To the Editor:
Is there no one in the government who can do math?

“Commissioner of Labor Roberta Reardon reported that over $104 billion in unemployment benefits have been distributed to 4.8 million New Yorkers since the start of the pandemic” [“Week CI: COVID rates fall to ‘pre-surge levels’ but gov extends disaster emergency,” The Altamont Enterprise, Feb. 16, 2022].

If each of those New Yorkers had been given $1 million, they would have been well taken care of and saved $103,996,200,000 of benefits.

So where did all that money go?

Why can’t anyone see past their greed and realize that no plan for economic recovery is going to work as long as the gas and oil companies are allowed to rape the country with ever-inflated prices, which drive up the cost of everything else.

Why should they be allowed to make billions in profit while so many businesses are being strangled to the point of closing?

There should be a $3 cap put on the price of gas.

It is more than enough for them to still make huge profits, and other businesses and consumers would have a chance of survival. 

Deborah Tompkins

Greenville