Our Federal Government is working hard at printing money and giving it away to people because of the economic disruptions of the Covid panicdemic. This is fine as far as it goes; I have nothing against the occasional $2,000 check, which for Stoker and me is only a partial refund of estimated income tax we pay every quarter. And certainly enhanced unemployment benefits for people who lost jobs seem reasonable. Although if the benefits turn out to be more money that the person made working it does kind of take away any incentive to rush back into the labor market. And if would be nice if EDD wasn’t so incompetent and didn’t pay out $10 billion in fraudulent claims.
But when I heard a Public Service Ad on the radio advising citizens that FEMA has financial assistance for funeral costs of a Covid victim I was incredulous. But it is true! This is from FEMA’s web page:
Who can apply for COVID-19 Funeral Assistance?
You may qualify if:
- You are a U.S. citizen, non-citizen national, or qualified alien who paid for funeral expenses after January 20, 2020, and
- The funeral expenses were for an individual whose death in the United States, territories or the District of Columbia, may have been caused by or was likely the result of COVID-19.
Leaving aside the question of why unqualified extraterrestrials are not eligible, I think this carries Covid relief aid too far. FEMA is supposed to operate in emergencies. How a funeral constitutes an ‘emergency’ is not clear to me. Or if a funeral is an emergency, why should the cause of death matter? Isn’t this death discrimination? Are some causes of death ‘more equal’ than others?
The answer to this is yes. Covid is a special panicdemic, more important and more dangerous and requiring more lock downs and shut downs and mask wearing and more government ‘mandatory guidance’ than anything in Human History.
We got FEMA Money, so we upgraded! 
If only he had passed from Covid…I had to drain your 529 plans to pay for this.
Poor old grand dad has a heart attack that punches his ticket to heaven, and FEMA says ‘No Cash For You!’ to relatives wanting to give him a nice send off. But if you can get a doctor to say that Covid ‘may have caused’ the cardiac failure then the FEMA Funeral ATM is open for business. Put in your PIN and have a heck of a wake!
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