Here’s Everything That’s Wrong with the GOP’s Cash Stimulus Plan

[corbe]

Here’s Everything That’s Wrong with the GOP’s Cash Stimulus Plan

The Senate needs to go back to the drawing board with this stimulus and do it over again. It's just too broken to go forward. I hope they kill this bill and do something sensible.

by Steve Berman
March 20th, 2020

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell wants the Senate to take quick action on a stimulus plan to write checks to Americans to help with needed expenses due to the Coronavirus pandemic.

Fox News did a good job laying out the details based on a draft version of the bill. They’d calculate an amount, starting $600 for individuals or $1,200 for a couple. Then they’d add $500 for each child. Then they’d look at your adjusted gross income–for 2018 (!). For every $100 over a threshold of $75,000 for an individual or $150,000 for a couple, they’d shave $5 off the amount of the check.

An example: Let’s look at a couple with an AGI of $160,000 (in 2018) with two children. That would be:

$1,200 for a couple ($1000 x 2)
$1,000 for two children ($500 x 2)
Less $500 ($160,000 – $150,000 = $10,000 / 100 x 5)
Total: $1,700

This is a totally ridiculous exercise in jumping through government red-tape hoops to obtain a useless result. Let’s look at what’s wrong with this awful mess.

It’s two years too late

<..snip..>

https://theresurgent.com/2020/03/20/heres-everything-thats-wrong-with-the-gops-cash-stimulus-plan/

[skeeter]

Thanks for posting @corbe, but I can't look at news regarding congress' 'stimulus' right now. The thought of it is making me ill.

[XenaLee]

Thanks for posting @corbe, but I can't look at news regarding congress' 'stimulus' right now. The thought of it is making me ill.

Why?   Is it because it illustrates only too clearly how we are lurching towards an eventual total collapse due to the usual.... inept, incompetent government interferance?   

Or ...is it because folks like you and I know how the deep state enemy within are drooling at the thought of these "interferances"?   

Or... all of the above and then some.   

[skeeter]

Why?   Is it because it illustrates only too clearly how we are lurching towards an eventual total collapse due to the usual.... inept, incompetent government interferance?   

Or ...is it because folks like you and I know how the deep state enemy within are drooling at the thought of these "interferances"?   

Or... all of the above and then some.   

All of it. The entire situation is sickening and has nothing to do with any virus.

[XenaLee]

All of it. The entire situation is sickening and has nothing to do with any virus.

True.   But you have to give them credit.   Just a month or two ago, the nation's economy had never been better.   They're patting themselves on the back and celebrating their speed and efficiency (like that idiot at Petsmart).

[mystery-ak]

Josh Hawley: Coronavirus Cash Payments Must Be Available to Poor Americans

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/03/20/josh-hawley-coronavirus-cash-payments-must-be-available-to-poor-americans/

[TomSea]

"If you’re a budget hawk this is a terrible conundrum, but a depression means we won’t ever be seeing the end of our national debt. We’re looking at massive unemployment." Per article. Totally agree, doing nothing may be even worse, this is not a bailout, these people did no wrong.

[corbe]

Why you may not get a check: This GOP coronavirus bill excludes lots of people for bad reasons

by Timothy P. Carney

March 21, 2020 10:56 AM
 
Republicans can’t decide whether their coronavirus economic response is a cash payment to families or another tax cut.

Tax cuts are great for all sorts of reasons, but they’re not the optimal means of helping people who suddenly lost their incomes in an unprecedented global economic crisis caused by a pandemic.

So the Senate bill tries to mix tax cuts and cash payments into a neat package. The bill provides for $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. If your goal was to get people cash right away, your cash-payment scheme might end there. Give people money. If you’re worried about this money going to high-income people who aren’t losing work, don’t fret — they will pay taxes on that money, while folks whose incomes go way down will pay no taxes or lower taxes on their payments.

But because Republicans insist on treating these $1,200 as tax “rebates,” things get janky. First, the bill would phase out the payments if your 2018 income was higher than $75,000 ($150,000 for a couple). Second, it would shrink the payments if your 2018 tax liability was less than $1,200 ($2,400 for a couple). Also, if your income in 2018 was below $2,500, you get no money at all through this bill. These last two provisions have one big perverse effect: Poorer people get smaller checks.

<..snip..>

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-you-may-not-get-a-check-this-gop-coronavirus-bill-excludes-lots-of-people-for-bad-reasons

[libertybele]

Why you may not get a check: This GOP coronavirus bill excludes lots of people for bad reasons

by Timothy P. Carney

March 21, 2020 10:56 AM
 
Republicans can’t decide whether their coronavirus economic response is a cash payment to families or another tax cut.

Tax cuts are great for all sorts of reasons, but they’re not the optimal means of helping people who suddenly lost their incomes in an unprecedented global economic crisis caused by a pandemic.

So the Senate bill tries to mix tax cuts and cash payments into a neat package. The bill provides for $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. If your goal was to get people cash right away, your cash-payment scheme might end there. Give people money. If you’re worried about this money going to high-income people who aren’t losing work, don’t fret — they will pay taxes on that money, while folks whose incomes go way down will pay no taxes or lower taxes on their payments.

But because Republicans insist on treating these $1,200 as tax “rebates,” things get janky. First, the bill would phase out the payments if your 2018 income was higher than $75,000 ($150,000 for a couple). Second, it would shrink the payments if your 2018 tax liability was less than $1,200 ($2,400 for a couple). Also, if your income in 2018 was below $2,500, you get no money at all through this bill. These last two provisions have one big perverse effect: Poorer people get smaller checks.

<..snip..>

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-you-may-not-get-a-check-this-gop-coronavirus-bill-excludes-lots-of-people-for-bad-reasons

Flat out across the board there should be no discrimination to those making less than 100,000.00 a year.  None.  The poor need this money more than any other class of people.

[corbe]

Senate coronavirus relief package now tops $2 trillion

by Susan Ferrechio

March 21, 2020 11:46 AM
 
The massive coronavirus relief package being negotiated by Senate Republicans now tops $2 trillion.

Larry Kudlow, who is the head of the National Economic Council, said Saturday the initial $1 trillion price tag for the measure introduced by Republicans last week has doubled to more than $2 trillion.

Kudlow is huddling with Republicans in an effort to secure a deal in time for a Sunday procedural vote.

Kudlow did not indicate what additions in the legislation have added to the cost, but lawmakers are seeking expanded unemployment insurance as well as higher direct cash payments to lower-income earners who may not have qualified for full payment of $1,200 that the legislation initially proposed.

<..snip..>

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/congress/senate-coronavirus-relief-package-now-tops-2t

[skeeter]

Flat out across the board there should be no discrimination to those making less than 100,000.00 a year.  None.  The poor need this money more than any other class of people.

You mean poor who have been affected by this shutdown?

[sneakypete]

True.   But you have to give them credit.   Just a month or two ago, the nation's economy had never been better.   They're patting themselves on the back and celebrating their speed and efficiency (like that idiot at Petsmart).

@XenaLee

The DNC clearly sees this as a gift because it is the only chance they have of gaining power again.

[sneakypete]

Why you may not get a check: This GOP coronavirus bill excludes lots of people for bad reasons

by Timothy P. Carney

March 21, 2020 10:56 AM
 
Republicans can’t decide whether their coronavirus economic response is a cash payment to families or another tax cut.

Tax cuts are great for all sorts of reasons, but they’re not the optimal means of helping people who suddenly lost their incomes in an unprecedented global economic crisis caused by a pandemic.

So the Senate bill tries to mix tax cuts and cash payments into a neat package. The bill provides for $1,200 per adult and $500 per child. If your goal was to get people cash right away, your cash-payment scheme might end there. Give people money. If you’re worried about this money going to high-income people who aren’t losing work, don’t fret — they will pay taxes on that money, while folks whose incomes go way down will pay no taxes or lower taxes on their payments.

But because Republicans insist on treating these $1,200 as tax “rebates,” things get janky. First, the bill would phase out the payments if your 2018 income was higher than $75,000 ($150,000 for a couple). Second, it would shrink the payments if your 2018 tax liability was less than $1,200 ($2,400 for a couple). Also, if your income in 2018 was below $2,500, you get no money at all through this bill. These last two provisions have one big perverse effect: Poorer people get smaller checks.

<..snip..>

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/why-you-may-not-get-a-check-this-gop-coronavirus-bill-excludes-lots-of-people-for-bad-reasons

Which is the way it SHOULD be. Poor people aren't making house payments,car payments,or contributing to the economy in any other way. Hell,most of them don't even pay rent or buy their own clothes or groceries.
@corbe

[sneakypete]

All of it. The entire situation is sickening and has nothing to do with any virus.

@skeeter

It DOES,however,have EVERYTHING to do with the upcoming elections.

[sneakypete]

Flat out across the board there should be no discrimination to those making less than 100,000.00 a year.  None.  The poor need this money more than any other class of people.

@libertybele

HorseHillary! They are already getting free food,free rent,free medical care,and a check each month to buy alcohol and other drugs with,as well as to pay for cable tv,designer clothes,etc,etc,etc.

[corbe]

   'Taxable Income' are the operative words here @sneakypete , with the Denny's closed where's the compassion for the dope slingers that have lost their livelihood. 

[sneakypete]

   'Taxable Income' are the operative words here @sneakypete , with the Denny's closed where's the compassion for the dope slingers that have lost their livelihood. 

@corbe

That's too easy. IHOP.

If you are white,do NOT go to an IHOP after dark.