November 18, 2024· 45 min

How Fraudsters Are Bilking the Government Out of Billions of Dollars

Orality
Model
81%
Oral-dominant (speeches, podcasts, storytelling)

Speaker Breakdown

HostTracy Alloway(1,742 words)
M:29%
HostJoe Weisenthal(1,140 words)
M:29%
GuestJetson Leder-Luis(5,991 words)
M:29%

Oral Indicators

Agonistic31%
definitely, obviously, absolutely
Engagement67%
you, our, your
Memory Aids100%
listen, so, now
Repetition100%
fraud (98x), they (75x), like (70x)
Parallelism81%
So why would I pay for stuff I..., And I'm Tracy Alloway...., And then, obviously, if you th...
Sound Patterns90%
87 question(s), alliteration: "markets move", alliteration: "barclays brief"
Formulaic Phrases6%
you know what, i mean, so to speak

Literate Indicators

Hedging7%
could, probably, might
Passive Voice5%
being politicized, be open, are constrained
Abstract Nouns17%
investment, business, verizon.com/business
Subordination9%
because, therefore, while
Sentence Length30%
Avg: 12.5 words/sentence
Word Complexity49%
investment, analyze, anticipate
Academic Markers0%
Impersonal Style33%
653 personal pronouns found
Descriptive Style88%
exactly, apply, monthly

Description

After his victory, Donald Trump announced that Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy would be leading up a new Department of Government Efficiency in order to crack down on wasteful, fraudulent spending inside the federal government. Setting aside the question of how effective this particular endeavor will be, the basic premise of cracking down on waste and going after fraudsters should generally be non-controversial. So what does fraud look like? How do companies bilk programs like Medicare and Medicaid for billions of dollars every year? And what can be done about it? On this episode, we speak with Jetson Leder-Luis, an assistant professor at the Questrom School of Business at Boston University and a faculty research fellow at the National Bureau of Economic Research. Jetson walks us through such things as ambulance fraud, identity theft, and other techniques that are used to milk the system. He also explains the tactics and strategies that the government can deploy to reduce billions in wasted spending. Become a Bloomberg.com subscriber using our special intro offer at bloomberg.com/podcastoffer. You’ll get episodes of this podcast ad-free and exclusive access to our daily Odd Lots newsletter. Already a subscriber? Connect your account on the Bloomberg channel page in Apple Podcasts to listen ad-free. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.