money that was designated to help fight against the pandemic is running out. However, the federal government is still spending more money now than at any other time in history, and there are still tens of billions of dollars in grant programs floating around out there. Once upon a time, it used to be difficult to find these grant programs. In recent times, however, the federal government is actually spending a lot of money to advertise these grants to people, so that they're much easier to find.
Business and other COVID relief grants were being announced all over the nation, especially last year during the height of the pandemic. While you might not hear much about them on the radio or your local news channels, grant advertising is actually at an all-time high on the Internet. The government is even paying for specific grant advertising with Google and some social media sites. They really want people to know that grants are still available to them.
A lot of this is because the government can hear the criticism from the citizenry. A lot of Americans are complaining that all the new programs and money seem to be going to non-citizens, via the immigrants coming in through the open southern border and the Afghan refugees being flown here and dropped off in random towns across America. Generally speaking, these people are given lodging and pre-paid debit cards for stipends, so they can meet their needs. This has angered millions of Americans who want to know if they can find help too, of if it's too much to ask to help an actual citizen. So, the government is really trying to get the news out there that grants are still available.
Government on a Grant Spree
To be clear, the government has always offered grants, especially the federal government. In fact, some businesses strictly operate by applying for and receiving grants. Many of these are nonprofits or a variety of environmental or academic businesses that spend their days filling out different grant proposals for different purposes. It's quite a lucrative venture for businesses who are able to receive federal grants, so it's not as if this is anything new. However, since America was hit with the COVID pandemic, the actual advertising of these grant programs has really picked up a lot of steam. It used to be that businesses would hire someone just to go through all the different research in order to find grants. Now, however, you can find them all over search engines and even advertised in your local newspaper.
Why would government give these grants out so often? Propping up businesses is a smart play for government on more than one front. For starters, they're helping a business to stay open and hire employees, which means that the business and the employees are going to pay taxes. More than that, however, it also means people spending money in the economy. They're paying their bills and buying groceries and patronizing local businesses. For the government, giving grants away is like a stimulus package that you just never heard too much about pre-COVID. By helping businesses stay afloat, they're collecting tax revenue and all sorts of other businesses also stay open as a result. When viewed in a macro sense, a dollar exchanging hands so many times is a great thing for everyone who touches and exchanges it.
The real issue with the grants in the past year-plus has been that the government is using the Federal Reserve to print billions of dollars of brand new currency every day. The US Dollar isn't really based on anything except the faith of creditors. When that starts to wane, things begin to cost more because the dollar is worth a lot less than it was. The more money the government puts into circulation, the more money they need to print in order to keep up with the inflation rates. They paint themselves into a corner and then everything snowballs. So while these grants are good for the businesses receiving them now, the fact is that money is going to be worth a lot less in the years to come.
As of right now, however, grants are advertised all over the place. So if you have a business that needs relief due to the pandemic, you should have no issue in finding a grant program that can hopefully assist you during these tough times.