A $600 payoff for people who stay home while I work is a slap in the face

Sliding Scale wrote:

My family will collect the full $2400, as will most people I associate with. I don't need it, and would have been more in support of no bail outs from the government.

Take the money and spend it at businesses that could use the help. That is what my wife and I did.

You entirely miss the point of what the check is supposed to be used for. SPEND IT at businesses where the workers could use the help. (We spent all of the checks, and more, on creating a home work office for my wife that has computers, chairs, desk, monitors, and such, similar to what she has at work.)

punished for working wrote:

No two ways about it. I'm literally being punished for working.

The fact that Malcolm Gladwell likes a site where people feel okay posting junk like this probably the best reason for questioning everything Malcolm Gladwell does aside from his ability to string words together properly.

For most people the $600 is basically a tax rebate. I already paid way more than that in taxes and I am getting a small fraction back. If the US spent less on corporate welfare and military aid to dictators it would be like getting a $600 check every month in tax savings, but that's not an argument you're going to hear from conservatives because they believe in small government unless massive government spending would benefit the rich, in which case they're all for it. That's why Reagan, Bush, and Trump increased the debt more than all other presidents combined.

Your mom (Congress) wants to give you $600, I'll pay you $2000 to love me. Basically a move used by every step dad, divorced dad in history.

5 star hotel chilling wrote:

For broke people they will appreciate it but probably spend it all within a month or less. No wonder they're already broke, poor money management.

if they live in rural mississippi...

rent for studio apartments in big cities is $1800 per month+

I wish big brother would quit giving me money I don't need and didn't ask for; lower our taxes instead and give everyone an incentive to invest in new business, new hiring and in their own self interests.

ilonggo wrote:

I wish big brother would quit giving me money I don't need and didn't ask for; lower our taxes instead and give everyone an incentive to invest in new business, new hiring and in their own self interests.

So you want the government to be more irresponible? Running up trillion dollar deficits isn't enough for you and you want them to cut taxes and run up 2 trillion dollar ones? Why not be a responsible citizen and vote for the taxes that match the services that your desire? If you want lower taxes start voting for the people who are in favor of cutting defense spending by 75%, eliminating medicare and SS, and so on. You will learn in a hurry that few people will be joining your movement...

I’m in a weird position to collect on it. My wife stays home with the kids. In 2019 I lost my 200k a year job and was on unemployment for several months. My tax returns show income just under 150k for the year. Then I started a new job in 2020 making 140k base and 30-50k bonus but the bonus won’t hit until next year, so we get paid. It’s going into savings.

It's a slap in the face when someone hits you with an open hand or metaphorically when you are dealt a blow. You're not being punished. First of all, everyone would get money if this bill is signed or better yet the more generous $2k that House Democrats and Trump want to get through. The slap in the face was to the millions of unemployed when Republicans refused to put a package through until now. They're still managing to throw in another $200 billion tax benefit to the rich with the legislation sent to Trump.

The government is not being irresponsible by running up deficits at this time. The government is being responsible to do so. There are tens of millions unemployed. Interest rates are extremely low. What this does is to increase saving and spending at the same time, helping the economy in the present and the future. Without it, the economy will continue to take everyone down with it and pretty soon tax revenues for 2021 will be down. Deal swiftly with such matters and you enjoy the benefits down the road. Money will not be leaving the U.S. for other shores while Europe's suffering.

I will be donating my $600 to far right organizations.

Stimulus now is idiotic. It will be spent on Chinese made goods at Walmart, etc.

Wait 3 months and tie the stimulus to those who get vaccinated.

Bear wrote:

Stimulus now is idiotic. It will be spent on Chinese made goods at Walmart, etc.

Wait 3 months and tie the stimulus to those who get vaccinated.

Yeah, literally everybody is sitting at home and "working" remote aka surfing Amazon and looking for a new gizmo and gadget to buy (of course Made in China).

Basically the US is printing money to spend on crappy Chinese goods, empowering the CCP even more. What else is new.

ilonggo wrote:

I wish big brother would quit giving me money I don't need and didn't ask for; lower our taxes instead and give everyone an incentive to invest in new business, new hiring and in their own self interests.

Umm, isn't the $600 equivalent to a tax cut that you could invest in a new business or in your own self interest? Whatever that means.

It's literally Exactly-the-fcok what you're suggesting!

You guys are so weird.

punished for working wrote:

No two ways about it. I'm literally being punished for working.

No, you're actually not. You're lucky you still have a job.

What you should be mad about is how wages have not kept up with productivity. You're probably underpaid. What you should be mad about is super profitable corporations that rely on a limited workforce and pay minimum wage even though they could do a lot more. What you should be mad about is billionaires who are profiting off of this mess, while people are out of jobs, while people are hungry.

Stop doing the bidding of the ruling class. Unless you're a billionaire, you need to be able to see how unequal things are in America. Even if you're doing ok, there's no need to be so individualistic about things. This bootstraps stuff is nonsense. You're statistically likely to find no upward mobility in life no matter how hard you work -- you're likely to finish in whatever social class you're born into. Government needs to intervene to make sure people have basic needs met. Charity from the super wealthy won't cut it. They need to be appropriately taxed. Look at every other major country and the way they've supported their workforce during the pandemic. There are no studies that link lack of motivation to work and having strong social programs/safety nets.

Thief’s do not care if you work.

Family of four and we won’t see a dime. I’m okay with the stimulus though. It will keep the stock market going for now but also devalue the dollar.

I do feel a little bad for people that lost their job in 2020 but won’t get a check because they made good money in 2019. Oh well, there’s no real fair way to distribute the stimulus quickly.

Trump wants a bigger stimulus but so does AOC and other members of the far left. Government spending is out of control but each side wants to spend for different reasons.

punished for working wrote:

No two ways about it. I'm literally being punished for working.

But $1.3 billion to the Egyptian military you are not bothered by