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Comment by jhfdbkofdchk | Hacker News Reader

I'm not going to argue with your central point that we spend too much time scrutinizing small dollar awards. The PPP program was ridiculous. I had a very difficult time helping two legit non-profits (one a nursery school, one a food pantry) get a fraction of the money they were entitled to under the PPP program, while less scrupulous people got far more.

In the EB-5 real-estate investment program, the government doesn't hand out money here. If you're a rich overseas individual who wants to relocate to the US, you can invest like $1-2m (used to be lower), and boom you're in.

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You’re right of course. In this case it’s not the government’s money, but they are still in a sense holding the funnel, guiding its direction, and promising (falsely) to regulate the flow. This stink attracts the same sort of fraudulent flies as other money funnels.

>and promising (falsely) to regulate the flow

What type of promises did they offer? Based on the newyorker article as well a quick skim of the wikipedia article on eb-5, it doesn't seem like the government was supposed to do any due diligence. The government doesn't require you invest in specific investments that it endorses. Any investment that meets the given criteria would work. You can even create your own enterprise to use as an investment.

> In the EB-5 real-estate investment program, the government doesn't hand out money here

The government is handing out value here. What's the difference?

What does "handing out value" in this context mean? Are you talking about the visas? The investment dollars?

Invest in me and I can get you something of value that normally only the government can give you. Surely you'd pay more for the same investment when it opens up an immigration pathway.

But if you don't have anything to offer an investment in, you're excluded from this program.

But all of this exists in a competitive market. The person soliciting investment in your example isn't the only person that can help people get visas. Anyone who has some sort of business that falls under the applicable criteria is eligible. The immigrant can even start their own business. Therefore, blaming the government doesn't really make sense. Caveat emptor.

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